In my recent tour of several of our Family Rosary missions in Chile, Mexico and Peru, I was struck by something that you may not be aware of. A similar kind of decline in the practice of our faith that has affected America has also started to hit hard there. Latin America, long considered the bastion of Catholicism, is getting sucked up quickly in the consumerism that seems to erode faith and make us forget about God and what most matters in life.

When people become distanced from God, the effects on their personal lives and on society are serious. That’s the real “elephant in the room” that a lot of people don't want to talk about.

How do we help people live in today's world without selling their souls?

The Year of Faith came to a close on November 24, the Feast of Christ the King. However we need to be aware that this has been a preamble for a journey of living and sharing our faith: a New Evangelization precisely to reawaked faith in hearts that have grown tepid or cold to it. 

The task seems daunting. Yet faced with it, I become more convinced of the simple genius of Father Peyton's message: family prayer of the Rosary.  Prayer needs to be at the heart of the task. The Rosary is Mary's School of Prayer, as Blessed John Paul II said. Contemplating the face of Christ with Mary in the Rosary we can learn to pray deeply. The family that prays together stays together communicates a message as important as ever.

However we need a sort of miracle, really. Yet I believe what a friend of mine told me years ago: "Mary makes mountains into mole hills!"

How do you encourage and support your family to live their faith within the enticing environment of consumerism that surrounds us?

On Thursday, November 28th, families throughout the United States will gather to enjoy a Turkey dinner, some time together, some football and to pause to give thanks to God.

Living in New England, near Plymouth, MA, provides me with many signs and symbols of the first Thanksgiving dinner. There are cranberries, the Mayflower ship and so much more.

The other day a turkey came through my friend’s yard and was hiding under her deck as if to find a place to take refuge from being the centerpiece on the dining room table!

This picture caused me to think of what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving but more importantly, each and every day of my life. Thanksgiving gives us a day to pause … to acknowledge all the goodness that surrounds us … and to remember those who have gone before us.

But we can begin this Thanksgiving by practicing the spirit of this day throughout the year.

I was speaking with a friend who lives in Illinois and they had just been hit with a severe tornado which demolished much of the area. People lost everything they owned.  I was struck by how often we complain when minor things do not go the way we think they should or if we don’t get something. 

I paused to take a look at what I have in life: a God who loves me, good health, a roof over my head, food on the table and clothes on my back.  This spirit of Thanksgiving is needed each and every day of our lives.

Perhaps on this special day we should begin a whole year of thanking God for his blessings and graces in our lives.

Pause now to give thanks to God for the blessings in your life and in your family! Enter your prayers of gratitude here and we’ll remember your blessings in our thanksgiving prayers too.

Meet Yadhira.

She recently joined our Family Rosary Mission in Monterrey, Mexico. I went to visit the family - Rubén, Yadhira and their 10 year old daughter - a few days ago and I was blessed to hear her story of faith.

For about ten years, Yadhira was plagued by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Doctors could not isolate anything nor do anything for her but her symptoms were very real: frequent migraine headaches, muscle pain and fatigue, limited articulation of arms and legs. She was suffering!

She had not been so faithful to the practice of her faith at the start of this ordeal but her pain made her look for spiritual  consolation, particularly as medicine seemed incapable of helping her. She became more active in her local parish.

When plagued by migraines at night she would sit before a very beautiful image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe in her house and cry to her.

A couple years ago she joined a Bible study in the chapel and discovered that she loved to study Scripture and particularly to pray with the Psalms.

One night, after Rubén had fallen asleep and she lay in bed feeling nearly crippled by pain, she began to call for help, praying the verses of psalms she had been studying. Suddenly she felt as though an invisible hand held her heart and massaged it twice, firmly and deeply. Then she saw a sort of glitter fall on her and enter her body until she felt an intense warmth.  Slowly the glitter left her body and retreated - AND SHE REALIZED THAT ALL PAIN HAD GONE. SHE WAS WELL.

The next days she lived with an intense feeling of joy … All symptoms were gone and none have returned since! She was really reborn to a new life and she knew it.

Now, as a volunteer in our Family Rosary Mission, she shares her testimony. She wants to tell others of the wonders God has worked in her life.

This story is for real and I have absolutely no doubt about its truthfulness.

So many of us have stories of faith. Maybe not all are quite as dramatic but all are wonderful. Please share yours with us!

As the month of the Rosary came to a close, we began to receive many thank you notes from people around the world who were grateful to receive Rosaries.  The Rosaries for the World program has a very interesting history, beginning with Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, desiring to send one million Rosaries to Russia for their conversion. 

This program has grown over the years and we now send close to 1.2 million Rosaries around the world!

If you are interested in receiving Rosaries for your family, school, parish, hospital, nursing home or prison ministry, please visit our web site at Family Rosary.org

As we enter the month of November, we especially remember those who have died, those who serve in the military and the spirit of Thanksgiving.  Let us pause, bring our intentions to prayer and invite our families to pray the Rosary together.

Let us also remember the encouraging and hopeful message of Father Peyton, a world at prayer is a world at peace.

We would enjoy hearing from you.