Dear St. Ann, You were truly twice blessed To have our blessed Mother As your daughter And Jesus our Savior As your grandson. I know that every period Of our lives Has its responsibilities As well as its joys.
Today, it seems That grandparents Have either too little Use or too much; Either we are shunted aside To do nothing, Or we are called upon To do everything.
Help me to know Just where my duties lie In my particular situation And to carry them out as best I can.
Take care of my family, My children, and their children. Inspire them all To follow your Grandson And lead truly Christian lives.
Keep all of us In your loving care, Never let us turn away from Jesus, And help us in the end To receive the joy Of entering into your Grandsons??? Glorious presence forever.
Good St. Ann pray for us grandparents.
Amen.
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catholicgo.org
Composed by the late Msgr. Joseph Quinn, former PP Knock, to coincide with the First National Grandparents’ Pilgrimage on Saturday, 22nd September 2007, at Our Lady’s Shrine, Knock, Co. Mayo.
God of the Ages we praise and thank you. From generation to generation You have been our refuge and strength. You give your gifts of grace for every time, place and season as we strive within the family to walk in Your ways and remain close to one another and to you. We pray that our homes may be schools of Faith, where we come to know and to love You. Teach us the Sanctity of human love. Show us the value of family life and help us to respect all life. May the young find in the family strong support for their humanity so that they may grow in truth and love. May the elderly experience respect, support, love and care within the family circle. We give thanks for Grandparents and we pray for them. We give thanks for they connect us with our heritage and our roots through the mists of time. We give thanks for their Christian memory which inspires and enlightens us. We give thanks for the example of their faith, for the witness of their lives, for the constancy of their love, for the support of their prayers.
Bless all Grandparents and keep them in Your care.Bless them with peace, health and healing. Reward them for their Faith and fidelity, for their work and goodness, for their love and thoughtfulness, for their gifts and prayers. Give them a long and happy life together. May old age come to them in the company of family and friends. And when life is over, unite them again, where parting will be no more, in the Kingdom of Your love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Table of contents
Prayer to Saint Anne and Saint Joachim
St. Anne and St. Joachim,you were especially favoured by God,on the threshold of the New Testament,to be the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. You provided your daughter with a loving home, family and faithful teaching, and brought her up to be the worthy Mother of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Your way of parenting was for her an example to bring forth the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus, treasuring all things in her heart. (cf. Lk.2.19,51). Your faith laid the foundation of courage and strength that allowed Mary to stand by the Cross as her Son was crucified and to still believe (cf. Jn. 19.25-27).In communion with Mary and Joseph, intercede to your grandson, Jesus, for all parents, so that they may help their children to grow in strength and in knowledge and to discover the mission that God entrusts to them in the world and in the Church.
Prayer to Saint Anne
Good St. Anne, Mother of Mary, the Blessed one among women. (cf. Luke 1.42). Intercede for all our families so that, through the help of the Holy Spirit, we may grow together in peace and understanding and make our home hospitable to our visitors and guests. May we persevere, like you, in the love of Jesus and Mary and live pure and blameless lives in the sight of God.
Grandmother of Jesus, our Saviour, you were honoured by our ancestors in your role of nurturing Him and bringing Him up to maturity. Intercede for all grandmothers so that they may nurture their grandchildren with love and wisdom, teaching them to find their way in life and to be right in word and in deed.
Prayer to Saint Joachim
Gentle St. Joachim, Father of the Virgin Handmaid of the Lord, (cf. Luke 1.38), grandfather of Jesus, among your descendants you had the privilege to count the One whom your own ancestors longed to see, the long-expected Messiah. Intercede for all elders and grandfathers who worked hard on this land, defending its integrity, and who grew old in the service of the Almighty. May God grant them to benefit from their remaining strength, to share the wealth of their experience and wisdom and to enter his Kingdom at the end of their earthly time.
Good St. Anne and St. Joachim, parents of Mary, the ‘favoured one’, (Luke 1.28), accompany us in our faith journey on this land to the glory and praise of God, now and for ever and ever.
Amen.
www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.org
Several years ago, I found a precious letter in my family’s archives. My great-grandfather in Poland wrote to my grandfather, who had immigrated to America. One line in the letter struck me with both comfort and conviction: “I faithfully pray for you, for your children, and for your future generations.”
I am one of those grandchildren. Before I was born, my great-grandfather prayed for me from halfway around the world. That comforts me.
I was also convicted by my great-grandfather’s letter. How do my prayers shape my twelve grandchildren’s lives? How can I learn to pray effectively for them?
1. Pray God’s Word for Our Grandchildren
I realized that my prayers for my grandchildren had been too vague and general: “Keep them safe,” “Help them in school,” “Open their hearts.”
As I read the Bible with their lives in mind, my prayers became more specific. I can pray, paraphrasing Psalm 34:13: “Lord, keep Jason’s tongue from speaking evil and his lips from telling lies.” For the grandchild who seems disinterested in the Lord, I can pray from Proverbs 2:1, “Lord, touch Ben’s heart. Teach him to listen to what You have to say and to treasure Your commands.” For the teenager going through a tough time, I can pray from Isaiah 40:1-4: “O Lord, You formed Stacy’s life. I will not be afraid because You have ransomed her. You have called her by name. She is Yours. When she goes through deep waters, You will be with her. When she goes through the rivers of difficulty, she will not drown. She is precious to You. You love her.”
