Establishing a Prayer Routine as Newlyweds
/CARISSA PLUTA
After the wedding day passes and the honeymoon ends, newly wed couples will soon find themselves establishing everyday routines in their home.
PHOTOGRAPHY: ELIZABETH M PHOTOGRAPHY
In creating this routine, Catholic couples might want to find ways to continually re-focus their daily lives and marriage on Christ.
Establishing a habit of prayer, particularly prayer with your spouse, can help couples not only grow closer to one another but closer to God, allowing them to more fully receive the graces provided by the sacrament of matrimony.
Creating a prayer routine as newlyweds may take a bit of time, but worth the investment.
Talk about your prayer life
Talking about your prayer life with your husband opens the door to deeper communication on spiritual matters and allows you to discern as a couple how the Holy Spirit might be leading you to pray as a couple.
For example, in talking about our prayer life, my husband and I realized we were both feeling a call to delve more deeply in the scriptures. We then decided to spend some time each week praying Lectio Divina with the Gospels.
Ask God to reveal how He wants you to pray together and then talk about it with your spouse.
Start small
Set realistic and achievable prayer goals with your partner and then, fully commit to them. As great as it would be to add a holy hour into your week, it might not be the right choice for you as a couple.
Trying to achieve some lofty spiritual goals might add unnecessary stress to your marriage and will ultimately make it harder to actually establish prayer as a lasting habit in your relationship.
If you and your spouse aren’t praying together at all, consider starting with praying before meals or a decade of the rosary before bed. When it comes to praying together as a couple, there is no devotion too small.
Over time, consider challenging yourselves a bit. Try praying a full rosary or a nightly examen. Maybe revisit and pray with your wedding readings every year or add another mass once a week.
Put it on the schedule
When you and your spouse decide on how you’d like to pray together, determine how often and when you’d like to pray. Put this on your calendar in pen! Prayer is the most important thing you can do as a couple so it should be given priority in your weekly planning.
For instance, my husband and I pray together each night before bed and pray a rosary together every Sunday afternoon.
Consistency allows an action to take root and cement into a lasting habit.
Give yourself some grace
Establishing a solid routine may pose challenges for couples just settling into their new lives together, so recognize that this endeavor may take some time and practice. If you forget to do your devotion one day, don’t feel bad about trying again the next.
Also know that the way you pray together as a couple may change with the different seasons in your marriage. Allow yourselves some flexibility and space to grow as the circumstances surrounding your relationship change.
Looking for more practical tips on praying together? From the archives, our favorite past posts on the subject:
Editors Share: Our Perspective on Learning to Pray with Your Beloved | The learning curve of combining your spirituality with your beloved’s | 4 Tips for creating a prayer space in your home | Working through spiritual differences when you feel “unequally yoked” | A guided meditation on praying with your wedding vows using lectio divina | How to plan a personal retreat for you and your beloved | Creative Ways To Pray for Your Spouse | Ora Et Labora, Prayer and Work
