By Susan Ciancio
Prayer—our conversations with God—not only strengthen our relationship with God, but they strengthen us. They give us the courage to live our faith openly and proudly, help us see and understand God’s will, and often work miracles.
But prayer is not only for individuals to do alone; it’s important to pray as a family.
Pope Leo spoke about family prayer during his latest Wednesday audience. EWTN News reported that the Holy Father said that prayer is a “fundamental dimension of our humanity,” but he lamented that “in many Christian families, the tradition of prayer is no longer passed on, whilst many people risk confusing it with just another technique, of a psychological nature aimed at personal well-being.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the ‘domestic church’ where God’s children learn to pray ‘as the Church’ and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church’s living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.”
Indeed, Father Patrick Peyton, known as the Rosary Priest, famously said that “the family that prays together stays together.”
At the Culture of Life Studies Program, we wholeheartedly believe this. But we also believe that pro-life education at home is a fruit of family prayer, for when families pray together, they usually include petitions for others. And this can lead to valuable conversations.
For instance, maybe the family prays that a favorite aunt is able to overcome her infertility and conceive a child. You could then talk about the sanctity of life, how precious preborn children are, and why it’s our responsibility to protect them. Depending on the age of your children, you could talk about the evils of abortion and IVF and why the Church opposes them both.
Or maybe you’re praying for an elderly grandparent who’s suffering greatly. This could lead to discussions about never taking a life early, about offering up suffering for someone here on earth or the suffering in purgatory, or uniting our suffering with Christ’s on the cross.
Maybe you’re praying for a family of a child who has a disability. You could talk about how all people, regardless of ability, have value.
Prayer lends itself to great discussions and to the teaching of crucial values. If we want to raise children who not only see the value in others but who stand up and protect even the smallest among us, then we must deliberately teach these concepts at home.
CLSP helps you teach the sanctity of all human beings from the comfort of your own home. We give parents all they need (minus craft supplies) to begin and continue important conversations with kids of all ages. We offer booklets for children from preschool through high school on a wide range of topics, from kindness to those who are overlooked or made fun of to abortion to marriage to euthanasia and more. We use Church documents, subject-matter experts, and the lives of saints to help illustrate the values we should all live. They are a fantastic way to extend family prayer time into a time of learning.
When we spend time as a family talking to God, learning about His Church and His teachings, and fostering the values our children need, they will be more likely to grow into the next pro-life generation. So yes, the family that prays together stays together. And the family that fosters pro-life values can change the world.