3 Prayers Our Priest Taught Us

Last week Jen asked if we can tell what people worship by what's on their walls. We're still bowing down to birds and fish if that's the case; however, we've come a long way in feeling Catholic in our own home.

We began 3 practices this year at the suggestion of our priest. He has been such a patient teacher to me.

Each time Father M. gets in my car to visit the homebound, he makes a point of saying the Guardian Angel prayer out loud. Embarrassed that I no longer remembered it from childhood, I taped a card to my dash so the kids and I could say it together in the driveway.

Father M. closes each bedside visit with the Memorare. This quickly became my "go to" prayer for surviving a struggling mom day. It's a beautiful piece of writing, for one, but unlike a private confession, the children see me ask for mercy while admitting that "before Thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful."

Finally--and this has been the toughest one--he asked me to pray the whole Rosary with the children every night.

At first I rebelled. Has he ever tried 20 minutes of meditation with kids at the bedtime hour? But his mother did, and by doing so faithfully, all her children absorbed the prayers and life story of Jesus without even trying.

Do we pray it perfectly? Pretty much never. The neighbors still hear whining and crying from our open windows, but at least, in a few moments of peace, my house sounds like Catholics live here.