Prayers for Family

Almighty and everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being; We, thy needy creatures, render thee our humble praises, for thy preservation of us from the beginning of our lives to this day, and especially for having delivered us from the dangers of the past night. For these thy mercies, we bless and magnify thy glorious Name; humbly beseeching thee to accept this our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; for his sake who lay down in the grave, and rose again for us, thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

In particular, we implore thy grace and protection for the ensuing day. Keep us temperate in all things, and diligent in our several callings. Grant us patience under our afflictions. Give us grace to be just and upright in all our dealings; quiet and peaceable; full of compassion; and ready to do good to all men, according to our abilities and opportunities. Direct us in all our ways. Defend us from all dangers and adversities; and be graciously pleased to take us, and all who are dear to us, under thy fatherly care and protection. These things, and whatever else thou shalt see to be necessary and convenient to us, we humbly beg, through the merits and mediation of thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Most merciful God, who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and hast promised forgiveness to all those who confess and forsake their sins; We come before thee in an humble sense of our own unworthiness, acknowledging our manifold transgressions of thy righteous laws. But, O gracious Father, who desirest not the death of a sinner, look upon us, we beseech thee, in mercy, and forgive us all our transgressions. Make us deeply sensible of the great evil of them; and work in us an hearty contrition; that we may obtain forgiveness at thy hands, who art ever ready to receive humble and penitent sinners; for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.

To our prayers, O Lord, we join our unfeigned thanks for all thy mercies; for our being, our reason, and all other endowments and faculties of soul and body; for our health, friends, food, and raiment, and all the other comforts and conveniences of life. Above all, we adore thy mercy in sending thy only Son into the world, to redeem us from sin and eternal death, and in giving us the knowledge and sense of our duty towards thee. We bless thee for thy patience with us, notwithstanding our many and great provocations; for all the directions, assistances, and comforts of thy Holy Spirit; for thy continual care and watchful providence over us through the whole course of our lives; and particularly for the mercies and benefits of the past day; beseeching thee to continue these thy blessings to us, and to give us grace to show our thankfulness in a sincere obedience to his laws, through whose merits and intercession we received them all, thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

In particular, we beseech thee to continue thy gracious protection to us this night. Defend us from all dangers and mischiefs, and from the fear of them; that we may enjoy such refreshing sleep as may fit us for the duties of the coming day. And grant us grace always to live in such a state that we may never be afraid to die; so that, living and dying, we may be thine, through the merits and satisfaction of thy Son Christ Jesus, in whose Name we offer up these our imperfect prayers. Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, this night and evermore. Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Almighty God, heavenly Father, who hast blessed us with the joy and care of children; Give us light and strength so to train them, that they may love whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report, following the example of their Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

O God, whose fatherly care reacheth to the uttermost parts of the earth; We humbly beseech thee graciously to behold and bless those whom we love, now absent from us. Defend them from all dangers of soul and body; and grant that both they and we, drawing nearer to thee, may be bound together by thy love in the communion of thy Holy Spirit, and in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come; knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who settest the solitary in families; We commend to thy continual care the homes in which thy people dwell. Put far from them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vain-glory, and the pride of life. Fill them with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness. Knit together in constant affection those who, in holy wedlock, have been made one flesh; turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers; and so enkindle fervent charity among us all, that we be evermore kindly affectioned with brotherly love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We give Thee thanks, O Almighty God, for all Thy mercies. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

O God, who art the Father of us all; we pray for thy blessing upon all mothers everywhere. Give to them holy desires with wisdom and power to fulfill the same, so that their children may grow up to call them blessed, and to be useful men and women in this thy great world. We ask this, O Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, our blessed Saviour, who once lay a little child in the arms of a holy mother. Amen.

Father of Life, fold in the everlasting arms of thy love the torch-bearers of life, the mothers of the race. As they struggle up the steps of motherhood, through its travail of mind, body, and soul, give them a clearer vision and a guiding wisdom. Grant them the compensation of a love returned and understood, and the ultimate satisfaction of knowing that they have lifted those entrusted to their care up into helpful harmony with thy kingdom. Bestow an especial tenderness on those who, having borne no children, nevertheless exert the sweet ministries of motherhood over their home circle. Comfort all lonely, unmothered hearts. Grant the ever-steadying power of thy support through the daily discouragements, the clash and readjustment of ideals, and the anguish of bereavement that come into all mothers' lives. Increase, we pray, their cheerful steadfastness, their wistful selfless strength; and, at the close of their day, may they enter into rest with faith undimmed, and unafraid. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord, our God, in reverence and adoration we stand before thy fathomless and inexpressible love. Thou art not enthroned worlds distant in the heaven; thou dwellest in us and around us. Thou hast come in thy Son, into the world, to seek the lost, to make joyful the sad, to make rich the poor, make strong the weak, make blessed the sinner. Oh, help us above all to be able to understand aright thy kindness, to receive willingly thy grace, to open ourselves heartily to thy love.

Let this Christmas mark truly a bringing of grace for each house, for each person, young and old, for poor and rich, for high and low, but primarily for the lowly and the abandoned, the tired and the despondent, the bowed down and the worried! Let us deeply experience the holy Christ festival of this year; let it be to us a blessing now and for all time!

Lord God, eternal Father, appear for us in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the Christmas season with all its gifts and gladness. We thank thee for the love in so many hearts that finds expression in gifts and good-will; for home-gatherings and reunion of separated ones; for home joys and social festivities; and for all the gladness that brightens the weary world in this Christmas time. May we know that all these blessings are showered upon us by the hand of the Babe of Bethlehem. May not the abundance of material gifts smother the spiritual significance of the day and the gifts cause us to forget the real Giver. Move us with generous impulses to share our good things with others, and may the Spirit of Christ touch our lives with a new spirit of love and joy that will bless and make beautiful all our days. And this we ask in his name. Amen.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.Christ, graciously hear us.God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.Holy Mary, pray for us.St Joseph, pray for us.Renowned offspring of David, pray for us.Light of Patriarchs, pray for us.Spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.Chaste guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.Foster-father of the Son of God, pray for us.Diligent protector of Christ, pray for us.Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.Joseph most just, pray for us.Joseph most chaste, pray for us.Joseph most prudent, pray for us.Joseph most strong, pray for us.Joseph most obedient, pray for us.Joseph most faithful, pray for us.Mirror of patience, pray for us.Lover of poverty, pray for us.Model of artisans, pray for us.Glory of home life, pray for us.Guardian of virgins, pray for us.Pillar of families, pray for us.Solace of the wretched, pray for us.Hope of the sick, pray for us.Patron of the dying, pray for us.Terror of demons, pray for us.Protector of Holy Church, pray for us.Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

℣.He made him the lord of his household.℟.And prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray. O God, who in thy ineffable providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph to be the spouse of thy most holy Mother; grant, we beseech thee, that we may have him for our intercessor in Heaven, whom we venerate as our protector on earth: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

O God, who, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, hast poured into the hearts of Thy faithful the gifts of charity: grant to Thy servants and handmaids, for whom we implore Thy mercy, health both of body and soul; that they may love Thee with all their strength, and cheerfully perform those things which are pleasing unto Thee.

O Father of mankind, who hast given unto me these my children, and committed them to my charge to bring them up for Thee, and to prepare them for everlasting life: assist me with Thy heavenly grace, that I may be able to fulfil this most sacred duty and stewardship. Teach me both what to give and what to withhold; when to reprove and when to forbear; make me to be gentle, yet firm; considerate and watchful; and deliver me equally from the weakness of indulgence, and the excess of severity; and grant that, both by word and example, I may be careful to lead them in the ways of wisdom and true piety, so that at last I may, with them, be admitted to the unspeakable joys of our true home in heaven, in the company of the blessed Angels and Saints.

O Heavenly Father, I commend my children unto Thee. Be Thou their God and Father; and mercifully supply whatever is wanting in me through frailty or negligence. Strengthen them to overcome the corruptions of the world, to resist all solicitations to evil, whether from within or without; and deliver them from the secret snares of the enemy. Pour Thy grace into their hearts, and confirm and multiply in them the gifts of Thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; and so, faithfully serving Thee here, may come to rejoice in Thy presence hereafter.

O Almighty God, who hast given unto me my father and mother, and made them to be an image of Thine authority, and love, and tender watchfulness; and hast commanded me to love, and honor, and obey them in all things: give me grace cheerfully and with my whole heart to keep this Thy law. Help me to love them fervently, to honor them truly, to yield a ready obedience to their commands, to comply with their wishes, to study their happiness in everything, and to bear their rebukes with patience and humility. Deliver me, O God, from pride, rebellion, and wilfulness, from passion and stubbornness, from sloth and carelessness. Make me diligent in all my duties and studies, and patient in all my trials; that so living, I may deserve to be Thy child, who art our Father in Heaven.

O God, the Giver of peace and Lover of charity, grant to Thy servants true concord and union with Thy holy will, that we may be delivered from all temptations which assault us.

O Mother of Perpetual Help, numerous clients continually surround thy holy Picture, all imploring thy mercy. All bless thee as the assured help of the miserable; all feel the benefit of thy maternal protection. With confidence, then, do I present myself before thee in my misery. See, dear Mother, the many evils to which we are exposed; see how numerous are our wants. Trials and sorrows often depress us; reverses of fortune and privations are grievous, bring misery into our homes; everywhere we meet the cross. Have pity, compassionate Mother, on us and on our families; especially in this my necessity (here mention it). Help me, O my Mother, in my distress; deliver me from all my ills; or if it be the will of God that I should suffer still longer, grant that I may endure all with love and patience. This grace I expect of thee with confidence, because thou art our Perpetual Help. Amen.

To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we fly in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy spouse, we confidently crave thy patronage also. Through that charity which bound thee to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and through the paternal love with which thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we humbly beseech thee graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

O most watchful Guardian of the Divine Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving Father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from Heaven assist us in this our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity: shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thine example and thine aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in Heaven. Amen.

With deep and heartfelt veneration I prostrate myself before thee, O glorious St Anne. Thou art that creature of privilege and predilection, who through thy extraordinary virtues and sanctity wast worthy to receive from God the supreme grace of giving life to the treasure-house of all graces, blessed among women, Mother of the Word Incarnate, the most holy Virgin Mary. Deign, therefore, O most compassionate saint, for the sake of this lofty privilege, to receive me into the number of thy true followers, for such I protest I am and desire to remain so long as I may live. Surround me with thy powerful patronage, and obtain for me from God the grace to imitate those virtues with which thou wast so abundantly adorned. Grant that I may know and bitterly lament my sins. Obtain for me a most lively affection for Jesus and Mary, and fidelity and constancy in the practice of the duties of my state. Preserve me from every danger in life, and assist me in the moment of my death, so that, safe in Paradise, I may unite with thee, most blessed Mother, in praising the Word of God made man in the bosom of thy most pure child, the Virgin Mary. Amen.

O Almighty God, Creator of mankind, who only art the well-spring of life; Bestow upon these thy servants, if it be thy will, the gift and heritage of children; and grant that they may see their children brought up in thy faith and fear, to the honour and glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.