10/16/2021 – Teaching Children to Pray

“Okay, kids, let’s pray the Rosary!” I call to the back seat, as we settle in for a long drive. Anytime we are in the car for more than 20 minutes, I figure it’s the perfect time to pray a Rosary together.My kids moan and groan. They would rather listen to music or an audiobook or just stare out the window. I understand how they feel, because I felt the same way as a child.“I know you guys don’t want to pray with me,” I say with a smile. “I know because I felt the same way when I was little…“Then why are you making us pray? We don’t want to either!” “It’s because I know some things now that I’m an adult that I didn’t understand when I was your age,” I explain. “I know what the Rosary will mean to you, someday.”There will come a day in your life, I tell them, when it feels like your entire world is crashing down around you…. When that day comes, I may not be there to help you and support you. But somebody else will be there, somebody who loves you even more than I do.Our mother in Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, will be there with you….When that day comes, you may be left so shaken that you cannot even find the words to voice a prayer to God.Then what a gift it will be to have the words of the Rosary, memorized, written forever on your heart….“That’s why I teach you these prayers,” I say, “so you will always have them with you when you need them….the Rosary will be your lifeline. …“I want to give you this gift. I want you to have this life preserver in life’s storms.”“Besides, there’s one other reason I’m making you pray the Rosary,” I say. “I know you’re going to thank me for it someday.”“How do you know that?” one of them asks, suspiciously.“Because I’m glad my mom and dad made me pray the Rosary, even when I didn’t want to,” I say. “I’m thankful for it every day. And I know someday you will be, too.” (Theresa Civantos Barber)-