Family prayers, just like personal prayers, can get a little stale. The problem with stale family prayer is that your little ones will get bored.

It’s a wise idea to set a schedule for changing your family prayer routine. This will help you keep things fresh, but also give you some lead time for planning. Here are a few ideas for ways to change up your routine:

• Pray the rosary. It really only takes about 15 minutes, which is manageable. If it’s going too long on a school night, moving it to your weekend prayer time might be your best bet.
• Petitions. Go around the room and have each family member share their intentions. At the end, collectively pray for them all.
• Scripture lessons. Have you ever had someone blow your mind with the background story of a particular Scripture? It may have been a parable or verse that you’ve heard dozens of times, and when they tell you the historical surroundings, it changes everything? Seek out lessons (my suggestion is to start with anything by Mark Hart) and then teach them to your children.
• Adoration. If you live in an area that has Eucharistic Adoration, take your family and spend some time. Bonus points for making this part of your regular routine.
• Evening Prayer/Night Prayer. The Catholic Church has the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the Breviary). The Liturgy is prayed by priests and religious five times daily. Have your family pray Evening Prayer (about 10 minutes) or Night Prayer (about 5 minutes) together.

There are endless prayer possibilities. Keep things fresh and keep your family engaged.

Tags: Prayer