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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Catholic Motherhood | Daily Family Prayer | pray the rosary
Moms are busy, and time for prayer is limited (especially for the rosary). Ginny Kochis offers thirteen tips for fitting a beautiful devotion into your hectic day. Little people are busy. And needy. And no matter how intently the two-year-old insists he can put on his shoes by himself, he will inevitably attach the velcro strap to the drawstring of his pants and cry, cry, cry because his shorts are stealing his shoes (or something). The kindergartner Simply Will Not Leave without the sparkly doggy purse no one has seen since last summer, and the nine-year-old has to catch the Pokémon hiding under the couch. Suddenly, the spare 15 minutes to get everyone in the car and buckled becomes a “We’re 20 minutes late!” drive of desperation. Every day is like this for me, plus the added bonus of laundry that multiplies, dirty dishes that appear out of nowhere, bellies that always need feeding, and the husband who leaves his dirty socks on the stairwell (oh, how I love you, you sock-shunning man). I barely have time to get dressed in the morning before someone or something needs my attention. All of this leaves little room for dedicated prayer.
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Spiritual Works of Mercy | catholic family life | corporal works of mercy | family Lenten activities
I'm not a pro when it comes to liturgical living, especially as it's viewed today. I grew up in a home that was solidly Catholic, but celebrating feast days throughout the year wasn't something we regularly did. We had an Advent wreath. A Christmas tree. We went to Stations of the Cross and gave things up for Lent. But there were no sweet buns for St. Lucia, no shoes for old St. Nick. We didn't dress as saints on All Saints Day; our evening meals didn't reflect the feasts of the Church. We were a solid, loving, traditional Catholic family. Our faith was simply yet devoutly lived. But a decade ago, when I had my first toddler, the idea of living liturgically — doing more than my family did — was pretty intimidating. The dawn of Pinterest and Instagram made me even more shell-shocked. Three active kids, a work-from-home, homeschooling schedule, and I'm supposed to make a crown of thorns centerpiece from scratch? Truthfully, I was ready to throw in the towel, especially when it came to Lent. Advent was easy — there was a baby, and there were farm animals — but 40 days in the desert? Our Lord's scourging?! His gruesome death?! Guiding my family through this season eluded me, and it brought me a whole lot of guilt. That is until I figured out how to approach it, and it's gone well for us ever since.
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Catholic Faith | Daily Family Prayer | family life
If your family prayer time feels more chaotic than cultivated, take heart and don't give up. Here are 24 ideas for family prayer time from Catholic moms just like you. Let's be real for a minute here. Family prayer time does not look like a scene from the St. Joseph Picture Books. Aside from the fact that no one is wearing plaid pajamas or brown bell bottoms, praying with children is not always the peaceful, angelic scene a book might depict. Most of the time I've got one kiddo chewing a wooden rosary, one hanging upside down from the couch, and one surreptitiously drawing in her notebook while my husband and I work to stay awake through decade number five.
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Marriage | family life | sacrament of marriage
Certain things in life are easy. Finishing off that pint of ice cream. Scrolling through your Facebook feed. Giving the kids screen time so they’ll stop asking you five million questions. Clearly, these are choices along the path of least resistance. Most days, they take zero effort or thought. And then there’s your marriage: the foundation of the vocation chosen by God. There’s no easy button for prioritizing the covenant you entered before God and your loved ones.
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Asked to share details of her heritage, Ginny Kochis considered the inheritance of the Faith passed down through the generations.
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Prioritizing your marriage isn't easy. Ginny Kochis details how you can restore order to the promise of your love.
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