family prayer | The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands
My dad was the first person to teach me to pray. As a little girl, I remember him kneeling next to my bedside, showing me the Sign of the Cross, and reciting our prayers.
As a child, I didn’t see him much; he worked a lot to provide for our family. In my early adulthood, we didn’t always get along due to his vocal opinions. I came to see him as this loud, rigid man. I loved him but didn’t always like him. Both headstrong and controlling, there were power clashes between us, yet his Catholic faith was strong and never shaken.
When my mom died six years ago, I felt like God had left me with the most difficult man and questioned why He’d taken the easier parent. Simultaneously, around this time, I started praying the Rosary. As Venerable Patrick Payton frequently said, “The family that prays together stays together.” I wanted my family to pray this prayer with me, but no one was interested, and I felt the prayers weren’t working.
But there was one person in my family who wanted to pray: my father. He was always willing to pray.
The Rosary as a Source of Peace
As time went by, my relationship with my father grew more difficult, especially as his health needs increased, having been diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy years earlier. Now a widow and struggling to walk, he tried to maintain his independence, making it clear he was still in charge. His body would tell him otherwise, and there were moments he had to submit to God because he had no other choice. I would take him to specialists 45 minutes away from our hometown. On the road, we’d quarrel about what direction to go, where to park, what time to arrive, and where to eat. Yet we discovered one thing that kept us from arguing: praying the Rosary. So, each time we drove, we’d take up our beads and recite the Mysteries.
Dad's Health Declined
As time went by and my dad became bedridden, my heart began to soften. I realized his hardness was his courage. I stopped complaining and just started loving him. Slowly, a change also took place over him, and he no longer looked to argue.
In the past year, his health declined. As I sat with him in the hospital and prayed the Rosary just as we’d done in the car, the wounds of our past began to heal. We talked, laughed, prayed, and forgave. Now, at his bedside, I finally began to understand my father. His love for me had always been there, but it took prayers, courage, and humility for me to see it. Our prayers had changed us. Mary had shown us how to love.
This August, Dad returned home to be with our Lord. I miss him terribly, but I give thanks to God for making us whole. Father Patrick Payton, C.S.C., was right. The family that prays together does stay together.
Venerable Patrick Peyton, known as "The Rosary Priest," devoted his priestly life to encouraging family prayer, especially the Rosary. This October, for the Month of the Holy Rosary, Family Rosary (an apostolate founded by Father Peyton) and Catholic Mom have teamed up for this daily series dedicated to the Rosary.
