"Recite the rosary every day to obtain the peace for the world and the end of the war."
~ Our Lady of Fatima
"If you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.”
~ Pope Saint Pius X
“As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them closer together. It is important not to lose this precious inheritance. We need to return to the practice of family prayer and prayer for families, continuing to use the Rosary.”
~Pope St. John Paul II
Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 41
“We desire to welcome the Virgin’s maternal request, committing ourselves to saying the rosary with faith for peace in our families, in countries, and in the whole world.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI
10/07/07
"I want to recommend some medicine for all of you, It's a spiritual medicine. Don't forget to take it. It's good for your heart, for your soul, for your whole life.""
~ Pope Francis
As he gave Rosaries to the faithful in St. Peter's Square
If we trust the authority of the people above, we will take seriously the proposal to pray the Rosary as a family more often, if not daily. When we see the news about our world today, we realize all the more the need for peace and reconciliation. Often times, this peace and reconciliation needs to begin within our very homes, within our very hearts. Family life can be incredibly busy and hectic with work, bills, commuting, car-pooling, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and childcare. The list of things-to-do can seem insurmountable. The idea of praying a daily or even one 5 decade family Rosary can seem like another chore or item on the checklist, an impracticality, or a form of psychological torture for those with small children. One may fear that the rote repetition and length of the Rosary may simply drive you or your children mad. One may fear that in the end it will cause a hatred or bitterness for the Rosary in the long-run in your children's lives when they grow up. Some of these fears may be legitimate, but, my bet is, that most are mostly unwarranted and unfounded, especially when we consider the promises Our Lady has given to those who do pray the Rosary daily. I believe, primarily, it is all in the explanation and the creativity in which you present the Rosary.
Pope St. John Paul II wrote,
"To pray the Rosary for children, and even more, with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily “pause for prayer” with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. It could be objected that the Rosary seems hardly suited to the taste of children and young people of today. But perhaps the objection is directed to an impoverished method of praying it. Furthermore, without prejudice to the Rosary's basic structure, there is nothing to stop children and young people from praying it – either within the family or in groups – with appropriate symbolic and practical aids to understanding and appreciation. Why not try it? With God's help, a pastoral approach to youth which is positive, impassioned and creative – as shown by the World Youth Days! – is capable of achieving quite remarkable results. If the Rosary is well presented, I am sure that young people will once more surprise adults by the way they make this prayer their own and recite it with the enthusiasm typical of their age group" (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 42)
For those who have the desire to pray the Rosary as a family, but feel completely overwhelmed even by the thought of attempting to pray a whole 5 decade Rosary. I suggest 10 creative means to get you excited about the possibility of praying it and how to make it the most fruitful for you and your family.
1. Break it up into the seven days of the week.
Pope St. John Paul II wrote,
"The Rosary can be recited in full (20 decades) every day, and there are those who most laudably do so... Yet it is clear – and this applies all the more if the new series of mysteria lucis is included – that many people will not be able to recite more than a part of the Rosary, according to a certain weekly pattern. This weekly distribution has the effect of giving the different days of the week a certain spiritual “colour”, by analogy with the way in which the Liturgy colours the different seasons of the liturgical year" (RVM, 38).Surely depending on the pastoral needs of one's families, it may be even more reasonable to distribute 5 decades over the span of a week, especially if the thought of 5 decades sounds overwhelming. One Rosary over the span of a week is better than no Rosary.
Sunday - Introductory Prayers
Monday - 1st Decade
Tuesday - 2nd Decade
Wednesday - 3rd Decade
Thursday - 4th Decade
Friday - 5th Decade
Saturday - Concluding Prayers
Below is a Prayer booklet ready-to-print with how to split up the Rosary into 5 days with some of the other recommendations included below. Feel free to download it, print it off, and share it.
2. Display images of the mysteries. (Available to buy here (8x10) and here (4x6).)
I'm a visual learner and I learn through beauty. Displaying images can help people enter deeper into the mystery.
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| At my sister's House |
Pope St. John Paul II wrote,
"Using a suitable icon to portray it, is as it were to open up a scenario on which to focus our attention"(Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 29).
