The Family Rosary

These are not easy times to be raising children. The moral decline of our culture, the rise of relativism, hostility toward Christianity, in short, the world, the flesh, and the devil are all working against what we want for our children. What are parents to do? We must pray and pray hard. And who better to turn to on this, the celebration of her birthday, than the Blessed Mother, the one who always leads us to Christ.

When I was young my family sometimes said the rosary together. Inspired by the words of Father Patrick Peyton who said, “The family that prays together stays together,” my mother had bought a little viewfinder depicting the mysteries of the rosary. I loved it. We would pass it around the family so everyone could have a look as we said the mystery depicted on that slide. 

I was reminded of those times when my own growing family was experiencing some challenges. There were arguments and just general tensions that were disrupting the peace of our family. I don’t even remember exactly what the problems were. I only knew that what my husband and I were doing didn’t seem to be working. I thought we might be headed for some real trouble.

It was about that time that I started reading about Our Lady’s messages at Medjugorge. I knew this was not an approved apparition, and so I read the book with some caution. But one of her statements jumped out at me. She had said that when a family says the rosary, Satan is helpless. I thought to myself that that was exactly where I wanted him to be. My husband and I discussed it and decided that we could only gain from saying a family rosary. So we began to say the rosary together as a family every night.

There was some resistance at first with the older kids. The question, “Why do we have to do this?” could always be answered with, “Because we all need to be more like Jesus.” No argument there. Surprisingly, it was not long before no one resisted at all. The children often seemed to enjoy coming together as a family to pray. Even the toddlers would sometimes get us started by saying, “Fro-free?” That was a suggestion impossible to resist.

We tried to make it very doable. If people were tired, they could get a blanket and pillow and lie on the floor. If they fell asleep, that was OK. Sometimes before we started, we would make tea or hot chocolate for those who wanted it. Very young children did not have to be still. In fact, we let them do whatever they wanted, as long as they did not talk. They could play quietly with toys and pray as they were able and interested. Those who were older could color pictures of mysteries of the rosary as they said the prayers. I had a rosary coloring book they could choose from and some even just needed paper and crayons to draw their own original pictures. We did not require that they stick to the mystery we were on. The time it takes to say one decade was not long enough to complete the picture, most of the time. Sometimes I wondered if perhaps we should require a little more reverence, a little more self-discipline. But then I reminded myself that these were children and we needed to make this not only possible by enjoyable.

After perhaps about six months, my husband and I talked again about the state of our family. We realized, with astonishment, that all of the tension that had previously been the subject of concern had mysteriously disappeared. I asked him if he had intentionally changed his approach in parenting. Was he doing something differently? Had he changed his thinking in any way? He had not. Nor had I. We were aware of nothing having been altered in our parenting, at least not by our purposeful choice.  There was no other explanation. It had to be the saying of the family rosary.

There is no question that the rosary is a very powerful prayer. There are so many historical examples. St. Dominic, who received the rosary from Our Lady herself, prayed it as a weapon against the Albigensian Heresy. In 1571, the most powerful navy in the world was defeated when Pope St. Pius V requested that all of Europe pray the rosary for victory in the Battle of Lepanto. Over and over again, Mary has requested that we pray the rosary for peace. Pope St. John Paul II called the rosary “the prayer in which she feels particularly united with us.” He went on to say that when we say the rosary, “She herself prays with us.’

The Queen of Peace prays with us! Who better to come into our homes and soothe our weary hearts. If your family is craving peace, invite the Queen to come join you in the rosary. You will be able to feel the grace and the peace of her comforting presence.