Coming together to pray as a family
Before you begin your reflections take a few minutes to make a little sacred space for yourself.
Pick a corner or a wall or a room and put a small table there with a cloth over it.
On the table put a candle, some holy water, a bible, and a cross (if you have them) you can also put some pictures of the family and those you might be praying for as well.
Some quiet music in the background is always helpful. Now you’re ready to start.
Family Prayer #2 “Being friends with those you don’t like”!
(Based on the readings for the 7th Sunday of the year A)
Parent:
We gather this evening/day to say a little prayer to God.
So we make ourselves comfortable and try to put to the back of our minds the joys and the worries of the day and focus our thoughts on Jesus our friends.
We want to make a special effort to pray to Jesus and to pray for those who are special to us and special in our lives.
All: (blessing ourselves) In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
(The child lights the candle on the table)
All say:
Jesus our friend, help us to be nice to those people who we don’t like too much or are nasty to us. We know that this is hard to do but we will be the better person for it. Help us to forgive anyone who has hurt or harmed us. And if we have messed up our friendship with God we are sorry and we hope to be friends again. Amen.
Parent:
A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew (5:38-48)
One day Jesus said: “If someone hits you, do not hit them back; instead you must forgive them and continue trying to be their friend.
Learn to be nice to those whom you don’t like or nasty to you. Say a prayer for those who hurt you. Try to be like God, our loving father, who always forgives us no matter what we do as long as we are truly sorry. If you do this others will see the goodness in you and want to be like you and like God and Jesus.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Family reflection questions/ideas:
- Why is it hard to like nasty people?
- How can we be nicer to those whom we don’t like?
- What can we do if someone doesn’t like us?
- What did Jesus do to those who didn’t like him?
- How important are our friends to us?
- What can we do to show our friends we love them?…do it tomorrow!!!
Our prayers:
Child: We pray for our families; help us to forgive each other when we have a row. Lord hear my prayer.
Parent: For those who are leaders in the Church; that they show us how to be nice to those who aren’t. Lord hear my prayer.
Child: I pray for people who are hated; let them know that God loves them. Lord hear my prayer.
Parent: We pray our friends; that they will always know that we love them. Lord hear my prayer.
Child: I want to pray for people I know who are sick, especially________________ be with them Jesus and love them. Lord hear my prayer.
All pray the Our Father together…
Closing prayer, all say: Loving Jesus, you said once: “I leave you my peace, my peace I give you”!
May our hands reach out to share your peace with others, and may our hearts always be filled with forgiveness and love.
Bless us this day/night. Amen.*
(Bless yourselves with the holy water)
Family Prayer #3 Coming together to pray as a family “No need to worry”!
(Based on the readings for the 8th Sunday of the year A)
Parent:
We come again this evening /this day to spend some time with God. To pray to our friend Jesus who is with us through good and bad times.
To begin we start to think about the past few days and to say thanks to Jesus for all that we have. We also thank Jesus for all the people who have helped us out over the past few days. Remember as well not to get too worried about silly things, put the things we are worried about in the hands of God…let go and let God.
All: (blessing ourselves) In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Child lights the candle in the sacred space)
All say:
Our friend Jesus; sometimes we get so caught up in our worries we forget about you.
We forget to say: “Jesus, will you look after that for me please”
Help us always try to remember you every day even through those moments when we get bogged down with ordinary stuff.
Help us to remember to put our worries in your hands and say “Let go and let God”. Amen.
Parent:
A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (6:25-34)
Jesus said to his friends: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than clothes.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not plant seeds or harvest crops or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are? Do any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers grow. They do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon had clothes as nice as the look of the flowers. It is God who clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow, he will clothe you much more, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The Word of the Lord.
Family reflection/ideas:
- What do I worry about?…is it really important?
- What things worry everybody else at home?
- What do we do when we worry?…do we ignore Jesus because of so much worry?
- How can we remember Jesus when we worry?…what do we need to do?
- Can Jesus help us when we worry?
- What does it mean: “let go and let God”?…how do we do it?
Our prayers:
Child: We pray for the people who look after us, especially Mam, Dad______________. Lord hear us. (Lord graciously hear us)
Parent: We pray for God’s people across the world that they will know that God loves them and to stop worrying about silly things. Lord hear us. (Lord……
Child: We pray for the men and women who run the country. Hopefully, they will know to care for those who most need it. Lord hear us. (Lord…..
Parent: We pray for those we know who are sick. Be with them Lord through the tough times. Lord hear us. (Lord….
Child: We pray for ourselves that we won’t worry too much about things that are not important but let go and let God. Lord hear us. (Lord….
All pray the Our Father together
Closing prayer, all say:
Lord, I feel your love around me in many ways.
In times of trouble, you are there.
Your love always makes things right again because you share your ending goodness with me. Amen.
(Bless yourselves with Holy Water)