New Children's Rosary Group Beginning in Chihuahua, Mexico

Last week we prepared a starter package of Spanish Children's Rosary books and rosaries for a new Children's Rosary prayer group beginning in Chihuahua, Mexico. We are grateful to the more than 250 rosary maker groups that send handmade rosaries to the Children's Rosary. In this way we are able to keep helping new and existing Children's Rosary prayer groups.

Patiently Waiting in Mexico City 2018

Yesterday we received this picture from Mexico City. We are excited to have another person joining our Children's Rosary Patiently Waiting Campaign 2018. 

This Advent Place a Patiently Waiting Sign

 in Your Window

Join the Children's Rosary by putting a sign in your window as a beautiful reminder of where our hearts can be found as we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. On Christmas replace the sign with one that reads: Christ is Born.

Send us a Picture
We invite people to send us a picture of their Patiently Waiting sign in their window. Please include in the email where you live. We hope to continue to feature some of these on our website. Pictures can be sent to: blythe.kaufman@gmail.com 

Invitation to Everyone
We should note that the Patiently Waiting Campaign is an invitation to adults and children. One does not have to be involved with the Children's Rosary to participate. 

The story behind the Patiently Waiting Campaign:
A number of years ago, I was walking past a home and in the window a sign read: Patiently Waiting.  It caught my attention.  Each time I walked past it each day I looked at it and was grateful for it. To see the sign made me happy inside. I wondered who put such a sign in their window.  Later I would find out it was a wonderfully holy priest.  After his passing, many shared how special this little sign was to them. It was so simple but it sent a ripple out into the community, a joyful one that is still moving in my heart years later even after the soul who placed it in his window has passed on.  This made me wonder, what if each of us put a sign in our windows?  What would be the effect...these speckles of love sprinkled all over the world. It was from this thought that the Patiently Waiting Campaign was born. 
                                                                                                             ~Blythe Kaufman

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday we received these beautiful pictures from our Children's Rosary (Rosario de Niños) at San Miguel Parish - San Antonio de Padua outpost in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo Mexico. This group meets daily at 5PM local time. 
I received a note with the pictures. Here is an excerpt from the note:
"Well the kids pray the Rosary every day at 5PM, the group is small but strong and some days there are more kids. In the pics you will see a little ba(b)y, he is just starting to talk, but he knows he will go everyday to pray "amen amen" (that is how he says)"

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Our the Blessed Virgin Mary, we celebrate the day when Mary was brought by her parents (possibly around the age of 3) to be presented to God in the Temple.

In thinking about this Feast, the little boy in the picture kept coming to mind. His mother brings him to Church to pray with the other children each day...to spend time in his Heavenly Father's Home. He is in a way presented before Our Lord. This little boy knows so little but it is part of his day; something he has come to look forward to each evening. He sees the older children praying, just as he sees them most likely playing outside at other parts of the day. All these things for a little child are exciting. They watch in wonder soaking in so much. As this little boy watches the older children kneel, he is held in his mother's arms. But surely he wishes to join them. To be old enough to find his place next to the "bigger children". He sees some stepping forward to lead prayers. As he gets older might he wait for the day he is old enough to be asked to lead. Yes, this is how a child grows. Watching, soaking in all around them both good and less ideal. 

Recently, a priest asked Asher my 10 year old son, how can you get children to want to pray?  Asher tried to explain that it is what a child is used to in their family. For my small part, I mentioned the age of the children and the importance of having little children involved in prayer. How important it is to invite young children to the Children's Rosary. There is an age when children almost universally are open to prayer. It is in this window that exposure to prayer is so integral to their development. This does not mean that if a child is not exposed at an early age they cannot have a fully developed prayer life as an adult. But at those tender years seeds are sown and when those seeds are watered with prayer it becomes part of one's heart and later those seeds can grow and the roots can go deep. When trials come the roots of faith and prayer are less easily uprooted. It is one of the reasons, I suspect that Scripture has many references to Our Lord calling the children in particular to Himself. We might ask ourselves on this Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary why such a Feast exists and why St. Anne and St. Joachim brought Our Lady to the Temple at such a young age? How are we introducing God to our young children? Can we involve them more?

