ERNIE E. MAIPID, JR.
Covid has brought the beautiful tradition of the family rosary alive in our home.
Since the start of Holy Week, our family has gathered every day to pray the rosary. We were able to do this by using the internet through “messenger.”
Family is all-over as we are on lockdown. Homebase, where my wife and I tend an empty nest with a helper, is here at Old Balara. Our eldest son lives in New Manila with his wife and four girls. Our two other children, another son and a daughter live in Brisbane, Australia. Both are married, with my son having two kids and our daughter, a boy and another, coming soon.
We finished our 28th day of praying. We gather at 5 in the afternoon here in Manila, 7 in the evening in Brisbane.
It was so heartwarming to see that our grandchildren ages 8, 6, 5 lead the prayers by turns in that short period of time. And much to the family’s delight, even our 3-year-old grandson said his ‘Hail Mary’ while coached by his mom, line by line.
As a family patriarch, I am overjoyed and thankful to have witnessed these precious moments. It was awesome to see how our grandchildren whispered the sweet names of Mary and Jesus. I am tongue-tied as the prayer babbled from the purity and innocence of their mouths. I imagined God smiling, ‘ear-to-ear.’ One’s heart can only be full!
In childhood, my mom will gather family after dinner for rosary recitation. I was 8 years old then. I wondered much what this was all about but marveled at the thought of family gathering for prayer.
Our children saw this too. We practiced community prayer as a family being members of a religious organization. But as they grew up and each left home to marry and raise their own families, occasions such as these lessened. The family gathered for prayer only on Sunday dinners, when those in town would visit.
This site, thus, was a moment of grace! I thought about how, years from now, as the little ones grow up, I will recall how the family came together as one to pray. Not that they knew or understood all that was happening. I guess this was the farthest from their minds as they all looked forward to the fun of virtual games after prayer.
But there was power at the moment when the family pleaded with God in prayer. They heard the intentions said. They heard it repeated every day. We interceded for the “frontliners” such as the doctors, nurses, and medical staff. We prayed for the old, the poor, the sick, and the dying. My eldest granddaughter, 8, had taken out her taken notebook to write and read the intentions. Meanwhile, the 3-year-old babbled and repeated in response, ‘pray for us,’ in the litany.
Growing up, my own faith seeds were planted early. It started at the home altar, where the family would kneel in prayer. Then, there was Sunday mass and the witness of pious parents and their devotions. My Catholic schooling nourished it while my parish involvement strengthened it. My faith intensified later in mission work for the family and the poor.
This early, I see the same in the lives of my grandchildren. God moves mind, heart, and will through an environment responsive to His presence. The young ones may not be mindful. But God is already mightily at work. God is shaping their minds and forming their hearts. He is aiming their wills towards His purposes. In time, they will discover Him!
And oh, what joy! Through Covid’s dark and dreary, His light shines!