|
|
Post by jen51 on May 15, 2016 18:45:25 GMT -5
What are some of the ways in which you practice devotion in your family? Do you pray as a family every night? What kind of special customs do you have? If you're single, feel free to answer what you do yourself.
We say the family Rosary every evening, and usually have some type of Novena going. My husband has his individual devotions, and I have mine. They vary from season to season. On our children's baptismal days we plan on lighting their baptismal candles and saying some prayers to their patron saints.
I'm particularly interested in what parents do for kids to encourage devotion.
|
|
|
|
Post by mundacormeum on May 15, 2016 21:01:01 GMT -5
We do the family Rosary most evening, too. About a year ago, we enthroned our home and family to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts....wonderful family devotion! It has greatly strengthened our prayer life. I say morning prayers and the Angelus at noon with the kids, and my husband joins us for night prayers. We also say grace before meals. My favorite prayers we say as a family is our family litany....we say "St. so and so, pray for us", for each person in our family. We also honor the saints by making our meals according to whom ever the saint of the day is (I'm not terribly consistent every day, but I do what I can), and reading about that saint at the dinner table. Mass as a family on Sundays, of course. My husband and I each have our own private devotions/prayers, too, but the kids don't as much, yet. My 11 year old recently started a prayer journal, and sometimes they say the Rosary alone before bed (or so they tell me). Every now and then, they go on a kick and will make a special prayer nook in the house or in the woods near the house, and they'll go pray there, but it's not habitual.
|
|
|
|
Post by mundacormeum on May 15, 2016 21:04:08 GMT -5
Also, another I posted this on another forum, as one of the mothers tgere brought up the same topic....I figured it was easier to just copy and paste, and it goes in greater detail as to how we developed our family prayer life:
When we were first married and first had children, we really didn't pray much together, outside of Holy Mass and Grace before meals. As the children grew in both age and number, we gradually developed a family prayer life. We started with just a decade of the Rosary. Then night prayers, then morning prayers....both were simple prayers we found in the Catholic Treasure Box series. As their attention spans grew, we added the Guardian Angel prayer to morning/evenin routine, plus a few others. We also added a family litany (my personal favorite), where we just say, "St. so-and-so, pray for us", for each person in our immediate family. Sts. Michael and Therese are included, because we have asked them to be patrons of our homeschool, as well as Sts. Joseph and Raphael. We now say the full Rosary almost every evening, and have enthroned our family to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts (a little over a year ago)....we have added the morning offering of the Sacred Heart to our morning prayers, too. After we started homeschooling, we began saying the Angelus at lunchtime.
I think forming a personal relationship with Our Lord will just develop naturally from a life that is lived in faith, hope, and charity. By really striving to be holy, and to live the demands of your state in life, it sets the tone and example for how your kids think of Our Lord. When they are young, it's more about cultivating the habit of prayer and a familiarity with God and His Word, rather than a deep relationship. As they grow and ask questions, you nurture thier love for God, little by little, until they one day (hopefully!) develop and embrace their own convictions and love. And, I think simply by talking often about the life of Christ, Our Lady, the saints, Catholic things; reminding them how much God loves them and how amazing God's created world is, etc....really helps, too. If you talk about God and the saints as the real, flesh and blood people they actually are/were, your kids will think of them as real people, who they can be friends with, and will be with in person one day. So, just as you would tell stories to your kids of your own childhood, or those of your deceased family members; you should do so with Christ and His saints. When things happen in my own family's life that remind me of a saint, I tell the kids about it: "this reminds of the time St. whoever did whatever" or, if they are hurt or struggling, I'll quote a saint...."St. Francis de Sales says....." That way, they really come to intimately know these people, and thus learn to love them. It's hard to love someome you don't know....so, get to know God and the saints, and that will be the best way to truly love them. Or, so I hope!
