I’m sure nine out of ten parents would agree: Praying the Rosary as a family can be a participation in the Passion of Christ. It’s a form of redemptive suffering unlike any other. With the nomadic tendencies of little ones and the other struggles of family life sure to interrupt this needed prayerful meditation, we could easily ask ourselves, Why even begin a tradition of prayer which will only end in frustration? Why place ourselves upon this path of agony?
Deep down, we know that this suffering has life-giving repercussions. Let us look at the need for a parental call to prayer, the Rosary’s connection with the rhythm of life, the application of suffering, and the culmination in our resurrection with Christ.
The Call
To establish the habit of praying the Rosary as a family, the first step—and not the least daunting—is the call. Just trying to gather the children for family prayers can be quite a feat. In fact, I daresay the parting of the Red Sea can seem at times a small act of divine intervention compared to gathering all the kids into one location for a bit of prayer time.
One of the biggest challenges is simply how busy families are these days. In many homes, it is rare to have everyone gathered together for a family meal, let alone an established prayer experience. Take the simple step of picking a few nights during the week to embark on this prayer adventure. Then make the call heard throughout your homes. As the parent, it is your job to make prayer time a recognized priority. It must be as important to you as attending your child’s sports events.
As a father of eight, I know how it is to get discouraged by the seemingly endless struggle of gathering young children for the family Rosary. But consider this when you are tempted to despair after giving the call over and over . . . and over again: We exert the extra effort to prepare and gather the children for school, doctor appointments, or even a trip to the zoo. Does not their spiritual health have far greater implications than these events?
The Rhythm of Life
The Rosary has a rhythm that models our life: Joyful and sorrowful events unfold before us daily. By meditating upon the mysteries found in the Rosary, we can unite our experiences—even the experience of family prayer!—with those of the Holy Family.
Children will occasionally become distracted while praying the family Rosary—or rather, they will occasionally be engaged in prayer. All of the Hail Marys and the tedious task of incorporating both vocal and meditative prayer can challenge the attention span not just of the young ones but of all of us who have been nursed upon the electronic pabulum of our age. Kids today—and adults, too—are constantly entertained through television and computers. The Rosary, on the other hand, does not offer constant feel-good gratification, and without the glam and glitz of modern technology it can seem a bit pointless for spiritual development in young people. Isn’t there a more attractive way to invite our children into prayer? One that is “fun”?
The Rosary is hardly an invitation into the latest expression of something “fun.” But neither is it an ancient prayer needing the latest technological boost to lure the masses into its beauty. The Rosary is an opportunity for us to settle into the rhythm of God’s life through the Person of Jesus Christ. Rather than being one more thing in this world that offers to gratify our personal desires or needs, the Rosary is an exercise in self-donation. We can instill this virtue in our children by encouraging them to offer the Rosary for those with no one to pray for them.
The struggle for spiritual growth within family prayer has beautiful ramifications. We may not “feel” that our children are being touched during this time, and it may seem they are overly disinterested, but the truth is that they are formed and shaped through the repetition of these prayers and meditations upon the mysteries of the Rosary.
Pointless Suffering?
As we gather for the family Rosary in our home, exhaustion often overwhelms me the moment I sit down. I feel unfortunately very much like Peter and the disciples who fell asleep in the garden during Jesus’ agony. I have actually drifted off in the middle of a Hail Mary only to be startled awake by my wife praying a little louder, inviting me back into the land of the living.
It isn’t just a personal struggle, though. With children weeping and gnashing their teeth, instead of being a heavenly experience this prayer time seems to reflect a manifestation of purgatory. Many evenings my little ones gather into the living room with rosaries in hand not for the purpose of participating in the prayers, but with intentions of creating and implementing upon their siblings new devices of torture. Some have created what could possibly be marketed as a new workout program, enabling you to stretch your legs further than one could imagine. The preferred use of rosaries in our house has been to whip siblings into shape.
My wife and I invite the little ones to look at picture books with images of the Sorrowful, Glorious, or Joyful Mysteries, yet inevitably any given book becomes the one which every child must hold in his or her lap. It is a struggle to continue in prayer with the phone ringing, homework looming, babies crying, little ones arguing, teenagers mumbling, food digesting, and exhaustion overwhelming. And all the while we wonder: Will any of this really make a difference? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
A Resurrection Moment
On Good Friday several years ago, my 4-year-old son led the fourth sorrowful mystery for the first time. We all clapped as he finished. Everyone in the family was so proud and excited at this beautiful moment. I had known that he could pray some of the prayers before, but he had never led a mystery. That night he wanted to. It was a glorious moment that would not have come had we not been persistent in praying the family Rosary.
In the end, teaching our children to focus on the beauty of God’s love within time, and our invitation as His children to spend eternity with Him, is the catecheses we as parents are asked to convey. I am given these children by God in order to bring them to heaven.
Our children are trained by the world to embrace the popular, star athletes, or those who are financially successful. As Catholic parents, we are to instill in our children the futility of worldly attachment and approval in order that they might pursue the Pearl of Great Price. We are to lead our children to the beauty of Christ Jesus, imploring them to seek God above all else. Entrusting our families to the maternity of the Blessed Mother Mary, especially by praying the family Rosary, enables us to achieve our goal as parents. The Blessed Mother is willing and able to instruct us as we train up our children in the way they should go.
One sure way of getting in step with our Mother’s teaching is to meditate upon the mysteries of the Rosary. Leading our family into this meditation is not easy, nor is it always contemplative or the conduit for warm and fuzzy feelings. The importance and value of the Rosary is there nonetheless. Patiently finding new ways to bring out the mysteries, through Scripture reading, looking at photos, or asking for reflections after each decade are small ways to engage them into these moments of prayer.
Make the call heard in your family, invite them into the rhythm of life by meditating upon the beauty of God in time, take all of the struggles of this Rosary time and place it upon the Cross, realizing that the impact you are making in their lives is leading them to the beauty of the Resurrection.
Chris Padgett is a musician, speaker, and a devoted husband and father of eight. He resides with his family in Steubenville, Ohio. For more information about his various outreaches, visit www.chris-padgett.com.
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