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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Catholic Family Fun | family prayer | pray the rosary
Getting kids to sit down and recite a whole Rosary is not always met with cheers and delight, as much as I wish that were the case. If I am telling the truth, I am sometimes met with groans and eye rolls alike. But when you lay out a donut Rosary, suddenly your kids are rallying to lead more prayers than their siblings. There’s nothing complex about the Donut Rosary. The cross can be a construction paper cutout, or you can make a cross with donut holes. The Our Father and Glory Be prayers should be regular-sized donuts — whoever leads the longer prayers and Scripture verse for the Mystery gets a “big donut.” The Hail Marys should be donut holes — make a decade one flavor or mix them up. After you say your prayer or prayers, you get to eat the donut(s). You will be amazed at the complaints about how unfair it was that Sister 1 got to lead more prayers than Sister 2 —haha!
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Catholic Faith | family prayer | pray the rosary
The first time the Rosary crashed into my life, I was helping with an event at my parish. One night, I felt God telling me to pray a Rosary every day until the event. I’d never prayed a daily Rosary, so it seemed like a big ask. I did a quick count of the number of days remaining: a Biblical 40 days. My response was not the immediate fiat of Mary. Are you sure? I asked God. I attributed this to an overactive imagination. The next day, the request returned. I decided to go for it. I launched in and quickly learned that a daily Rosary is work. I wasn’t great at managing the prayers and meditations and hadn’t memorized which Mysteries went with which days. There were even a few Mysteries I needed to look up because I wasn’t sure what they were. I got through it, and we had a successful event. Then I stopped...
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catholic devotions | family prayer | how to pray the rosary | pray the rosary
While prayer may not change our circumstances, it will often change our hearts. It brings us closer to God, allowing Him to comfort us, guide us, and occasionally reveal His will for us. At the very least, communication with God always brings peace. The Catholic faith offers many beautiful devotions, each able to reach the faithful, who come to prayer with many different communication styles. God created each of us to be unique and unrepeatable; therefore, it stands to reason that He would provide many ways to communicate with Him.
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Catholicism | family prayer | pray the rosary
If there were a show of hands of those who get distracted while they pray the Rosary, mine would be the first to go up. I often need to stop to refocus because I’ve lost my place or have gotten distracted. Even with the challenge to stay focused, I don’t plan to give up the Rosary because it has been a life preserver of grace.
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Family Time | pray the rosary | summer activities
A creative way to count your blessings A few weeks ago, Chris Stefanick — a Catholic writer, speaker, and founder of Real Life Catholic — spoke at my parish about joy. During this incredible evening, Chris discussed the importance of living with joy and suggested ways to attain it. By adding gratefulness to our days, he explained, and by giving thanks for everything, we can increase the joy we feel and the joy we project outward. One of the ways he said he expresses thanks is by holding his Rosary and giving thanks for one thing on each bead. I loved that idea, and I started doing it immediately. Every day since then, I have either started or ended my day with that practice. And I can tell already that it has made a difference.
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Intercessory Prayer | Venerable Patrick Peyton | pray the rosary
In 2013, my oldest son, Ian, and I traveled with the Deaf Apostolate of Boston to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day. Just four years earlier, our family had adopted a sweet little girl from China, who is Deaf. This trip offered an opportunity to not only become more acquainted with the Catholic Deaf community but also allowed further instruction in interpreting the Mass in American Sign Language. The most remarkable blessing came from learning the ASL for the Liturgy from Father Shawn Carey, himself Deaf. This alone already brimmed with God's Divine Providence; little did I know, God was only warming up!
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