Pray for Marriages (Falling out of Love)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

You’ve heard it, or perhaps even said it, “I’m just not in love with my spouse anymore.” What does that mean? Perhaps it depends on one’s personal definition of love.

Scripture tells us, “God is Love.” So perhaps our “falling out” is really with God? When one separates from God, their self-love grows larger and leaves no room for Love Himself. Such vanity makes it difficult to love another, and the Lord’s love may no longer move through us to others.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

Spend some time in prayer and do a self-evaluation of your own efforts to love, seek Love, and empty yourself of self-love. We are blessed by a God who loves us immeasurably. He calls us to empty ourselves so that we may make room for Him.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. 1 John 4:11-12

Lord, give us all the courage to release the false hope of self-love. May we empty ourselves of all that clogs the vessels of our heart and that you pump new life into our ability to love. We pray for those marriages where one or both spouses have had a “falling out” that they may be brought back to perfection and renewed in love through You.

Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet

Everything begins and ends with Love. Love IS the answer! Pass it on!

Pray for Families (According to His Plan)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

Starting and keeping with a solid family structure is important, as the Lord has a plan and a purpose for everything He wills. He also describes the rights and obligations of parents and children. Scripture provides some highlights and a roadmap to success.

Blessed are all who fear the LORD, and who walk in his ways. What your hands provide you will enjoy; you will be blessed and prosper: Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your home,

Your children like young olive plants around your table. Just so will the man be blessed who fears the LORD. Psalm 128:1-4

Children, obey your parents [in the Lord], for this is right.“Honor your father and mother.”This is the first commandment with a promise,“that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth. ”Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4

Children, listen to me, your father; act accordingly, that you may be safe. For the Lord sets a father in honor over his children and confirms a mother’s authority over her sons. Those who honor their father atone for sins; they store up riches who respect their mother. Those who honor their father will have joy in their own children, and when they pray they are heard. Those who respect their father will live a long life; those who obey the Lord honor their mother. Those who fear the Lord honor their father, and serve their parents as masters. In word and deed honor your father, that all blessings may come to you. Sirach 3: 1-8

Remember, of these parents you were born; what can you give them for all they gave you? Sirach 7:28

Much to meditate upon. You are blessed, so be a blessing to your family. Pray for them!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet 

Pray that you and your family may live according God's will. Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (Self-martyrdom)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

Many of you may have great marriages, so we praise God for your witness and faithfulness! Some of you may have very difficult marriages, so we implore God’s graces for you that you may persevere and be returned to joy. Others may have a roller-coaster of a marriage, filled with highs and lows where you go back and forth between praising the Lord and falling to your knees! This weekly blog is for all of you, even those not yet married, for God is outside of the boundaries of time, so these prayers may benefit you as well!

It is difficult to make sense of suffering, but I was struck today by a commentary on one of the daily readings. It read, “Those healed by Jesus were freed not only from sickness, sin, or evil, but more especially from the potential self-centeredness of the suffering. 

Wow. Who has ever considered the potential to be the “victim” in a self-centered attention-seeking way? Who has wallowed silently in self-pity, declaring to themselves one’s marital “martyrdom”? Questions worth contemplating. Healing grace worth seeking. 

He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 

2 Corinthians 5:15

Precious Jesus, you gave all so that we might have new life. Heal, recharge, and reawaken all marriages to the power of your love. Make good marriages great, and bad ones even greater. Release us from all that binds us, blinds us, and distorts our view of all that is true. You are the way, the truth, and the life. May all sufferings encountered throughout marriage be offered for the praise and glory of your name.  In your eternal kindness, heal all marriages that your light may shine brightly through them like a beacon into this darkened world. Amen. 

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Now one should ever feel alone.  Propagate the power of prayer.  Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Patience and Mercy)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Do you have a long fuse or a short fuse? Perhaps it depends? Have you ever found that sometimes the smallest annoyances are the ones that drive you bonkers? Are you a reactor, sometimes going nuclear?

Regardless of how you would classify yourself, remember that the Lord calls us to patience…and mercy! For we will be treated with the same compassion and mercy that we show others.

…and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us. Luke 11:4

As we pray, we should be mindful of this line in the Our Father. Are we committed to forgiveness? Are we mindful that we decide by our own actions how the Father will judge us?

So the LORD passed before [Moses] and proclaimed: The LORD, the LORD, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity, continuing his love for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on children and children’s children to the third and fourth generation! Exodus 34:6-7

Resolve to become more merciful within your family, and then allow it to propagate out. Mirror this behavior and it just might go viral!

Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet

Your actions speak louder than words. Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (The Unwanted Anchor of Pride)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Marriage is a supreme good. You don’t need to be a biblical scholar to realize that Satan only attacks what is good. Today, one in two marriages fail. Do you ever wonder if more marriages would succeed if they realized from the start that their biggest battle would be against PRIDE:  the need to be right, the goal to appear perfect, the desire to be acknowledged for one’s accomplishments (in and out of the home), one’s need to be in control, and one’s hope that everyone envies their looks, lifestyle, and possessions. (Facebook and Instagram being great platforms for this). All of these examples are about the “me” not the “we”. No relationship succeeds if it focuses on the me. It must be nourished with be mutual compromise and a desire for the good of the other.

Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: “God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

What would happen if a couples’ inward gaze was instead directed upwards, to the God of mercy, compassion, and love?

When couples mutually look toward God, they no longer can remain self-absorbed, nor point accusatory fingers at each other, for when gazing upon Love, we are humbled. As we humble ourselves, we allow ourselves to be transformed by Him and become more like Him.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 

Lord, help us see the root of our pride that we may uproot it. With your grace, plant the seeds of kindness and help us to grow in the virtue of humility. May we always seek the good of the other. Abundantly bless those marriages weakened by the chains of pride and self-sufficiency. Grant them eyes to see and a heart to understand that the power of love is buoyed by sacrifice, of which Christ was our witness. We are weak, but in You become strong. Amen.

Our help is in the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 124:8

Peace, Joy, and Love, 

Janet

Pray for marriages, especially those sinking from the anchor of pride. Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Clamor Insistently)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Throughout the centuries people and nations have had many trials and hardships through wars, persecutions, and famines. Many such events were prophesized by our Blessed Virgin Mary through apparitions to her chosen. All of her predictions have come to pass. Consider just a few: the warnings giver in Fatima, her warning regarding the Rwandan genocide, and what I am about to share. These warnings, while speaking to what would happen in Ecuador, are also relevant for the whole world. I am moved, concerned, and encouraged by the prophesies from “Our Lady of Good Success”. They are a reawakening as to why our prayers for families are so important. I will briefly summarize some of these prophesies here, but I encourage you to read the full text.

Toward the end of the 19h century and into the 20th century, heresies would spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith would be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. Religious orders would shrink and be infected with bad attitudes and false charity. A worldwide campaign against the virtues of chastity, and purity would succeed in ruining the youth. Secret sects would have so much influence on society and even the Church. Evil will invade childhood innocence. In this way, vocations to the priesthood will be lost. Priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Those who have the financial means to help the Church will do nothing.

The rich man also died and was buried,and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’” Luke 16: 22-23; 27-31

Our Lady of Good Success implored that the people of this time should “clamor insistently” to the Heavenly Father for an end to such ominous times. May your prayers for family be, frequent and insistent! Pray for your family’s conversion, perseverance, faithfulness, and love…just for starters.

Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet

Pray to hear and know the Truth! Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (Jumpstarting Your Faith)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

What married couple hasn’t thought, at least for a fleeting moment, “If I knew marriage would have been this hard, I would have stayed single!”  No newlywed spends much time thinking about what difficulties could lie ahead. Perhaps this is a grace! Their early years of marriage are thus spent deepening their relationship so that it can survive any storm. If they are Christian, hopefully they are growing in faith too. For faith is what is necessary to survive the storms. 

I am moved by the Gospel stories of healing and even resurrection of the dead. What seems very apparent is that those asking for healing or life had to have the faith that it could be done!  If you have a marriage that needs some resurrecting, keep the faith!

Do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

Lord, when our “faith tank” is running on empty, fill us with your Spirit. When our desire to keep forging ahead diminishes, jump start it. When we are lost in the darkness, Shine brightly with the high beams of your Light. When we sink low in sin, wash us with the fire of your Love. When we don’t feel like loving, create new sparks in our hearts. Lord, refurbish all marriages in need with your vintage and never-ending Love. Jesus, give us the gift of faith! Amen.

“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”Luke 7:50

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

May our prayers renew you in faith. Pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (Mobilized in the Faith)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

As PRIDE week events wrap up around the country, I must admit that I admire the energy around their cause. They are actually able to mobilize their community in large ways to get their message out. Sometime I feel like we Christians are completely slothful when it comes to getting our message out and rallying around our cause; the salvation of souls for Jesus Christ. Where are our parades and rallies??  (Kudos to those who we part of a Eucharistic Procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi). Where is our passion in light of His!?  Are we boldly identifying ourselves as Christians?  Our silence only lends itself to allowing other voices to dominate the conversation and will eventually lead to having no voice at all and ultimately increased persecution.

It is Christ in you, the hope for glory. It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. Colossians 21:27-28

You may be thinking, “What does this have to do with marriages?”  The family, consisting of parents and children, are ordered for each other and for the common good of society. Christianity is dependent upon marriage between a man and a woman and the passing on of their faith to their children. To destroy Christianity, you must attack marriage and family which then weakens the visible message of Christianity: Unconditional and sacrificial love, mercy, sacrifice, and unity.

Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his children and his household in the future to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. Genesis 18:19

In God’s plan, there are four goods of marriage: permanence, partnership, fidelity, and fruitfulness.  When faithfully followed, they propel the message of Christianity by reflecting Christ’s faithful love to us. Permanence, is a commitment to stay in the marriage and work through all the difficulties. Through a united partnership, the husband and wife pledge to a gift of total self, a trinity of mind, body, and spirit.  In fidelity, they promise to be faithful to their vows, all the days of their lives.  By being open to life, they are fruitful, and educate their children in the faith.  In the absence of children, they become spiritual parents to all those around them.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.John 15:7-8

Let us pray for marriages, that they may be permanent, faithful, fruitful, and united.  Lord, may your grace be like the torrential rains in a rainforest.  May we continue to grow, blossom, and bear good fruit, that you may be glorified. Amen

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

The Truth is always worth sharing.  Pass it on!