Meg Herriot looks back on how she has grown in praying the Rosary and the ways she and her husband have made the Rosary the center of family prayer.
My journey with the Rosary and with Our Lady has been akin to a small stream that grows and meanders with time. I came from a family who was a part of a parish that had let go of a lot of Catholic traditions. The Rosary was not a part of our household. My parents both knew the Rosary, but my memory is that we only prayed the Rosary at funerals. I didn’t learn all of the Mysteries until my early 20s and that was with “peer pressure.”
Our Lady drew me in
As I started praying the Rosary though, Our Lady drew me in. My friend and I were both rather dismayed with our potential choices of future spouses. However, instead of lamenting, we chose to pray a decade of the Rosary for each other’s future vocation/spouse. Unbeknownst to me, several states away, my future husband was attending RCIA right around that time.
After more than five years of praying the Rosary for my future spouse, I married my husband. We were blessed with a baby. I would sing to him lots of songs from my childhood, but I made a point of singing a Rosary to get him to go to sleep. When he was about 2, I caught him copying me with the “Hail Mary” and “Our Father.” As naptime and bedtime rocking ceased, we continued to pray a decade of the Rosary as a family. I’ve been happy to discover that even if we have a late night, and my husband and I say we will finish the Rosary on our own, he wants all five Mysteries for the day.
In the meantime, my husband and I did the Consecration to Jesus through Mary and I became a professed third order Dominican, so a double commitment for rosary. I had been saying it on my own, but it had been haphazard and broken. Under the guidance of a wise priest, he suggested to add an additional decade each year my son had a birthday. My son actually knew all of the Mysteries of the Rosary before my husband.
While, now at a full Rosary every night, we have significantly increased our evening prayer time, and pushed back his ultimate bed time, I feel some consolation that no matter where my son is or choices he makes, I have given him the gift of knowing Our Lady. I also am happy to know that he goes to the prayers of the Rosary when we pray for others, face a crisis, or has difficulty going to sleep or anxiety.
Special intentions
It used to be when I said the rosary I asked for my own special intentions, and with the obligation I’ve taken I say the rosary for our Blessed Mother’s intentions. Now, when I say the rosary, I try not to ask for specifics — but for maternal peace. Our Lady has enfolded me into her cloak, and though I stray and misstep, she will bring me back to Jesus. I may not get the blessings I want, but I know I journey with a Mother who knows what I need.
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Copyright 2024 Meg Herriot
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About the Author
Meg Herriot
Meg Herriot is a veterinarian and Third Order Dominican. She enjoys spending time with family, friends, and pets and blogging at All Creatures Great and Crazy about being a veterinarian, mother, wife and most of all a Catholic trying to grow closer to God in a chaotic world.
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