Do you Pray for your Children?

 

 

 

Do you Pray for your Children?

O Blessed Virgin, Queen of Heaven and Earth

 By Rita Davidson

 

 I mean no one ever told me about prayer for my children, when I got married? When our first child was born and baptized no one ever told me about praying for them. When subsequent children were born, it was never brought up. Books didn’t talk about it that I could remember. My parents never taught me since they figured I knew what I needed to know. And they were a product of the demise of the Church too, which is why I never learned the rosary from them. (but that is another blog post)

 

When my girls were growing up, they were angels. Seriously, they were calm, respectful, beautiful (I know not a virtue, but I’m biased :)) but..modest, kind, generous, and talented. They helped with the chores, with their siblings, worked overtime with our Little Flowers Family Press. I just was so proud of them why would I ever need to pray for them?

 

This is not to say we didn’t pray. Sure we said the rosary, regularly in the early years, then (as often as we could, see my other blog post How to Save your Family from Failure).

 

Years past, memories were made, birthdays flew by, and low and behold, I woke up one day to my three girls leaving our home, leaving their faith, and leaving modesty (for the most part) behind. Now this didn’t happen overnight. But to say it was a shock to my senses would be an understatement.

 

How could we have prepared for this? How could we have considered this would happen when our early years were so productive, so loving, so trouble-free?

 

It took is more than a year to recover ourselves from this. Oh, there is still pain that rears its ugly head, that I think we’ll never recover from. But, looking back I look for clues to what caused this breach. What caused this, how could it be prevented?

 

I am reminded of a prayer for her children, that another mother shared with me. She did not know where it came from but with 14 children of her own, she said she used it every day for her children. Talking with other mothers they too admitted they didn’t pray for their children growing up. I was reminded that I never had prayed for my children.

 

I had never gone to God to ask Him to protect them, to guide their future, to select their spouse, to guard their purity, to overcome their weaknesses, to help them to love God more and more each day.

 

The realization that I neglected this, left me reeling. The days, and years that had passed that were lost to my prayers for them. The collection of graces that would have been reserved for them if I had only known that there would come a time they would need to draw on these graces.

 

The acknowledgment that I had missed the boat. That I had neglected my duty to my children, that I had lost all that time in storing away blessings for them. I can’t say how much this tore my heart apart and still does.

 

Now it was lost, too late. Now I sit, three years later after my girls breached our family. My prayer for them daily goes up now. A long time I now have to pray for my children. So many years I have to make up for to get them the graces they need. I do have hope. I know God has a plan for all of us. Our children too have to make their own way, and learn from their mistakes as I did.

 

So many other mothers I hear from are in the same boat as I am. Different circumstances perhaps but still with children estranged from them. They too did not pray for them and I wonder how many children have been lost because of this.

 

If you haven’t already gotten the idea here; you need to pray. You can use any prayers, and of course there is the rosary, but you must pray for them. For their future, for their faith, for their purity. You must, you must pray for them from the time they are born, from the time they are conceived! Do not neglect this one storehouse of blessings that you have to put aside for them. The snares of the devil will trip them up once they are young adults and out in the world. The world is more clever than serpents and it will only be grace that will protect them during that fragile time.

 

They will leave the safe haven of your home and go out into the world where snares will be laid. People that don’t believe like you do, will influence your children. Lies that are spread like wildfire today will land in their lap. Heresies that are passed around like a bowl of fruit will be tempting to them. The world looks like a candy-land to a young adult who has grown up in a sheltered home. A priest once told me, it is like a cow that is never put out to pasture, and when they break loose, they run and run and never come back to the barn. This is like our children today. We shelter them and protect them as much as we can when young. As every mother should. As they get older we can no longer protect them. We must find a way to set them free. But if we didn’t store up for them the graces that can go out with them into the world, they will have no protection at all. Please don’t do this to your children.

Please pray for them now, it’s never too late.

Here is a summary of intentions you can pray for them:

 

1. For a firm faith as they grow.
2. For them to grow to love God, more and more each day.
3. For their purity, that they may love the virtue of chastity and modesty.
4. For God to guide their vocation and take them under His wing if He desires a vocation for them.
5. For God to guide their companions, that they may be only good, or draw good from your child.
6. That God may protect your child, from the snares of the devil, now and in future.
7. That God will protect your child’s spouse, if He desires they marry.
8. That God will keep your child safe and protected always.
9. That God will keep them free from sin.
10. That God will strengthen them in their worst temptations.
11. That God will give them abundant graces.
12. That God may give them the grace of Hope, when the world will convince them otherwise.
13. That God may bless them with wisdom that they may discern well.
14. That God may bless them with humility, so that pride will not keep their souls stunted.
15. That God may light their hearts on fire for truth, that they may always love truth, as God said the souls of those at the end will all love truth.

 

Here is a prayer for children, given to me by that mother of 14, that I hope you will share and say it for your own children. We must not let the devil win our children. We must fight for them, with the weapons that are the most powerful against the wickedness and snares of the devil. We must pray for our children!

 

Act of Consecration Prayer for our Children

 
     O Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, to Thy Immaculate Heart,
the channel of all graces, we consecrate these children whom we have received
from God’s goodness.  We offer them to Thee that Thou may present them to Thy
Divine Son, that Thou may take them under Thy loving maternal protection, that Thou
may preserve them from dangers, that Thou may keep them from all sin, that Thou
may make them grow in piety and in all virtues so that they may always be worthy
to call themselves thy children. May they grow daily in wisdom and in grace, may
they go through life having Thee always as their refuge and mother.  May all virtues
shine in them and may they never offend Thy Maternal Heart.
      May the Eternal Father always look upon them with delight and see in them a
ray and reflection of Thy Immaculate Beauty.
      And as today they gladden our home, so one day may they gladden the Eternal
Home which we pray will be theirs.   Amen

 

St. Michael, we humbly pray.

 

Please add your intentions below…

©Copyright 2012 Rita Davidson All Rights Reserved.

 

Rita is a Catholic wife and mother of seven children. She reverted back to the faith when her oldest was making her First Communion. By then, she had completed degrees in Hairdressing and Make up artistry. She went on to receive a degree in Natural Health and another degree in Art. At age 26, Rita suffered a minor stroke. With no lasting effects, this dramatically changed her outlook on life. In 1996, Rita began ‘Little Flowers Family Apostolates’ to reach out to other families with her new found faith, by creating unique Catholic books and resources.. In 1999, she wrote the bestselling, ‘Immodesty; Satan’s Virtue’. She was editor of ‘The Catholic Health Letter’ for 7 years. She has been a homeschooling mom for 20+ years, and has written for various magazines. She is honored that families have trusted her with their questions, needs and concerns over the years. She continues to write and reach out to Catholic families with her husband, Mark and their 4 boys through http://www.LittleFlowersFamilyPress.com