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A Prayer for Mothers as Educators

by Filed Under: Education, Home Education, Homeschooling, Homeschooling Novena, Mom, Mother Love, Motherhood Leave a Comment

Day Four of the Home Education #hsnovena

Below is a prayer for mothers, adapted from #MotherLoveAManualforChristianMothers by Pius Franciscus OFM, Cap (1888).

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My Vocation as Educator

Most gracious God, You have charged me with the sobering task of educating these children with which You have blessed our family. In Baptism, You have made them Your own, and now You have entrusted them to me, that I may rear them in supernatural love toward You and educate and train them in all of the knowledge required to form them into the Godly adults that you created them to become.

This task so far exceeds the abilities of Your humble servant but in confidence I turn to You, O God, trusting in your almighty power and the inexhaustible graces that you make available to me.

Help me to form these children to each one’s greatest potential in both intellect and virtue.

Give me a greater portion of each of the fruits and gifts of Your Holy Spirit that I may perfectly execute my duties as their teacher.

Grant that these children may ever look upon their divine sonship as the highest good that they possess on earth and may they at last die in full possession of it. Amen.

Receive also Almighty God these specific requests related to my role as educator…and transform me by the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

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Join the spiritual community of mothers in praying this novena for the discernment of God’s Will in our families. HOME EDUCATION NOVENA

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#catholichomeschool #catholichomeschooling #catholichomeschoolfamily #catholichomeschoolmom #catholichomeschoolers #homeschoollife #homeschoolmom #homeschooling #traditionalcatholicfamily #catholicmom #catholicwife #traditionalcatholics #catholicdad #catholicfamily #catholicwomen #lexorandilexcredendilexvivendi

A Prayer for Mothers

by Filed Under: Home Education, Homeschooling, Homeschooling Novena, Mother Love, Motherhood Leave a Comment

Day Three of the Home Education #hsnovena

Below is a prayer for mothers, adapted from #MotherLoveAManualforChristianMothers by Pius Franciscus OFM, Cap (1888).

Join the spiritual community of mothers in praying this novena for the discernment of God’s Will in our families. HOME EDUCATION NOVENA

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My Vocation as Mother

O Gracious God, I thank You, that You have given me children, made them heirs of heaven by holy Baptism, and entrusted their training to me.

Permeate me with a deep devotion to this most dignified responsibility; assist me in the care of their health, but especially in the preservation of their innocence and purity of heart.

Grant that I may teach them early to know and serve You, and to love You completely. Grant that I myself may carefully avoid all that I must forbid them, and may diligently practice all that I should teach them.

The fulfillment of this charge is beyond the capabilities of your humble servant but inspired by your love for them I confidently call upon the grace you so generously make available to me through the sacramental blessing of my marriage and I implore you to transform me into a holy and wise mother.

Inspire me to hold dearly to the example of your own beloved mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I commend these dear children, O God, to Your paternal care and to the guardianship of Your holy angels.

Bless, O heavenly Father, my little efforts. May my children’s advancement in years be to Your honor, and may they persevere to the end. Amen.

Receive also Almighty God these specific requests related to my children and my role as their mother…and transform me by the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

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#catholichomeschool #catholichomeschooling #catholichomeschoolfamily #catholichomeschoolmom #catholichomeschoolers #homeschoollife #homeschoolmom #homeschooling #traditionalcatholicfamily #catholicmom #catholicwife #traditionalcatholics #catholicdad #catholicfamily #catholicwomen #lexorandilexcredendilexvivendi

A Prayer for Wives

by Filed Under: Education, Home Education, Homeschooling, Homeschooling Novena, Mother Love Leave a Comment

Day Two of the Home Education #hsnovena

Below is a prayer for mothers on day two, adapted from #MotherLoveAManualforChristianMothers by Pius Franciscus OFM, Cap (1888).

Join the spiritual community of mothers in praying this novena for the discernment of God’s Will in our families. HOME EDUCATION NOVENA

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My Vocation as Wife

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, You have instituted marriage in this earthly paradise and have, in the New Law elevated it to the dignity of a Sacrament, attaching to it many graces.

Grant to n. and me the grace to live lives of holiness and in so sacred a state and, by the practice of Christian virtues, to act always as is becoming a Christian couple.

