Within the spiritual treasury of the Church, there are countless charisms, schools of spirituality, and methods of prayer. In addition, there are specific servants of prayer.
The servants of prayer are certain groups who have been particularly entrusted with the call of prayer and the care of the spiritual life.
Preeminent among these servants of prayer is the Christian family. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer.”
As the domestic Church, the family is the privileged place for Christians to learn about prayer and how to let it become a regular and stable part of their lives. The call to prayer is found within the sacrament of Holy Matrimony and the family that flows from it. Within the call of parenthood, is the summons for mothers and fathers to educate their children, especially in prayer and the things of God.
The Catechism emphasizes: “Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the ‘domestic Church’ where God’s children learn to pray ‘as the Church’ and to persevere in prayer.”
The dignity and vocation of the Christian family cannot be underestimated. The family is gathered and called together by God. Saint Paul teaches us: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.”
The family, therefore, is a school of prayer. It is the place where a closeness with God is nurtured, prayer is witnessed, methods of prayer are learned, and a tenacity of spirit is developed. In the family, prayer is not simply a custom, but a way of life. It is a way of life that includes grit and perseverance.
No one learns how to pray alone, just as no Christian actually prays alone. And so, it is in the family where the first lessons of prayer are offered and where a shared faith in Jesus Christ encourages and sustains a life of prayer.
The Catechism highlights young people within families: “For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church’s living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.”
The young see and learn prayer from their parents, siblings, grandparents, godparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, and other extended family members. Through the family, young people are able to see the Church in microcosm. They see different spiritualities, prayer methods, and ways of persevering in prayer through the different generations, personalities and temperaments of their various family members.
It is not only the young, however, that learn (or re-learn) about prayer in and through the family. Older members, and middle-aged members, of the family are educated in prayer by the witness of other family members. It can happen that a grandparent is inspired by the innocent prayer of their grandchildren and begins to deepen in their own life of prayer. It could also happen that a brother is motivated by the spiritual life of his sibling and decides to go deeper in their relationship with the Lord Jesus.
The family is a dynamic web of spiritual relationships. It is the communion of saints on the local level and an expression of the universal call to holiness within the Christian household.
In this way, the family is a servant of prayer. No Christian approaches prayer as its master. No believer has the power to manipulate prayer. It is beyond each of us. It is a superior good given to us by the Lord Jesus and modeled for us by him.
The family is a servant. It is called to battle the tiredness and duties of each day and yet to submit faithfully to the call of prayer. The family makes its way through the trenches of life and yet lets itself to walk by faith and not by sight. It is the family that knows better than any other entity the hustle and bustle of life, its twists and turns, and yet models – as best it can – the value and importance of prayer throughout life.
And so, it’s an acknowledgement of the sacredness of family life and its place in the mire and muck of human and divine affairs that the Catechism rightly lists it as the first of all the servants of prayer.
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