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Family Learning Program: Catholic Prayer

Each session includes a teaching plan and some include additional family handouts.

Churches and schools have permission to download, print, and adapt the materials for their use. 
Permission is given to use these materials in print and digital formats (websites, newsletters, social media) for educational purposes only.

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.

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 requests 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.

Praying through Advent and Christmas

explores how to pray during the Advent and Christmas seasons. In her consent to the angel Gabriel, "let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1:38), Mary models for us the way to humbly respond in prayer to God's initiative in our lives. The Canticle of Mary, or the Magnificat, was her prayer of cooperating with the Father's plan of loving salvation.

Praying through Lent and Easter

This session explores how to pray during the Lent and Easter seasons. No other season or feast throughout the year calls for deeper, more heartfelt prayer than Lent and the Easter season. 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.

Catholic Prayers and 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.

Praying 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.

Be a Family that Prays!

The parent session explores how praying makes a difference in family life and how to make family prayer a practice in daily life.

Prayer Activities

Prayer Activities is a collection of 25 prayer activities that can be used as take-home activities with the Prayer Family Learning sessions, separately (in a variety of print, digital, or online formats), or combined to design a new family learning program.