Prayer in the Domestic Church

The Levites and "Active Prayer"

There are times that the obligations of marriage and family prevent the head of the house, the domestic priest, from having a quiet, meditative time of prayer. While it is absolutely the father’s duty to God to find ways to carve out time dedicated strictly to conversation with the Lord, the reality is that he may need to get creative with how this plays itself out.

From my own personal experience, I know how difficult this can be. Prayer will most likely look different from what you previously imagined. In fact, it will truly feel like, as the Catechism calls it (2725), a battle. The struggle here is to let go of your irritability and preconceived notions of prayer. While there will be times for quiet prayer, you will also have to adapt to your family’s situation to pray more than just once a day.

After all, the Sacred Scriptures instruct us to, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Really, one’s entire day should be offered to God as a prayer, regardless of one’s state in life. Thanks be to God, the Scriptures also provide us an example of how to do this in the Exodus. The Levites, who would become the priests of the Old Testament, show us how to balance structured prayer time with the need to pray “on the go”- active prayer.

“Consecrate to me every firstborn”

I have written in a previous article that the Levitical priesthood, established in the Book of Exodus, was actually God’s “Plan B”. Here’s a quick run-down:

1. In Exodus 12, we read that the head of the house, the father, was to offer the Passover sacrifice on behalf of his family

2. In the next chapter, God tells Moses to “consecrate to me every firstborn” (Exodus 13:2). To consecrate means to set something apart for the service of God. It has priestly connotations. In other words, everyone who offered the Passover, typically the father, are being set apart to form a priesthood- the domestic priesthood.