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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Joyful Mysteries | Praying with images | family prayer | pray the rosary
Beauty lifts the soul to God. There is something simply transformative and profound about seeing a grand vista, or an intricate work of art. It’s hard to put into words, but these things have an innate quality that makes people think and feel. A majestic view of a waterfall will often make someone stop and wonder at creation. A detailed painting evokes feelings of wonder and awe as we imagine the painstaking effort a skilled artist put into creating it. Beauty reminds us of God’s magnificence and the care and effort He put into the world around us.
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Advent | Advent calendar | Family Fun | family prayer | how to pray the rosary
During the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, prayer tends to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Our to-do lists seem endless, and we feel the pinch of the shortness of time even more during the Advent and Christmas seasons. Families rush the Advent season to hasten in Christmas long before our calendars reach the 24th of December. Advent and Christmas, like the season of Lent, are profound moments in our Liturgical Calendar where the first movement of our hearts should be toward our Lord, especially when we encounter Him through prayer.
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Thanksgiving | The Sacraments | catholic family life | family prayer
My elementary and preschool-aged children have enjoyed making a construction paper chain full of things we are thankful for this month as we approach Thanksgiving. We have discussed the pilgrims and Native Americans in our homeschool lessons, and they look forward to traveling to visit relatives later this week. It's fun to cultivate holiday traditions with young children and to teach them to count their blessings at Thanksgiving. But how do we teach them gratitude beyond Thanksgiving day? How do we shape their hearts to cultivate gratitude for what they have when the stores are bursting with Christmas gifts they think they "need"? Here are four ways to help your families make thankfulness a habit when the pumpkin pie is long gone! When you're finished reading, we'd love to hear some of your own ideas in the comments!
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Catholic Family Fun | family prayer | pray the rosary
Getting kids to sit down and recite a whole Rosary is not always met with cheers and delight, as much as I wish that were the case. If I am telling the truth, I am sometimes met with groans and eye rolls alike. But when you lay out a donut Rosary, suddenly your kids are rallying to lead more prayers than their siblings. There’s nothing complex about the Donut Rosary. The cross can be a construction paper cutout, or you can make a cross with donut holes. The Our Father and Glory Be prayers should be regular-sized donuts — whoever leads the longer prayers and Scripture verse for the Mystery gets a “big donut.” The Hail Marys should be donut holes — make a decade one flavor or mix them up. After you say your prayer or prayers, you get to eat the donut(s). You will be amazed at the complaints about how unfair it was that Sister 1 got to lead more prayers than Sister 2 —haha!
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Catholic | family prayer | prayer | praying
It’s something you are never too young for, yet never too old. You could spend all day doing this, yet a few minutes works just as well. You can do this walking or sitting, singing or talking, when you are angry or sad, happy or grateful. You will never, as long as you live, run out of reasons to do this nor will you ever regret the time you dedicated to it. You can be an expert or a novice with the same result. It can be incredibly challenging and entirely easy all at the same time. You can do it in any language and you will always be understood. It is never — and I mean never — a poor use of time. It is appropriate for any and all situations, under any and all circumstances.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
As an adult convert, one of the most thrilling and surprising aspects of Catholicism is the enjoyment I experience from practicing and learning about my faith. It’s like an infinite spiritual playground that continues to evolve and unfold, which leads to deeper and more profound personal experiences. The Rosary has been one of those growing spiritual journeys for me (and maybe for you, too). Until a few years ago, my perception of the Rosary was that praying it was what “good Catholics” did. So I did, too; I prayed the Rosary with a group, but rarely on my own. Just as Mary draws us closer to herself and her Son, she has worked her motherly “magic” on me, too! I’ve been praying it nearly every day over the last six months, which is a miracle for this girl who has a tendency to think, “I don’t have enough time.”
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