As your holy priest joined our hands at the altar, so may we journey through life with one heart and one soul, tasting its pleasures with moderation, enduring its sorrows with resignation and, at all times, mutually assisting and consoling each other.

May true and holy fear strengthen us to restrain the low desires of the flesh, and to serve You uprightly with pure hearts and eyes and lips, in mutual esteem and forbearance. Anoint me with your Holy Grace that I may attain the particular virtues and wisdom to fulfill my vocation as n.’s wife in imitation of your own most holy spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Grant that the children born of our union may be pure of heart and well disposed in mind, and that they may gladly walk in the way of Your Commandments.

Teach us to be faithful images of the Holy Family of Nazareth, of Joseph, the blessed foster-father, and of Mary, the most devout and blessed Mother of the Child Jesus, that we may be made worthy to live under their protection, to die in their favor, and to be forever blessed in their society. Amen.

Receive also Almighty God these specific requests related to my marriage and my role as wife…and transform me by the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

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You can find the printable on my site. There you can also find links to talks on education from priests of tradition.

#catholichomeschool #catholichomeschooling #catholichomeschoolfamily #catholichomeschoolmom

A Prayer for a Mother’s Holy Vocation

by Filed Under: Homeschooling Novena, Mother Love, Motherhood Leave a Comment

Today is Day One of the Novena for Home Education. But really, it’s for EVERYONE!

You can find the printable here. There you can also find links to talks on education from priests of tradition. #hsnovena

This year I’ll be including a prayer each day for mothers, adapted from “Mother Love, A Manual for Christian Mothers” by Pius Franciscus OFM, Cap (1888).

Join the spiritual community of mothers in praying this novena for the discernment of God’s Will in our families.

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My Holy Vocation

O God, Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth, all creatures owe their existence to Your infinite goodness and fatherly love.

You have appointed for each one of us the sphere in which, under Your direction, support and encouragement, we are to press onward to our final goal. 

I thank You Almighty God, for the vocation to which you have called me. I thank You for Your all-embracing, all-pervading, all-governing providence, which oversees all of the particular works of this vocation. 

I submit to Your dispensation. I resign myself to Your guidance. I grasp Your leading hand, and beg for the grace never to follow the way of my own inclinations. 

Your good pleasure shall form my happiness; Your commands shall be my only line of conduct; Your will shall be my will; and Your service the object of all my aspirations. 

Give me, O Lord, peace of heart; trust in Your infinite wisdom; courage to stay the course; an ever cheerful disposition proceeding from faith in Your inconceivable love; and fidelity in my duties, springing from remembrance of Your omnipresence and from my hope of eternal reward. 

Help me to see that this call upon my life requires the same dedication, commitment and the complete gift of self offered by my sisters who have entered religious life. For Your own honor, O God, help me to fulfill the duties of my vocation for You alone are good and holy, and desire not that any soul should be lost, but that, seeking You and finding You, all may be eternally blessed in You. Amen.

Receive also Almighty God these specific requests related to my vocation (state your intentions) and transform me by the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Homeschool Novena

by Filed Under: Home Education, Homeschool Meditations, Homeschooling, Homeschooling Novena, Novena, Prints, St. Ignatius of Loyola Leave a Comment

Many are in planning mode or unknown territory, discerning education options due to the current times. 

Years ago, two wonderful priests suggested that we (homeschoolers of the parish) pray a novena to St. Ignatius before our school year. St. Ignatius of Loyola is a patron of educators and education. 

ignatius novena

You are invited to join my family and many others in praying this novena for the discernment of God’s Will in our families, that we are able, as much as God will allow, to know which choices to make in all areas of our lives that will reflect His Holy Will and work always for His greater glory for this upcoming school year.

This novena is intended to help us discern God’s will for our vocation and education of our children, to form a communion of prayer, and to glorify God.

The novena starts July 22 and ends on July 30, the eve of the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  

YOU’RE INVITED TO JOIN US!

Below are words shared from a Catholic mom of nine who homeschooled all of her children (from start to finish) for 30+ years. Her words serve as an invitation for all the mothers/families out there, whether you’re a veteran home educator, a novice, or you’re discerning to homeschool.

