Prayer to the Holy Family

At their Winter General Meeting in Maynooth, the Irish Catholic Bishops announced that copies of the Prayer to the Holy Family will be available in parishes across the country this year as part of preparations for the World Meeting of Families 2018, which will take place in Dublin on 22–26 August 2018. Families are invited to take home the prayer, which will be available in eleven languages, from their church’s crib after Christmas Mass.

The bishops encouraged the faithful to pray the Prayer to the Holy Family, which was written by Pope Francis and published in this year’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love):

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in you we contemplate the splendour of true love; to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that our families too may be places of communion and prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth, may families never again experience violence, rejection and division; may all who have been hurt or scandalised find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth, make us once more mindful of the sacredness and inviolability of the family, and its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, graciously hear our prayer.

Amen.

(Adapted from CatholicNews.ie)