Opening Prayer
Together:
+ O God, may we discover for ourselves the secret to happiness, boldly spoken by St Augustine: to fall in love with You is the greatest romance, to seek You, the greatest adventure, to find You, the greatest human achievement.
*Pick one of the two below. Repeat it when you do another guide until it’s memorized, then do the next one.
The Greatest Commandment Prayer (The Shema)
- Teach us to live out Your greatest commandment: “Listen! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” -Deu 6:4-5*
*When Jesus was a boy, St Joseph taught Him to memorize and pray always these words.
Jesus told Venerable Sister Consolata Betrone: “The more that you love Me, the happier you will be!”
Choose Life & Blessing Prayer
- Help our family choose life: “Today, I set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life by loving God, obeying His voice and clinging to Him!” -Deu 30:19-20
Hail Mary…
Father in Heaven, strengthen fathers to lead their family into battle and onto the victory of Heaven. +Amen
I love that mel gibson clip… inspiring!
Amen Mark! That clip seen from a spiritual fatherhood perspective really comes alive for me too.
I struggle being the first to set my foot on the battlefield of daily family living. I was remembering that clip recently when I was struggling to do my early morning prayer. The fruit of that prayer and suffering, in the early morning darkness, I shared in this blog post: Are you wrestling with the darkness today?