We pray our Family Rosary most often in the evenings at home, before bed-time for our youngest. We also set a specific time for our Rosary (usually 8pm — but that can fluctuate quite a bit!). Most of the time, praying our Family Rosary is a wonderfully soothing meditation for us, but we have all boys, and boys mean energy and romping and lots of wrestling (even when you would think they would be tired at day’s end!). I remember going through a stage when I couldn’t imagine ever getting the boys consistently calmed down enough to get through all five decades without a major disruption! But God is so good and we decided to pray a Novena for this very intention. It seemed truly miraculous to me when I witnessed my boys’ high-energy tendencies starting to mellow more and more as we settled down to pray the Rosary. Now, the once predictable pre- and during-Rosary flare-ups are a rare rather than a normal occurrence.
Sometimes, a late worknight for my husband or an evening mom/teenager activity means we have to get creative — we have prayed our Family Rosary using Facetime/Skype and by phone as a conference call while one or more of us are driving home! We’ve prayed our Family Rosary on a cold outdoor evening in our backyard, snuggling with blankets, with tons of candles lit (two of my boys are pyro-enthusiasts : o), and, on weekends, gathered earlier in the day around our dining room table with meditation music and Rosary coloring books. We’ve prayed our Family Rosary together in the car at all times of day on short and long road-trips, too — captive in an automobile works well for us! Even though we are committed to praying a daily Family Rosary, that doesn’t mean we’re perfect in execution. Occasionally in the evenings, a sleepyhead will fall asleep before the first decade is finished (Mom and Dad included!), or one of the older boys (when they are feeling that uniquely-teenager-kind-of-moodiness) will start complaining when we pray a longer Rosary with scripture and will want to just join for a decade or two or three, but even in those times, we all know that this family ritual of ours is not optional, and just a part of what we do as a family to help us grow in holiness and to help us pray for others.
Coming up Next: How We Pray the Rosary