In this Month of May, the month of our Lady, I thought I'd share a few of our favorite "Rosary resources" as well as some thoughts on teaching the "heart and soul" of the Rosary: meditation on the mysteries.
I may have shared in a past post that the Rosary is a "pillar" of our family. A devotion and love of our Lady is very important to Bill and I and we want (and pray) that our children will cultivate a deep love and devotion to Her as well.
While we do each have a personal daily devotion to the Rosary, we do not pray it daily as a family - yet! :) I deeply admire families who do this. I hope we get there one day. We do, however, pray it consistently enough that our children are very familiar with it and know all the prayers. When we try to "get" the kids to pray it with us, it's usually just one decade. Other times it might be just Bill and I and the kids around us, but not necessarily praying all the prayers. I hope just them seeing mom or dad or both praying it gives them another further witness to the importance of this devotion.
Being that our oldest is almost six, I thought I'd share some ways I've learned to begin setting a firmer foundation in the practice of meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary (something that's hard to do when you're surrounded by a group of little children and even more so to teach it!).
In our daily routine, we have a general afternoon "rest time." So all the kids except Joseph are napping (although sometimes John-Paul just rests in bed). During this time is when we do his schoolwork and pray one decade of the Rosary together. I'm sure the time and dynamics of things will change as time passes but a daily Rosary will be just as necessary as school, that's for sure!
Suggestions on how to begin teaching young children how to pray the Rosary well
Anyway, here's some suggestions on how to begin teaching "older" younger children how to familiarize themselves with the practice of meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary. Bear in mind this does not limit the possibilities - if you have things you do with your own children, please share so that we may benefit in learning other ways in how to teach our children such an important devotion!
1. The habit of attention is an important thing to begin teaching children, even with prayer. Begin teaching meditation with just one decade, not the entire Rosary. Young children simply cannot developmentally handle this. Developing the habit of attention with little children starts in small increments of time which require their full attention, and as they mature and grow, you can increase that length of time.
This is one reason why I'm in no rush to "make" our children pray the entire Rosary daily. If we do an entire Rosary as a family, Bill and I tell our oldest boys (4 & 6) that they will lead one decade each and that's what we expect of them. We don't expect perfection; often our 4 year old and his wild imagination (or utter silliness) will lead him to trail off or forget to continue, but that's fine. Then we just gently draw him back and remind him to continue until he finishes. But we do expect a bit more of an attentive prayer during that time from our oldest Joseph. Begin little with young children. One decade suffices. There's no rush. Remember, it's more important to cultivate a love and reverence for the Rosary and our Lady, rather than pushing to "get through" every time because that love and reverence for our Lord and our Lady is the spirit of the Rosary. If we don't have that, it's in vain.
2. Find the least distracting time possible to do this (removing other various activity may not be always possible!). For us, rest time works. It might be before bed. See what works with your family. Also, it may be helpful to go to a special place of prayer too if you have a family oratory...anything to aid the senses is helpful. (This is another reason why I love being Catholic because we have so many of these things to help "lift us upwards toward God and the spiritual"!)
3. I like to remind my children of the words of St. Teresa of Avila often: "The important thing is not to think much but to love much." A side note for we adults: Of course thinking about heavenly things is good as this is what discursive meditation is. Our Lord should fill our thoughts. But mere thinking about heavenly things and the things of God without love can lead to intellectual pride.
4. Preface the meditation by the sign of the cross, then "thinking of Jesus in your heart and how He lives in you and loves you" (call to mind His Presence) and asking for the grace to love our Lady and pray the Rosary well; make your intentions as to what you and your child want to offer the decade for, and then read a meditation from Scripture or another book (or make up your own) to help "paint the picture" for them. Walk them through the little meditation if you feel it's helpful: "As you are thinking about what happened to Jesus at the scourging of the pillar, how does your heart feel? Tell Jesus and talk to Him in your heart about it." etc...
You can also use sacred art as an aid.
Try to be as vivid as possible and appeal to their senses, as the concrete experience of the senses are what children can best perceive at young ages. They cannot think abstractly. Leave a space of silence (perhaps 30 seconds) before you begin to say the vocal prayers.
5. As you pray the decade, it may (or may not, that's up to your discretion) help if you recall a brief phrase from your meditation (i.e. "His glory shone") every few Hail Mary's or so (it might help keep their mind focused). I find using sacred art the best "prayer aid" for Joseph.
