Praying with my husband is something that has never been easy for me to do. Though I tell him everything and share all aspects of my life with him, I’ve always seemed to stumble when it comes to our prayer time together.
Our first few years of marriage, I forced myself to say something, but it really wasn’t the pray of my heart and it felt awkward and forced. We came to an agreement that my husband would pray out loud, I would take a few minutes to silently pray, and then I would close our time with an “Amen.”
And this little system of praying together worked fine for years.
But this past March a homily by Fr. John Riccardo popped up in my newsfeed and completely changed the way my husband and I pray together. This teaching is packed with insight and wisdom for your marriage so set some time aside to listen to the entire thing, but if you’re short on time you’ll find the way of prayer Father suggested below.
“Because of you, I know who God is.” – Fr. Riccardo
How To Pray With Your Spouse By Fr. Riccardo
- Before bed, the husband places his hand on his wife’s head and out loud he thanks God for something that he sees in his wife.
- He prays an Our Father.
- The wife places her hand on her husband’s head and out loud she thanks God for something she wants to honor her husband for.
- She prays a Hail Mary.
Our Experience Praying This Way As A Couple
This is so simple and easy to do this. Even on nights when we’re exhausted and have stayed up a little too late watching Netflix, we can find enough energy to keep this method of prayer going. Praying this way has led me to search for the good in my husband and in our marriage. I find myself thinking about what I can say to honor my husband all throughout the day.
Selfishly, I love to hear what he will say about me each night. Many times he has mentioned little things that I assumed no one even noticed I had done. I feel valued and motivated to keep serving my family when I hear the things my spouse is thankful for. (Note – We don’t say something unique each night. That proved a little too challenging, but it is fun to try to think of something that hasn’t been said before!)
I no longer feel awkward or nervous about praying out loud with my husband. Rather, I’m excited about the time we can share together before God as a married couple inviting Him into our marriage and our home. Over the past few months, as I’ve grown in confidence using this method during our prayer time, I’ve even been able to offer some spontaneous prayers from my heart. Words can’t express how much joy this has brought to our marriage and I can’t wait to hear how it impacts yours.
Featured Photo by Alex Bocharov on Unsplash
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