Being a parent comes with special graces and certain challenges. As we wrap up this Year of the Family we’re sharing three prayers for parents. One general prayer, one for college-aged children, and one to St. Joseph. 

A Parent Prayer:

Loving God, You are the giver of all we possess, the source of all of our blessings. We thank and praise you. Thank you for the gift of our children.

Help us to set boundaries for them, and yet encourage them to explore. Give us the strength and courage to treat each day as a fresh start.

May our children come to know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith, hope, and love, so they may know peace, truth, and goodness.

May their ears hear your voice. May their eyes see your presence in all things. May their lips proclaim your word. May their hearts be your dwelling place. May their hands do works of charity.

May their feet walk in the way of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Amen.

– from Loyola Press

A Parent Prayer for a Child’s College Years: 

God of life and love, you have given me this child to care for this little while.

My heart is welled with joy and thanksgiving, anticipation and anxiety, amidst a longing to be together as we have been till now. 

These years of growing up have moved so quickly, so many things left undone, so much left unsaid, so much I still hope to give to my child who is taking this new step in the journey of life.

Help us as we reshape our lives to reflect this new reality of college. Show us new ways to be present to each other in love and in trust. Give me patience and help me to remember that my child is establishing new routines in freedom, routines different from my routines.

Calm my fears. Strengthen and protect my child in the midst of the challenges and temptations which surround all students. Grant greater courage that I myself may have had in standing for your truth against compromises of faith.

Provide good friends and worthy confidants for my child during these college years. Help me to give support and confidence, to discern how I am needed now, and to pass on, in my love, a measure of the strength and courage you have given me in the gift of parenting.

– from Marquette University

A Parent Prayer to St. Joseph:

O glorious St. Joseph, to you God committed the care of His only begotten Son amid the many dangers of this world. We come to you and ask you to take under your special protection the children God has given us. Through holy baptism they became children of God and members of His holy Church.
We consecrate them to you today, that through this consecration they may become your foster children. Guard them, guide their steps in life, form their hearts after the hearts of Jesus and Mary.

St. Joseph, who felt the tribulation and worry of a parent when the child Jesus was lost, protect our dear children for time and eternity.
May you be their father and counsellor. Let them, like Jesus, grow in age as well as in wisdom and grace before God and men.
Preserve them from the corruption of his world, and give us the grace one day to be united
with them in Heaven forever. Amen.

– from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis