Family Graduation Rituals • FamilyFaith@Home

Incorporate scripture, prayer and storytelling into your family graduation celebration.

Morning & Evening Prayer for July • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of July.

Morning & Evening Prayer for August • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of August.

Blessing of Spouses • FamilyFaith@Home

A prayer of parents for each other.

Praying the Sorrowful Mysteries • FamilyFaith@Home

By praying the rosary, we can meditate on Jesus' passion and death. Choose one, several, or all of the five sorrowful mysteries to pray together as a family on Good Friday or anytime.

Mothers' Day Blessing • FamilyFaith@Home

A blessing for mothers on Mothers' Day.

A Prayer for Youth • FamilyFaith@Home

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity • FamilyFaith@Home

Pray together for Christian Unity.

Praying the Rosary • FamilyFaith@Home

A guide to praying the rosary as a family.

Prayer for the Work We Do • FamilyFaith@Home

Take time to pray together as a family for the work you all do.

Morning & Evening Prayer for June • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of June.

A Prayer for the Last Day of School • FamilyFaith@Home

A Prayer for Family Vacation • FamilyFaith@Home

A family prayer to use before travel.

A Leaving Home Ritual & Blessing • FamilyFaith@Home

A ritual and blessing to celebrate a young adult's departure from home.

Winter Table Prayer • Generations of Faith

A family prayer to use during the winter.

Praying with the Saints • Generations of Faith

Participants will write prayers that capture the life and actions of several saints and holy people.

Morning & Evening Prayer for February • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of February.

Morning & Evening Prayer for September • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of September.

Morning & Evening Prayer for October • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of October.

Communal Prayers in the Words of Vatican II

Use these 19 prayers in a variety of pastoral and personal situations. These prayers each celebrate one major themes of Vatican II, pairing a brief reading from the pertinent Council document with Scripture—the word of the Lord alongside "the word of the Church." Each leads into a brief period of Breaking Open the Word. • By Bill Huebsch

Prayer Activities for Children

Four activities to help children understand and practice prayer. • By John Roberto

The Practice of Prayer

Use these prayer activities in a learning program and/or as continuing learning for individuals and families. • By John Roberto

Catholic Prayer: the Rosary

This session explores the Rosary as a devotion of the Catholic Church. We will look at how to pray the Rosary, the Scriptural basis for the mysteries, and ways to connect the Rosary to our lives. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church’s sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc.” (1674). “Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him” (2708). • By John Roberto

Catholic Prayers & Devotions

This session focuses on treasured and traditional forms of Catholic prayer and devotion. The Catholic Church has a rich tradition of prayer, including Eucharistic adoration, Liturgy of the Hours, novenas, and prayers to patron saints. All of these prayer paths lead us to intimate communion with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and all call us to be Christ-like in the world. “In the living tradition of prayer, each Church proposes to its faithful, according to its historic, social, and cultural context, a language for prayer: words, melodies, gestures, iconography. The Magisterium of the Church has the task of discerning the fidelity of these ways of praying to the tradition of apostolic faith; it is for pastors and catechists to explain their meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ” (CCC 2663). • By John Roberto

Praying through Lent & Easter

This session explores how to pray during Lent and Easter. No other season or feast throughout the year calls for deeper, more heartfelt prayer than Lent and Easter. Lent calls us to pray as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, offering humble obedience to the will of the Father. And the Easter season calls each of us to prayerfully consider how to fulfill our baptismal promise of discipleship.

The Lord's Prayer

This session explores the Lord’s Prayer as the perfect prayer for disciples of Jesus. We will study what the prayer asks of God, the Scriptural basis for the prayer, and ways to connect the Lord’s Prayer to our own lives. The prayer to Our Father is at the center of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel and is central to our prayer lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. • By John Roberto

All Are Called to Pray

This session explores the Christian call to prayer, what prayer is, the importance of prayer in our lives as disciples, and some of the rich paths of prayer that enable us to spend time with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. We profess the mystery of our faith in the Apostles' Creed or Nicene Creed and celebrate it when we gather for liturgy, so that our lives may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father. This mystery requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they have a living and personal relationship with the one true God. This relationship can be called prayer. • By John Roberto

Celebrating Life

Rituals

A reproducible collection of rituals for the home: daily, milestones, and throughout the year. Can be used on their own or shared as part of the Celebrating Life Intergenerational Session.

Morning & Evening Prayer for November • Generations of Faith

Family prayers for the month of November.

The Responding Community • FIRE

The Desert Experience

The desert can be a place where we meet God. This meeting introduces the group to the “desert experience” of contemplative prayer. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

Becoming Community • FIRE

Calvary Walk

The purpose of this experience is to enable all of us to realize that Jesus not only suffered and died in Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago, but that he continues to suffer and die in all the people suffering in our world today. It also hopes to familiarize participants with the ancient Catholic devotion of "Stations of the Cross." • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

Becoming Community • FIRE

Jesus Taught Us to Pray

Jesus came as the Word of God. Not only did he speak God the Father's Word to us, he taught us a way to speak to God. People were praying for centuries before Jesus came. People pray today who have never been taught. Jesus' teaching on prayer did not make prayer possible; it made prayer simple. Participants will experience how directions can make a difficult task simple. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

Lingering & Re-Living

Adoring the Blessed Sacrament

This session addresses ways young people can incorporate Eucharistic adoration into their practice of prayer. • By Robert Feduccia

Praying into Sunday: Eucharistic Adoration

Remembering the Importance of Eucharist in our Homes

A family activity to help us remember the importance of Eucharist.

Morning & Evening Prayer for January • FamilyFaith@Home

Family prayers for the month of January.

Summer Table Prayers • FamilyFaith@Home

Family meal prayers for the summer.

A Parent's Prayer • FamilyFaith@Home

A prayer for parents.

Providence Spirituality

Providence has been the symbol which speaks to us of the creative activity of God who calls into being, sustains, nourishes, challenges and lures all creation toward its final fulfillment. It is the word which proclaims God's enduring relationship to and involvement with all creation. Providence is God's face unfailingly turned toward the world.

Pathways in Prayer • Generations of Faith

Complete this short quiz to help you reflect on your own prayer preferences.

Prayer: Scripture Reflections • Generations of Faith

Seven scripture reflections focused on the theme of prayer.

Praying with Scripture • Generations of Faith

This resource will guide you though four ways of praying with scripture.

Prayers of Thanksgiving • Generations of Faith

Four ways to practice prayers of thanksgiving. Can be used any time of year, alone or with others.

Praying Well • Whole Community Catechesis

(English & Spanish)

This session will help participants to explore prayer as a way of cooperating with the Holy Spirit, who helps us remember all that Jesus said and who instructs us in the life of prayer. They will learn the basic forms of prayer: blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise and gain a greater sense of being blessed and of offering blessing.

Praying Well • Parent Learning Centers

Helping Our Family Live Our Faith

This session will help parents to explore prayer as a way of cooperating with the Holy Spirit, who helps us remember all that Jesus said and who instructs us in the life of prayer. They will learn the basic forms of prayer: blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise and gain a greater sense of being blessed and of offering blessing. They will learn how to pray with their children and help their children understand Catholic ways to pray so they will grow into a lifetime of faith. • By Bill Huebsch

Giving Thanks

Pray Always • Generations of Faith

This all-ages session will guide participants to explore and understand the central prayer forms of the Catholic tradition and engage in the practice of prayer on a regular basis.

Proclaiming Hope

Tools for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope

This reproducible, interactive resource kit will help you bring the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope to your parish. Help your people understand the theological virtue of hope, what it means for their daily lives, and how it connects to our call to share the faith with others.

Praying into Sunday: Eucharistic Adoration

Learning sessions for the whole parish community that focus on helping Catholics appreciate and practice adoration in the context of a liturgical spirituality.

