Did You Receive a Rosary on Your First Holy Communion?

Thinking back to my own First Communion I remember vividly getting a beautiful crystal Rosary in a fancy box.  I looked at it many times and admired it..rolling the beads through my hands.  After looking at it with fondness I closed the box and put it safely in my drawer...where it stayed for many years.  It might truly still be in that drawer as my mother moved several times and I think the dresser may be in her barn in permanent storage.  It would be several years later when I was on a religious pilgrimage where we prayed the Rosary daily that I was given another wooden Rosary and began to use it in prayer.  My experience of receiving a Rosary for First Communion and placing it in a drawer for "safe keeping" I fear is not unique.  Rather I think most of us with young children might share a similar story from our childhoods.  What is sad is that few think to give a child something that explains what to do with this beautiful Rosary.  To take it a step further wouldn't it also be wonderful to give these beautiful little ones a place to use their rosaries with friends such as in a Children's Rosary.  Yes, this is my hope that more children will learn how to use their Rosaries and have a Children's Rosary group at their parish where they might go and pray.

As First Communions approach, may I humbly ask those picking out their gifts to consider including a Children's Rosary book.  Children ages 7 and 8 are truly the ideal age to  join or form a little Children's Rosary.  The book explains step by step how to begin a Children's Rosary prayer group. It also contains all the prayers of the Rosary and a diagram of how to pray the Rosary.  There are illustrations for each mystery also included. The Children's Rosary book is pocket size and perfect for these little hands. For information on how to purchase the book in Spanish or English from EWTN click HERE.