|
|
|
|
Post by Voxxkowalski on May 15, 2016 22:32:15 GMT -5
Best I can do is get them to church on Sundays and Holydays
|
|
|
|
Post by Clotilde on May 15, 2016 22:59:26 GMT -5
I find that I'm very natural in how I approach this. What I mean by that is we take what holds the kids attention and what lights that little fire in their hearts and minds and go with it. Now, we say the family rosary every day, grace before meals, praying when we go by a cemetery, and we have always done so. When my children are small, if they are naughty, I tell them to go tell Holy Mother or Little Jesus sorry. I have them use holy water and look and the crucifix. We have holy pictures, statues, and crucifixes in the home. I think seeing those things, along with seeing their parents take their faith seriously does more than any forced routine. I teach them the rosary as soon as they can start learning it. We have visual pictures they can use. I think if a family did nothing else, if they prayed the rosary together every day, it would still be sufficient. That's my confidence in the rosary! There is nothing like the spiritual School of the Rosary.  If we were to break things down by liturgical season, there are many things that the children enjoy. We don't do things exactly the same each year but rather what we can, in the ebb and flow of life. I think if I broke it down, this would be a much longer post. The other thing that is important is to have many good books at home. Pictures books and books read over and over are ideal for children, even teenagers like them. Once your children learn to read, they can pick up any Catholic book and develop their interior life. You can't do it for them, but you can give them a good start. My husband picks books written for adults and breaks them down into lessons for the children. They really enjoy that. Also, we have very good discussions with the children, even the young ones. Yesterday at dinner we discussed proofs for the existence of God and the tricks that atheists play to deceive us. I also explained to the children how the Church approaches science and how the world unjustly labels Her "anti-science." That's just a sampling. |
|
|
|
Post by mundacormeum on May 16, 2016 6:28:34 GMT -5
I find that I'm very natural in how I approach this. What I mean by that is we take what holds the kids attention and what lights that little fire in their hearts and minds and go with it. Now, we say the family rosary every day, grace before meals, praying when we go by a cemetery, and we have always done so. When my children are small, if they are naughty, I tell them to go tell Holy Mother or Little Jesus sorry. I have them use holy water and look and the crucifix. We have holy pictures, statues, and crucifixes in the home. I think seeing those things, along with seeing their parents take their faith seriously does more than any forced routine. I teach them the rosary as soon as they can start learning it. We have visual pictures they can use. I think if a family did nothing else, if they prayed the rosary together every day, it would still be sufficient. That's my confidence in the rosary! There is nothing like the spiritual School of the Rosary. If we were to break things down by liturgical season, there are many things that the children enjoy. We don't do things exactly the same each year but rather what we can, in the ebb and flow of life. I think if I broke it down, this would be a much longer post. The other thing that is important is to have many good books at home. Pictures books and books read over and over are ideal for children, even teenagers like them. Once your children learn to read, they can pick up any Catholic book and develop their interior life. You can't do it for them, but you can give them a good start. My husband picks books written for adults and breaks them down into lessons for the children. They really enjoy that. Also, we have very good discussions with the children, even the young ones. Yesterday at dinner we discussed proofs for the existence of God and the tricks that atheists play to deceive us. I also explained to the children how the Church approaches science and how the world unjustly labels Her "anti-science." That's just a sampling. We do many of the same things, too, Clotilde. And, I couldn't agree more about the power of the Rosary! I am quite sure that is how we ended up Enthroning ourselves to the Sacred Heart  . I also think the example that the parents set goes such a long way. Authenticity on our parts is so important, I think. Kids can spot a hypocrite a mile away. "Do as I say, not as I do" won't cut it. I am always so nervous that my kids will leave the faith as adults, because of my poor example, personal failures, and weakness in holiness. I beg Our Lady often to supply all that I lack. As an aside, I read a beautiful blog post on the family Rosary awhile back....I'll see if I can find it and post it later today. We are back on track with school today, so I may not have time until much later (we year round school). |
|
|
|
Post by chestertonian on May 16, 2016 8:04:57 GMT -5
it is difficult for us to have much of a routine because there isnt much stability or consistency in our lives. lots going on beyond my control or anyone elses.
