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“Okay, kids, let’s pray the rosary!” I call to the back seat, as we settle in for a long drive. Anytime we are in the car for more than 20 minutes, I figure it’s the perfect time to pray a rosary together.
My kids groan. They would rather listen to music or an audiobook or just stare out the window. I understand because I remember feeling the same way as a child.
“I know you guys don’t want to pray with me,” I say with a smile. “I felt the same way when I was little. My mom and dad would always pray the rosary on long car rides. I never wanted to pray with them. I would even pretend I was asleep!”
My kids laugh at that. Then one of them pipes up, “Then why are you making us pray? We don’t want to either!”
“It’s because I know some things now that I didn’t understand when I was little,” I explain. “I know what the rosary will mean to you someday.”
Knowing how to pray the rosary is a gift
I pause, not quite sure how to explain it in a way they will understand. What I’ve seen and experienced is that praying the rosary carried me through the hardest times of my life.
I know there will come a day in their lives when it feels like their world is crashing down around them. As much as I wish I could prevent it from happening, I can’t. I don’t know what will happen to make them feel this way, but I do know that suffering and sorrow are unavoidable on this earth.
When that day comes, I may not be there to help and support them. But somebody else will be there, somebody who loves them even more than I do.
Our mother in Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, will be there with them. It has never been known that anyone who fled to her protection was left unaided. Her rosary is a sign of that protection.
They may be left so shaken that they cannot even find the words to voice a prayer to God in the face of their suffering. Then it will be a great gift to have the words of the rosary written on their hearts.
When their own words fail, the words of Scripture that make up the rosary will still be there for them.
Finally, I just say, “I teach you these prayers so you will always have them with you when you need them.”
A lifeline to Heaven
In my own scariest moments, the rosary was a life preserver.
The best way I have to understand it is to think of the rosary as a rope that connects me from the raging sea, buffeted by gales, to the ship that is the Ark of Salvation. When I feel as though I am drowning, I can cling tightly to the rosary and know that I have a life preserver in life’s storms.
The rosary is a lifeline between heaven and earth, and I hope my children will hold tightly to that connection all their lives.
My kids stop grumbling and agree to pray with me, and I promise we can play their music when we’re done.
“There’s one other reason I’m making you pray the rosary,” I say. “I know you’re going to thank me for it someday.”
“How do you know that?” one of them asks suspiciously.
“Because I'm glad my mom and dad made me pray the rosary, even when I didn’t want to,” I say. “I’m thankful for it every day. And I know someday you will be, too.”
An update...
I first wrote this article three years ago, when my children were a lot younger. Now my oldest is ten and I’m so happy to say that the day I hoped for, when my children would love the rosary, came a lot sooner than I expected.
This past Lent, our family discipline was to pray a decade of the rosary together every night. My kids came to associate the rosary with snuggling and cozy family time, and now they sometimes ask to pray a decade of the rosary together of their own accord. They also greatly enjoy the monthly family rosary and potluck nights coordinated through our parish parents’ ministry. I am so glad my children are learning to love the rosary as much as I do!
