Vatican offers free e-book for family rosary

The Vatican Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life and the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network have published a free e-book designed to help families pray the rosary together. This is the cover of the e-book. CNS photo/Vatican Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life

The Vatican Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life and the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network have a gift for families for the month of October, which is traditionally dedicated to the rosary.

“Rosary for the Family,” a free e-book that can be used with the free Click to Prayer eRosary, features watercolor illustrations of the mysteries of the rosary, quotes from Pope Francis’ 2016 document, “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), and questions meant to prompt sharing about faith in the family.

“I invite you all to use this rosary so that we do not miss the opportunity to reinforce our love for Jesus and Mary, our heavenly mother,” wrote Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the dicastery. “The meditations are brief, taken from ‘Amoris Laetitia’ and are accompanied by short questions and images that can help you reflect in faith, even with children.”

The 21-page e-book is available on Amazon Kindle and Google Play Books as well as online from laityfamilylife.va in English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.

Many of the questions take an event in the life of the Holy Family and encourage parents to share something of their experience.

For example, after praying the third joyful mystery — the birth of Jesus — parents are asked, “How did you feel when you discovered that you were to become parents? What was it like to welcome children to the world?”

Or, after the third sorrowful mystery — Jesus is crowned with thorns — family members are asked, “How do I treat my family members when they don’t do as I had hoped? Do I accept them? Do I get angry? Do I mock? Am I patient?”