i think the only thing that can be consistent for us is turning to God in crisis and praying during stressful situations which are numerous
was home from the hospital for a few weeks and now have been in the hospital for 5 days. i am rarely home fr more than a few weeks without something sending me back here.. Whenever we build a shared routine with homeschooling, family prayer life, it goes away whenever i'm in the hospital because we are apart and they spend a good chunk of their time either visiting me or commuting to and from the hospital. and then when i go back home it is like i have to start over again.
my son (5) is a self starter with his prayers. he has known from a very young age that his grandmother and aunts and uncles do not share in our faith so if he ever has to sleep over at their houses or be in their care, he is on his own. My mother says that when he eats at her house, he bows his head, makes the sign of the cross and says his own grace before meals. He does his own prayers before bed without me or my wife there to pray with him. we give him his own rosary and prayer book whenever he has to stay with my family.
his nanny will pray the rosary with him and they have a little prayer routine together--probably more of a routine than he is able to have with me or my wife
|
|
|
|
Post by jen51 on May 16, 2016 9:03:41 GMT -5
Wow, I am so glad I started this thread! This gives me lots to consider and go off of- I can't wait to share these things with my husband. Thankyou! We also pray as we go by every cemetary and do the sign of the cross when we go by a Catholic church. We say prayers before meals and DH makes the sign of the cross over snacks. Munda, we do the same with the litany at meals! We say ____ pray for us, per everyone's patron saint. We say the baby's since she cannot yet. Also, if there is a close friend or family member sick, we will ask intercession from certain medical saints, (St. Luke, St. Giuseppe Moscatti, etc.)
We have a devotion to the Sacred and Immaculate hearts too, but we need to be more diligent in it.
|
|
|
|
Post by jen51 on May 16, 2016 12:11:50 GMT -5
Also, we have very good discussions with the children, even the young ones. Yesterday at dinner we discussed proofs for the existence of God and the tricks that atheists play to deceive us. I also explained to the children how the Church approaches science and how the world unjustly labels Her "anti-science." That's just a sampling. You bring up a good point here, even if you didn't mean to. The family dinner table. I think having the kids home, even the older ones, during dinner is of great importance. For there, discussions like this may happen, when there may be no other time during the day for discussions such as this to come up naturally. I also think it's important because everyone comes together, face to face, and can tell about and listen to each others activities and thoughts of the day. My husband and I sit down to dinner at the table together every day, and have enjoyed it, making sure to protect that time. Neither of our families did this. His just plain did not cook, and mine growing up, would get their plate of food and sit in front of the T.V. |
|
|
|
Post by jen51 on May 16, 2016 12:24:24 GMT -5
I think forming a personal relationship with Our Lord will just develop naturally from a life that is lived in faith, hope, and charity. By really striving to be holy, and to live the demands of your state in life, it sets the tone and example for how your kids think of Our Lord. When they are young, it's more about cultivating the habit of prayer and a familiarity with God and His Word, rather than a deep relationship. As they grow and ask questions, you nurture thier love for God, little by little, until they one day (hopefully!) develop and embrace their own convictions and love. And, I think simply by talking often about the life of Christ, Our Lady, the saints, Catholic things; reminding them how much God loves them and how amazing God's created world is, etc....really helps, too. If you talk about God and the saints as the real, flesh and blood people they actually are/were, your kids will think of them as real people, who they can be friends with, and will be with in person one day. So, just as you would tell stories to your kids of your own childhood, or those of your deceased family members; you should do so with Christ and His saints. When things happen in my own family's life that remind me of a saint, I tell the kids about it: "this reminds of the time St. whoever did whatever" or, if they are hurt or struggling, I'll quote a saint...."St. Francis de Sales says....." That way, they really come to intimately know these people, and thus learn to love them. It's hard to love someome you don't know....so, get to know God and the saints, and that will be the best way to truly love them. Or, so I hope! This is excellent, Munda. Can I call you that? Our hope is to raise our children with good habits- to guide them to be disposed to prayer and contemplation (even if it's just thinking of God throughout the day- as you say, being familiar). The part that is so scary is that I am not very good at this myself yet- it is hard to become so. I dearly wish that we lived close to Mass. I think taking the kids to Mass every day would be of great value in their spiritual lives. I would like to get into the habit of saying the Angelus, at least at noon. We have been wanting to purchase Butlers "Lives of the Saints". We should make that a priority and get into the habit of reading it. |
