"Con Dios me acuesto, con Dios me levanto" (with God I go to bed, with God I get up) says a prayer I learned as a little child. I want this to be true, not only in my life, but in the life of my children.
A couple of years ago I learned that I needed to make true the scripture "seek ye first the kingdom of heaven..." in our school lives. For many years prayer was the first thing that got sacked when our lives got hectic. Not anymore. Two years ago I made a commitment to our morning prayer time. It is part of who we are and part of what we do. And our routine needed to reflect this truth. This year we continue with this commitment.
There is a slight difference this year: our prayer time is going to be after breakfast and not before. I am trying to improve the quality of our prayer time by having the kids be more alert. There is something to be said for prayer being the first thing we do so before we make the switch, I am going to be talk to the kids about the Daily Rhythm of Prayer. I want them to be in the habit of turning their thoughts to God as soon as their eyes open. Most mornings before getting out of bed, I do a morning offering. I want to teach my children to do the same. Even something short like "Today, I will serve you, Lord" or "Jesus,I love you, I prefer you and I choose you" or something similar.
For our time together we will do the Angelus and/or the Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. Then we will spend some time reading. We will work down this list:
Left to Tell
Percy Wynn or Making Boy of Him by Fr. Francis Finn
St. Francis and St Claire (Vision book)
Letters to a Young Catholic
Five Loaves and Two Fish by Fr. Francis Xavier Nguyen
Yes or No? by Peter Kreeft
St Anthony (vision book)
Citadel of God (de Wohl)
Planning our spiritual reading is always a challenge because I have such a range of ages. My solution is to alternate younger and older reading.
That part we have well established. This is the new part: to introduce a noon Angelus and a family prayer at night time. Last year I failed miserably at my attempt to incorporate more prayer into our life. It is important enough to try again this year. (I wish we had bells to call us to prayer each day!)There is one difference this year, we have a family adoration hour. If all else fails, at least we have a date with the Lord every week.
To get ready: prepare a basket with coloring books, pencils and quiet toys for N.
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