Have you ever wanted to pray a daily rosary but found it hard to make the habit stick? If so, you’re not alone—many Catholics face this challenge! The reality is, a full rosary can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re new to prayer or are coming back to it after time away.
Beginning with just one decade a day is a much more manageable way to start, plus it easily fits into even the busiest schedules. This simple practice is a great way to start a consistent prayer habit and build to a full rosary over time.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through exactly how to make praying a decade a daily habit. You’ll learn the difference between praying a decade versus the full rosary, how to pray a decade, and get practical tips for how to make this habit stick for the long run.
Understanding the Full Rosary
A full rosary is made up of five decades along with some starting and ending prayers. Each decade includes one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. There are also some optional prayers that can be added to the end of each decade, such as the Fatima Prayer and Hail, Holy Queen.
When you pray each decade, you meditate on a specific event in the lives of Jesus and Mary, known as a mystery of the rosary. There are four sets of mysteries: the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous Mysteries. When praying the full rosary, you meditate on all five decades from one set of mysteries in order, which takes about 20-30 minutes.
How Praying a Decade Is Different From the Full Rosary
When you pray only a single decade, you focus on one mystery from one of the four sets of mysteries while saying the corresponding prayers—and then you’re done!
Here’s what this time in prayer would look like if you were to break it down step-by-step:
1. Begin by grabbing your rosary or pocket rosary and making the Sign of the Cross.
2. Announce the mystery you’ve chosen to meditate on. For example, “The First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation.” (You can say this out loud or in your head—either way works!)
3. Pray one Our Father on the first bead of your pocket rosary or on one of the Our Father beads on your full rosary.
4. Pray 10 Hail Marys, one on each of the next 10 beads, while meditating on the mystery.
5. Pray one Glory Be while holding the crucifix on your pocket rosary or the space before the next Our Father bead on your full rosary.
6. Finish with the Sign of the Cross.
Praying this from start to finish takes only about three minutes!
How to Pray a Decade a Day (and Make the Habit Stick)
Here’s how to make praying a daily decade a sustainable habit without overcomplicating things:
1. Decide When to Pray Your Daily Decade.
One of the most effective ways to build a habit is to chain it to an existing routine. That way, it’s linked to something you’re already doing and you won’t have to rely on memory or motivation to make it happen.
For example, if you’re a coffee drinker, you might decide to pray a decade every day when you sit down with your cup of coffee. Over time, this moment in your day will become the cue to grab your rosary and prayer will happen naturally instead of feeling like another task on your to-do list.
Other common times of day that can work well for praying a decade are:
- While driving to work or to pick up your kids
- When you sit down to eat lunch
- Before heading into an exercise class or going out for a run
- Immediately after tucking your kids in for the night
- After brushing your teeth before bed
The key to remember with this step is that the “best” time is really just the one that works for you. If you try one time of day and find that it doesn’t work well, try another!
2. Choose How to Pray Your Daily Decade.
When first building this habit, it’s okay to simply say the prayers, especially if you’re still learning them!
But if you’re ready to meditate on the mysteries as you pray, you have a few options when deciding which mystery to pick on any given day:
- Follow the days of the week. The Church traditionally assigns mysteries to specific days of the week like this:
- Joyful Mysteries on Monday and Saturday
- Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday
- Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday
- Luminous Mysteries on Thursday
So, if you sit down to pray on Monday, you can select one of the mysteries from the Joyful Mysteries for your decade. Then on Tuesday you’d pick one from the Sorrowful Mysteries, and so on.
- Choose one mystery for your daily decade for an entire week or month. If you go with this option, simply look over the mysteries and pick one that aligns with your prayer intentions for that week or month. Or, better yet, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the mystery that will best help you grow in virtue and grace!
- Move through the mysteries one set at a time. This means you’d pray the first Joyful Mystery one day, the second Joyful Mystery the next, etc. until you’ve meditated on all five mysteries in that set. After that, you’d move on to praying the Luminous Mysteries, then the Sorrowful and then the Glorious. And when you’re done with all four, just start back at the beginning.
Deciding how you will pray ahead of time helps remove mental barriers to prayer. The less thinking you have to do about how you will pray makes it way more likely that you actually will pray when the time comes!
3. Prepare Your Space for Prayer.
The next step is to have all your prayer tools ready ahead of time. When everything is within reach, it’s easier to pray consistently (and you’re less likely to get distracted trying to track down your rosary!).
But what do you actually need to pray a decade of the rosary? The truth is, very little. You could count the prayers on your fingers and follow along with a list of the mysteries if you wanted—I actually counted on my fingers for a year before using a physical rosary and it got the job done!
If you want to make your prayer time more enjoyable and learn how to meditate more deeply, though, these are the two devotional items I recommend getting:
- A portable pocket rosary with enough beads to pray a single decade.
- A rosary prayer book that includes all the prayers of the rosary plus reflections, scripture passages, and sacred images to help guide your meditation.
Whatever you decide, keep everything you need for prayer close at hand to set yourself up for success. So if you’re praying in the car, store your rosary in your center console. Or if you plan to pray after brushing your teeth, prop your favorite rosary prayer book up on your bathroom mirror so it’s easy to grab and go.
4. Show Up to Prayer—Even When It Feels Imperfect!
By now, you’ve got everything you need to build a solid prayer habit with one decade a day!
The most important thing to keep in mind now is that there is no such thing as “perfect” prayer. Do your best to come to prayer each day, but don’t be discouraged if you miss a day or feel distracted during prayer.
Keep returning to prayer and know that every effort is an opportunity to receive God’s grace and grow in relationship with Him with the help of the Blessed Mother.
Make a Daily Decade a Habit!
Starting a daily habit of praying the rosary doesn't have to be intimidating. By breaking it down into simple steps and beginning with just one decade a day, you can easily make time to meet God in prayer.
Looking for a rosary to support your daily prayer? Our durable pocket rosaries are designed to go where you go, making it possible to pray anytime. Check out our complete collection in the store here.
