Building Prayer in a Time Stricken Family
I think that sometimes the distractions of the world can hit people so hard that they become disoriented. We are constantly besieged by bills, expectations of work, expectations of spouse, household responsibilities, and countless other matters which can cause us to lose sight of what is important, prayer. As adults, we can lose sight of that constant necessity to have dialogue with God, but to make matters worse sometimes our lack of prayerfulness can be adopted by our children. I was most recently reminded of this scenario in a conversation with my sister, and I offered her some solutions to help rectify the problem. Hopefully, if this is a problem in your life, you can use some of the solutions, or if you know of some other solutions that you think are helpful, you would be kind enough to add to them in the comment box.
First, you must understand that my sister is a housewife and has one child in school and the other is still at home. She often finds herself a bit stretched in her daily duties, but does want her children to grow up well formed Catholics; however, she often finds time strained because her youngest is in constant need of attention, needless to say that by the end of the day she is spent and has little energy for prayer, but tries her best. She prays in her heart throughout the day, which is a positive thing; however, I felt that an example must be established for her daughter and son to follow, so I gave her some techniques that I thought would help.
My sister and her daughter have done the rosary in the past, and her daughter loves the rosary, so my advice to her was to wake her daughter up 10-15 minutes earlier than she normally does. What they could do, since I believe it would be a bit difficult to do the whole rosary together in the morning, is do one decade of the rosary together. After the decade, they could each offer prayers to God for the day. The prayers they offer could be for those whom they love (family and friends), the sick, Holy Souls, etc. I believe by doing this every morning, that a prayer habit will be developed which will begin by offering the day to God and which could be expanded as she grows older, but I also had another reason for this. My nephew imitates his older sister. Seeing his older sister praying will get his attention and he will be attentive to what is happening. This will give him the opportunity to also develop a good prayer practice and grow in it with his mother and sister.
On the weekends, the practice can be expanded by the completion of the whole rosary and/or a lesson in the meaning of the mysteries and the prayers. By doing this, the prayers become more meaningful and it prepare the children for the time when they will enter religious instruction classes for their First Holy Communion, and it will also give them a greater appreciation of the Sacred Tradition of the Church and the Mass.
All too often, adults’ lives are consumed with making a living that sometimes they forget how to live or to teach those whom they love how to live. Prayer is but one part in the foundation of faith. It is a necessary part which enables us to communicate with God and humble ourselves before him. As children grow up they will often resort to what was taught to them in their childhood in times of hardship, so it is an imperative that a good prayer life be part of that childhood. In a world where we make time for television, the Internet, gaming, etc., we can make 10-15 minutes a day to teach children how to pray. It need not be the rosary per se, but it is a good place to start if the children already know the Our Father and the Hail Mary. However, a good prayer book can provide the basis for good morning prayers to be said as a family. Prayers like: An Act of Faith, An Act of Hope, An Act of Charity, An Act of Contrition, Our Father, The Hail Mary, The Apostle's Creed. These are all essential prayers to the Catholic faith and are instrumental in helping a person understand their Catholic beliefs and dependence upon God. However, these prayers, just like the ones from the rosary, would have to be explained.
I guess the bottom line is that we all have to make time for prayer and work out a game plan to incorporate the essentials of our faith. If we don't, we leave ourselves and our children open to many things that will essentially take us away from Christ and make us focus upon the world and less upon Him. As far as a prayer life goes, this is just a mere suggestion by which to begin. In reality, we should be praying at minimum in the morning and in the evening, but we must all start somewhere. As far as mental prayer, like my sister told me about and I mentioned earlier, it is a great thing. Talk to God throughout the day and share your heart and your worries with Him, but still make some time during the day that is totally devoted to Him and this can be done as a family devotion.
Pax tecum.
First, you must understand that my sister is a housewife and has one child in school and the other is still at home. She often finds herself a bit stretched in her daily duties, but does want her children to grow up well formed Catholics; however, she often finds time strained because her youngest is in constant need of attention, needless to say that by the end of the day she is spent and has little energy for prayer, but tries her best. She prays in her heart throughout the day, which is a positive thing; however, I felt that an example must be established for her daughter and son to follow, so I gave her some techniques that I thought would help.
My sister and her daughter have done the rosary in the past, and her daughter loves the rosary, so my advice to her was to wake her daughter up 10-15 minutes earlier than she normally does. What they could do, since I believe it would be a bit difficult to do the whole rosary together in the morning, is do one decade of the rosary together. After the decade, they could each offer prayers to God for the day. The prayers they offer could be for those whom they love (family and friends), the sick, Holy Souls, etc. I believe by doing this every morning, that a prayer habit will be developed which will begin by offering the day to God and which could be expanded as she grows older, but I also had another reason for this. My nephew imitates his older sister. Seeing his older sister praying will get his attention and he will be attentive to what is happening. This will give him the opportunity to also develop a good prayer practice and grow in it with his mother and sister.
On the weekends, the practice can be expanded by the completion of the whole rosary and/or a lesson in the meaning of the mysteries and the prayers. By doing this, the prayers become more meaningful and it prepare the children for the time when they will enter religious instruction classes for their First Holy Communion, and it will also give them a greater appreciation of the Sacred Tradition of the Church and the Mass.
All too often, adults’ lives are consumed with making a living that sometimes they forget how to live or to teach those whom they love how to live. Prayer is but one part in the foundation of faith. It is a necessary part which enables us to communicate with God and humble ourselves before him. As children grow up they will often resort to what was taught to them in their childhood in times of hardship, so it is an imperative that a good prayer life be part of that childhood. In a world where we make time for television, the Internet, gaming, etc., we can make 10-15 minutes a day to teach children how to pray. It need not be the rosary per se, but it is a good place to start if the children already know the Our Father and the Hail Mary. However, a good prayer book can provide the basis for good morning prayers to be said as a family. Prayers like: An Act of Faith, An Act of Hope, An Act of Charity, An Act of Contrition, Our Father, The Hail Mary, The Apostle's Creed. These are all essential prayers to the Catholic faith and are instrumental in helping a person understand their Catholic beliefs and dependence upon God. However, these prayers, just like the ones from the rosary, would have to be explained.
I guess the bottom line is that we all have to make time for prayer and work out a game plan to incorporate the essentials of our faith. If we don't, we leave ourselves and our children open to many things that will essentially take us away from Christ and make us focus upon the world and less upon Him. As far as a prayer life goes, this is just a mere suggestion by which to begin. In reality, we should be praying at minimum in the morning and in the evening, but we must all start somewhere. As far as mental prayer, like my sister told me about and I mentioned earlier, it is a great thing. Talk to God throughout the day and share your heart and your worries with Him, but still make some time during the day that is totally devoted to Him and this can be done as a family devotion.
Pax tecum.
Comments
Also little things like the Angelus, the Three O Clock Prayer, etc. would teach children to pause whatever they're doing for a while, at fixed times, and remember God.