Family Rosary

In May, in honor of Mary, our family started praying a decade of the rosary each night. At the time, our son was not quite two and I had trouble finding a rosary for a child of that age, so I made one for him.

I started by tracing some shapes onto card stock and cut them out - on cross, one larger circle, and ten smaller circles. I mounted the cross on yellow construction paper, the larger circle on red, and each of the smaller circles on blue. Then I added stickers from Dollar Tree (thank you Lacy at Catholic Icing!). The cross has a painting of the Holy Trinity, the large red circle a painting of Jesus praying, and each blue circle a picture of Mary. I also wrote the name of the prayer for each bead on the back, just in case. Then I laminated each shape with clear contact paper, punched two hole in each circle and strung them together using yarn.

As we tuck my now two year old son into bed each night, after his story, we say a decade if the rosary. He is still learning to cross himself and has just started "reciting" the Hail Mary ("God" and "now" are ver clear!). The other night, in true toddler fashion, he asked to say the rosary again and again. How can I refuse to let him pray? So we said three decades. If he keeps it up, we may be able to work up to a full decade far sooner than I thought!

It is really nice to pray as a family. It provides a calm focus in what can be a tantrum-filled time. It reminds my husband and I to slow down and tap into God's peace instead of giving onto frustration when our lively little boy is resisting bedtime!

Prayers of Gratitude

A simple way to pray as a couple is just to express gratitude for each other.  We like to pray right before falling asleep; somehow it's easier to pray with another person in the dark.  Start with something simple - like "Thank you Lord for ________." Maybe other petitions will follow, maybe not.  But it is a great feeling to know that your spouse is grateful for you, and to express your own gratitude to God in your love's hearing!

How do you and your spouse pray?

Sacrament of Matrimony

"By reason of  their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God." This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity.  By this grace they "help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children." from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1641.

My husband and I have always found joy and strength in thinking of our marriage as a sacrament.  We wed with a mixed-marriage in the eyes of the Church; my husband is a cradle Catholic and I was a devote Protestant.  Sacramental marriage was a new, and very appealing, concept to me.

We were also agreed that faith would be an important part of our marriage.  We wanted to share prayers and devotions on a regular basis.  Now, four years later, the desire to have a vibrant faith-life is strong, but life keeps getting in the way.  We pray together, sometimes.  We read the Bible together, sometimes.

In searching the web for devotional inspiration, I have found many amazing blogs focused on the Catholic Family, and I thought I'd seek and share ideas for the Catholic Marriage, ways to help each other attain holiness as well as welcoming and educating children.

Please post your comments, ideas, and practices so that together we can support the sacrament of marriage!