This post is inspired by the late Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Louis Ogden who served at St. Joseph Parish in Mechanicsburg, PA, USA since June 2012 until his death on February 2015. He was described as “an exemplary priest” and as Rachelle and Brian Keating put it, “We are better people for having known him.” Learn more about Fr. Ogden.
The following prayer was offered by Fr. Ogden at the conclusion of his homily for The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, 29 December 2013.
It is an expanded version of a Catholic prayer for the family. The original shorter version of this prayer will be shared right here on CatholicShare.com
A Prayer for our Family (Long version by Fr. Louis Ogden)
O dear Jesus, We humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family. May our home be a shrine of peace, purity, love, labor, and faith. We ask You, dear Jesus, to protect and bless all of us, absent and present, living and dead.
You know, God, we are not a perfect family. The misunderstandings and lack of charity in our homes sometimes causes us to bring each other hurt and pain. This is not the way You want us to live with each other. Yet, all too often, it is how we are living. We ask that you guide us in your Providence back to a better and more loving way. Help us to let go of our disappointments, false promises, and anger, so that we can forgive unconditionally as You forgive us, and let bygones be bygones. May we see each other as You see us: with Your eyes and not with ours!
O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, pray to Jesus for our family and for all families of the world, to guard the cradles of the newborn, the schools of the young and their chosen vocations.
Blessed Saint Joseph, Holy Guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which He granted to you: to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and the dying, so that with Mary and with you, heaven may find our family one day unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your Son. Amen.
A Prayer for a Family (Original, short version)
O dear Jesus, I humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family. May our home be the shrine of peace, purity, love, labor and faith. I beg You, dear Jesus, to protect and bless all of us, absent and present, living and dead.
O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, pray to Jesus for our family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the newborn, the schools of the young and their vocations.
Blessed Saint Joseph, holy guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which He granted to you, to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and the dying, so that with Mary and with you, heaven may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Amen.
By Godwin Delali Adadzie
