Tag: mom life

Reflections on Parenting: Prayers for patience

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As parents, how many times are we taught the virtue of patience? I remember hearing a homily once with the basic message of “be careful what you ask for”, because usually, if you ask for more patience, God, in His wisdom, will give you opportunities to practice patience!

Still, it’s so important for us to grow in patience. With our children, because they need it, and in all other times, because God calls us to it!

Do you pray for help when parenting gets challenging (and when you find yourself getting impatient at other times)? Any favourite prayers? I’d love to read them in the comments!

My personal go-to seems to be “God help me”, usually uttered under my breath right in the moment. There are, however, many more prayers for patience, some simple, some more complex, depending on the situation. Below are some prayers for when you need a little help keeping calm and patience.

For the virtue of patience

Come Holy Spirit, and grant me the virtue of patience.

Lord, may your patience

Lord, may your patience with me be a motivation and a source of growth in my patience with others.

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Teach me, my Lord, to be sweet and gentle in all the events of my life, in disappointments, in the thoughtlessness of others, in the insincerity of those I trusted, in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.

Let me forget myself so that I may enjoy the happiness of others. Let me always hide my little pains and heartaches so that I may be the only one to suffer from them. Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path. Let me so use it that it may mellow me, not harden or embitter me; that it may make me patient, not irritable; that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow or proud or overbearing.

May no one be less good for having come within my influence; no one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble, for having been a fellow traveler with me on our journey towards eternal life.

As I meet with one cross after another, let me whisper a word of love to You. May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good, and strong in its purpose of sanctity. Amen

Prayer to Our Lady of Consolation

Blessed Mary, Mother of Consolation, pray with me for the virtue of patience. There are so many times when my lack of patience keeps me from becoming the kind of person God wants me to be.

Guide my thoughts to you and the example we have in your own life. Help me to become patient, as you were patient. Through your guidance, may I become more accepting of others around me. Assist me to welcome difficult times with a patient heart.

May I be patient, Mary, as was your beloved husband, Joseph. His quiet acceptance of the will of Our Loving Father should be an example for me always. His patience was most wonderful in the eyes of God.

Pray for me, dear Mother of God, that I will allow the Father to come into my heart and help me grow in patience. Amen.

From the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, Carey, OH

Hope these can be helpful for you! Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

Reflections on Parenting: Holding Space – a Christian act of parenting

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For those familiar with attachment parenting, you will more than likely already be acquainted with holding space. For those that are not, to put it simply, it is the act of being present and providing containment for whatever big feelings your children are feeling as they process them. By being with them, you can create a safe space where they are free to express and explore their feelings – sometimes you are that space.

The expression of emotions can, in itself be cathartic, and the exploration of feelings, often with a parent to be their guide, is what allows a child’s emotional maturity to develop. Both of these aspects are important for children, but they will not fully delve into this experience unless they feel safe to do so. Children feel safe to process their feelings when their feelings are not dismissed or trivialised, when they feel heard and understood, when they are allowed to express their feelings as comes naturally to them, and when they know that after all that, they will still be loved.

When I consider what it means to hold space as a parent, I cannot help but think of our Heavenly Father.

How many times is it written in the Bible, “the Lord was with him”? From Abraham, to Joseph, to David, to Enoch and Hezekiah, we hear that the Lord was with them or that the Lord walked with them. So many of the Psalms were written by David, and just look at all the sentiments he expressed!

This Davidic example is a beautiful blueprint of how a child of God can process their feelings about all of life, no matter what they feel.

Consider too, the book of Job. The Lord is there through Job’s suffering – God never abandons him. This eternal God, the God of love who never changes, is with us, too.

And of course, Jesus himself said it plainly, “…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We go through life not alone, but with Him who is the giver of life.

In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28), and if we are trusting in the Lord as much as we should be, we can be assured that we are safe to express and explore everything we experience, that Jesus understands our human condition, and that we will always be loved, no matter what. Let us cling to the Lord, who is our consolation, and cry out to Him. Our loving Father holds space for us.

Have you felt secure to approach God with your big feelings? How do you become more comfortable to do this? Let’s have a chat in the comments!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

A Prayer for Mothers

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Mother’s day is coming up already – my goodness, time really flies!

Anyway, I’d like to extend an early happy mother’s day to all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and spiritual mothers! A dear friend of mine suffered a loss not long ago, so I would also like to share a special thought for all the mothers whose babies went back to God before they got to hold them. Your grief serves to witness to your immense motherly love for those souls. May you feel the presence of the Lord, who watches over your beloved babies and may you be consoled by His love.

Below is a mother’s prayer I wrote, that all mothers can pray. Feel free to share it with all your Mom friends! I hope it helps you in your mothering journey, whatever that may look like.

A M O T H E R ‘ S P R A Y E R

Father in Heaven, I praise You for Your goodness! In Your mercy, You have given me the gift of motherhood.

