Pray as a family

Family prayer is a powerful and valuable moment for parents and children. Praying for families is important, but praying as a family is equally important! In fact, the Catholic Church strongly encourages believers to have this family spirituality time. But why? and above all, how to structure this family prayer time?
“Because where two or three are gathered in my Name, I am present in their midst.” (Matthew 18:20)

Why pray as a family?

The family, small domestic church

Prayer is the foundation of our spiritual life and of our relationship with God. Just as it is important to have times of individual prayer to bear fruit in our personal spirituality, collective prayer is essential to feel our belonging to the same body, the same Church.
In this sense, the family functions as “a small domestic Church” just as John Chrysostom mentioned it in just the fourth century and as Benedict XVI remembered it.

A wealth to share and transmit

Prayer allows among other things:

• Show and accompany, encourage our children to pray. A child who learned to pray will become an adult who – regardless of his path, his difficulties or his mistakes – will know in the depths of his soul that he can always seek this loving and merciful Father.
• Share a special moment, which complements and enriches personal prayer. It is a moment of listening and welcoming the other, father or son, as they are and as they are. Before God, we are all very small. At this time, parents learn to be vulnerable to their children, leaving their prayers before God. The children open their hearts with all confidence, within this space of freedom that is offered to them.

How to pray as a family?

It is advisable to demarcate a space – physical and temporal – thus allowing us to reserve a space in our mind to live this encounter with God in the best possible way.

• a physical space: You can, for example, have a dedicated space in a communal room for the whole family, around a cross or an icon.
• A temporary space: As far as possible, a day or time can be set for this prayer. Like, for example, the night prayer or the morning prayer. Some gestures allow you to start this time of prayer: light a candle, make the sign of the cross, sing a song…

But above all, it is important that this time of prayer is always welcoming and not too regimented. Each family will find its way to pray. According to the periods of the year, family events – and the creativity of each one! – the sentences will be able to evolve. This time must be kept alive as a family.

family prayer examples

There are many ways to pray as a family. It can be done simply by reciting a prayer, such as the Our Father or Hail Mary, or with any other prayer. Here you will find some beautiful prayers that you can use to recite as a family:

This time of prayer can be accompanied by a time to listen to the Word of Godby reading the Gospel of the day, for example.
In addition, a beautiful way to pray as a family can be to recite the rosary together and educate the children in praying the rosary.
Let’s not forget to leave some time for the prayer intentions of each, which will be supported by the prayer of the whole family. We can also invoke the patron saints of each of the family members to ask for their intercession and prayers.

Pray as a family with ‘s spiritual proposals!

At , discover hundreds of proposals for prayer communities to help you incorporate times of prayer into your life. Through music, with the saints, around the Gospel, daily, weekly or according to Christian festivals, you will certainly find one that corresponds to your family! Here are some: