Prayers
Teaching ourselves and our children to pray everyday is vital for our spiritual life. Since our spiritual self is not separate from our physical self, it is also vital for our everyday life.
Prayer is literally, conversation with God. In prayer, we are asking God to help others (which we are obligated to do) for ourselves or situations, (petition). Prayers of praise are means of giving God the glory that is His due. Prayers of Thanksgiving for the many blessings we receive are like the one leper out of the ten who returns to say thank you to Jesus. (Sometimes our hardships are blessings in disguise because of how they change us for the better). And, last but not least, prayers to ask for forgiveness for ourselves and others are prayers of contrition.
Since prayer is a conversation with God, it involves not just us doing all the talking with our grocery list of needs, but it also involves listening. I can’t tell you how many times over the years, I have asked God’s help in straightening someone out only to realize I needed some straightening myself, that my own attitude or behavior was exacerbating a situation.
Children are very good at talking to God. They speak to Him in the complete faith that they have in Him. (We must believe like little children). Two of the most important prayers that we can pass on to our children are the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary. The Lord’s Prayer comes straight from the mouth of Jesus Himself when the apostles asked Him how to pray. The Hail Mary comes straight from the mouth of the Angel Gabrielle. If angels greet Mary in such a fashion I’m thinking we should be honoring her in such a way as well. By the time our little people reach first grade, they should know these two prayers and the Glory Be which is a short prayer of praise to the Trinity.
In the Hail Mary, we greet Mary as the angel did. This is straight out of scripture. We also notice the respect paid to her by her cousin Elizabeth. Why is Mary holy? Because she will carry in her womb God Himself. You notice it is “fruit” of the womb. (This gives great dignity to the babes in the womb who are also made in the image and likeness of God). In the second part of the prayer, we ask for Mary’s help. “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Amen. Here we are asking our spiritual Mother to pray for us. When the stewards were running out of wine at the wedding feast, who did they go to for help first? Aha!! Jesus, apparently was not planning His first public miracle to be this one. However, He grants His Mother her request, and takes care of the situation. Now, did you notice what she told the stewards? DO AS HE TELLS YOU. That, in a nutshell, is what she tells us to do. And by the way, (I asked my students this one), when you want something, who do you go to first, Mom or Dad? (You guessed it). Why? She will go to bat for them.
Now that we’ve talked about our Mother, let’s talk about Our Father. Jesus Himself gave us this prayer when the apostles asked Him how to pray. We are addressing God as Father. First we address Him, then give Him praise, “hallowed be Thy name.” We ask that His will be done here on earth just as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, (the bread of life Jesus gave us in the Eucharist), and forgive us our trespasses, (yes we are all sinners), as we forgive others, and lead us not into temptation (help us to overcome our temptations), but deliver us from evil. Amen. You notice we have a Mother and a Father. You notice how we imitate the spiritual reality? After all, we are made in His image and likeness. (not the other way around)
How long does it take to greet the day or end the day with a little prayer? How about doing this in the car on the way to work or school?