“The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together…”
Father Patrick Peyton CSC once said, “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together.” Families that gather together to pray the Rosary is an encouragement to each person and a source of great strength for people and families to practice living in the faith with trust, truth and humble hearts.
Families can gather together in their living rooms or around their dining room tables to pray the Rosary, taking turns to lead the Rosary. If the family has time, or maybe plan to once a month 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. You might need time to build this process up, because the last thing you want to do is turn people away with the immediate introduction of voluminous praying of the Rosary (especially children and teens who think they are missing out on precious TV, games or internet time!).
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.
The Mysteries of the Rosary
During private recitation of the Rosary, each decade requires devout meditation on a specific mystery. With public or family Rosary, a leader announces each mystery before the decade, and starts each prayer.
There are four sets of “Mysteries of the Rosary” included and said on certain days of the week:
W Joyful
W Luminous
W Sorrowful
W Glorious
The Rosary is divided into five decades. Each decade represents a mystery or event in the life of Jesus:
W The Apostle’s Creed is said on the Crucifix
W The Our Father is said on the large beads
W The Hail Mary is said on the small beads
W The Glory Be is said after the three Hail Mary’s at the beginning of the Rosary,
and then after each decade of small beads.
W The Hail Holy Queen following the Glory Be after each decade only.
Catholic Living 