family prayer | Catholic Family Fun | pray the rosary
When I was growing up, I was fortunate to be in a family who prayed the Rosary together. (Full disclosure: as a kid, I usually did not consider myself fortunate!) Several times a month, my dad would walk down the hall outside our bedrooms calling, “The Rosary! Time for the Rosary!” One by one we would appear in the living room, and when we were all gathered Dad would lead the prayers.
At the end of the Rosary, after the Hail Holy Queen, we always added the following prayer:
We consecrate to Thee, O Jesus of love, all the trials, joys, hopes and happiness of our family life. And we beseech Thee to pour out Thy blessings on all our family—absent, present, living or dead—so that when, one after another, we have fallen asleep in Thee, O Jesus, may we find again our family united in Thy Sacred Heart. Amen.
This prayer, usually referred to as the Consecration of the Family to the Sacred Heart, taught us that all parts of our lives could be joined with and offered to Jesus through Mary, as we prayed the Rosary. Since the rosary itself is concerned with events in the daily lives of Jesus and Mary, some ordinary and others extra-ordinary, this prayer helped us understand that there is some kind of participation going on between Jesus’ life that we remember in the rosary, and our own lives, now. In recalling the Mysteries of the Rosary, we are drawing down the graces within them, into our own families, finding the help and support we need.
Years later, my Hispanic husband surprised me by taking on the same role with our kids that my father had done. In the evenings now, he walks around calling “Es hora! El Rosario!” We wait for our kids to drift in, one by one, and then he leads us in prayer. Just as we did when I was growing up, we also add the Consecration prayer. But we’ve put our own family twist on it. We’ve added five quick and simple ways, or check-ins, to help ourselves and our kids offer up our entire day: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Offering Up Emotions
Before we start the Rosary, we do a very simple check-in with emotions. How did we feel today? Happy? Anxious? Jealous? Upset? Confident? This 10-second emotional survey reminds us that our emotions are part of us, and they, too, can be offered up. Sometimes, just identifying and naming emotions is a way to learn how to handle them, instead of just reacting to them.
Offering up our Body
This check-in deals with our physicality. We know we are made of both physical and spiritual material, so this check-in is to pay some attention to our physical bodies. We ask ourselves: What is the state of our body? Is it a little sick? Sleep-deprived? Sluggish? Or feeling pretty good? We can offer up our sickness, injury and discomfort, as well as gratitude for our health. We recognize that we need to take adequate care of ourselves so that we can do the work God wants us to do.
Offering Up our Trials
This check-in is fairly obvious. Was there a situation that was especially difficult today? Did we make a mistake? Did we fall short? We can offer all this up, understanding that God can bring something good out of everything, and tomorrow is another day.
Offering Up our Thoughts
Checking on our daily thoughts is very important. Did we get stuck in a cycle of angry thoughts? Did we frequently mentally talk ourselves or others down? Did we try to focus our thoughts on the task at hand, or the person we are talking to? We offer all our thoughts up, the whole mish-mashed muddle of them.
Offering Up our Hopes
This check-in simply asks: What do we hope for? What gave us joy today? This usually also includes prayers for the world at large.
We’ve found these simple check-ins help us reflect on our day and become more aware of what has happened. Sometimes we share our answers out loud, other times they stay between ourselves and God. Running through our list of check-ins only takes a few minutes and helps us collect our thoughts and turn toward God. Perhaps you or your family would add some different check-ins or take some off this list. Either way, I hope you consider praying the Prayer of Consecration as a way of offering up every part of your family’s daily life, all your trials, joys, hopes, and happiness, and turning everything to God.