x Close
World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Daily Family Prayer | counting your blessings | pray the rosary
I routinely talk to God about my feelings in spontaneous moments throughout the day. Sometimes I am inspired by a sunrise, my garden, a special moment with my spouse, or my children’s faces to express joy in and gratitude for all I have been given, for life itself. Sometimes I am moved and saddened by the heartache I see in the world. Sometimes I am struggling with negativity and uncertainty in my own life and endeavors.
Share
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.
Share
Brief and contemporary inspiration focused on hope and family prayer will be delivered to your inbox! Articles include live video, written word, and links to resources that will lead you and your family deeper into faith.
Daily Family Prayer | Rosary with kids | family life
Over the years my family has done many special things to celebrate the Blessed Mother with little children: Mary crowning, Mary altar, reading about Mary, making a Mary peg doll ... and this year we are going to try a Marian terrarium, only because we do not have a place for a garden. However, the most important bit about celebrating Mary in May is attempting to pray the Rosary daily together as a family.
Share
Daily Family Prayer | power of prayer | praying for your family
I’ve had the privilege of spending the last seven weeks participating in a prayer group called "Invitation to Personal Prayer." I knew I had a prayer life, but honestly, I’ve spent so many of the last survival parenting years as a “desperate” pray-er, (if that’s a word). My morning prayer times came seldom and far between, because I couldn’t get up any earlier than my children, so my prayers came during the day in small desperate pleas for the Lord to help me put out whatever fire was currently underway.
Share
Daily Family Prayer | Rosary with kids | how to pray the rosary
Neither my husband nor I grew up Catholic, so we are sort of making up this Domestic Church thing as we go. Of course, we have great witnesses of Catholic family life that we can look to for examples, but not having lived it ourselves as children, sometimes imagining what that means just isn’t on our radar. One of these areas is family prayer. We both knew we wanted that to be an integral part of our children’s memories of growing up, an indispensable aspect of our family culture. But what does it look like? How do we start? Most importantly, how do we make it something joyful, something that draws our children’s hearts to Jesus rather than something they hem and haw about?
Share
Daily Family Prayer | pray the rosary | prayer life
One Sunday morning a few years ago, I believe that the Holy Spirit was speaking through a young Dominican priest when he challenged all of us sitting in the pew to consider reading the last section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the topic of prayer. Why had I not done this before? It is like a handbook on deepening and developing a prayer life directly from the Church, and a wealth of insight for us as we live in a society that does not hold Christian prayer in high esteem. When I took the time out to do just that, it seemed like the words jumped right off the page and left me not only inspired but ready to make some real changes in my life. “We must remember God more often than we draw breath. But we can not pray “at all times” if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it.” What I came to appreciate was that without Christian prayer in my life, I was far less useful to the Kingdom of God and admittedly I was missing out on the insights and graces God wanted to grant. When we don’t take time out for regular prayer, we cannot see God’s plan for our life. In many ways, it would be like walking around with foggy glasses.
Share
