Bead by Bead: Our Family and the Sorrowful Mysteries

Sarah Pedrozo recaps her family’s experience of using the new book, The Family That Prays Together Stays Together, to pray the Rosary.

The Rosary is one of my favorite ways to pray. Not only is it a powerful prayer, greeting Mary using the same words as the Angel Gabriel, but it also hinges on Jesus and walks us through key moments in the life of the Holy Family, and the story of God becoming man. But I will admit, sometimes my mind wanders off as I am praying ... and I realize I’ve zoned out on several Hail Marys.

So, I was excited to try praying with Father Willy Raymond’s new book, inspired by the life of Father Patrick Peyton, The Family that Prays Together Stays Together: A Bead-by-Bead Family Guide through the Mysteries. It was that “bead-by-bead” part I was especially interested in.  

The book instructs parents to focus on one decade at a time, and work through an entire set of Mysteries in a week, rather than trying to pray all five Mysteries in one night. This is good advice if you have a house full of little people, and it was the way my husband and I introduced the Rosary to our children when they were very young.   

Introduction to the Mysteries

However, life has changed for us, and we are now parents to young adults in their late teens and early twenties. For us, it made more sense to pray all five mysteries on the same evening, using the book as a guide. I’ll share our experience of praying the Sorrowful Mysteries.  

I introduced each of the mysteries by first reading the short explanation of each Mystery found in the Introduction to the Sorrowful Mysteries. These introductions are just a couple of sentences long and give us a good reminder about the event we were about to contemplate together. From there, we followed the pattern laid out in the book. We prayed the Our Father, then read the Scripture passage and Reflection. After praying the 10 Hail Marys and the Glory Be, we listened to the Conclusion. We passed the book around, alternating readers as we prayed through each mystery, one by one.  

We especially appreciated how the Scripture, Reflection, and Conclusion of each Mystery worked together to guide us into a deeper understanding of the topic. For example, praying the fourth mystery, the Carrying of the Cross, was very moving. Not only did we read the Scriptural passage detailing when Simon of Cyrene was “pressed into service” (Mk 15:21) to help carry our Lord’s cross, but we were reminded in the Reflection that many of those who accompanied Jesus through his suffering, death, and burial were women.

Holy Women Accompanying Christ

We learned, also, that just as those holy women accompanied Jesus, there were also two women who helped Father Peyton carry his cross. After his mother died, Father Peyton found out from his aunt that his mother’s constant prayer was that all his sufferings “would come upon her” so that he would recover his health and resume his work. Likewise, Father Peyton’s sister, Nellie, also offered up all her “thoughts, words and action” every day as a way to help her two brothers, Thomas Francis and Patrick Joseph, carry their crosses.

It was very moving to hear about a family praying for each other in such a way, with parents and siblings genuinely desiring holiness for one another. The Conclusion to this Mystery emphasized the need for each of us to carry our own cross, instead of seeking comfort and ease, and to be aware of the crosses others are carrying, to try to help them through prayer and actions, if that’s possible.  

The reflections for this mystery in particular resonated with us, and my kids thought about what crosses they are called to carry and how they can pray for each other and help each other. Imitating Nellie, they realized they, too, could offer up their “thoughts, words and actions.” It led to some fruitful dialogue, which I hope will also bear fruit in their lives. It was well worth the extra minutes spent reading and reflecting more deeply on the mysteries, and we appreciate Father Willy’s insight and wisdom. I plan to keep this book in our family prayer space and return to it often.