Rosary Runs -General

BrendanMcGroarty

Our local Knights of Columbus Council is starting the practice of meeting at Mass on a Saturday morning, and going for a run (usually 3-4 miles) while saying a rosary. This is fairly straightforward. In general, these practices complement one another a good deal. As a (poor) runner, I have found the biggest challenge is not physical, but mental. On longer runs, the mind wanders, using a lot of mental energy to jump from topic to topic or thought fragment to thought fragment without ever resolving anything. the wheels are just spinning. When this happens, my stride becomes shorter or less efficient. On top of that, often my mind becomes over focused on myself, or the struggles of the body, and conspires to sabotage the run. Some people use music to distract the mind, or focus it. I find the rosary provides imagery that not only focuses the mind, but uses the experience as part of the prayer, rather than distracting me from the physical experience itself.

What of the most profound impoverishments of our society is the fragmentation, or dis-integration of our mind, soul, and body. We often treat our bodies as something we have or use rather than who we are. As people of faith, we are called to return to God all that we are, because that is what He has given us. Prayer is something we do with our minds, perhaps while our bodies are doing something else altogether. That is not the intent of this practice. The point is to reflect on the content of the prayers and the mystery through the bodily experience of the run. The point is to make the run itself part of the prayer. It is a way of offering not just our rote words, or thoughts, but our energy, effort, calories, and all the gifts God gives us to enable us to run back to him.

I will attempt to offer reflections on each of the mysteries in later discussions, and of course I look forward to reading your thoughts.