Family Rosary Prayer
How to Pray with your Family
Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC believed in the slogan “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together ™.” Families that come together to pray the Rosary encourage each other to live in truth, to trust each other and to communicate. Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter on the Most Holy Rosary (Rosarium Virginis Mariae) stated “The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the center, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on.”
From these words of Pope John Paul II families can be encouraged to gather to pray the Rosary as it will be a source of enormous strength for individuals as well as families to live in truth, trust and honesty.
Families can gather together in their living rooms or around their dining room tables to pray the Rosary. Families can decided the best place to pray together; perhaps there is a common room where everyone naturally gathers at the end of the day or a family may want to create a sacred space in their home where they can pray. Each member of the family can take a turn to lead the Rosary. They can share their concerns before beginning to pray the Mysteries of the Rosary and they can discuss how their lived experiences relate to the Mysteries of the Rosary.
There are various and creative ways families can gather to pray the Rosary. Families may want to begin by praying one decade a day or week and increase to praying the entire set of the Mysteries of the Rosary. For more information on the Rosary visit our other resources on the web site or call 1-800-299-7729.