Night PrayerTime with Family

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Nightfly

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:confused:I have read Fr. Larry Richards book Be a Man and it is obvious I am not doing my duties as the spiritual head of the household. Last night I read the gospel and it did not click with me. Does anyone know of a way to bring the gospel down to a 5 year old and a 9 year olds understading? I want to do this daily. If anyone has any suggestions I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks!
 
There are many children’s bibles out there, which could be one way to go, although that would not strictly be reading of the day. I know we are trying to decide on a five-year-old level Bible right now, as the ones we have all have various strong and weak points. Many times the goal at that level is to familiarize the kids with the characters and stories in the Bible. I would think the nine-year-old might not need much interpretation for most passages. Second, it might be more important just to do it, and establish that as something Dad thinks is important, and worry about full comprehension down the line.

What did you think of Fr. Larry’s book? My bride got it for me but I haven’t read it yet. A good friend really found it beneficial for his everyday spritual life.
 
I liked the book. He is very hard line and I think I may be going to hell. he choice is to be a sinner or a saint. He said that people are going to hell like snowflakes falling to the earth. It does want me to shape up my life which is good. I need a slap in the face like that. It will make you a better man and husband. People may not like what he has to say but I think he speaks the truth. The train of thought that we just have to try to be nice makes us followers of Christ so we can be in heaven is not his bag. Let me know what you think of it when you read it.
choose_to_love said:
There are many children’s bibles out there, which could be one way to go, although that would not strictly be reading of the day. I know we are trying to decide on a five-year-old level Bible right now, as the ones we have all have various strong and weak points. Many times the goal at that level is to familiarize the kids with the characters and stories in the Bible. I would think the nine-year-old might not need much interpretation for most passages. Second, it might be more important just to do it, and establish that as something Dad thinks is important, and worry about full comprehension down the line.

What did you think of Fr. Larry’s book? My bride got it for me but I haven’t read it yet. A good friend really found it beneficial for his everyday spritual life.
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Thanks, Nightfly.

If you are in the mood for unsolicited advice: you can also try a family rosary, and the kids can draw/color the mystery/mysteries for nighttime family prayer. We have done that on occasion to good result. Now our older ones - 7,7, and 4 at the moment - - each lead a decade.

I’m from the Poconos - - I see you’re from PA too.
 
When we raised our children, we simply prayed the Divine Office together. It is truly one of our most wonderful memories of our children. They never questioned it. In fact as they became teens, their methods of reading the responses became quite inventive :p. I love that they memorized so many scriptures, psalms, prayers, and canticles. It will never leave their hearts.
 
Nightfly said:
I liked the book. He is very hard line and I think I may be going to hell. he choice is to be a sinner or a saint. He said that people are going to hell like snowflakes falling to the earth.
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Priest or not, how does he claim to know what percentage of people are going to Hell? Sounds vain in the extreme. Even the Pope does not know that.
 
Right now, my family reads the daily Mass readings together, and then we have a short discussion about it to help the kids understand it. We used to have a children’s bible that we used, but it started to feel like one step too many for us. We had to read the readings ourselves before reading from the children’s Bible, so that we would have the full picture of what the reading was about in order to explain it to the kids. (Children’s Bibles can’t cover as many details as the adult versions can.) After a few weeks of that, it just worked out better for us to read the readings geared towards adults, and then explain it to the kids. We just asked simple questions: What did Jesus say? Do you know what _____ means? etc.

Your nine year old will probably be able to get quite a bit out of the readings just from hearing them. The five year old will need a bit more direction, but at that age, the main goal is to try and help them get the “big picture.” You’re just trying to get them familiar with the basic moral of the story, with the characters, etc. Once they start getting familiar with those basics, you can start building to their understanding of the readings.
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
Priest or not, how does he claim to know what percentage of people are going to Hell? Sounds vain in the extreme. Even the Pope does not know that.
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He doesn’t claim a percentage, just that many souls are being lost which is undeniable.
I love Fr. Larry so much, he is humble and kind, not vain at all! 😦
 
We read a short meditation then pray Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be followed by thanking God for whatever they want to thank God for and special intentions. It is so amazing what comes out of my daughter’s mouths, “Pray for those in prison, arrested (our family is close to a priest who attends to prisoners in our diocese), thank God for my teachers, my pencils, the Valentines candy I got…and Daddy’s lunches” 😛

Weekends we sometimes read from their children’s Bible or talk about the readings that day - or talk about the saint of the day. And I leave it open for any questions they may have; if I can’t answer it or locate info on it, we ask a priest via email!
 
Forgot to mention that my 10 yr old loves her pocket Catechism (she asks lots of questions of info in that) and when I see a good children’s book on a saint or the Virgin Mary or other good Catholic childrens book, I get it for them. They went through a phase after reading about Lady of Fatima of dressing all their dolls like the Virgin Mary draped whatever blue scarves or material they could find. The dolls often were holding rosaries, which they got from their RE classes at our parish.

Check out church gift shops, they usually have some great children’s books! There are also childrens CDs, narrating gospel, readings, etc. Maria
 
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