Check out these awesome books I found recently; each prayer of the Rosary has a picture of sacred art associated with the specific mystery to help you meditate... (and they come in all four mysteries of the Rosary...I only have the two)
It's part of the "Illuminated Rosary" series found at Gracewatch Media. This is a gem! Also, the blog "Under Her Starry Mantle" has an enormous collection of beautiful sacred art pictures for the Rosary that you can just print off and laminate if you want. Then you can ring all the pictures for each Rosary mystery together. This site is great because for example, there are 20 images for EACH Rosary mystery (i.e. 20 sacred art pictures of the Resurrection of Christ, 20 for His Ascension, etc...). Lots to choose from and they're beautiful. And it's the same concept as the books.
As far as kneeling or sitting while we pray the Rosary, I consider that an unimportant detail. Young children are concerned only about how things "feel" in relation to them because that's all they can grasp. So the more warmth present during your time of prayer (i.e. sitting on your lap, cuddling, gently rubbing his back now and then, etc...), the better. Tender and loving signs of affection go a long way.
The purpose of teaching meditation to them at the opportunities we can and rather consistently is to give them the "heart and soul" of praying the Rosary, not merely the form. I love how St. John Paul II put it: "To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ." In fact, the Rosary is entirely Scriptural (check out p.5 & 6 here for the Scriptural references for every prayer and mystery of the Rosary) and contains the entire Gospel. The Rosary is a treasure!
Graces that come from praying the Rosary well
I am pulling this from an outline of a talk Dr. Brant Pitre gave (found here).
Note: These benefits only come when the Rosary is said “with meditation on the mysteries" (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, #79 & 81).
1. It helps us pattern our lives on Christ's virtues.
"It was because our Lady wanted to help us in the great task of working out our salvation that she ordered Saint Dominic to teach the faithful to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ. She did this, no only that they might adore and glorify him, but chiefly that they might pattern their lives and actions on his virtues." [St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, #66]
2. It is more powerful than many penances.
"Blessed Albert the Great, who had St. Thomas Aquinas as his student, learned in a revelation that by simply thinking of or meditating on the passion of Jesus Christ, a Christian gains more merit than if he had fasted on bread and water every Friday for a year, or had beaten himself with the discipline once a week till blood flowed, or had recited the whole book of Psalms every day. If this is so, then how great must be the merit we can gain from the Rosary, which commemorates the whole life and passion of our Lord?" [St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, #88
3. It leads us more quickly to more advanced stages of prayer.
"We need to learn this easy form of meditation before progressing to the highest state of contemplation... Believe me, dear brother... if you genuinely wish to attain a high degree of prayer in all honesty and without falling into the illusions of the devil so common with those who practice mental prayer, say the whole Rosary every day, or at least five decades of it. If you have already attained, by the grace of God, a high degree of Prayer, keep up the practice of saying the holy Rosary if you wish to remain in that state and by it to grow in humility. For never will anyone who says his Rosary every day become a formal heretic or be led astray by the devil. This is a statement which I would sign with my blood." [St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, #76, 78]
Incredible graces! May we always strive to pray the Rosary well. Mother, please help us.
Other favorite Rosary resources we use...
Beautiful illustrations and reflections accompany this book. It also gives a brief explanation of how to pray the Rosary, how it came to be, and indulgences for praying the Rosary.
"The Holy Rosary" by Fr. Lovasik contains a history that includes two apparitions of our Lady and her urgent request that we pray this.
From "The Holy Rosary"
From "Scriptural Rosary for Children"
From "Scriptural Rosary for Children"
So, I have a few different aids we use in meditating on the Rosary and I'm sure we'll accumulate a few more as the kids grow. :) Holy Heroes sells CD's with a children's Rosary and meditations. Although we don't have these, we do have quite a few of their audio stories about the saints and they are excellent. The kids enjoy listening to them. These would be helpful in the car, I imagine. We also have one prayed and meditated on by the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist that's beautiful.
P.S. - Although I don't use coloring pages while I am purposely teaching Joseph how to meditate on the mysteries, I want to also share that the blog Family in Feast and Feria has beautiful Rosary coloring pages.
What about you - how does your family pray the Rosary? What tips/suggestions can you share that you've found helpful in teaching them? I'd love to hear!