Lord, I thank You for calling me to share in the lives of these beautiful people who You created, and for all the blessings you bestow upon me through them.

Through my experience as a mother, You reveal Your own loving heart, and Your desire for me to be holy and to have true happiness.

Although it is a vocation that brings great joy, like all Christian life, it comes with crosses to bear. God, grant me the strength to carry the crosses of motherhood with grace, and sanctify me by them.

Holy Spirit, guide me to always grow closer to You, imitating our Lord Jesus. Change my heart to become more and more like Yours, so I can better love my husband, my children, and the whole world.

Holy mother Mary, ask God to help me to follow your example, that I may be a mother who always says yes to God’s will and points others to Jesus. Pray this for me, and all mothers.

Amen.

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

Saint of the Month: St Rose Venerini

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St Rose Venerini
Feast day: May 7

St Rose Venerini came from a rich family. She thought she was called to the religious life, but through her circumstances, God showed her she was meant for the single life. God doesn’t just call people to the single life without a purpose. She used her time and effort, as well as her privileged position in life, to teach people about the faith, especially women and girls who were not being taught by anyone at that time. She knew that if fear, ignorance, and sin were clouding our hearts, we would not be able to see God’s plan and answer His call for us to love.

She is not associated with any patronages, but as a teacher of the young, I think St Rose Venerini is a good saint to go to for help, if you’re a mother trying to pass on the faith and help enlighten the hearts of your children.

I think she can also show us and our children something about following God’s will over our own thoughts and plans. She herself understood that while she aspired to join holy orders, she was not meant for that, and was able to humbly accept the path God had chosen for her – and look at all the blessings she was able to win for so many by doing so! If we listen to God’s voice and follow His plans for us, it can change the world!

St Rose Venerini, pray for us!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

Reflections on Parenting: Praying as a Parent

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Real talk: I don’t have all of the answers. That’s above my paygrade (it would be even if anyone were paying me!). But I do have questions. Today, I’ve got questions for you about prayer. But first, a little backstory…

Personally, I do the bulk of my personal prayer just before bed. I’ve never been great at morning prayer, and adding Mom duties to the mix – hubby takes the first morning shift before he goes to work so I can sleep an hour or two – doesn’t give me a lot of time.

I pray with my baby, too. We do morning prayers (most days, I’m working on it), we say grace before meals (I’m so used to silent grace just before I eat, so again, this is something I’m working on), and bedtime prayers. I try to use that time as well, as a moment to connect with God.

In all, I spend probably about 40-60 minutes in prayer each day (I added probably an extra 30-40 minutes during Lent). I don’t spend all my prayer time asking for things and rattling off the classic prayers (although they do take a little space in my prayer time) and I am making time in my prayers to listen, letting God speak to me through the Bible. And I know that most of the time (when I don’t feel like I’m running on autopilot, at least), my heart is totally in my prayers. So, what my prayer consists of what I’m praying for, or how much or how fully I’m praying isn’t in question, at least not this time.

The thing is, I don’t believe I am offering our Lord the best of my time, because by the time my own bedtime rolls around, I’m exhausted and some days I find myself drifting off to sleep during prayer time – even when I’m sitting up! And I do want my time with God to be quality time. Trouble is, I don’t know what time of day those first fruits are.

I spend naptimes getting things done, making bookings and other arrangements, running home admin, various chores, that kind of thing. Most of these need to be done during office hours, so they can’t be moved. Admittedly, I take a little time during the day to blog (let’s call it digital journaling), and while it isn’t strictly prayer time, I consider it to be spiritually-motivated, as it does turn my thoughts to Godly things, I get to grow in my faith as I read and reflect on Church teachings, upper and lower case T traditions, the lives and writings of saints and the doctors of the church, and my own interior life. And I sincerely hope that publishing my own thoughts will also help to bring others to Him – other moms, and their children. Practically speaking, in terms of the technology I use, unfortunately it’s not feasible for me to switch this with my bedtime prayer time. Besides, some prayer – my daily examen immediately springs to mind as an example – must be done at the end of the day.

Then again, I think of St Paul’s words…

As parents we can offer up all of our day to God. Every diaper change, every middle of the night feed, every toy we pick up, every frustration, every mundane moment, as well as prayers of thanksgiving for every smile, the things they do that melt our hearts, and all the other good things that come with being a parent. In this way, we can be a living prayer, uniting our parental sacrifices with Christ and saving souls (perhaps our children’s souls!), offering our lives to God, literally praying without ceasing.

That said, I want to have time to just sit and be with God. I know it’s just a season and that God understands. I get that I have responsibilities that mean I no longer have the luxury of just skipping off to an adoration chapel whenever something is weighing on my heart (ah, youth, less responsibility, and living less than 10 minutes from a 24 hour adoration chapel…). But I still want to do better by Him. I would like to make quality time to pray.

So my question is, how can I make that quality time for God? How do you do it? How does it fit into your day? Looking for some real answers here, hoping you have some tips for me!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!