Happy October! In honor of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th, and the whole month of October, which is dedicated to the Rosary, this month's Catholic All Year Liturgical Living video is about . . . saying a family Rosary. We know we should be doing it, but why is it so hard to actually, ya know, do it?
Video by Elizabeth Mirzaei, and books by Ignatius Press! Stay tuned to the end of the show for some recommendations of a few of my favorite saint biographies. Get 25% off of my recommended books through the end of November at www.ignatius.com with the code CAY1019
Most Catholics are probably familiar with all the good reasons to say the Rosary: Our bishops have officially asked us to say a daily family Rosary, popes and saints have encouraged it for centuries, Our Lady has specifically asked it of us in multiple apparitions. There is a plenary indulgence available to us EVERY DAY (subject to the usual conditions) for saying the Rosary in a church, family, religious community, or group. We know we should be doing it.
So why do so many of us . . . not? Well, from what I hear, and from my own experience, it’s mostly because of three reasons:
TIME: I know time is an issue for a lot of families, ours included, so our approach is to fit a family rosary in whenever and wherever we can. Very often, this means in the car. We do a family rosary on any long car ride. After all, we’re strapped in there anyway, with nothing better to do!
PUSH BACK FROM KIDS: It’s easy for parents to think our kids should just naturally want to pray, and if they don’t we don’t want to spoil it for them by making them. But then I think about how my kids also don’t want to wear their seatbelts, or do their schoolwork, or brush their teeth, and I realize that it’s not a piety issue, it’s a parenting issue. So we present saying the Rosary as a family activity that members of the family must participate in. If they don’t, they get a couple reminders, then they incur the same sorts of consequences as they would for breaking other family rules. What they begin doing out of obedience, they can learn to do out of love.
BOREDOM: When the rosary feels boring, and yes, sometimes it does, I remind myself that no where does it say we have to like it, it just says a lot of places that we should do it. When your mom asks you to clean your room, she doesn’t really care whether you enjoy it or not, she just wants you to do it. And then, once your room is clean, maybe you can see that she was right.
And as much as it can feel like a chore to start a family Rosary, we are always, always glad to have listened to Mama Mary once we’re done!
Get the Catholic All October printable PDF booklet here, featuring prayers and instructions for saying the Rosary.
Or here as a paperback on Amazon here.
The Catholic All Year Compendium is available here.
Use code CAY1019 for 25% off this month's recommended books by Ignatius Press at Ignatius.com . . .
Hail Mary board book by Maite Roche.
Let's Pray the Rosary by Mauricette Vial-Andru.
Related reading here:
Why I Bother With the Rosary
How We Say a Family Rosary
Our Father Who Art in Stop Hitting Your Sister: praying with regular kids
Related products here:
Rosary Quotes Printable Set
Rosary Prayers and Instructions Printable Booklet
Graphic Rosary: One Page Printable Follow Along Rosary With Prayers
We love the rosaries we have from The Catholic Woodworker.
And soft, unbreakable kid rosaries by ChewsLife (Note: the one the girls are playing tug-of-war with isn't broken! The rosary has a soft clasp for safe release, and pops right back together.)
My nursing dress (in which I am actually nursing in some of those couch shots!) is from H&M.