Praying the Rosary: Served Fresh, with a Side of Humility

Lea McCarthy reflects with humor on how even though the attempt at a family Rosary can fall short of picture-perfect, it’s still a grace-filled occasion.

Both my husband and I were blessed to have grown up praying the Rosary with our families. Rain or shine, no matter what was happening, when it was time for the Rosary all activities ceased and we gathered to pray. My parents waited until we kids were older to have us join them in praying, so there were no toddlers present causing mayhem and it was actually a peaceful rendition of a family Rosary. I’m not saying we would be on the front page of the Faith & Family magazine, but maybe somewhere near the back.

Carrying On the Family Rosary with our Toddler

With our upbringing, it was an easy habit for me and my husband to continue praying the Rosary when we started our journey as a young married couple. Now with a very active 18-month-old, the tranquility of our Rosary is — how shall we say — lessened.  

I have a feeling that Our Lord and the Blessed Mother share an amused glance when we begin our Rosary because it’s such a comedy routine these days. After dinner, one of us cleans the kitchen from all the gunk that has accumulated in the past 12 hours. The other one entertains our toddler with dominoes so she doesn’t run through the dirt piles that are being swept together in the kitchen. Both my husband and I are brain-dead at the end of our respective long days.

My husband keeps count with a set of beads in one hand while wiping down counters with the other. He has to, because once I became a mother, I lost the ability to count to ten. It doesn’t matter if I have a Rosary in my hand or not. Inevitably I forget to move my fingers or let the toddler borrow the beads and lose my place. If it was up to my count, each decade would be at least 20 Hail Marys long!  

Now, I may not know how to count, but by George, I at least know what Mystery we are on. My poor husband (whose goal is to pray all 20 decades of the Rosary each day) has usually finished three full Rosaries during his workday and for the life of him, can’t remember what we are meditating on! So our Rosary goes like this: 

Me: Hail Mary, full of grace … 

Him: No, love, it’s Glory Be. 

Me: Are you sure? I still have four more left. Oh well. Glory be to the Father … 

Him: The — (*long pause while his brain buffers and he stares into space*). 

Me (jumping in demurely): — Third Glorious Mystery, dear. 

Him: Right! The Descent of the Holy Spirit. Our Father … 

Like I said, I’m pretty sure the Holy Family brings popcorn.  

Mary Leads us to Encounter the Divine Flame 

I have a vivid memory of praying with my family when I was a kid, and for some reason we were kneeling in a circle around a big pillar candle on the floor. As we prayed, one of our longhaired cats sauntered into our prayer circle, then casually flicked her fluffy tail right into the flame and a giant puff of hair sizzled into smoke with a loud “PFFFTT!”  

Don’t worry, the cat was fine — my siblings and I thought she was a goner for a second, though. But my point in this story is that as we attempt family prayer such as the Rosary, no matter how uninspiring or imperfect it looks, we are still coming close to the Divine Flame of God’s love. If we allow Him, He will burn away all our imperfections and bring us closer to Him.  

Getting into a habit of prayer, like any habit, takes commitment. But once you make one commitment such as the Rosary, it’s so much easier to say yes to other things the Lord asks. Some people get too big for their spiritual britches, thinking that we have exhausted all the fruits we can glean from praying the simple Rosary and now should move on to higher realms or a "loftier" form of prayer.

But we don’t need to worry about that. Simple is good! We are simply called to love God, and do His will. And if our Blessed Mother has asked us to pray it, it seems to me that that’s a good enough reason to struggle through the half-baked prayers and the lack of perfection in our family Rosary. Through her intercession as our Mother, Mary takes our efforts and in turn will make the road to God smooth and easy as she leads us to her Son. 

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Copyright 2025 Lea McCarthy
Images: Canva