A few years ago a friend asked me to make her daughter a First Communion Rosary. She wanted her daughter to choose the beads she liked best. When I asked the little girl what color she wanted for her rosary, she was very emphatic and firm that she wanted a RED rosary. Being someone who felt very strongly that First Communion rosaries should be white, I had a little trouble wrapping my mind around a
bright red First Communion rosary. But I thought it was just an unusual taste in this child.
A few weeks later, another friend asked if her son could come over to pick beads for his First Communion rosary. I pulled out my favorite browns, blues and green gemstones onto the table. He came over and his eyes fixed on the Red First Communion rosary that was waiting to be delivered to that little girl. "Ahhh that is a beautiful rosary!" he sighed. Hmm I see a pattern developing!
This experience fully prepared me for my six year old to make his choice for a rosary. Again, all my beautiful beads are laid out in front of him (and I don't have any red beads). But without any deliberation in the matter, he emphatically declares it has to be RED! LOL! I have to chuckle. It seems that red must be a very stunning color for little children of this age!
My six year old loves to help bead rosaries. So I was happy to include him in the process, even though it means waiting several seconds for each Hail Mary bead to be strung (while I string the little spacer beads in between).
I laid out several small crucifixes in front of him and asked him to choose the crucifix he liked best. He reached past my choices into the supply box and pulls out the BIGGEST crucifix in my box.
"OK, now why did you choose that crucifix?"
He replies, "Because God is really BIG!"
"Well, that's a very beautiful crucifix, but unfortunately it is too big for your little rosary. How about we choose this crucifix. Look it has a picture of a Sacred Heart. That shows how much Jesus REALLY loves us."
To my relief he was very excited about that idea. And very happily latched on to the Sacred Heart crucifix being the perfect crucifix for his rosary. I was glad of that since it also is the most detailed crucifix for its size, and has a gorgeous corpus.
When it came to choosing the center, I pulled out several of different shapes and sizes, expecting he would have a strong opinion on this choice too. He said, "Eeny meeny miney moe. Catch a monkey by the toe....(etc. etc.) ....My Mommy told me to pick the very best one and you are it!"
So why did you "EEny meeny miney moe, this one?" I asked.
"Because they are ALL good choices!" says he.
OK well that's the mind of a six year old for you. Strong willed one moment and easy going the next!
It is my belief that we should not give cheap plastic rosaries to our children if we are able to give them something better. Children are drawn to beauty and should learn from a young age that we save our best for God.
This rosary will not be used as a necklace or as a plaything. Beads can be very dangerous for young children and should never be used without close supervision.
In our family, the kids rosaries are stored in a box and we pull them out for use during the family rosary. My son will be so pleased to lead a decade with his beautiful red rosary.
I was happy that the rosary (red as it may be) turned out very very beautiful....My son will love the rosary all the more since he had a part in choosing the key parts in the design and beaded much of it too! (Look at how well the bead caps he chose match the crucifix and center! Do you think I have a future rosary maker here? ) .....I know that he will treasure this rosary for many years to come!
Bl
