A Short Guide to Praying as a Family (excerpt: Aspirations)

Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation Nashville, Tennessee

A Short Guide to

praying as a family growing together in faith and love each day

an excerpt from A short Guide to

praying as a family Growing together in faith and Love each day

Š 2020 by St. Cecilia Congregation, LBP Communications. All rights reserved.

To Our Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Families,

Help of the Weak, and Star of the New Evangelization

ASPIRATIONS Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

James 5:16

[T]he Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit [Himself] intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

Romans 8:26

TRADITIONAL AND SUGGESTED ASPIRATIONS • My God, I love Thee.

• Jesus, I love You. • My Jesus, mercy.

• Come, Lord Jesus, I need You. • Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

• Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

• Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come!

• Sacred Heart of Jesus, protect our family!

• Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

• Jesus is Lord!

• Thank You, Jesus!

• We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

• Lord, teach me to do Your will.

• By myself I can do nothing, but with You, Lord, I can do all things.

• Blessed be God! • Jesus, Mary, I love you. Save souls!

• Come, Holy Mary, please help me.

• Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

• Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

• I am all yours, my Queen and my Mother, and all that I have is yours.1 • Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, help us to become saints.2

1

From the Legion of Mary.

This list of traditional and suggested aspirations was compiled by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.

2

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spirations are a wonderful way to quickly turn our minds and hearts toward God throughout the day or in times of need. An aspiration (literally, “a breath”; “a sigh”) is a very short prayer, such as, “Jesus, I love You!” or “Jesus, I trust in You.” They can be said aloud or quietly within. In the tradition of the Church, it has been said that aspirations are like arrows that we shoot up to heaven so quickly that they pierce the clouds and reach the throne of God, bringing us immediately into God’s presence. They take very little time to pray and yet can be very effective. Aspirations help us to converse with God throughout the day and to remember Him, our ever-present Friend and Companion. Just as we grow in friendship with others by regular and frequent conversation and sharing of daily life, so too do we grow in our friendship with God by regular conversation and sharing with Him our daily activities, joys, and concerns. Aspirations help us to see with the eyes of faith.

A charming story1 illustrates the power of praying aspirations.

1

We were unable to determine the precise origin of this story, also told by Venerable Fulton J. Sheen.

n a village in France, many years ago, there were two young boys who were the best of friends. Both boys were Catholic, and their mothers had them walk to the neighborhood church for Confession every Saturday morning.

Sometimes, they would race one another to the church. At other times, they would walk slowly along, not really wanting to go to Confession. One particular Saturday morning, the rambunctious boys were bouncing along on their way to the church for Confession, planning together all the things they would do after they finished their Confessions and said their penances. Then, it occurred to one of them to initiate a game: “Let’s have a contest: whoever gets out of Confession and finishes his penance first, WINS!” The other boy eagerly replied, “Agreed.”

Two priests happened to be hearing Confessions that morning, so that each of the boys was able to go into Confession almost immediately. Inside the confessional, when the first boy had finished his Confession, the priest said to him, “For your penance, would you please kneel before the Crucifix and say three times: ‘Jesus, You have done everything for me, and I have done nothing for You’?”

Thrilled at receiving such a short and easy penance, the boy, replied “Yes, Father!” and began rejoicing, thinking, “I’m going to win the

contest! I know I will finish first!” He quickly went to kneel in front of the crucifix and said, “Jesus, You have done everything for me, and I have done nothing for You.” He said it a second time—“Jesus, You have done everything for me, and I have done nothing for You”—and just then it struck deep into his heart precisely what he was saying, and the little boy didn’t get up from his knees but remained there, lost in prayer, adoration, and thanksgiving. He later became a cardinal of the Catholic Church.

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his beautiful aspiration, “Jesus, You have done everything for me, and I have done nothing for You,” changed his life. The same can happen for each of us. There are many common aspirations (as found on page 151), but there is no fixed form that would limit the number or type of aspirations that you could pray. You can create your own aspirations to suit your own particular needs or struggles, such as, “Jesus, help me to trust You more and to worry less.”

You can have young children decorate aspirations and put them at eye-level in different places around the house (refrigerator, bathroom mirrors, hallway, laundry room, Mom and Dad’s room, etc.) to help remind everyone to pray them.

PRAYING AS A FAMILY,

we give the Lord the little we have; He multiplies it like loaves and fills us with joy.