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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
Today is the 107th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, when many were gathered 5 months after Mary originally appeared to Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia at Fatima. She had promised to appear to them every month on the 13th, and on September 13th when the largest group had gathered to join them, she said there would be a miracle on the following month. On October 13, 1917, the rain cleared, the sun emerged, and spun around for 10 minutes as if it were dancing while 70,000 witnessed the miracle. Though I didn’t grow up in a practicing Catholic home, the Rosary truly feels like the backdrop to my faith life. As a kid, I would see images of our Blessed Mother and Rosaries strewn all over when I visited my Portuguese grandmother, whose name literally translated to Mary of Heaven. She had a devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and her own parents were married in Portugal 20 years to the day of the original apparition. I know she was praying for me my whole life and I attribute my conversion in part to her prayers.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
Ever since I was a child, I loved the idea of praying the Rosary. And though I always wanted to be one of those people who prayed it daily, in practice I failed. For the longest time, I struggled with it; I think it was the repetition. I would often commit to praying the Rosary, yet the habit never stayed with me. But as God so often does, He allows people and things to change our hearts. I think both He and His Blessed Mother knew that I continually encountered roadblocks in something I really wanted to succeed in, so they worked with me to break them down. I can’t say that I now pray the Rosary daily, but I can say that I pray it regularly and that, when I do, I get so much out of it.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
Prayer has often been a challenge for me. There’s too much noise in the world and in my own head. Throughout most of my prayer life, I would start out with good intentions and rather simple prayers. I would try to simply speak to God, but as I did this, I would distract myself: “Oh, did I do my homework? Or what was the score of that hockey game last night? Did my brother give me my five bucks back?” Silly, simple things that really don’t matter all that much. But by the time I snapped back into focus on what I was supposed to be doing I would be frustrated and want to simply give up. Eventually, I started seeking new methods of praying and new strategies to keep my focus. I tried praying with Scripture, images, and more. While these helped, none of them really clicked for me. Soon enough, I stumbled onto the Rosary once more.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
Waking yet again with a tear-stained pillow and used tissues on my nightstand, I rolled out of bed to begin another day of homeschooling my three young boys. My marriage had been very rocky for two months and I didn’t know WHY, but I knew I felt abandoned. I began praying the Rosary religiously every single day because I knew only an act from Heaven could save us. My husband’s heart was hardened toward me ... and he would not reveal why. Somehow, seven years in, I had suddenly woken up one day and we were only roommates.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
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.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
One of the beautiful things about the Rosary is that once you learn the simple prayers, you can pray it anytime and anywhere. My mother taught me how to pray the Rosary as a young girl. It has been one of my go-to prayers ever since, a prayer I have turned to daily to help me navigate life. I wear a Rosary bracelet that features a cross, a Miraculous Medal, an Our Father bead, and ten Hail Mary beads. It serves as a reminder of my faith throughout the day, and I often do use it to keep track of the prayers as I pray the Rosary. However, I’m just as likely to count the prayers on my fingers as I pray while going about my daily work.
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