Squeezing In A Daily Rosary: Tips For Busy Moms

“Recite your Rosary with faith, with humility, with confidence, and with perseverance.”

Saint Louis de Montfort

“What are you doing?”

“Praying my Rosary.”

“Because you don’t have anything else to do?”

Before I had time to process my daughter’s question, she skipped out of my bedroom. I sat perched on top of a pile of half-folded laundry, Rosary beads in hand, and felt the emotions that her question triggered. Yes, these piles of laundry surrounding me clearly indicate that I have nothing else to do....I try so hard to convey the magnitude of our Faith to my children, and they still think prayer is just something we do when we’ve run out of other things to do?

But then I started to see the situation through her eyes. When she walked into my bedroom, she didn’t see the piles of laundry--her interest was drawn to me and what I was doing. She saw a mother who had chosen to make prayer a priority--a mother who, yes, at that particular moment, had nothing else to do but pray. This is the kind of prayer life we want to model for our children. We want to be “caught” making God a priority.

But finding the time, space, and even the motivation to pray can seem impossible. Sometimes I can only manage one “Hail Mary” before my four-year-old needs help in the bathroom, or my two-year-old wakes up from her nap, or my husband calls to check in on my day. And so this is how my daily Rosary gets prayed: one decade at a time, or half of a decade at a time, or one “Hail Mary” at a time. 

The vocations of marriage and motherhood generate a unique translation of “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thes 5:17) For me it’s usually more like “try without ceasing.” Indeed, this ceaseless trying is the only way I make it through five decades of a Rosary some days. And those five decades of the Rosary are sometimes the only way I make it through the day.

Praying the Rosary immediately adds reverence to my day. It is a way to give some time to God, even when I don’t feel like praying. It is an escape from chaos and a return to the rhythm of inner peace.

Here are some ideas to help you “squeeze in” a daily Rosary:

1. Commit to trying.

When we commit to improving our prayer life, Jesus and Mary will help us. Make the decision to pray a daily Rosary, and God will gift you with the time and ingenuity to make it happen.

    2. Space it out.

Break up the prayers of the Rosary in a way that works for you. It takes less than five minutes to pray one decade. Small, five-minute windows of prayer spaced over the course of a day are often more manageable for a busy mom than 20 to 30 minutes of uninterrupted time.

   3.  Seize the moment.

Pay attention to the little pockets of opportunity tucked into your day. Rather than the laundry, the dishes, or checking Facebook, make a decade of the Rosary your first priority when you have a moment to breathe. A decade of the Rosary often helps me to refocus and know what task I should complete next. I never miss time spent in prayer. When we give a moment to God, He will return the time back to us many times over.

   4.  Keep Rosaries in various places.

I keep a blessed Rosary on my prayer table near my kitchen, in my bedroom, and in my purse. This way, I have one handy if I find myself alone for a few minutes in a room of the house or while driving. Of course, in a pinch, the prayers of the Rosary can also be recited without using beads.

   5.  Don’t give in to discouragement.

As moms, our lives are unpredictable. There will be days when a full Rosary simply won’t happen. There will be days when we feel horribly distracted, or we only manage one decade while Curious George plays in the background. But if we try our best and we are willing to pick ourselves up and try again, that’s all that matters. Sometimes God calls us from prayer with Him to be a living prayer to those we love. This, after all, is why we pray in the first place. To turn our hearts over to Mary and her Son and allow them to perfect us in holiness through our vocation.

The month of the Holy Rosary, October, is approaching quickly. Consider ordering 33 Days of Rosary Meditations or A Mother’s Bouquet: Rosary Meditations For Moms now to add extra inspiration to your Rosary meditations.

Copyright 2015 Charisse Tierney
Photo by Stefan Schweihofer via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain