A prayer for family and friends

Here is a Prayer I wanted to share with you: Thanks for Family & Friends Blessed are You, loving Father, For all your gifts to us. Blessed are You for giving us family and friends To be with us in times of joy and sorrow, To help us in days of need, And to rejoice with us in moments of celebration.. Father, We praise You for Your Son Jesus, Who knew the happiness of family and friends, And in the love of Your Holy Spirit. Blessed are you for ever and ever. Amen. Sent via iMissal http://www.imissal.com/markets.html

A prayer for your children

Here is a Prayer I wanted to share with you:
Parents' Prayer for Their Children O God the Father of mankind, who hast given unto me these my children, and committed them to my charge to bring them up for Thee, and to prepare them for eternal life: help me with Thy heavenly grace, that I may be able to fulfill this most sacred duty and stewardship. Teach me both what to give and what to withhold; when to reprove and when to forbear; make me to be gentle, yet firm; considerate and watchful; and deliver me equally from the weakness of indulgence, and the excess of severity; and grant that, both by word and example, I may be careful to lead them in the ways of wisdom and true piety, so that at last I may, with them, be admitted to the unspeakable joys of our true home in heaven, in the company of the blessed Angels and Saints. Amen.
Sent via iMissal http://www.imissal.com/markets.html

St. Patricks Day 2012

A poem/prayer for St. Patricks day that I downloaded on my Nook:

The Saint's Day

Irishmen! Once more our day has come round.  This day our people greet where'er they're found, whether in the palace, or the humblest cot, to them 'tis all the same.  It matters not.  Today; they ne'er feel weary, sad or faint, for 'tis the birthday of our patron saint!

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I have not been blogging much, my computer crashed and is being worked on, but I am told it is better than ever now, triple the memory and speed and whatever can be done to make it awesome.  I can't wait to get it back.  Serena turned 2 last weekend, then got really sick, both of us, so we are getting over a cold/allergies/ear infection and also her teething.  Deacon Mike said on wednesday that he got sick and he hadn't stuck to his lent offerings, so he was joking that he got sick as penance.  I am sure that is why I did too.  I haven't been on facebook, which I gave up, but I also have not been praying as much as I should.  Things have been super busy on the home front. 
Here is the daily info sent to me from my saint of the day email from americancatholic.org, of course the saint of the day is...St. Patrick!  I admit I think St. Patricks day is for drinking green beer and chasing leprechauns, but I know that it is based on a real person, one that I should know about, respect and emulate.  Here is the info.
PS
Serena was due on St. Patricks day, so she is my little clover.

St. Patrick

(415?-493?)

Legends about Patrick abound; but truth is best served by our seeing two solid qualities in him: He was humble and he was courageous. The determination to accept suffering and success with equal indifference guided the life of God’s instrument for winning most of Ireland for Christ. Details of his life are uncertain. Current research places his dates of birth and death a little later than earlier accounts. Patrick may have been born in Dunbarton, Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales. He called himself both a Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and a large number of his father’s slaves and vassals were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. Forced to work as a shepherd, he suffered greatly from hunger and cold.
After six years, Patrick escaped, probably to France, and later returned to Britain at the age of 22. His captivity had meant spiritual conversion. He may have studied at Lerins, off the French coast; he spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His great desire was to proclaim the Good News to the Irish.
In a dream vision it seemed “all the children of Ireland from their mothers’ wombs were stretching out their hands” to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and north, where the faith had never been preached, obtained the protection of local kings and made numerous converts.
Because of the island’s pagan background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain chaste and young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many priests, divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, founded several monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in Christ.
He suffered much opposition from pagan druids and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission.
In a relatively short time the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe.
Patrick was a man of action, with little inclination toward learning. He had a rocklike belief in his vocation, in the cause he had espoused.
One of the few certainly authentic writings is his Confessio, above all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the apostolate.
There is hope rather than irony in the fact that his burial place is said to be in County Down in Northern Ireland, long the scene of strife and violence.

Comment:
What distinguishes Patrick is the durability of his efforts. When one considers the state of Ireland when he began his mission work, the vast extent of his labors (all of Ireland) and how the seeds he planted continued to grow and flourish, one can only admire the kind of man Patrick must have been. The holiness of a person is known only by the fruits of his or her work.

Quote:
“Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me” (from “The Breastplate of St. Patrick”).

Is this mic on?

I had this post in my head last night lying in bed. I was trying to pray, for those I love and patience and things like that. I realized that now that I am becoming a catholic, I have no idea how to pray like one. I also can't pray out loud and never really felt comfortable doing that. Take Grace for instance, at meal time, I am so shy about it and I always feel like I'm not saying the right words. It's probably because my husband, a cradle catholic, says his Grace like those guys that host auctions. I feel like now that I am supposed to start learning and using the saints to intercede in prayer, that I am missing some connecting words...specific "trigger" words that will actually get their attention.
Is it not enough to just pray to god? All of my 30 years of prayers have been straight to god. I never thought of praying to his son (who I learned is really him, consubstantial). I never thought to pray to saints. I like the idea, I am not complaining, I just don't know how. I have prayer cards, but how do you just pray your own? I always start with "Dear God" and then I ramble some thoughts in my head of people I love and things I wish would happen.

Any tips or examples you can share?