The Reality of the Family Rosary

By Elizabeth Foss
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 4/17/03)

The family that prays together, stays together.’ The old cliche, often cited by our Protestant brethren, still rings true. For Catholic families, that prayer time can be especially rich and fruitful. Catholics have been given the gift of the rosary. This year, we are particularly blessed; when the Holy Father declared it the Year of the Rosary, he gave us five new mysteries, the mysteries of light.

If your family is not in the habit of praying the rosary together, the mysteries of light offer you great "marketing opportunity." Children like to be a part of something historic. Tell them about the new mysteries and encourage them to be among the first families to pray these mysteries. If your children have never prayed the rosary, tell them the stories of St. Bernadette, St. Dominic and the children of Fatima. It helps children to understand why we pray the rosary if they recognize how we were given this great gift and what it means in the context of the universal Church. For more information on introducing the Scriptural mysteries, including the luminous mysteries, to children, go to the Web site www.cptryon.org/prayer/child/rosary/index.html.

Frequently, when I mention the family rosary, mothers ask me how I get my small ones to sit still or my bigger children to pay attention cheerfully for a 25-minute, five-decade rosary. Quite simply, I don’t. We pray one mystery a day. Because I want them to learn all the prayers and teaching them is effortless if they hear them repeated daily, we have our own abridged version that includes all the prayers everyday, but only requires one complete mystery.

First, we state prayer intentions. I make them aware of the Holy Father’s intentions. These can be found monthly in the Arlington Catholic HERALD. Everyone has the opportunity to offer his or her own intentions. We pray for peace in our family and peace in the world. We pray for health concerns of friends and family. We have an especially long list of "baby prayers" for babies born and not yet born.

Then, I read a short picture story version of the mystery. I use one of four books by Tomie de Paola: Tomie de Paola’s Book of Bible Stories, The Parables of Jesus, Mary: The Mother of Jesus or The Miracles of Jesus. If we have some extra time, or we are feeling particularly indulgent, I use Jesus and Mary in the Rosary: Echo Stories for Children by Page McKean Zyromski. This book includes a finger play for each of the original 15 mysteries. It also includes the stories of Bernadette, Dominic and the children of Fatima. Little children love to link the movement of the finger plays with the stories.

Once the stories are read, everyone gets his or her own rosary to hold. We have some beautiful handmade rosaries and we have some sturdy children’s rosaries. The rosaries, kept in a family basket, reflect the personalities of their owners.

Each child who is old enough has a day of the week that is his to lead the rosary. We begin with the Apostle’s Creed and then we pray an Our Father and then 10 Hail Marys, followed by the Glory Be, the Fatima prayer and Hail, Holy Queen. We sit on the floor and tiny people are allowed to wiggle if necessary. The child who is leader lights a candle at the beginning of our prayer time and our toddler is allowed to snuff it at the end, provided he has been a "good little man."

While the rosary is particularly suited to small children who love the stories and the beads and the counting, it grows up with our families as well. As children grow, they gain appreciation for the fact that the stories are truly mysteries — we can never know everything about them and we can always learn more about Our Lord from them. I think older children also appreciate the opportunity to pray as a family. When relationships in a family grow more complex and the inevitable tension of adolescence begins to loom like an ominous dark cloud, it is comforting to have the ritual of family prayer and an opportunity to offer prayers for family harmony. At least for those few minutes a day, we can all be united in purpose.

It is gratifying to keep a written list of prayer intentions and then to reflect as a family on how those prayers were answered. A written record of God’s generosity provides children with tangible evidence of His gracious omnipotence. Sometimes, though, it is the unvoiced prayers that are answered most generously. There is a mantle of protection, offered by Our Lady, comforting maternal warmth that evades printed expression. It is a mystery of its own really, a mystery understood when a family prayers the rosary together.

Foss is a freelance writer from Northern Virginia.

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