Distractions--A Fact of Life

When saying our prayers, our minds very often wander. Don't be distressed if--despite frequent promises that you will focus on your prayer and fence out thoughts on what your neighbor said to you yesterday or which color to paint the hallway--you find your mind once again straying. Just get back on track and keep going. 

Saint Louis de Montfort understands, and writes in The Secret of the Rosary:

. . . Because of the constant repetition of the same Our Father and Hail Mary in the same unvarying form, it is difficult, while saying the Rosary, not to become wearied and inclined to sleep or to turn to other prayers that are more refreshing and less tedious. This goes to show that one needs much greater devotion to persevere in saying the Holy Rosary than in saying any other prayer . . . .

Be of good heart even if your imagination has been bothering you through your Rosary, filing your mind with all kinds of distracting thoughts--as long as you really tried hard to get rid of them as soon as they came. Always remember that the best Rosary is the one with the most merit, and there is more merit in praying when it is hard than when it is easy. 

. . . Even if you have to fight distraction all through your whole Rosary be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is hard to say and you have absolutely no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle, I know, but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be admitting defeat and then, having won, the devil will leave you alone.

So keep going, reflecting on the mysteries at each decade, and know that Our Lady appreciates our effort and our time spent with her and her Son.

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The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis Marie de Montfort, "Forty-Third Rose: Fighting Distractions."