This prayer book by the Council for Marriage and the Family of the Irish Episcopal Conference can be used by those preparing for marriage and in married life, by family member and families, for personal prayer and prayer together.   It offers prayers for daily use or it can be dipped into from time to time, using the sections and prayer titles to guide you towards your choice.

This prayer book invites you to bring the hopes and concerns in your marriage and the needs of  your family to God as you listen to him, to pause and take time to know Jesus better, to praise and thank God, and to pray for the needs of the community transformed by marriage and family life.

The prayer book is available for purchase from Veritas.

​For Newlyweds

Blessed are you,
O Lord our God, king of the universe;
we bless you each day of our married life.
Renew your blessing within us
as we choose each day, by your grace,
to be a living sign of your eternal love;
may we come to know, love, accept,
forgive, and encourage each other anew.
We ask you to guide us today, as ......
(either or both could mention whatever situation seems important)
for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are
yours now and for ever. Amen

The Veritas Book of Blessing Prayers

Prayers for Married Couples

Help us Lord to be witnesses for marriage to the 
couples we meet and our children.   Strengthen us 
to deal with the day-to-day living of the 
Sacrament of Marriage and to be a support to all
those on the spiritual journey whether they are
assured or struggling.

Stephen Cummins

Prayer for Marriage and the Family

Loving God,
The well-being of each person
and of the human and Christian society
is closely bound up with the healthy
state of the community of marriage and family.

As we cherish the witness of the partnership
of marriage and family life, we pray for all who
answer this special calling to love and to life in 
their joys, sacrifices and sorrows.

We pray for the fostering of this vocation of
married love united with the Lord in faith, hope,
and charity.
And for the encouragement always of a reverence
for human life in its eternal destiny.

Rev Peter Murphy
inspired by Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, n.47ff

The Seasons of Our Love

In the springtime of our marriage grant us growth
and hope.
In our summertime grant us warmth and
celebration.
In our autumn grant us harvest and affirmation.
And in our winter grant us closeness and support.
In all the seasons of our marriage be our constant
companion,
the guest invited to our wedding who has
remained faithful and ever present.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Stephen Cummins

Thanks for My Family

Lord Jesus,
You also needed a mother and a father to grow.
Thanks for my parents.
What would my life be without them?
Help me to be always grateful for
the gift which they are to me.

Rev Peter Murphy

For a Newborn

Watch over this child, O Lord as their days
increase,
Be a source of blessing and guidance in all that
they do.
Pick them up if they should fall,
comfort them when they are discouraged or
sorrowful
grant them peace in their heart all the days of
their Life.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Stephen Cummins

For Our Children

We pray for our children, wherever they may be,
asking Jesus, Mary and Joseph to watch over and
guard them throughout their lives and that the
faith we have passed on to them may sustain
them through all that life will put before them.

Stephen Cummins

Hospitality

Help us Jesus in our family life
to share your hospitality always,
opening our homes and still more
of each of our hearts to the pleas
of our brothers and sisters,
in concrete efforts,
welcoming the brother or sister
in need.

Rev Peter Murphy
Inspired by John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, n.44