Children are an awesome, amazing blessing to parents (and to the world!), and with them come the responsibility for their spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Family life is challenging, but it is a beautiful way of life!
“The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life.
“Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2207).
Parents teach their children, both by word and example, love of God and neighbor– to “‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’” (Mark 12:30) and to “‘love one another as I [the Lord Jesus Christ] have loved you’” (John 15:12). St. Paul gives us an awesome description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.
“Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the ‘first heralds’ for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one’s life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2225).
Parents should pray daily with their children. Even before they are born, children can hear, and what better words can they hear than prayers? Children are sponges and will soak up what they hear and experience; if they are introduced to daily prayers even before they are born, they can learn basic, simple prayers early in life.
In today’s hostile culture, families need to be strong and courageous in standing up against evil and in forming their children to be moral, well-balanced, courageous, confident people striving for holiness of life.
In Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope St. John Paul II tells us: “By word and example, in the daily round of relations and choices, and through concrete actions and signs, parents lead their children to authentic freedom, actualized in the sincere gift of self, and they cultivate in them respect for others, a sense of justice, cordial openness, dialogue, generous service, solidarity and all the other values which help people to live life as a gift.”
Praying for your children is absolutely essential! Here we offer two prayers you can pray for your children–one is for both mothers and fathers, and the other is specifically for mothers to pray for their children. You can also pray a prayer to the Holy Spirit for help in raising your gifts from God!
Prayer of Parents for Children
O Jesus, Lover of children, bestow Your most precious graces on those whom You have confided to our care. Increase in them faith, hope and charity. May Your love lead them to solid piety, inspiring them with dread for sin, love of work, and an ardent desire of worthily approaching Your Holy Table. Preserve in them innocence and purity of heart; and if they should offend You, grant them the grace of a prompt and sincere repentance. From Your tabernacle, watch over them day and night; protect them in all their ways. Grant that they may acquire the knowledge that they need to embrace the state of life to which You have called them. Grant us a sincere love, constant vigilance and generous devotedness towards them. Grant us all consolation on earth and eternal reward in heaven. Amen.
A Mother’s Daily Prayer for Children
O Mary, Immaculate Virgin and Sorrowful Mother, commend our beloved children to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Who refuses nothing to His Mother. Holy Guardian Angels, pray for them. St, Joseph, powerful patron, pray for them. St. John, beloved disciple of the Heart of Jesus, pray for them. St. Augustine, pray for them. St. Anthony, pray for them. St. Anne, mother of Mary, pray for them. St. Monica, pray for them. Amen.
View Prayers as PDF
Download More Prayers
