“Do you pray the rosary every day?” the priest asked me.“I try to,” I answered brightly, happy to be able to honestly answer in the affirmative. I’m not always successful, but it is a goal, and I’m best when I can go for a run. I pray when I run.
“Do you pray it with your husband…with your kids…or just by yourself?” he pressed.
“Just by myself,” I sheepishly admitted. That’s MY time.
“Well, you know, it would be good to say it with the children…just think about it…”
{sigh}
I DON’T WANNA! Mentally, I threw myself down like my three year old, kicking my feet and writhing from side to side. Really, no matter how far along the path I may think I have come in shunning selfish behavior, I find myself right back at square one: ME AND WHAT I WANT.
I want peace and quiet. I want meditation. I want quiet whispers at the mouth of a cave on a mountaintop.
I do not want 20 minutes of fussing and fidgeting and correcting pronunciations (or remaining calm and ignoring all of the above). I do not want little eyes rolling and little mouths moaning at the torture their mother is putting them through.
But actually, my three older children love to pray the rosary. It is the next two, who are very young, who do the fussing. And the fidgeting. (They all do the bad pronunciations.)
And so, I thought about it.
I discussed it with a friend. Well, actually, I told her just how impossible it was. After all, I was struggling to develop a habit of morning prayers with the children: morning offering, praying for the Pope and his intentions, Guardian Angel prayer. Five minutes, that’s all I had. I couldn’t possibly do a 20 minute rosary every morning. Or afternoon. Or evening.
But then I thought, maybe a decade. That would only add about 5 more minutes. Couldn’t I do that?
And immediately an opportunity arose: Bill’s physical therapy. Three mornings a week, we all drive him over for his knee. The other two weekdays also have us in the car.
So we have expanded our morning prayer to include one decade of the rosary. We alternate what mystery we “meditate” on. We go around for the Hail Marys: Fritz, Billy, Katie, even Jenny, then Bill or I before we go around again for ten. It was a seamless transition, and the kids love it, even Jenny (after our first session where I basically said we would sit there until she did her part and, after about 3 minutes, she finally gave in and hasn’t been a problem since).
Today, in fact, we did it with such ease and so quickly that I wondered: couldn’t we do two decades? I’ll have to think about it…
Reit This Way 
haha.
well its nice to know that you have great hits here.
So what you’re saying is…there’s hope for me…I’ve been pulled to this, for no particular reason (OK! OK! for a VERY particular reason – it’s a great prayer to have in place!), but I’ve used all those objections (in part, I tell myself, because my OLDEST is that difficult three-year-old you mention… 🙂Thanks for the hope. You rock! 🙂
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who prays the rosary while exercising. For a long while I’ve wondered if it was “ok” to do that. But I find that walking while saying it works really well for me. I guess the next step is trying to get a decade in a bedtime with the boys. Small steps, but important ones.
could you stop by here on your way to bill’s pt and include my kids?r
I know what you mean, Lord have Mercy.
I had the same 2nd decade thought just yesterday! I’m praying that St. Nicholas will bring this book for his feast, but first his earthly helper will have to find a copy. A different earthly helper gave me this link:The Rosary Book by Patmoshttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0974174823/patmos-20