I’m not very good at praying the Rosary. I get distracted and start thinking about the things I need to get done before the day ends. Though I’ll say that I’ve gotten a bit better with practice.

I didn’t grow up praying the Rosary, even though I was given a beautiful blue crystal one from my godparents as a confirmation gift, and a pink pearly one for my First Communion. I treasured them both, but they were decorations.
“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” – Pope Blessed Pius IX
When I started having kids, it became a little tug at my heart to start praying the Rosary regularly. But it’s hard to start a new habit, if it’s a good one anyways. One Lent, Andrew was probably five, and Nicolas was three or four. I decided that while Elijah was napping we would pray the Rosary together, like good little saints in training. Well, Andrew joined me, but Nicolas, a bit more strong-willed, wasn’t having it. He decided he would pass and then spend 15 minutes walking back and forth down the hallway, peeking in at us when he thought I wasn’t looking. 

I thought I could guilt trip my three-year-old into prayer, but in my heart, I knew that if it was hard for me to get a Rosary done, his reticence was certainly understandable. 

I tried off and on to get into a Rosary groove, but it never quite took. It wasn’t until Scott took it on as his role as a father that we began to regularly pray the Rosary as a family.

“The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God … and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.” – Pope Saint Pius X

That isn’t to say that we have it mastered. There are some nights that we just miss altogether. And there are nights when we can only get a decade in. And still, every night that we pray it, I get distracted and start thinking of to-do lists.

“Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood.” – Saint Louis de Montfort

There are some who might wonder at the “vain repetition,” as some non-Catholics might call it. But even in my distraction, I see that our commitment to pray the Rosary as a family, on a most basic level, has at least been the call that brings the entire family together on most nights, to prayer. We stop whatever it is that we were doing, gather together, quiet ourselves, and give time to God.

On a deeper level, I take exception to the “vain” part of the repetition. By praying the Rosary, our family is reminded of 20 of the most important events in the life of Christ. We are also reminded of the fruits of each mystery, those things that we should be led to pray for: true contrition, humility, wisdom, love of God, purity, love of neighbour, poverty of spirit … The essence of Christianity is to meditate on the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and to imitate him in virtue. It seems that the Rosary leads us directly to do both those things. 

“When you say your Rosary, the angels rejoice, the Blessed Trinity delights in it, my Son finds joy in it too, and I myself am happier than you can possibly guess. After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there is nothing in the Church that I love as much as the Rosary.” – Our Lady to Blessed Alan de la Roche

October is the month of the Rosary, and I’m writing on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Church urges families to pray together for peace and salvation. That prayer costs something: time, effort, commitment. Since we’ve worked to pray together as a family, we have accumulated a large pile of broken rosaries. Little restless fingers have a way of punishing delicate things. They have missing beads, broken chains, even my treasured blue and pink rosaries, once decorations, have needed repair, because they are finally in use. But somehow I feel that Our Lord prefers it that way.