The month of May is especially devoted to the Rosary. Perhaps you might consider praying one decade of the rosary every day (10 Hail Mary's) beginning May 3rd. Pope Francis has asked us to pray the rosary in the month of May for an end to the Pandemic. I think this would be a wonderful way for Catholics around the world to unite in prayer to Mary to help us in our times of need.  Normally, Our Lady of the Scapular would have invited families to participate in the “Flores de Mayo” Rosary procession in honour of Mary at the church, but in this way, the whole school can offer our Blessed Mother a “spiritual bouquet” of a full Rosary including all 20 mysteries!

 

Here are some excellent resources to share with your children or your classes.

 

• Here are two PDFs for making Rosary Mystery Cards: A set of Rosary Mystery Card Images  and a Rosary Mystery Card with text and instructions. These are 4x5 images of all 20 mysteries of the rosary that our primary grades can colour, cut out, and then glue on short text descriptions on the backs. (Instructions for assembly are at the end of the Text file). Each of the cards may be assembled on the day that mystery is prayed in class, then the whole pack used at home to help them meditate on the mysteries when they pray the Rosary together with their family. (Thank you, Lynne Orr, for this amazing resource!)

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Here are 3 PDFs with full sheet colouring pages on “How to Pray the Rosary” and all 20 Mysteries of the Rosary. These are appropriate for older grades as well. These may be coloured during class time (asynchronous) or simply offered to students as a project to work on at home with their families. The “How to Pray the Rosary Colouring Page” may be used in class during prayer for younger students who don’t have Rosary beads to help them keep track of the decade. They can colour in a bead of the Rosary with each Hail Mary. (I always just use my fingers – isn’t that why God gave us 10? ;)

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

The links below contain two Word documents (a Rosary Outline and a list of suggested daily prayer intentions) and three PDFs containing various meditations on all the mysteries of the Rosary. (Thank you to Lynne Orr for the outline, and thank you to Jose Evangelista for many of the suggested intentions!)

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

A variety of meditations are offered for different grades/age groups, and they can all be used with the “Leading the Rosary” outline, which is a script for teachers to help lead their class in the daily decade. The daily intentions and daily “Rosary Facts” (which are found in the Rosary Outline) may be presented to students on the screen along with the title of the mystery being prayed and a holy image depicting the mystery. Teachers are free to select appropriate images. Students should be encouraged to use rosary beads they may have previously made in class or have at home. 

 

These are all just options. Teachers are free to pick and choose from the resources, depending on what they feel is appropriate for their students. The important thing is that our students will be praying the Rosary daily with their classmates, together with their whole school, and possibly with 5 other schools as well! Hopefully, these resources will help both teachers and students learn more about how rich the Rosary is... in its mysteries, its history and its beauty, all revealing the details of the life of Christ.   Perhaps even more importantly, the parents will be helping their children by printing out these cards, words and pictures, helping them sort and pray with them, thereby learning lots too.  Surely, anyone who didn't understand the Rosary before will have a new and positive idea about it now - that it is a prayer with a story, with much detail and rich in virtue, and fun to meditate on!

 

And so the Rosary will be in so many homes with families this year . . .what a great benefit of at-home learning!  Thank you, God!!! 

 

And thank you, Liaisons, for sharing these resources with your schools.

​