Dear Homeschooling Families,

It seems that no matter, how many years one has been at this, the balancing of interests and needs of our families, while ever-changing never gets any clearer or even any easier.   Each year we are faced with decisions about our children’s education, what grade, what subjects, what books along with trying to fit into a 24 hour day all the other things we do that are necessary to keeping our homes, like laundry, dishes, etc.  We wonder how many outside activities we can reasonably take on, what to make sure we include and what we may have to omit.  In the end each of us desires to do the Will of God, for ourselves and for our families, each and every member.  The desire to do His Will does not necessarily always translate though into a clear understanding at all times what exactly His Will may be and so we try very hard to balance all the decisions that our multi-faceted vocation entails and discern what He is really asking us to do.  ~G.M.

You can find more homeschool encouragement in the sermons shared below.

Let us form a communion of prayer to discern God’s will for our vocation & education of our children, Glorify God, and raise one another up. 

Prayer for Christian Families

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.,

Lord Jesus, Mary, Mother of the Holy Family, obtain for all Catholic parents the grace to raise their children for a heavenly eternity. Teach us parents to do everything which your Divine Son tells us to do. If we do, we shall be reunited not only as families. We shall join the Holy Family of the Most Holy Trinity.

Make us parents courageous and firm and clear: that we are the primary teachers of our children to prepare them for that final graduation on the first day of a heavenly eternity.

Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Holy Family, obtain from your divine Son the graces which home teaching Catholic parents so desperately need in our day; The grace to see themselves as channels of grace for their children, and the grace to serve as the channels of grace, even at the cost of a living martyrdom in our day.

Amen. ✠

Novena to St. Ignatius of Loyola

V. In the Name (✠) of the Father…

R. Amen.

Suscipe (Prayer by St. Ignatius)

V. Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty,

R.  My memory, my understanding * and my entire will * All I have and call my own. * Thou hast given all to me, * To Thee, O Lord, I return it. * Everything belongs to Thee; * do with it as Thou wilt. * Give me only Thy love and Thy grace, * That is enough for me. Amen.

Anima Christi (Prayer by St. Ignatius)

V. Soul of Christ,                                R. Sanctify me.

V. Body of Christ,                               R. Save me.

V. Blood of Christ,                             R. Inebriate me.

V. Water from the side of Christ,    R. Wash me.

V. Passion of Christ,                          R. Strengthen me.

V. O Good Jesus (☨),                         R. Hear me.

V. Within Thy wounds,                     R. Shelter me.

V. Separated from Thee,                  R. Let me never be.

V. From the evil one,                        R. Protect me.

V. At the hour of my death,             R. Call me.

V. Into Thy presence,                       R. Lead me.

V. That I may praise Thee,              R. With all Thy angels and saints, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for Generosity (by St. Ignatius)

V. Lord, do Thou teach me to be generous.

R. Teach me to serve Thee as Thou deserves: * To give and not to count the cost, * To fight and not to heed the wounds, * to toil and not to seek for rest, * to labor and not to ask for reward, * save that of knowing * that I do Thy divine and holy Will. Amen. *

Novena Prayer

V. O glorious Patriarch, St. Ignatius of Loyola,

R. We humbly beseech thee to obtain for us from Almighty God, * above all things else, * deliverance from sin, * which is the greatest of evils, * and next, from those scourges * wherewith the Lord chastises the sins of His people.

V. And by thy glorious merits we beseech thy benevolent intercession before the throne of Almighty God, that He may grant us:

(Pause and state your intentions)

V. May thine example, O Loyal Knight of Our Lady, enkindle in our hearts an effectual desire,

R. To employ ourselves continually in laboring for the greater glory of God * and the good of our fellowmen; * obtain for us, likewise, from the loving Heart of Jesus (☨) Our Lord, * that grace which is the crown of all graces, * that is to say, the grace of final perseverance and everlasting happiness. * Amen.

V. Laudetur Jesus (☨) Christus! (Praise be Jesus Christ)

R. Nunc et in æternum. Amen. (Now and forever)

V. In the Name (✠) of the Father…

R. Amen.

Download Home Education Novena 

St. Ignatius, ora pro nobis

HOMESCHOOLING MEDITATIONS:

DAILY MEDITATIONS: a prayer each day for mothers, adapted from “Mother Love, A Manual for Christian Mothers” by Pius Franciscus OFM, Cap (1888).

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