Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Pocket Guide to Prayer. The Sris have also written together THE GOOD, THE MESSY, AND THE BEAUTIFUL | EWTN Religious Catalogue.

God loves it when we go out of our way to make time for him in prayer, especially when we feel completely drained or when we find it diffi­cult to fit in with the needs of our family. We are called to find Jesus in prayer in the midst of our vocation as fathers and mothers. Even when the circumstances for praying are not ideal, the fact that we are seeking a way each day to pray can be more beautiful in God’s eyes than our prayer life before we were married when it was much easi­er to fit it in and be present to Our Lord. Indeed, Jesus loves it when he sees us longing to be with him and seeking time in prayer, no matter how challenging our situation might be. …

The weekly rhythm of Sunday is the heart­beat of the Church’s liturgical year. We discussed ... how the Church teaches that we have a responsibility to sanctify Sunday, and this means going to Mass. 

This is especially true for parents, who have a profound influence on their children’s spiritual lives through their example. If parents send their children to religious education but don’t attend Mass each Sunday themselves, they will undermine their children’s faith. 

Children will see the contradiction in the way their parents live, and this will make it harder for them to make a relationship with God a priority. 

But sanctifying Sunday as a family means more than just going to Mass. As we have seen, it also involves building a culture of resting from work, having fellowship with others, caring for those in need, and taking time for extra prayer. 

Ideally, Sunday is the “high point” of every week and of a family’s time together. Do our children look for­ward to Sunday and experience it as a time of fel­lowship together? Or do they experience Sunday as just another day to shop, run errands, and do chores? Parents have the responsibility to make the Lord’s Day a special time of prayer and fellow­ship — as a time for leisurely meals, sports, rec­reation, and games — to deepen the family bond with the Lord. 

In addition, a family can enter into the different seasons of the Church’s liturgical year. 

To build authentic Catholic culture in the home, though, we need to see the Church’s seasons through the eyes of the Church rather than those of the world. 

The secular world, for example, begins celebrat­ing Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. But it is not the appropriate time to be singing Christmas songs yet. The four weeks before Christmas are part of Advent, which is a season of prayer, sac­rifices, and joyful anticipation to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. There are many wonderful Advent traditions in the Church: the Advent wreath, Advent candles, Jesse trees, the “O Antiphons” in the seven days before Christmas Eve, and beautiful Advent hymns, some of which date back to the early centuries of the Church. 

While the secular world celebrates a senti­mental and commercialized version of Christmas for at least a month before December 25, this celebration ends abruptly on the morning of December 26. As Catholics, though, Christmas is just beginning! 

The coming of Christ is so important that it merits several days of joyous celebration from December 25 to the Epiphany. This is the background to the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” We should linger with this Christmas joy throughout these days of the Christmas sea­son, continuing the festive tone of these sacred days by singing Christmas carols, opening pres­ents, feasting, and spending time with family and friends. In a similar way, we can mark the spirit in the home with the more somber, penitential season of Lent and the jubilant season of Easter, and celebrate various feast days throughout the year, especially those important to the family. Celebrating a child’s saint namesake each year reinforces the spiritual character of the Church’s liturgical calendar. 

A word of advice: start simply and start small. It can be overwhelming to try to add five new ideas to family life each Advent. If you have the energy and are up for it, try adding one new thing each year. Build up your own family tradi­tions incrementally. Start with things that are the most meaningful to you and your children. Perhaps begin with great children’s literature re­lated to the season. Or try learning some of the season’s hymns from the Catholic tradition. Get ideas from other families. Refer to good books that offer creative ideas on how your family can live out the Church’s liturgical year. But whatev­er you do, make it your own, building traditions that best fit the personality and circumstances of your family.

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Edward Sri is a theologian, well-known Catholic speaker and author of several best-selling books. Together with Curtis Martin, Sri is a founding leader of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), of which he serves as senior vice president of apostolic outreach. He lives with his wife Beth and their eight children in Colorado. Beth Sri is a graduate of Benedictine College and was ​among the first FOCUS missionaries. Beth has a heart for those around her, ​encouraging young adult women as well as fellow wives ​and mothers to meet Jesus in their call to marriage and ​motherhood through mentorship, small-group ​gatherings, and connecting one-on-one.