Dear Friend,

You might think that with 12 children, a demanding business, and the stresses facing every family, John and Ever Horan must have had seasons when they threw in the towel on the nightly family Rosary (yes, all 5 decades). But they didn’t. “No,” Ever’s Dad shared with us, “we never considered quitting the Rosary.”

“Work times varied,” Dad explained, “and so did Little League games, choir, band commitments, and our date nights, but the Rosary was always said.” To this day, his kids look back with gratitude on those times together in prayer. 

“The kids were never forced to join,” Dad explained, “but it was a such a routine that they all eventually did. I carried one or two kids to bed after most Rosaries!”

When Catholics who don’t pray the Rosary are asked “why not?”, the most common responses are “no desire or need to pray it” (39 percent), “never learning or forgetting how to say it” (24 percent), and “time issues” (17 percent). As one survey respondent said, “It doesn’t feel like a meaningful prayer to repeat rote prayers from memory. It doesn’t require any thought or communication.”

Not so for 15-year old Lucy, adopted by Mom and Dad and welcomed into their young family with open arms. “We started seriously in 1972 when Lucy came to live with us,” Dad recalled. “She wasn’t yet a Catholic, but she was entranced by the Rosary. It had to be said!”

Looking back, Ever says, “By most measures, our family was far from perfect, but in the area of devotion to the Blessed Mother, my parents definitely came close. Having twelve kids, they intuitively knew they couldn’t give us everything we needed, but they could at least introduce us to the perfect parents: Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. And this they did, every day without fail.”

What an amazing benefit to being a Catholic parent with even a little self-awareness! On some level, you know you’re going to fail your kids. But you take heart because you know that you can invite the perfect parents into your home to form your children each and every day.

By honoring Mary’s prayer and presence in our homes, we honor God the Father’s choice of the Blessed Mother to be His helpmate in raising up His Son and all His future adopted children. Jesus was formed under her and St. Joseph’s watchful care. And she can in turn raise our children in His image.

October is the month of the Holy Rosary, and this Thursday (Oct. 7) is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. What a great time to invite the perfect parents into the heart of our homes! For some of us, we may need to dust off our beads. Others may need to learn how to pray the Rosary or just schedule the time for it.

In this week of Our Lady of the Rosary, let’s bring these questions to prayer and family conversation:  

• Where are we as a family with regard to the Rosary? Where do we want to be?
• Where might Jesus want us to be with respect to His Mother? If He put Himself at her feet, would He want us there as well? 
• What steps can we take in this month of the Holy Rosary to journey closer to Our Lady—the “first evangelist”—who always points us to her Son and forms us in His image? 

We’re so grateful Dad and Mom never quit.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!