3. Add the favorite element of children: FIRE! (But use causion)
What kid doesn't love lighting a candle or blowing out a candle? Lighting a candle to represent our prayers burning before the throne of God can draw children deeper into the mystery of prayer. As a pyro-maniac child, lighting the candles was my favorite part about Advent. Yet besides simply watching the flame and playing with the wax afterwards, was the fact that the fire signified that something different was occuring, something worth paying attention to was happening.
4. Use Scripture.
You can read an excerpt at the beginning of the Mystery or have 10 verses to be read before each Hail Mary. This helps focus the meditation and prayer to the life of Christ and the Gospel.
Pope St. John Paul II wrote,
"In order to supply a Biblical foundation and greater depth to our meditation, it is helpful to follow the announcement of the mystery with the proclamation of a related Biblical passage, long or short, depending on the circumstances. No other words can ever match the efficacy of the inspired word. As we listen, we are certain that this is the word of God, spoken for today and spoken 'for me'" (RVM, 30).
5. Include Songs
Any family who has let their kids watch "Frozen" knows that kids love to sing and sing often! Adding an "Immaculate Mary," "Ave Maria," or "Salve Regina" will give kids the opportunity to belt it out. Some of my favorite memories growing up are of my family singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" around the Advent wreath.
6. Use your imagination.
Ask questions pertaining to the mystery that will get you and your kids thinking and engaged in the mystery. They can imagine themselves to be a character in the Gospel.
For instance, the Wedding Feast at Cana...
1. Who are you? A wedding guest, a servant, the bride/the groom, the steward of the feast?
2. How many people were invited? What were people wearing? Was it loud? Was there music? What were people doing at the feast?
3. Where was the wedding? Was it outside or inside?
4. What did Mary look like? What did Jesus look like? What were they doing when the wine ran out?
5. How did Mary feel? What did Jesus look like at Mary's request? What was going on in Jesus' heart?
6. What were the servants thinking when they were asked to pour that much water? Where did they get the water from? What were the Apostles thinking?
7. What did the wine taste like? What were the servants' reaction? What were the Apostles' reactions? What was Mary's reaction? What was Jesus' reaction?
Pope St. John Paul II writes,
"The words direct the imagination and the mind towards a particular episode or moment in the life of Christ. In the Church's traditional spirituality, the veneration of icons and the many devotions appealing to the senses, as well as the method of prayer proposed by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises, make use of visual and imaginative elements (the compositio loci), judged to be of great help in concentrating the mind on the particular mystery. This is a methodology, moreover, which corresponds to the inner logic of the Incarnation: in Jesus, God wanted to take on human features. It is through his bodily reality that we are led into contact with the mystery of his divinity." (RVM, 29).
7. Create your own set of Mysteries.
When Pope St. John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light to the Rosary, he knew that a little creativity could go a long way in the renewal of the Rosary. The mysteries that are currently the Joyful, the Luminous, the Sorrowful, and the Glorious are not exhaustive. If the Word become flesh, His whole life is worth meditating upon, not simply the ones highlighted by the current mysteries. Pope St. John Paul II showed us that we do not have to be afraid in using the structure of the Rosary as a framework for going deeper into the Gospels.
He wrote...
"I believe, however, that to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional pattern which, while left to the freedom of individuals and communities, could broaden it to include the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his Baptism and his Passion...Consequently, for the Rosary to become more fully a “compendium of the Gospel”, it is fitting to add, following reflection on the Incarnation and the hidden life of Christ (the joyful mysteries) and before focusing on the sufferings of his Passion (the sorrowful mysteries) and the triumph of his Resurrection (the glorious mysteries), a meditation on certain particularly significant moments in his public ministry (the mysteries of light). This addition of these new mysteries, without prejudice to any essential aspect of the prayer's traditional format, is meant to give it fresh life and to enkindle renewed interest in the Rosary's place within Christian spirituality as a true doorway to the depths of the Heart of Christ, ocean of joy and of light, of suffering and of glory" (RVM, 19).
