Children's Rosary

" Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual desertification. [We see every day around us], what a life or a world without God looks like." -- Pope Benedict XVI, October 11, 2012, about the "New Evangelization".

"Amidst this religious desert which Pope Benedict describes, our children stand in the middle, surrounded by secularism and consumerism, drowning in a Godless culture." -- Most Reverend Henry J. Mansell, Archbishop.

Summer is upon us. Our children will be getting out of school. And what will your home life look like this summer? Perhaps you will send your children away to camp, telling yourself that your children will be busy and happy. After all, camp is a wonderful experience.

But, what are your children like when they are not in camp? Are they begging for more toys than they need? Are they trying to sneak in as much TV and computer time as they can get away with?

What is "wrong" with our kids today? Why do they have so much, and yet whine for more? Their dissatisfaction seems bottomless.

I would say to you that there is a spiritual hole in our childrens' hearts. Our children need less "stuff" and more family relationships.

In the end, I would say to you that they need more God in their lives.

When I was growing up, my parents never taught me to pray. No one ever prayed for me. I ultimately had to confront this spiritual desert of mine, when I was called to finally choose a church and convert to some form of religion. At that point, I was already a wife and a mother, and I had struggled without prayer my whole life.

When I chose to convert to Catholicism, it was an overwhelmingly profound moment when a member of the Conversion team told me that he would pray for me!

Prayer has an unlimited power, as infinite as God Himself. Prayer has literally saved my life! [ Related blog post, "Prayer For Wisdom", July 23, 2011].

How vital it is to teach our children to pray! Without prayer, without belief in the ability to ask for intercession by Divine power, we are left to believe that we will succeed or fail only by our own human abilities. No wonder our children are anxious and depressed.

Recently, I stumbled upon an amazing children's ministry that teaches children to pray the Rosary.

Now-- maybe non-Catholic Christians are skeptical about praying to anyone other than God?
Saint Louis Marie de Montfort said, " We never give more honor to Jesus, than when we honor His Mother."  Saint Maximillian Kolbe said, " Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did."

I urge you to teach your children to pray! Children are even closer to Jesus than we adults are:  Jesus said, " I give praise to You, Father . . . for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, You have revealed them to the childlike." [ Matthew 11: 25].

Please visit the website for Children's Rosary at www.childrensrosary.blogspot.com, for information on how to teach children to pray the Rosary, on how to start a children's Rosary ministry at your church, and to order instruction booklets.

If we teach our children how to pray, we will be able to say to them: "Before, by yourself, you couldn't. Now, you've turned to Our Lady, and with her, how easy!" -- St. Josemaria Escriva.

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