Giving the gift of rosaries
Rosaries are personal and intimate. Their use is an expression of the upward and outward yearning of the heart and soul toward the divine. But not everyone who prays will want to or need to pray this way. Many people already have their own deep and satisfying prayer practices.
So giving someone rosaries unasked could be taken as rather presumptuous. The intended recipient might think you don’t think he or she is devout enough, or has a relationship with God that isn’t what it should be. Those are judgments no one can or should make – and judgments no one should be on the receiving end of. Faith of any kind is a personal and private part of life for many people. Spontaneously giving someone unasked-for rosaries could cross some kind of line in your relationship with that person making the would-be-recipient feel uncomfortable, criticized, or somehow lacking faith.
Of course, there are plenty of people who would love to have rosaries. You can almost ensure this kind of response if you answer a few questions about the person you think might like to have rosaries. What do you know about this person’s faith life? Has he or she ever expressed a desire to go deeper in his or her faith practices? Does the person come from a faith background that has a tradition of rosaries? Do you know if he or she has a personal prayer practice outside of church? Do you have any reason to think he or she may want to begin such a practice?
After you answered these questions, there is one other thing to do, if possible, before giving a gift of rosaries. I have found one of the best ways to find out if a gift of rosaries would be appropriate for someone is to just show a rosary to the person. If the person becomes interested and starts asking a lot of question, I begin thinking of rosaries I will give to them.