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Grow in faith to strengthen your marriage and family life!
Scroll down for resources for Couples & Marriages, Parents & Family, Family Devotions, & More.
Watch The Chosen together as a family!
Binge the television show based on the life of Jesus and those who knew Him. Find it on TheChosen.TV
Couples & Marriage
7 Steps to a Superabundant Marriage
The Art of Catholic Family Life
Love & Responsibility
An Introduction to the teachings of St. John Paul II on human sexuality and relationships
Emotional Intimacy in Marriage
Love & Responsibility Series presented by Drs. Jonathan and Alex Marcotte
Spiritual Intimacy in Marriage
Love & Responsibility Series presented by Deacon James Keating
Love & Responsibility Series presented by Dr. Todd Bowman
Resources for Dating & Engaged, Married Life, and Family Life & Parenting. Sponsored by the USCCB.
National Marriage Week is every Feb. 7th-14th!
Parents & Family
Resource Links
Tips for Going to Mass with Your Children - Julianne Stanz
Rights and Duties of Parents - from the USCCB
Marriage Lessons from the Saints - insights from canonized couples
Praying for My Family - from Blessed Catholic Mom
Prayers for the Family - from the Knights of the Holy Eucharist (additional prayer downloads)
By starting small and adding over time, discover how to build a habit of prayer, how to meditate with scripture and art, and how to form a relationship with Jesus and Mary.
In 365 days, read the Bible and understand how all the pieces fit together to tell an amazing story that continues in your life today!
A life-changing program to teach you how to really pray, from getting started to a powerful daily routine. Connect with God and learn His incredible dream for your life.
Revealing the good, true, and beautiful teachings of the Church Christ founded, learn insights so that you can clearly understand Church teaching and how to live it out in your daily life.
Your Family - A Domestic Church
Jesus chose to enter the world within the context of a family (CCC 1655). The family is the fundamental unit of society, the original cell of social life, and it is within our families that we first learn how to both love and receive love. "The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society" (CCC 2207).
The family is a Domestic Church, the father being the head and the mother being the heart. And it is from our families that we develop our core beliefs about the world and about God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and education of children it reflects the Father's work of creation. It is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading of the Word of God strengthen it in charity. The Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task" (CCC 2205).
As parents, you are representatives of God to your children. You reveal God’s heart to them when you love and take care of them. No we’re not perfect and we make mistakes, we get angry and frustrated, we feel stretched too thin by various commitments, and often we are hurt the most by the people who are within our own family. But even if your family has experienced the pain of loss or separation, you and your children can grow in holiness today! God will provide for whatever you may lack.
To model God's love, you first have to receive God's love. You cannot earn it or merit it or lose it. You cannot give what you do not have or introduce them to someone you do not know.
You don't need to have all the answers. You and your children can go deeper to find out together.
JESUS, Son of God and Son of Mary, bless our family. Graciously inspire in us the unity, peace, and mutual love that you found in your own family in the little town of Nazareth.
MARY, Mother of Jesus and Our Mother, nourish our family with your faith and your love. Keep us close to your Son, Jesus, in all our sorrows and joys.
JOSEPH, Foster-father to Jesus, guardian and spouse of Mary, keep our family safe from harm. Help us in all times of discouragement or anxiety.
HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH, make our family one with you. Help us to be instruments of peace. Grant that love, strengthened by grace, may prove mightier than all the weaknesses and trials through which our families sometimes pass. May we always have God at the center of our hearts and homes until we are all one family, happy and at peace in our true home with you. Amen.
God has chosen you specifically from the beginning of time to be the parent to the child(ren) you have.
Your work, in providing for and taking care of your family, can become worship and can help you grow in holiness.
What are some things you do to care for or provide for your children spiritually?
St. Teresa of Avila said that God can be found amongst the pots and pans, the daily chores and duties we must complete. The small things you do each day can bring you closer to God and make you holy.
“If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.” ~ St. Mother Teresa
Family Devotions
How can my family grow in faith?
Check out some suggestions that you can begin implementing in your family life:
Give your children a blessing with Holy Water before they leave for school or before bed
Have an intentional family dinner, giving thanks to the Lord in prayer before eating
Tie Moments of Faith to Moments of Joy
Go to Confession and then get Ice Cream
Visit Jesus in Adoration and then Play in the Park
Go to Sunday Mass and then Play a Family Board Game/Sport
Carve out Sunday as a Family Day of Fun & Rest
Help your children understand the Mass with the Kids Bulletin or with 30 Second Children's Homilies
Make a Sacrifice every Friday, like giving up eating meat or watching a favorite TV show
Consecrate your Family to Jesus through Mary
Consecrate your Family to the Holy Family
Pray a Family Rosary Together (even if it's just a decade!)
Monthly or Quarterly gather as a family to ask for forgiveness for wrongs done to each other, to express feelings of past hurts, and to work out conflicts
Parents especially apologize to your children to teach them the importance of forgiveness and the value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and repairing their relationship with God their Father
Complete the First Saturday Devotion as a Family
Complete the First Friday Devotion as a Family
Devotions such as the Brown Scapular or Miraculous Medal
Visit a Shrine Together
Heart of Jesus, I adore Thee,
Heart of Mary, I implore thee,
Heart of Joseph, pure and just,
In these three hearts I place my trust.
Prayer in Honor of the Holy Family
GRANT us, O Lord Jesus, faithfully to imitate the examples of Thy Holy Family, so that in the hour of our death, in the company of Thy glorious Virgin Mother and St. Joseph, we may deserve to be received by Thee into eternal tabernacles. Amen.
What is the Minimum Required to be a Practicing Catholic?
The Precepts of the Church present to the faithful "the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor" (CCC 2041). They are:
Attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation & Rest from Servile Labor
Confess your Sins at least Once a Year
Receive the Eucharist at least Once a Year during the Easter Season
Observe the Days of Fasting and Abstinence
Help to Provide for the Needs of the Church
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