Why would praying with beads be such a universal form of prayer? Prayer beads are found in various religious traditions: Hindus and Buddhists call them japa mala. Muslims know them as tasbeeh. Roman Catholics know them as a rosary. Sikhs and Bahá’ís also pray with beads. And beads, due to their calming effect, are known as “worry beads” in a secular context to relieve stress. Prayer beads have physical, psychological, emotional, and metaphysical effects on the people who use them.

Over the centuries, various cultures have made beads from a variety of materials, from stone and shells to clay. It’s a wonderfully tactile way to pray. You feel the beads with your fingers, moving them one after another through your hands. It’s an embodied form of prayer because it involves your sense of touch. Thus, your prayer becomes more than thoughts and words; it becomes a physical activity. When you’re distracted or distressed, feel like screaming or crying, it can be grounding or comforting to have your prayer beads to cling to and help you focus.

As we know, the human mind can be like a lawn sprinkler, with thoughts and ideas shooting off in all directions when our intention is to pray. Whatever the religion, beaded prayer involves repetition, saying certain words repeatedly. It’s a way to maintain some focus during our prayer and to nourish a state of prayerfulness.*

Each of the religions that has a sacred tradition of praying with beads has a specific number of recitations of prayers. The Catholic and Ecumenical rosaries have 59 beads, the Anglican rosary has 33, the Islamic misbahas have 99 or (33 beads counted 3 times(, and the Hindu and Buddhist japa mala usually has 108 beads (or 27 beads counted 4 times). The prayer beads serve as a counting aid for these sacred numbers of spiritual invocations.

By touching the beads with the fingers, the person is reminded that the little counters represent prayer. This is the physical dimension. The lips move in unison with the fingers, whereby the external rhythm of the body can create a metaphysical rhythm in the soul. If the fingers and the lips keep at it, the spiritual will soon follow, and the prayer will eventually end in the heart.

The beads help the mind to focus. They are like a runway for an airplane. Every plane must have a runway before it can fly. What the runway is to the airplane, the beads are to prayer—the physical start to gain spiritual altitude. The prayer beads are a means of arriving at the goal of the prayers. Their rhythm and monotony induce a physical peace and quiet and create an affective fixation on the divine. The physical and the mental work together if we give them a chance. With the spiritually trained, the soul leads the body, but with most people, the body must lead the soul.**

The use of repetition as a tool for contemplation is an ancient practice. Repeating a sacred phrase or verses of Scripture in rhythm with one’s breathing is a method of contemplative prayer in various religious traditions. Hindus, for example, use mantras—the repeating of sacred words—as an aid to contemplation. Eastern Christians use the Jesus Prayer. It’s a method that also finds expression today in centering prayer and Christian meditation.

Just as the repetition of words and breathing can lead to a contemplative state, so also can the soothing repetition of touch. The use of beads brings the sense of touch into the act of prayer. It’s also a way of bringing creating itself (wood, metal, artwork) into the service of God—a very incarnational way of praying.

The essential purpose of praying and meditating with beads is to enable the integration of mind and heart.

Never prayed with beads, or perhaps haven’t for a long time? In the book Praying by Hand, Praying with Beads, we will examine more closely the spirituality underlying Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim ways of praying with beads. When you come to realize that this isn’t just something that Catholics do, but that it is truly a universal form of prayer, you may be motivated to get yourself some beads (or find your old ones) and make a fresh start!

You’ve just read the Introduction to Fr. Thomas Ryan’s book, Praying by Hand, Praying with Beads (2019, reprinted here with permission). The rest of the book gives a great overview of praying with beads in all the traditions he has listed—and it’s a great place to start if you’re curious about this wonderful, universal form of prayer.

Acknowledgements:

*Mitch Finley, The Rosary Handbook (Frederick, MD: The Word Among Us Press, 2017), 25, 26.
** Gretchen R. Crowe, ed., Why the Rosary, Why Now? (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2017), 30, 31).

Photo Credits: Photos of Prayer Beads by Kristy DiGeronimo of DiGeronimo Wellness.