When we pray according to God’s Word, we are in line with His will, enabling us to pray with power and wisdom. The praying changes not only the lives of our grandchildren, but us as well. We gain a fuller perspective.
2. Trust the Faithfulness of God
It’s easy for us grandmothers to worry about our grandchildren. They are faced with choices and challenges we could never imagine when we were their age. Many movies, music lyrics, TV programs, video games, and the Internet are desensitizing our grandchildren. They live in a world of legal recreational marijuana, other drugs, sex trafficking, alcohol abuse, confusion about sexual identity, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, and much more.
But instead of wringing our hands in distress, we can pray—regularly, intentionally, specifically—trusting them into God’s faithful care.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (Psa 34:18).
God’s way is perfect…. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. (Psa 18:30)
Even when walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside . Your rod and your staff protect and comfort . (Psa 23:4)
We grandmothers can stand in the gap, praying for the spiritual, emotional, and physical protection of our precious grandchildren. We are not hopeless; wehave a God who is “our refuge and strength, our stronghold in times of trouble” (Psa 46:1).
Because God is faithful, we can breathe in His peace while we wait for the answers to our prayers.
3. Join With Others
When I first became passionate about praying for my grandchildren, God directed me to the Christian Grandparenting Network, an organization devoted to challenging Christian grandparents to live intentionally as representatives of Christ for future generations. It is committed to providing a network of resources and opportunities for grandparents to have powerful opportunities for intergenerational dialogue to strengthen grandparent-grandchild relationships and spiritual growth. I now have the privilege of serving as their National Prayer Coordinator, writing devotionals and prayer suggestions on their website.
We also have a grandmothers’ prayer group in my church. We meet monthly and pray for our grandchildren, our children, and each other. We encourage each other to love our grandchildren, even when they disappoint us with their music choices, their appearances, and sometimes their body piercings. It’s a “safe place” to share our heavy hearts. We have seen God answer prayers in some remarkable ways.
4. Grandparenting With A Purpose
As we age, we may sometimes feel that we are no longer useful. The truth is, God has a significant purpose for us. Just as the Old Testament Queen Esther stood in the gap for her people when their lives were threatened, we can stand in the gap for our grandchildren and their parents as their lives are threatened spiritually. Perhaps at no other time in history is a call to prayer more urgently needed than it is today. Together we can link arms in prayer for the sake of the next generation.
My great-grandfather’s prayers had a ripple effect on my whole family—on my grandparents, my parents, my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, and me. If you do not have a Christian heritage, you have the privilege of starting the ripple effect with prayers for your family.
Sometimes our grandchildren see the results of our prayers. My oldest granddaughter warmed my heart when she sent me the following note:
Grandma, your phone calls, cards, and e-mails were encouraging and made a significant impact on my life, especially in my teenage and college years. Your prayers and encouragement have been rock-solid reminders of God’s truth in my incredible, crazy life-shaping years, and now in my married life. Your prayers help me surrender the craziness of my life to God.
A few years ago on a sunny autumn day, my husband and I were traveling in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Mesmerized by the reflections of the rugged snow-covered mountains and golden aspen trees on a pristine lake, I could not help but ask myself: Do my children and grandchildren see God’s love reflected in my life in the same way? Do they see Jesus in me?
Pondering the answer to these questions led me to realize that the sun must shine on the mountains and trees to create a reflection. In order for God’s love to reflect from my life, the love of Jesus Christ must be shining in my heart, which means that I must be reading and obeying His Word.
My husband and I thank God he has given us an opportunity to be prayer warriors for our twelve grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Serving Him in this way and leading the cause through Christian Grandparenting Network’s prayer ministry has given my life purpose and significance.
May the light of the Son reflect in you, and may you know the joy of serving as God’s prayer warrior for your grandchildren and future generations.
www.crosswalk.com
Grandmother’s Prayer
Here is a prayer for all grandmothers’ children and grandchildren, big or small, wherever they may be:
O’ Lord watch over my children
help them to grow each day in grace
guide their steps in every direction
so they will master whatever they face
Lord feed them when they hunger
and supply their every need
let them know that you are there
to help them to succeed
Lord help them to seek for wisdom
so it will help them in life to cope
when things become too hard to bear
it will give them a little more hope
Now Lord seal this prayer in Heaven
let it follow them wherever they go
for I desire the best for them
and behold the seeds, that they will sow
also this prayer goes out for others
for their children you will also keep
and allow them to grow under your safety
while we at times are sleep
~ Mary Cathryn Cannon ~
A very impressive woman, please visit her site!
Grandmother of 5 great kids, retired special ed high school teacher, married since 1972 to Poppy…loves spoiling the grands, crocheting for whomever I can and charities, reading, crafts, outdoors, and blogging.
www.nanascorner.com