Lay Spirituality: Go in Peace

Every liturgy ends with a commissioning of the laity to go out and transform the world inspired by the grace of God celebrated in Catholic worship. What is unique about lay spirituality in relation to clerical and monastic spiritualities?

Ignatian Spirituality

Saint Ignatius Loyola believed our deep desires are healthy, leading us towards the God who made us. While this may seem mysterious, we ultimately long for union with God. Our task is to align our desires with God's.

Franciscan Spirituality

Saint Francis of Assisi has inspired generations of faith seekers to embrace the values of simplicity, reverence for life, and peacemaking. Through the example of his life he invites us to explore the spiritual gifts discovered in shared community and a life of prayer. He exemplifies and invites us to cultivate the virtue of compassion as a way to reveal Christ to each other today.

Divine Word Spirituality

Generosity of spirit, openness to God's Word, and strength coming from prayer and a dynamic spiritual life are the Divine Word way of proclaiming God's Kingdom. Divine Word spirituality recognizes the need for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to fulfill one's mission. Through the Holy Spirit one is opened to listening for God's voice in current times, to hear God's Word in other cultures, and to go wherever the Word takes them—even if it is into the desert!

Benedictine Spirituality

It may seem odd that some of the best guidelines for achieving balance in our world today, where stress has become the norm, come from a sixth-century Italian monk who at one point chose to live by himself in a cave. Yet through the centuries, millions have found the teachings of Saint Benedict of Nursia and his Rule for monastic life key to their own spiritual wholeness.

Centering Prayer

A step-by-step guide for practicing centering prayer, an ancient method based on the conviction that in our deepest self we can find God. It can be done alone or with others.

Learning to Pray with Saint Kateri Tekakwitha • First Steps for Families

A parent drop-in session and home activity focused on Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. • By Tom East

The Practice of Prayer

This all-ages session has been adapted from "Pray Always" specifically for Lent.

The Luminous Mysteries: One-Day Retreat

Participants will be introduced to the luminous mysteries of the rosary by exploring each of these events in the life of Jesus. • By Cheryl Tholcke

Spontaneous Prayers

Four activities to practice spontaneous prayers, letting the Spirit lead us in prayer. These can be done alone or with others.

Prayers of Praise

Four activities to practice prayers of praise, giving compliments to God. These can be done alone or with others.

Prayers of Petition

Three activities for practicing prayers of petition, asking God for what we and others need. These can be done alone or with others.

Prayers of Contrition

Three ways to practice prayers of contrition, offering words of sorrow for our wrongdoing. This can be done alone or with others.

Fall Table Prayer • Generations of Faith

A table prayer for the fall.

1800PRAYER

A skit to introduce the topic of prayer.

Back to School Blessing • Generations of Faith

A family blessing as kids get ready to start a new school year.

A Grandparents' Day Prayer • Generations of Faith

A beautiful prayer for grandparents to be used in any setting.

A Child's Prayer • Generations of Faith

A beautiful child's prayer to be used in any setting. • By M. Bentham-Edwards

Praying through Music • Generations of Faith

Use this to guide your family through praying with music.

Reading the Bible: Lectio Divina • Generations of Faith

In this all-ages session, participants will learn Lectio Divina, "divine reading," a form of prayer using scripture. • By Agnes Done

Reading the Bible: Prayer • Generations of Faith

Four ways to use the Bible for prayer.

Pathways to God: Prayer Forms • Generations of Faith

Background information on prayer and different ways to pray for facilitators to deepen their understanding of prayer.

What is Faith?

What is our Christian understanding of faith, and how do we celebrate it and live it in inspiring ways within a secular culture?

Forgiveness & Reconciliation

We believe in the forgiveness of sins.... After the great commandments to love God and your neighbor as yourself, forgiveness is probably the next great hallmark of Christianity. Yet, just as love is easy to say but hard to do, so are forgiveness and reconciliation. We teach our children to say, "I'm sorry," but it's too easy for those to be hollow words – even for adults. Here we explore principles and challenges that address the holy concept of forgiveness and reconciliation.