Make the Rosary your New Year’s Resolution! In 2025, St. Mary of the Rosary Parish is committing to more emphasis on the rosary by creating more opportunities to learn and pray. We are starting with our parish commitment to the Rosary in a Year, a 365-day daily podcast you can listen to for free from Ascension Press starting Jan. 1. 

   Here’s the info: If you've ever struggled to build a habit of prayer, this podcast is for you. In Ascension’s Rosary in a Year podcast, Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR, guides listeners in a step-by-step journey that will change the way you pray – no matter where you are in your spiritual life. By starting small and adding on over time, listeners will find themselves falling more in love with this powerful Marian devotion, becoming a source of grace for the whole world. Listen to discover: How to build a daily habit of prayer; How to form a relationship with Jesus and Mary; The Biblical foundations of the Rosary; How to meditate with sacred art (visio divina), saint writings, and scripture (lectio divina); The power of Mary’s influence in your life, and more. Every day, Fr. Mark-Mary explores a different aspect of the rosary, gives listeners a specific point to focus on in prayer, and then leads prayer. For the first few phases, you'll notice there are only a few Hail Marys. That's because it's much easier to focus for the space of three Hail Marys. Over time, you'll see that the prayer time gets longer as your ability to focus improves. Everything is outlined in the prayer plan (which you can find at ascensionpress.com) so you’ll never be lost. As you’ll see throughout this experience, just like working out, form is important. Get the basics right, and building up is easier. By learning to pray the rosary this way, you will be able to overcome distractions, dryness, and build a real habit of relational prayer. While this podcast will indeed be a 365 day podcast, feel free to go at your own pace. You can do one episode a day, or a few per week. The podcast will be there for you, on every major podcasting platform as well as the Ascension App. 

  Fr. Mark-Mary Ames is the Director of Communications and the Director of Priestly Studies of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR). The primary mission of the CFR community is a wholehearted embracing of Jesus Christ and their Holy Father, St. Francis of Assisi.

  You can sign up to receive the the Prayer Plan for the Rosary in a Year at ascensionpress.com. The Ascension Press booklet, How to Pray a Better Rosary, is also available at each church.