|
|
|
Post by mundacormeum on May 16, 2016 13:38:30 GMT -5
Thank you but, I have to give due credit....I am so very poorly formed, so just about all of that was learned from reading various holy, spiritual writers; or from other Moms who have given me good advice, and definitely not from me (so, from God, really). now, if only I were better at implementing all these things I believe in, I might stand a chance at real holiness! And, sure....I don't mind nicknames at all. It is really hard! I guess that's why God warned us to always keep our hand to the plow...He knows us too well . I wish we had a decent daily Mass available to us, too. We used to go a couple times a week, but then as babies came and we started recognizing the problems in the NO Mass, we reached a point where daily Mass was just not in the cards for us. Oh well...such is life. Another cross to carry. I don't think it will ultimately destroy our children's faith, though I certainly agree that it would bring lots of extra graces. But then, so does the sacrifice of accepting go the fact that we can't go, even though we want to, I think. It's just a different kind of grace, I suppoe. There's a season for everything, so maybe in time God will decide to provide it for us. In the meantime, we do what we can, such as a daily spiritual communion. We have a copy that was given to my husband in high school, and while he and I like to read it, it's a bit dry and heavy for the kids. But, it can certainly equip parents with the knowledge of the saints, so they can pass it on in more of a story format that they can understand. We have lots of children's books on the lives of the saints, and we read those with them. They like them a lot. I try to include a children's saint/religious book at Christmas and Easter, to build our family library. |
|
|
|
Post by mundacormeum on May 16, 2016 13:50:28 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by chestertonian on May 16, 2016 14:53:48 GMT -5
Thank you but, I have to give due credit....I am so very poorly formed, so just about all of that was learned from reading various holy, spiritual writers; or from other Moms who have given me good advice, and definitely not from me (so, from God, really). now, if only I were better at implementing all these things I believe in, I might stand a chance at real holiness! And, sure....I don't mind nicknames at all. It is really hard! I guess that's why God warned us to always keep our hand to the plow...He knows us too well . I wish we had a decent daily Mass available to us, too. We used to go a couple times a week, but then as babies came and we started recognizing the problems in the NO Mass, we reached a point where daily Mass was just not in the cards for us. Oh well...such is life. Another cross to carry. I don't think it will ultimately destroy our children's faith, though I certainly agree that it would bring lots of extra graces. But then, so does the sacrifice of accepting go the fact that we can't go, even though we want to, I think. It's just a different kind of grace, I suppoe. There's a season for everything, so maybe in time God will decide to provide it for us. In the meantime, we do what we can, such as a daily spiritual communion. We have a copy that was given to my husband in high school, and while he and I like to read it, it's a bit dry and heavy for the kids. But, it can certainly equip parents with the knowledge of the saints, so they can pass it on in more of a story format that they can understand. We have lots of children's books on the lives of the saints, and we read those with them. They like them a lot. I try to include a children's saint/religious book at Christmas and Easter, to build our family library. that is interesting. where did you get that information i rarely make it to mass anymore and am always feeling like i am missing out on all the graces!! it is very difficult. also cant do things like first friday promises, first saturdays there are so many graces. how can there possibly be grace in resigning yourself to not receiving graces? it makes no sense |
|
|
|