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
A Procession for Our Lady
Under the Protection of Our Mother

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org
Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

A Visit to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Cancún, Mexico

On Saturday November 11th, we were able to visit the Children's Rosary at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Cancún, Mexico.  We were greeted by Veronica the group leader. She introduced us to Father Salomon the Pastor. All were so kind and welcoming to us.We are grateful to Fr. Salomon for his support of this group in his Parish. We humbly brought handmade rosaries to share with the children. Accompanied by the Guzman Alejandro the Catechist in charge, we had the opportunity to visit all the catechism classes in session that morning. Asher who is fluent in Spanish, explained to the classes about the Children's Rosary, showing them pictures of some of the groups around the world (see picture below). We began with the little children only age 6 and progressed to the older classes. Alina and Kostin took turns handing out the Rosaries. I enjoyed asking the children their names as they came forward and also seeing which of the handmade rosaries they wanted to pick for their own. 

At 11 AM we met back in the main Church for the Children's Rosary. Veronica had brought fresh roses to place before Our Lady. Different children took turns placing them at the end of the decades.Veronica took such care to make sure everything was done beautifully for Our Lady. One could see her deep devotion and love of Our Blessed Mother.

The children prayed the Rosary in Spanish. We were very excited to pray with them. Over the years the children and I have gone through periods of time when we try to pray the Rosary in Spanish. I imagined early on that there might be a time when we would be with children who only spoke Spanish and knowing the prayers would be important. So it was with joy that I was able to see my own children praying the Rosary in Spanish with those of this group in Mexico. Asher was able to lead the first few prayers of the Rosary and other children took turns leading the decades. We were also joined by Seminarian Luis Olán pictured above praying along with the children in one of the pews. He is assigned to this parish and was very interested in helping the Children's Rosary group and also sharing this prayer group movement with his fellow seminarians. We are very grateful for his help.

The picture below is Veronica the group leader with our family. We hope to do an additional post about the visit to Our Lady of Lourdes Church when we return to the United States and have access to more of the pictures we took. A special thank you to all those at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Cancún who so warmly welcomed us. We also thank Our Lord and Our Lady for such a blessing.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Nuestro Fe en Vivo
Little hands rescue Jesus and Mary

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org
Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

Mass Offered on November 4th 2017 for Renewal of Family Prayer

A Mass was offered on Saturday November 4th for Renewal of Family Prayer through the Capuchin Missions. This is something we do on the first Saturday of every month. The children also pray for renewal of family prayer in their prayer groups. In addition, over 800 individual 9 day novenas have been said by members oft the Children's Rosary to different saints also asking for renewal of family prayer.  Why so much attention and prayer for this topic?  

The Children's Rosary is not an intercessory prayer group, meaning its purpose is not to pray for intentions, rather it is a prayer group for children which helps support their prayer lives. Yet one cannot ignore the importance of prayer in the family.  Saints throughout history have championed prayer in the family.  The famous saying coined by Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton summaries it so beautifully, "The family that prays together stays together".  And so to keep and strengthen our families we pray for them. We hope that the prayer the children experience in their prayer groups will blossom into a richer prayer life in their homes.  Many members of the Children's Rosary have shared how this is happening in their families.

The pictures above are children who are part of the Children's Rosary (Rosary de Niños) in the Parish of Santos Reyes in Michoacán, Mexico. They meet at the Templo Divina Providencia (Chapel of Divine Providence) which is an outpost of the main Parish. The group meets each Saturday at 3:30 PM local time. The group leader shares, the children are now about ten, but we are inviting more children.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Nuestro Fe en VivoVídeo: Una perspectiva desde el cielo

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org
Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

First Children's Rosary in Mexico!

We are excited to share that a new Children's Rosary has formed at Santo Tomas de Aquino elementary school in Ciudad Juárez Chihuahua, Mexico.   The new group met for the first time on January 10th 2017.  They meet each school day at 9AM ET.  

We hope you will consider joining the children in prayer.  A schedule of their daily meeting is on our website www.childrensrosary.org and you can view their meeting time listed in your local time zone.  The children are asked to pray for those unifying prayers with them. So when you are unifying prayers with children, they are praying for you! You can also see the group meeting as a blue flashing light on our View from Heaven Map.  As this new group is located just to the south of El Paso, Texas USA the dot may look as if it is in the United States but as you zoom in closer on the map the resolution brings it just over southern border into Mexico. Click the "join in prayer" button and you can add a gold flashing light to the map.

The new group also asks for our prayers for peace in their city, state and country.

We welcome the new Children's Rosary of Santo Tomas de Aquino elementary school in Ciudad Juárez Chihuahua, Mexico.

Helpful Resources in Spanish:
rosariodeninos.org

Como empezar el Rosario de Niños