family prayer | The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands
I grew up on a Lakota reservation in northeast Montana, worshipping at a mission church in the 1970s and 80s when the Catholic Church was in flux. Our family didn’t recite the Rosary, and I’d never seen this practiced by any of my peers. The Rosary, with its many mysteries, was itself a mystery to me.
But I did have a love for Mary, and as I pondered that she shared a name with my paternal grandmother, Mary Beauclair, who died before I was born, I felt a connection to Grandma through Our Blessed Mother. Being asked one May, as a child, to crown Mary on the grounds outside our parish further pulled me in. And when we watched The Song of Bernadette together one afternoon, I began to yearn to seek a life of holiness through Mary’s help.
I only once recall my mother bringing out her Rosary beads, however. I’d experienced my first heartbreak as a teenager — and seeing my sadness, Mom led me through the Rosary on the living-room couch. I realized the Rosary can be a comfort when words fail.
Drawn to the Rosary
I became more drawn to the Rosary then, reciting it at bedtime, but with my short attention span, I would often fall asleep before finishing. As an adult, I felt pressured by some who seemed to indicate a daily Rosary recitation was a requirement for holiness. I tend to resist this kind of pressure, however, and it set me back.
Agreeing to do a Marian consecration in 2014 finally opened my heart more widely to Our Lady. I began noticing her all around me, including that my middle name, Marie, linked me to her. We’d also given this middle name to our oldest daughter, who was born on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Answering Mary’s Call to Pray
Mary had been calling me my whole life, and I could no longer resist her, nor the prayer devotion she gave us to draw us into a deeper relationship with her Son. But it all really came together when someone mentioned that praying the Rosary is like Mary holding our hand.
I try to go on daily walks that usually last around 90 minutes — a long time to be in one’s head. I can become bored along the way. But when I pray my Rosary on those walks, imagining Mary beside me, everything changes. I have a friend with me, and not just a friend but a mother, a worthy mother. Her role in my salvation is key, and walking with Mary in this way has become a precious routine.
Sometimes, it’s more effective if, instead of coercion or being made to feel guilty, we are presented with something in a way that allows us to grasp it naturally. At the end of the day, we are all just children: children comforted by holding the hands of those who can guide us safely through this life and into the next.
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.