Post by mundacormeum on May 16, 2016 16:25:13 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I am terrible with citing sources I read a lot, but I rarely read books cover-to-cover. I also usually have multiple books going at one time, so I often have a hard time remembering exactly where I read various things. I also pick up little tidbits from online and IRL sermons, retreats, confessions, conversations with friends, etc. I'm not a well-versed theologian, and I don't play one on TV . But, as to my point about accepting the fact that you can't make it to Mass being a source of grace, I didn't mean that in the sacramental/sanctifying grace sense. Really, you would only recieve sanctifying grace at Mass if you recieved Holy Communion, anyway, right? Only the sacraments themselves are channels for sanctifying grace (someome please correct me, if I am wrong there). If I went to daily Mass with all my kids, by myself, there's no way I would ever be properly disposed to receive the Eucharist. As it is, I have a hard time on Sundays, with my husband's help. So, I would only receive minimal graces, anyway. Honestly, it might be to my downfall to go, because I would end up irritated and frustrated that I wasn't able to pay attention....I would likely ruin any chance for receiving graces by my attitude. But, in recognizing that the duties in my state in life require me to stay home from daily Mass, I see that as abandonment to Divine Providence. St. Ignatius would call it "holy indifference", I think. There's a certain merit and grace that comes with accepting whatever comes along - good or bad - as being from God. Not that we should just sit around and do nothing, letting life just happen all around us, with no action on our part. But, whatever does come along that is beyond our control, we should do our best to handle with patience and a resignation to God's Will. So, if I'm in a phase in life where daily Mass (which isn't even a requirement) can't happen, then I should accept that as His Will, offer it up as a self-denial, and try really hard not to complain or be discouraged by it (saying that you wish you could attend Mass more often is not complaining, by the way....desiring to be with the one you love, depsite not being able to is hardly a complaint). If situations change, and daily Mass becomes doable, then I would make the effort to go, and thank God for the opportunity. As Job says, "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." |
|
|
|
Post by chestertonian on May 16, 2016 17:06:04 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I am terrible with citing sources I read a lot, but I rarely read books cover-to-cover. I also usually have multiple books going at one time, so I often have a hard time remembering exactly where I read various things. I also pick up little tidbits from online and IRL sermons, retreats, confessions, conversations with friends, etc. I'm not a well-versed theologian, and I don't play one on TV . But, as to my point about accepting the fact that you can't make it to Mass being a source of grace, I didn't mean that in the sacramental/sanctifying grace sense. Really, you would only recieve sanctifying grace at Mass if you recieved Holy Communion, anyway, right? Only the sacraments themselves are channels for sanctifying grace (someome please correct me, if I am wrong there). If I went to daily Mass with all my kids, by myself, there's no way I would ever be properly disposed to receive the Eucharist. As it is, I have a hard time on Sundays, with my husband's help. So, I would only receive minimal graces, anyway. Honestly, it might be to my downfall to go, because I would end up irritated and frustrated that I wasn't able to pay attention....I would likely ruin any chance for receiving graces by my attitude. But, in recognizing that the duties in my state in life require me to stay home from daily Mass, I see that as abandonment to Divine Providence. St. Ignatius would call it "holy indifference", I think. There's a certain merit and grace that comes with accepting whatever comes along - good or bad - as being from God. Not that we should just sit around and do nothing, letting life just happen all around us, with no action on our part. But, whatever does come along that is beyond our control, we should do our best to handle with patience and a resignation to God's Will. So, if I'm in a phase in life where daily Mass (which isn't even a requirement) can't happen, then I should accept that as His Will, offer it up as a self-denial, and try really hard not to complain or be discouraged by it (saying that you wish you could attend Mass more often is not complaining, by the way....desiring to be with the one you love, depsite not being able to is hardly a complaint). If situations change, and daily Mass becomes doable, then I would make the effort to go, and thank God for the opportunity. As Job says, "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." i wish I had that disposituin it is difficult for me not to see as God making it impossible for me to go to church because He does not want me in Gis presence (or n aheaven bo less |
|
. I also think the example that the parents set goes such a long way. Authenticity on our parts is so important, I think. Kids can spot a hypocrite a mile away. "Do as I say, not as I do" won't cut it. I am always so nervous that my kids will leave the faith as adults, because of my poor example, personal failures, and weakness in holiness. I beg Our Lady often to supply all that I lack. 