In this lesson we will talk about building a home prayer space and the idea that the family is the domestic church. We will focus on why every family should have a place to pray and how to make one! If you have not yet gone through the tutorial and completed the activity at the end, be sure to do so!
Introduction Video and Opening Prayer
Go Deeper!
As a family read this passage from the Book of Deuteronomy:
Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.
Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 (translation from The Catholic Children’s Bible.)
This is part of a Jewish prayer called the Shema. It was the most important prayer for the Jews of Jesus’ time. It was so important that they said it every single day. In fact, Jesus would have learned it from Mary and Joseph, at home as a child in Nazareth! Our homes are where we first learn how to pray, and it is something God has always wanted us to do as a family.
“A family prayer space can help us build a habit of prayer.”
Prayer helps make us holy. To be holy means to be set apart for God. When we set aside a place to pray as a family, we are reminding ourselves that prayer is important to us. A family prayer space can help us build a habit of prayer. If you walk by everyday and see your prayer space, don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to pray!
Having a place to pray as a family is an important part of this year’s program. Over the next two weeks, we are asking you to build your family prayer space and post a picture of it in the chat area below. There are activities at the end of the lesson that are options to help you do this. Feel free to be creative and think outside of the box! We encourage you to update and add to this space throughout the year, but its important to get a good start.
Featured Saint
Prayer within families can have a powerful effect! St. Monica whose feast day is August 27th, prayed years for the conversion of her family. Her son, who had wandered far away from God, eventually converted. Maybe you’ve heard of him – he’s St. Augustine!
St. Monica shows us how faith and prayer not only help us through the challenges of life, but also accomplish real change! We all have people in our families who need prayer, maybe you could add a picture of them to your prayer space as a reminder.
St. Monica is a wonderful role model for those of us who love our families, but still need some help at times. You could say she is the patron saint of mothers who “Have had it up to here!” Her story shows us prayer is powerful. God destined us to be born into our family, and he knows what he is doing. He wants us to help each other get to heaven. This is another reason we call the family the domestic church!
God wants all of us to be saints and saints don’t only come from perfect families. In fact, with the exception of the Holy Family, which is our model, all of the saints have come from messy families like ours! Even the Holy Family had challenges, and they had the advantage of Mary and Jesus being sinless. Parents, the next time you are tempted to be down on yourself, remember Mary and Joseph lost the Son of God for three whole days! (Luke 2:41-52). You’re doing fine; God still loves you!
Let us pray!
Below is a link to a novena to St. Monica. A novena is typically a short prayer that is said nine days in a row for a particular intention. If there is someone in your family in need of prayer, especially someone far from God or the Church, this is a great way to show your love for them! St. Monica is also a wonderful intercessor for any need close to your family’s heart. The saints are those who are with God in Heaven. We ask for them to pray for us to God and we do our best to follow their example.
Live It Out Activities.
Here are some craft ideas to help you create your prayer space:
You can also decorate candles, place flowers, put out a bowl for holy water, or use a different colored linen according to the Church calendar (now would be green for ordinary time). Your imagination is your only limit!
Optional Activity: In your Catholic Children’s bible, go to pages 254-255 to learn more about the Bible verse from Deuteronomy we started with. There’s even a fun activity for you to write your own letter to God!
More to Explore!

Blush Family prayer space.
Hi BlushFamily, it looks like the picture might not have come through. You can attach an image by clicking on the icon in the bottom right corner of the comment box. Let me know if you are still having any trouble, we can’t wait to see what you put together!
Sorry about that; here it is!
Our Prayer Space is in the loft area of our house!
Nice! It looks like there are some excited students as well!
Maravolo Family prayer space!
The Griffen’s are also excited to learn about the Saints each time. St. Monica’s story was very interesting!
Our prayer space coming soon….
We’re excited for the program, the videos have been great so far. Thank you Joshua for doing the videos! Just something to consider; try slowing down when you say the Destined prayer at the beginning. We had a hard time keeping up. Thanks again!
Angell Family
Kirila Family prayer spaces – side table
Simon Family prayer space
Here is the Keskes Family prayer space.
Here is the Pode’s prayer space.
We created a prayer shelf in an area we pass often in our home. Our kids had a lot of fun gathering items for this space. – Burdick Family
Laibly Family prayer space.
I have clicked on the photo icon and it won’t attach. Trying again.
Ok…it worked from my phone. Sorry.
Laibly Family prater space.
The Kendra Family prayer space.
This is the Ellis prayer space 😁
Blanck Family Prayer Space
The Petrucci Family prayer space
Norton family prayer space.
The girls loved this activity and I’ve caught one of my kids praying over by the area randomly this week. The youngest contributed a lego cross to mark where we placed our rosary. We made the candle holder on the right with church missal music leftover from years ago. We added a prayer statue brought to us from Ghana by a friend ❤️
Lego contribution
Glad to see the whole family involved, great job on your prayer space!
Vinegar family prayer space
Church family prayer space
Did our picture go through? Having difficulty
Yep! It looks great, nice job!
Kucab prayer space. Interesting the memories it brings with the marriage candle from wedding prep and the crucifix as a wedding present! Now on to find the rosary…
Kurtinaitis family prayer space
Martin Family Prayer space. 🙏🏻
Galloway prayer space
hi
From the Brockmole Family
I can’t figure out how to put our pictures up. It keeps saying our files are too big.
Brockmole family prayer space
The Doggett Family’s prayer space.
Hi from the Smiths prayer table!!
prayer space
Morabito family prayer space
Friske Family is slowly getting caught up. Here is our family prayer space. TV doesn’t go without talking to God first!
Turel family prayer space. We joined a little late and are getting caught up! We do most of our prayers at our kitchen table or at bed time but will start praying together here as well.
edit…Picture won’t upload…I’ve tried decreasing the size and have tried using my computer and phone. I will email a picture!
Oswandel family prayer space.
Kroll Family Prayer Space
Parsons’ Prayer Space
The Anderer family created a jar full of sticky notes with prayers written on it. We are unable to attach the photo.
The Brown family-we created a prayer jar. We are unable to upload the picture. We put prayers and memories in our jar.