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I am hosting this pray along of a novena of novenas for the protection of our priests and deacons, as well as the conversion of our enemies--not only for our sake, but the sake of their souls. Please pray along with me and share this with your friends and family, our clergy needs our prayers and petitions more than they ever have! Please visit Veils and Vocations for more information and the novena prayers. God bless.

Please visit Praying with Grace to enjoy my very last post for the Apostleship of Prayer.

Brilliantly simple! A letter from Seattle contains practical wisdom for praying through Holy Week and the Easter Season. Click over to Praying with Grace to read the letter.

©Studio-Annika/Getty Images Prayer works. But how? When? To what extent?  These are the questions parents and teachers ask me at every talk I give for the Apostleship of Prayer. And so I tell a story. Join me at Praying with Grace , please!

One of my godchildren lives in Illinois. The school her family attends vehemently opposes memorization. At a back-to-school meeting, the school principal told parents, "We are a proud part of the digital age. Our students never memorize anything they can look up on a device. In a world powered by search engines, memorization is a complete waste of time." How do YOU feel about memorizing prayers? I'm kind of a huge fan. Read why at Praying with Grace .

Two weeks ago, Pope Francis used his  General Audience  to implore parents to teach their children how to pray: “There are children who have not learned how to make the sign of the cross!” the Holy Father lamented. “You, mother, father! Teach your children how to pray, how to make the sign of the cross!” Many parents I know make family prayer a joyful priority in their homes. They pray with their children at church, at bedtime, at meals, and at random moments throughout the day. But most Catholic parents in this country are shy about praying with their children. Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) and Holy Cross Family Ministries are gradually releasing a four-part study on young Catholic families. More than 1,000 adults aged 25-45 responded to the survey, providing insights into faith and family that the Family Feud show would never have dreamed of. Family Feud by Dennis Crowley (2008) via  Flickr . Read excer...

Thousands of people will pour into Philadelphia this September to celebrate the Eighth World Meeting of Families with Pope Francis.  On June 25 , the Vatican officially presented the theme for the event: Love is our mission: the family fully alive Lovely! On the other hand, do I want my family to be  fully  alive? That sounds like a handful. There are, after all, so many ways to be alive. My neighbor is alive at 6:50 am every Saturday and Sunday, cleaning his deck with a leaf blower powered by an engine from a Boeing 747. Alive was the man who cut me off in traffic yesterday, swearing at me colorfully through his open window. Children who fight over whose turn it is to wash the dishes? Very much alive. © ezepov/Getty Images Sometimes "alive" feels more like "undead." But the World Meeting theme recalls the famous line by the second century theologian St. Irenaeus: "The the Glory of God is man fully alive." Pope St. John Paul II admired Irenae...