Prayer for Your Husband's Fatherhood

Prayer for Your Husband's Fatherhood

Here is a prayer from the book, "The Power of a Praying Wife," for your husband as the father of your children. This is a prayer I feel voices the desires of my heart.

Lord, I pray that my husband will inspire his children to honor him as their father so that their lives will be long and blessed. May the spiritual inheritance he passes on to them be one rich in the fullness of Your Holy Spirit. Enable him to model clearly a walk of submission to Your laws.


May he delight in his children and long to grow them up in Your way. Help him not to be noncommunicative, passive, critical, weak, uninterested, neglectful, undependable, or uninvolved.


Make him, instead, the kind of father who is interested, affectionate, involved, strong, consistent, dependable, verbally communicative, understanding, and patient. Being a good father is something he wants very much. I pray You would give him that desire of his heart.

DH really gives time and priority to his children. Whether he takes them to Disneyland or just hands out the wii remotes so they can play Super Mario together, he makes sure he is able to spend time with them. I feel so blessed to have a husband who is very much involved with his children.

Prayer for Your Husband

Prayer for Your Husband

This prayer was posted at Faith and Family Live! blog. Indeed, one of the best ways we can support our husbands is to pray for them often.


The author wrote that she has this printed and taped up above her kitchen sink to remind her to pray for her husband during the day - a physical reminder of the importance of praying for your husband. I might do just that. I'll print this up and tape it up in our school room or refrigerator.

Lord, bless and preserve my cherished husband, whom You have given me: Let his life be long and blessed, comfortable and holy; let me ever be a blessing and a comfort to him, a sharer in all his sorrows, a consolation in all the accidents and trials of life; make me forever lovable in his eyes and forever dear to him; unite his heart to mine in fondest love and holiness, and mine to him in all sweetness, charity, and submission.  Keep me from all ungentleness; make me humble and obedient, that we may delight in each other according to Your blessed word. May both of us rejoice in You, having our portion in the love and service of God forever.
Amen.

Novena for Pope Benedict XVI

Novena for Pope Benedict XVI

Our Pope is under attack. The best way we can help defend and protect him is through our prayers. The Knights of Columbus have organized a novena to pray for strength for Pope Benedict XVI during these challenging times. It started today, Divine Mercy Sunday and ends on April 19, the 5th anniversary of his election to the papacy. You can find prayer cards to print out here.

PRAYER FOR POPE BENEDICT XVI
Lord, source of eternal life and truth,
give to your shepherd, Benedict, a spirit
of courage and right judgment, a spirit
of knowledge and love. By governing
with fidelity those entrusted to his care,
may he, as successor to the Apostle
Peter and Vicar of Christ, build your
Church into a sacrament of unity, love
and peace for all the world. Amen.
V/ Let us pray for Benedict, the pope.
R/ May the Lord preserve him,
give him a long life,
make him blessed upon the earth,
and not hand him over
to the power of his enemies.
V/ May your hand
be upon your holy servant.
R/ And upon your son,
whom you have anointed.
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…

The Cardinal Neumann Society is also offering an opportunity for us to join a spiritual bouquet to be offered for our pope. Prayer is really our best weapon against the enemy. I've already pledged our prayers for this week. How about you?

Lenten Sacrifice

Lenten Sacrifice

We're well into the season of Lent, a period of 40 days of sacrifice and prayer in preparation for the Lord's resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Personally, I have chosen to give up Facebook for Lent. Yes, it's been difficult but I've resisted the temptation not to open that link to Facebook. I kinda miss not being in the loop and not knowing what are the latest news from friends and relatives. However, I've also recovered more time for reading and praying because of my time away from FB.

For our family, we've decided to pray the Stations of the Cross. I got a pack of the Stations of the Cross for children from Amazon and we're using that this Lent. We're just doing it at home. I printed pictures of the different stations and taped them up on the walls of our dining room to the family room. It's been a good experience for the kids so far. Aside from the prayers the children are learning, the stations have also been discussion starters. I've taken the questions they ask about the different stations into learning opportunities for them, stressing the point that all these happened because God loves you so. While the praying of the stations are good in themselves, I think that the discussions we have about them are even more precious. I think that the prayers in themselves are like loose diamonds for the kids. They do not necessarily see the beauty at once. As parents, we have to dig in and discover the heart of these prayers and show that to the kids so that they can appreciate them better.

How about you? What have you sacrificed for Lent? What is your family doing?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Happy New year everyone! We managed to take this snapshot in the last minutes of 2009 as we were getting ready to welcome 2010.

We actually spent the last day of 2009 rather nicely as a family. The morning was devoted to chores. It wasn't much of a morning because we all slept in! DH and DS went for haircuts. The girls played while I prepared the food we were going to have that evening. After a late lunch together, we all settled in for a time of prayer. Except for DD3, we all listed in our own notebooks that things we were thankful for. DD2 drew hers instead because she could not spell yet. DD1 wrote her list herself. I was really proud of her. After sharing our lists with each other, we then made another list - petitions this time. DD2 & DD3 were unable to sit still long enough for this. There was one common petition in all our lists - a new house! LOL! I guess that kids have been hearing us pray for that often enough that this was what stuck in their heads to pray for. LOL! Yes, we would love a new house with more rooms and maybe an in-law house at the back for my parents. Personally, I don't think we can have a new house this year, maybe not even in the next 5 years, but God could surprise us, right? Besides, asking for something is free so why not ask away?

Today, we started our day with DH at work. The kids and I watched the Rose parade on TV. And now, I've got laundry splish-sploshing in the washing machine. Yep, we're starting the year squarely in the face by doing our chores and being responsible. Not too much lounging around for us. That is a good start, right?

Happy New Year everyone! Hope this year will bring all of us blessings of love, laughter and life.

Prayers for my Brother

Prayers for my Brother

Just a quick note to ask for prayers for my younger bro, Victor. He went to the hospital last night due to severe stomach pains (and it was his birthday too!!). The latest news is that he is scheduled for an appendectomy tomorrow. Your prayers for a safe procedure and speedy recovery for him will be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Online Visita Iglesia

Online Visita Iglesia

It's been a tradition in the Philippines to visit 7 churches during Holy Thursday.

For those of us who are unable to do so, particularly for those living in other countries where Holy Thursday is not a non-working holiday, the Philippine Jesuits have put together this online visita iglesia.

It's a good break, an opportunity to listen and reflect.

A phrase that jumped out at me and that I am claiming as God's word for me: the promise is fulfillment. This phrase gives me so much comfort right now. What God has spoken, He does.

Wishing you a blessed Holy Thursday.