THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER …
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

My dear encountered couples:
In these days when many obligations and interests vie for our time and attention, it can happen that parents and children seldom get to sit down at the same dinner table at the same time. If a parent is not absent because of work or a child attending a school function, it seems somebody has to eat and run in order to make it to whatever.
When all in the family are unable to sit down and enjoy at least one meal a day together at which they can share their stories and seek advice, before they know it they become strangers to one another. Jesus talks about praying together. “If two or three of you join your voices on earth to pray for anything whatever, it shall be granted you by my Father in heaven.”
Families certainly have problems. Few families go for long without them. If not caused by something beyond our control, we create them for ourselves. Should we not pray over them not only individually but together?
We always hear of the mother who prays for her husband and children. Or maybe it’s the father who is the religious one, or yet again one of the children. Wouldn’t it be better if all in the family had a prayer time together? And not merely a quick, “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts,” but a time when the family takes at least ten or fifteen minutes to pray together. It could be the rosary, prayers from a book, take turns making up an original prayer from the heart.
“The family that prays together stays together,” goes the saying. One thing for sure, the family that prays together can be sure Jesus is there with them. “Where two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus said, “there am I in their midst.” A family prayer time in our homes! Or is that too much for Jesus to expect?