Cover Your Grandchildren In Prayer

 

 

One of the greatest gifts a child can have is a grandparent who prays. Julie Cragen, author of Bless My Child, has written Bless My Grandchild: A Catholic Prayer Book for Grandparents. This is a beautiful compilation of prayers covering almost every intention one might have for a grandchild.

The first section is “Prayers for before My Grandchild is Born”. It includes a prayer for a couple struggling with infertility and a prayer for grieving a miscarriage. There are prayers for new mothers and fathers and for twins or multiple births.

“Prayers for Newborn and Infant Grandchildren” includes prayers for a mother in labor, a baby in intensive care, an adopted grandchild, a prayer of thanksgiving for a new baby, prayers for children with health issues or special needs, and one for grieving the death of a baby.

In “Prayers for Sacramental Graces”, there are prayers for a grandchild receiving baptism, making his or her first reconciliation, first communion, confirmation, getting married, or receiving the anointing of the sick, as well as prayers for altar servers and those discerning a religious vocation.

Other sections include “Prayers to Help My Grandchild Grow in Virtue”, “Prayers for my Growing Grandchild”, “Prayers for Elementary and Middle School Years”, “Prayers for Teenage Years”, “Prayers for Adult Grandchildren”, and “Prayers for Serious Needs”.  The final section features traditional prayers and novenas.

There is always a reason to pray for a grandchild. While we can use traditional prayers or simply raise our grandchild’s intentions to God at Mass or the silence of our hearts, Bless My Grandchild offers words for many of the intentions we might have. This collection of prayers would make a lovely gift to offer to any of the Catholic grandparents in your life.

 

Deepen Your Relationship with Jesus by Imitating St. Therese

 

With the many, many books that have been written about St. Therese, it would seem impossible that there could possibly be something new to write about, yet Suzi Andres has taken on the challenge and succeeded in Something New with St. Therese – Her Eucharistic Miracle.

On October 19, 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II proclaimed St. Therese a Doctor of the Church. In his apostolic letter Divine Amoris Scientia (“The Science of Divine Love”), he wrote: “The core of her message is actually the mystery itself of God-love, of the Triune God, infinitely perfect in Himself. . . At the summit, as the source and goal, is the merciful love of the three Divine Persons, as she expresses it, especially in the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love.”

In Andres’ words, St. Therese had an “outrageous idea.” St. Therese believed, and invites us to believe, that “we can never have too much confidence in the good God; He is so mighty and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for.” This idea did not come from St. Therese herself. She based it on Scripture (Mt 7:7; John 14:13-14; 15:7-8; 16:23-24, 26-27).

St. Therese believed in God’s love so much that she asked Jesus to remain within her as a tabernacle from the time she received the Eucharist until the next time she received the Eucharist. Not only that, she encouraged others to ask for the same grace. St. Therese did not feel this was a grace only for great souls. In fact, she would have argued vehemently (even if we might disagree) that she was not a great soul, but rather a very little soul.

Andres makes a very thorough argument for why we should, along with St. Therese, pray the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love. She shares stories of other saints who also were blessed with the grace of being a long-term tabernacle for Our Lord. Andres also raises many objections that others might make to this argument and refutes them one by one.

In the appendices, Andres includes the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, a brief biography of St. Therese, and a list of recommended reading (I’ve already highlighted some books I want to read).

If you have ever wanted to have a deeper union with Jesus or wondered if there was something more you could learn about St. Therese, Something New with St. Therese is the book for you.

 

Learn About Miracles with Your Family

Heavenly Hosts; Eucharistic Miracles for Kids and Miraculous! Catholic Mysteries for Kids, both by Kathryn Swegart, O.F.S., were written to introduce children to some of the miracles that have taken place in the history of the Church, but these books are actually great for all ages. 

It can be hard to believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist. After all, after transubstantiation, the bread and wine still look the same. We take it on faith that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, but how can we be sure? God knows that we humans like to have tangible proof of things that are hard to believe and understand. Heavenly Hosts tells of various Eucharistic miracles in which the veil has been lifted and the consecrated bread and wine have been shown to be the true body and blood of Jesus. 

These include a miracle in Lanciano, Italy in the 8^th century in which the bread turned to flesh and the wine turned to blood. A similar miracle took place in 1994 Buenos Aires. In this case the bloody flesh was scientifically tested and found to be part of a human heart that was alive at the time that the sample was taken. There are several other miracles included in which the power of the Real Presence in the Eucharist has been made manifest.

Miraculous! includes stories of all sorts of miracles. Learn about the house of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was moved by God from Nazareth to where it now resides in Loreto, Italy. Discover the mystery of the creation of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on St. Juan Diego’s tilma. Relive the moment when the Shroud of Turin was first photographed, revealing the Holy Face of Jesus in the negative.  The back of the book includes additional scientific evidence about several of the miracles included in the book.

Each of the stories in these wonderful books is short (a few pages) which makes them perfect for reading aloud as part of morning time, religion class, or before bed. Your whole family will love and learn from these miraculous stories. They might even help you and your children grow in faith.