The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together
Praying the Rosary as a family is a highly encouraged practice. When children are young, there is a prayer parents can pray for their children after each decade: With this Rosary I bind my children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for her guidance and protection.
Children can learn to pray the Rosary at an early age, due to the simplicity and repetition of the prayers. They can begin by simple listening then move to responding, and eventually to leading one of the decades. The process can take time, but will eventually prove fruitful. One can only imagine what the power of the Rosary and children’s prayers can accomplish. They may not understand what they are saying at first, but understanding will come with time. Reading small passages from a children’s Bible and explaining the significance of the Rosary and the meaning and power of the prayers, may help children understand the true power and value of the Rosary.
In my family, the Rosary has become an integral part of every day. When I was little, my parents used to let me play while they prayed the Rosary together. Eventually, they decided if I could talk, I could pray. I would sit and listen, join in when I could, and when I was school-age, I began leading. My siblings eventually joined the ranks as well. As babies, they would hold jumbo-rosaries and suck on the large plastic beads. After years of listening, with mastery came the responsibility of leading a decade. Each of us leads a decade. We usually pray before or after dinner and it is a quiet time to calm down from business of the day.
“If at First You Don’t Succeed – Try, Try Again.”
There were (and still are) many failed attempts and many distractions to overcome. The advice from Thomas Palmer’s famous poem has been put into practice numerous times – “if at first you don’t succeed….” Praying the Rosary takes patience and perseverance, even after years of routine. With time, however, children come around to expecting the Rosary as part of the daily routine. There are days some of us fall asleep or are busy calculating how much time will be left to play or study afterwards, or are busy making faces at whoever is in front of us, but over the years I have become grateful for this prayer time. It brings us together for half-an-hour to calm down and thank God for His goodness.
It is a respite from the craziness of the day. There are many days I wish I had half-an-hour extra of study-time and my mind is elsewhere. There are somedays we arrive at the end and I wonder what I just said. However, one thing I have come to realize, is that the Rosary is a source of great comfort. When the world seems to be falling apart, the Rosary is a source of consistency and unity, “an ever present help in distress” (Psalm 46:1).
We’ve got special short stories and coloring sheets to celebrate today!
Our Lady of Fatima Saint Francisco Saint Jacinta
Plus we have some beautiful articles to share about the Rosary!!
The Rosary a weapon for our times!