Leila is the author of Raising Chaste Catholic Men: Practical Advice, Mom to Mom. In addition to her own blog, she is a contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine Online. Leila and her husband have eight children and several grandchildren.
For Praying Together or Individually:
Dear God, we place before You our marriage and family, requesting Your urgent and divine assistance.
We humbly pray that You bring healing, calm, peace, and clarity of thinking to all involved in our current situation. In some ways, our hearts have hardened and the desire to heal our marriage may at times have wavered. We pray for softened hearts that can listen to one another. We pray for an openness to rehabilitation of our relationship, whether or not we feel hope or even if at times we fear it long over or decayed beyond repair. Help us make a new beginning, putting the past behind. We may have done things we regret, but with humility, we approach one another again.
Please heal the wounds we brought into our marriage through childhood and other life experiences. Help us recognize how those wounds can affect how we relate to one another now. Please assist us in seeking and accepting help and healing where needed.
We pray for a recommitment to the health of the relationship. Lead us on the path to trusting one another again. We ask You to drive away fear and pride, and to give us courage for the road ahead.
We pray You will infuse us with hope in all aspects of this relationship, even the deepest and darkest corners. Please help us turn away from any temptations and addictions. Where necessary, lead us to experts in healing from these addictions and give us the humility to accept assistance.
Please help us focus on You and one another. Give us wisdom regarding the sacrificial love needed in our marriage. Intervene in any areas of injustice, infidelity, and impurity. Help us to forgive, and, as we process past hurts, help us to forgive again and again. Help us build a strong disposition of good will toward one another and help us remember the qualities in one another that initially drew us together. Give us patience as we await Your beautiful work in this marriage. May Your healing lead to deep reconciliation.
Since marriage is a covenant for life, may any false promise of counterfeit happiness with anyone else now lose its appeal. We beg You to remove any forces that separate us. We pray for Your guidance back to a strong marital commitment and ask for You to rekindle in us the beauty of the marital embrace.
We know that many children of divorce face anxiety, hidden and unspoken pain, lack of confidence, feelings of abandonment, lack of protection, and anger. Please help us care for and protect our children. Help us strengthen our intact family structure which was created for their security, mental and emotional development, and moral education. May that motivate us to try harder and surrender to Your loving guidance. Knowing that divorce causes suffering in the immediate family, the extended family, the circle of friends, the generations to come, and society as a whole, help us sustain our marriage as a witness to overcoming difficulties and honoring the marital bond.
Please send with haste solid and faithful friends to stand by us, to share the truth in charity, and to be listening ears and advocates for our marriage. Send people who are faithful to true teachings of marriage, family, and life. May no one in our circle of friends or family contribute to the disintegration of this marriage. Help us to reject and stand against any false support from others who try to convince us that our marriage is irredeemable, hopeless, or too difficult. Protect us from believing that abandoning our vows will lead us to happiness. We call the angels, archangels, and saints to duty, to strengthen and encourage our hearts, and to quiet the voices and influence of any people who drive a wedge between us or who feed the fire of discontent.
Help us embrace sacrifice and suffering as a path to holiness. We know this is how saints are made and how long-married couples overcome periods of difficulty in order to finish their story together, not quitting before the last beautiful chapters are written.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Rita of Cascia, pray for us.
St. Monica, pray for us.
St. Thomas More, pray for us.
St. Priscilla, pray for us.
St. Valentine, pray for us.
St. Adelaide of Burgundy, pray for us.
Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, pray for us.
St. Gengulphus of Burgundy, pray for us.
St. Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Amen.
Shorter version of the above prayer:
Dear Lord, please hear this prayer for our marriage, which needs Your divine assistance. Intervene to remove any sinfulness that separates us. We pray for peace, joy, and sacrificial love to renew this relationship for us and our entire family. Guide us to the help our relationship requires and give us the humility to accept that help. May we continually turn to You in times of need. Let no one contribute to the disintegration of this union. We trust that You know our needs, and that Your will can be done for our marriage and for all marriages needing Your urgent assistance.
Amen.