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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Catholic Family Fun | family life | family prayer
Now that the long, slower days of summer are finally here, they bring with them the invitation to slow down a little. Hopefully, the lengthy twilights and break from school brings a sense of less urgency and more playtime to your home. Of course, the flip side of no school and more flexibility can also mean that the house seems to perpetually be half a step away from descending into complete chaos. When my kids were growing up, summer meant sleeping in and a lot of time for bedtime stories. On the other hand, it was also the season when one or another of my boys would get mad and inform us he was going to run away and we’d be sorry! So summer brings both sides of the coin. (By the way, they only ran away to the stop sign a block away. I would wander over a while later with some snacks in case they had run out of food. They usually had. One time, their dad dropped off a pillow, so they “would sleep better.” They all eventually decided home wasn’t so bad after all.) That is the great thing about summer: there’s even time for some mini-adventures.
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Ave Maria Press | Catholic Family Fun | Glorious Mysteries | pray the rosary
I have mixed emotions about praying the Rosary with my family. As children growing up in a Catholic home, we were “forced” to pray the Rosary, and I always dreaded it. The Rosary seemed to last forever, and there were a million other things I would have rather been doing. Because of this, my prayer time was never fruitful. I recited words, but never actually prayed. Today, rarely does a day go by that I don’t pray at least one decade of the Rosary. If I happen to be having a particularly sleepless night, I can get through more than one Rosary easily. My love and devotion to Mary have grown into an integral part of my faith, and I love having her as my spiritual mother.
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Catholic Family Fun | Hail Mary | family prayer
When my firstborn was a baby, I started the habit of singing the Hail Mary to her at night as a lullaby. I hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but soon enough she was singing along with Mama—praying without even knowing what prayer was yet. And so began our family’s tradition of starting bedtime prayers by singing the Hail Mary. I can already hear the reactions of those of you who can’t carry a tune. Guess what? Me too!
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Ave Maria Press | Catholic Family Fun | Sorrowful Mysteries | family prayer
The Rosary is one of my favorite ways to pray. Not only is it a powerful prayer, greeting Mary using the same words as the Angel Gabriel, but it also hinges on Jesus and walks us through key moments in the life of the Holy Family, and the story of God becoming man. But I will admit, sometimes my mind wanders off as I am praying ... and I realize I’ve zoned out on several Hail Marys. So, I was excited to try praying with Fr. Willy Raymond’s new book inspired by the life of Venerable Patrick Peyton, The Family that Prays Together Stays Together: A Bead-by-Bead Family Guide through the Mysteries. It was that “bead-by-bead” part I was especially interested in.
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Catholic Family Fun | Luminous Mysteries | The Family That Prays Together Stays Together | family prayer
I recently was given a book from Catholic Mom and Holy Cross Family Ministries: The Family That Prays Together Stays Together: A Bead-by-Bead Family Guide through the Mysteries by Fr. Willy Raymond, C.S.C. I was so excited to receive it in the mail and immediately read the introductory chapters.
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Blessed Virgin Mary | Catholic Family Fun | Family Activities | May
May begins next week, a perfect time to plan a May Crowning with your littles. My two-year-old daughter Ellen and I put together a super simple and quick May Crowning activity. We did most of it during my son's nap time while I was still unshowered and in my PJs. What is it that G.K. Chesterton famously said (and I use it as a crutch far too often)? “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”
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