"In effect, the Rosary is simply a method of contemplation. As a method, it serves as a means to an end and cannot become an end in itself. All the same, as the fruit of centuries of experience, this method should not be undervalued. In its favour one could cite the experience of countless Saints. This is not to say, however, that the method cannot be improved. Such is the intent of the addition of the new series of mysteria lucis to the overall cycle of mysteries and of the few suggestions which I am proposing in this Letter regarding its manner of recitation. These suggestions, while respecting the well-established structure of this prayer, are intended to help the faithful to understand it in the richness of its symbolism and in harmony with the demands of daily life... Yet, even though the mysteries contemplated in the Rosary, even with the addition of the mysteria lucis, do no more than outline the fundamental elements of the life of Christ, they easily draw the mind to a more expansive reflection on the rest of the Gospel" (RVM, 28)Two set of mysteries that I picked myself from the Gospels and have prayed with that I found extremely beneficial were "the Mysteries of Mercy" and "the Mysteries of Faith." Now of course these are not official, but they may have the ability to open new doorways into meditating upon the life of Christ and His ministry.
The Mysteries of Mercy
1. The Healing of the Paralytic and the Calling of Matthew - Matthew 9:1-13
2. Zacchaeus - Luke 19:1-10
3. The Woman Caught in Adultery - John 8:2-11
4. Woman Washing Jesus' Feet - Luke 7:36-50
5. The Good Theif - Luke 23:33-43
Pope Francis said,
"I believe this is the time of mercy... And I believe that is a kairos: This time is a kairos of mercy. John Paul II had this intuition first, when he began with Faustina Kowalska, the Divine Mercy ... he had something, he intuited that it was a necessity of this time."
Mysteries of Faith
1. Faith of the Centurion - Mt. 8:5-13
2. Jesus Calms the Storm at Sea - Mt. 8:23-27
3. Faith of the Hemorrhaging Woman - Mk. 5:24-34
4. Peter Walks on Water - Mt. 14:22-33
5. Canaanite Woman's Faith - Mt. 15:21-28
Pope Francis wrote,
"The Church never takes faith for granted, but knows that this gift of God needs to be nourished and reinforced so that it can continue to guide her pilgrim way. The Second Vatican Council enabled the light of faith to illumine our human experience from within, accompanying the men and women of our time on their journey. It clearly showed how faith enriches life in all its dimensions" (Lumen Fidei, 6).
8. Pick a consistent time to pray it.
Pick a time to pray it and stick to that schedule. The easiest time when all my family members have the biggest chance of all being together would be after dinner.
9. Reflect on the roles of the Persons of the Trinity.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in the work of salvation. As you reflect on the mysteries of the Rosary you could pick one Person to highlight and reflect upon. One week you could just mediate on the role of the Father during the mysteries. Another week you could reflect on the role of the Son. And the third week you could reflect on the work of the Holy Spirit, what He was doing and who He was acting in.
The Catechism states,
"Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. It is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the Son of God made man... In the New Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Kingdom is "the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity . . . with the whole human spirit. Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ..." (CCC, 2564-2565).
10. Reflect on the specific fruit of the mystery.
Each mystery has a fruit or virtue that the family could specifically meditate on and look out for while praying that mystery. For instance, for the Visitation it is "Love of Neighbor." Parents can then ask...
- What is love of neighbor?
- How did Mary display love of neighbor?
- How did Jesus display love of neighbor?
- How have you displayed love of neighbor this week?
- What is something you can do to display love of neighbor?
- Can you think of a saint who displays love of neighbor?
Then you can also incorporate the saints by telling stories of specific saints who lived that fruit or virtue well.
Pope John Paul II writes,
"It is worthwhile to note that the contemplation of the mysteries could better express their full spiritual fruitfulness if an effort were made to conclude each mystery with a prayer for the fruits specific to that particular mystery. In this way the Rosary would better express its connection with the Christian life" (RVM, 35).
Pope St. John Paul II wrote,
"The family that prays together stays together. The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. Individual family members, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God. Many of the problems facing contemporary families, especially in economically developed societies, result from their increasing difficulty in communicating. Families seldom manage to come together, and the rare occasions when they do are often taken up with watching television. To return to the recitation of the family Rosary means filling daily life with very different images, images of the mystery of salvation: the image of the Redeemer, the image of his most Blessed Mother. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the centre, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on" (RVM, 41).
I pray that these suggestions will help you and your families to pray the Rosary with new rigor and vigor. God bless you!
Try this link out:
Weekly Family Rosary Booklet
