This article is part of the Marian Mondays Series, a weekly reflection on the mysteries of the rosary by Jonathan Conrad, owner and founder of The Catholic Woodworker.
I’ve wanted to start praying a family rosary at home for a long time. But whenever I try to get it going, I worry that it won’t go well and end up stopping before I even begin. More specifically, I worry that my boys will resent the time it takes to pray the full rosary, that it will be stressful for my wife, and that, in the end, everyone will just be doing it to make me happy. This kind of experience would turn this good and holy desire into something unpleasant and frustrating for everyone, which is definitely not what I want.
After spending time reflecting on the Carrying of the Cross, though, I began to view these worries differently. Seen in its entirety from the Agony in the Garden through the Crucifixion, it became clear to me that the Passion is a marathon of spiritual warfare, not a sprint. The Carrying of the Cross underscores this fact and highlights Jesus’s patience as he painstakingly takes one step towards Calvary at a time.
In this mystery, Jesus gives us a model for how we should move toward the good in our own lives: with patience and step-by-step. When it comes to starting a family rosary, I need to be patient with my wife, my boys, and myself and recognize that change takes time.
I’ll likely need to introduce the rosary piece by piece, instead of all at once. Maybe we only pray a full rosary on Sundays at first. Maybe it’s just doing a decade with the boys in the car on the way to school or even just adding a Hail Mary to our prayers before dinner.
Whatever that small step is, I need to keep patiently moving forward and praying the rosary with my family in these small consistent ways. And when I inevitably fall, make mistakes, or lose ground, I’ll let Jesus pick me back up so I can keep going.
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