Hosting a family Rosary at home

By Fiona Murray

Brussels (30th March 2008).- We are looking for families to host the Home Family Rosary (HFR) in the coming months. If you think you might be interested in hosting a rosary one month, just let us know the month and date (any Saturday from 6 – 7pm).
 For those of you who are not sure, the format is very simple. We meet in the host family home on the appointed Saturday at 6pm and recite the rosary. Children are especially welcome and encouraged to lead a decade. After the rosary, the host family may serve a simple ‘tea and biscuits’. Everything should be over by 7pm in plenty of time to allow the host and other families to disperse to their usual Saturday evening activities. This is a lovely and ‘communal’ way to teach the rosary to our children and to pray together. All family members are welcome, old and young, married or single – we are all part of a family, whatever the format.

How does the HFR works?

Some, especially new host families, like guidance on the hosting. The following is a broad guide but please feel free to ‘put your own mark’ on the gathering.

In general, it is for the host family to ‘lead’ the rosary. We try to keep it very simple both in content and length and to try to include the children as much as possible eg getting a child (or adult) from each of the families present to lead a decade. Therefore, in preparation for your hosting, you might want to consider the following ahead of the date:

- which mysteries you wish to do: as the HFR always takes place on a Saturday, we try to ensure we do a different set of mysteries each time (rather than always the ‘glorious’). The other 3 mysteries are the ‘joyful’, ‘luminous’ and ‘sorrowful’.

- the short introductory reading to each mystery: as this will generally be read out by the child who leads the decade, you might want to choose something short and simple

- the setting: again entirely for host family to decide. We usually light a few candles, arrange seats in a circle, cushions in the middle for kids, have a few extra sets of beads and some kiddy holy books for the very young and easily distracted! 

- who will lead each decade: you might wish, before the rosary begins, to invite each family to agree a member of their family to lead each of the 5 decades. This can help the rosary ‘flow’ rather than stopping after every decade to find a volunteer to lead the next decade.
Rosary Format

The format of the rosary which we use at the HFRs is as follows:

- Host family adult/adolescent starts with: Apostles Creed, 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys and a Glory Be

- First decade (usually led by child): short introductory reading to the first mystery, followed by 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, a Glory Be and then ‘O my Jesus, forgives us our sins; save us from the fires of hell, especially all those who are most in need of thy mercy’;

- Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth decades (as in 2. led by a different child or adult from a different family present)

- End with the Hail Holy Queen
The host family usually then services light refreshments (tea coffee soft drink) and biscuits. 
The whole thing should be finished by 7pm.

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