12 Tips for Praying the Family Rosary

by Taylor Marshall, Ph.D.
The Family Rosary is one of those bedrock devotions for the family recommended
by the saints and spiritual masters. The Blessed Virgin Mary herself asked all
Christians to pray the "one third {i.e. 5 decades} of the Holy Rosary daily" in her
message at Fatima.

The Popes have also attached a "plenary indulgence" to those who pray 5 decades
of the Rosary "as a family" (when the other usual conditions are met*). This
plenary indulgence cannot be obtained by private recitation - only in the context
of a "family" recitation. This stipulation demonstrates that the Catholic Church
privileges praying the Rosary as a family. The reason for this is that the Rosary is
the "rose garden" of sanctify for children. As the Holy Spirit teaches us: "Train up
a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from
it” (Proverbs 22:6).

Saint Louis de Montfort gives us another eight more reasons for praying the
Rosary daily:
1. It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2. It purifies our souls, washing away sin.
3. It gives us victory over all our enemies
4. It makes it easy for us to practice virtue
5. It sets us on fire with love of Our Blessed Lord
6. It enriches us with graces and merits
7. It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow
men, and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God
8. It gives us the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the science of salvation through
our meditations on His life, death, Passion and glory.

Okay, are you convinced? The family Rosary is the most powerful tool you have
for edifying your family in grace.
So how do you get a bunch of children under the age of reason (or above the age
of reason) to pray 5 decades of the Rosary every day? How can they sit still for 15
minutes? Is it possible?

Here are some tips on how to maintain the daily family Rosary. My wife and
I have five children ages 8, 6, 6 (twins), 4, and 2. We pray five decades every night
- though there are exceptions. We're not perfect, but we try.

Twelve Tips for Praying the Family Rosary Daily

1. Pray using alternation (The father prays first half of Our Father and
everyone else prays second half - same goes for Hail Mary and Glory be).

2. Pray the Rosary after dinner but right before bed - this means homework
needs to be finished before dinner. Homework kills the Rosary if you don't
stay on top of it. You'll also need to say goodbye to watching prime time
television - since this is the ideal window of praying together as a family.

3. Pray the Holy Rosary always at the same place at the exact same time.
Devotions become strong - even invincible - by constant custom and habit.

4. Pray the Rosary in a special room and set up a little altar with a Bible on it,
candles, a statue or image, holy water, or a relic.

5. Dim the lights and light the candles when you begin. If you let the little
ones light the candles - they will love it. Kids love fire. Make this a "special
time" different from other times. We even burn incense on our domestic
altar on feast days. (You can do this easily by placing a little metal screen
over a votive candle and then by placing a few grains of incense on the
screen. It's fast and easy. This way you don't have use charcoal.)

6. Maybe begin with a hymn or Bible reading to slow things down and set the
tone.

7. The father sets the example. I recommend that the father kneel for the
whole Rosary. This communicates importance and solemnity to the
Rosary. Children attach importance to what dad does, e.g. mowing lawn,
going to work, driving the "dad car," etc.

8. Make it a rule that the child who prays all the responses and volunteers to
lead a mystery (10 beads) gets to stay up 10 minutes more than everyone
that night - at our house this means you get to watch baseball or have a
book read to you. This may be the most important tip. Kids under 7 or 8
need this sort of incentive. If you tell a 6 year old, pray the Rosary so that
you receive grace and sanctity - they don't get it. If you say, pray the Rosary
so that you can stay up and read a book with me - they'll hit their knees and
pray like angels.

9. The one who gets to stay up also gets to blow out the candle at the end.
This gives another incentive to pray the prayers - especially for the younger
ones. For some reason, blowing out the candle is a really big deal to
younger children. (Kids love fire!!!). You'd be amazed how a four year old
will attempt to stay still if he can only place a grain of incense on a flame or
blow out a candle. (Did I mention that kids love fire?)

10. End with invoking everyone's patron saint (your children's names,
confirmation names, and other patrons). E.g. "Saint Thomas: pray for us.
Saint Jude: pray for us. Saint Anne: pray for us." Always finish with St
Joseph and then Holy Mary Mother of God. Then say "Sacred Heart of
Jesus: have mercy on us," three times. If you're shooting for the plenary
indulgence, make sure to pray an Our Father and Hail Mary for the Pope.

11. If family Rosary is new, start with one decade for a week. Then go to three
for a week. Then go to five decades on the third week. Then don't ever stop.

12. After the daily Rosary is established in your home, have each child
announce a mystery and pray the whole decade. This gives them
confidence in praying and makes it natural. Plus, they'll learn to memorize
all the mysteries of the Holy Rosary - which means they will have
memorized the biblical account of Christ's life, death, and glory! This is
why the Rosary is called "the Bible on beads."

If you do this, then you'll be producing saints for the future. If you're an older
reader of CTales and your children are grown up - please pray for all the younger
parents so that they can persevere in this. It's not easy at first - and we newer
parents need all the help we can get!

ad Jesum per Mariam,
Taylor

* The other usual conditions for receiving a plenary indulgence (full remission
of temporal punishment - the kind remitted in purgatory) is to receive Holy
Communion on that day, receive the sacrament of Penance within "about 20
days," prayer for the Pope, and full detachment from all sins.

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