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Prayers · Betrothed and Marriage

Prayer of spouses for the gift of children — Sarah, Hannah, St Elizabeth

Fecundity is, according to the constant doctrine of the Church, one of the three essential goods of Christian marriage — bonum prolis — together with fidelity (bonum fidei) and indissolubility (bonum sacramenti), according to the triple formulation of St Augustine († 430) in De bono coniugali and De Genesi ad litteram (5th century, full DP), taken up by Pius XI in Casti Connubii (31.12.1930) and developed in Familiaris Consortio nn. 28-35 (JPII, 22.11.1981) and in Donum Vitae of the CDF (22.02.1987) and Dignitas Personae (8.09.2008). This prayer is dedicated to spouses awaiting the gift of children — especially those facing the suffering of prolonged waiting or apparent sterility. Scripture brings three great icons of spouses who received the gift of children after long waiting: Sarah, wife of Abraham (Gen 11:30; 17:15-19; 18:9-15; 21:1-7), who laughed at the promise and bore Isaac at ninety years; Hannah, wife of Elkanah (1 Sam 1:1-2:11), who prayed at Shiloh until she shed tears and was welcomed by the Lord to bear Samuel; and St Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah (Lk 1:5-25.39-80), who received John the Baptist in her womb in old age, according to the promise of the angel Gabriel. Above all, the Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary — universal patrons of spouses awaiting children —, according to the ancient tradition transmitted by the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century) and by the Legenda Aurea of Blessed Jacobus de Voragine († 1298), with universal feast extended to the whole Church by St Pius X in 1913 (26 July in the General Roman Calendar). It is not a prayer against the will of God, but trustful submission to his plan — asking for the gift of children always on the condition «if it be your will», and accepting the silence of fertility as a possible path of sanctification according to another vocation.

(The spouses pray together, ideally before an image of the Holy Family or of Sts Joachim and Anne:)

Eternal and almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, Lord and Giver of human life — you who from nothing formed Adam and Eve and blessed them saying «Increase and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it» (Gen 1:28); you who from this blessed the marital covenant — we beseech you with humility for the grace of conjugal fecundity.

We know through your Word that there were holy spouses to whom you made wait a long time for the gift of children:

  • Sarah and Abraham — who awaited until ninety years the promise of Isaac;
  • Hannah and Elkanah — who received Samuel after the tears of Shiloh;
  • St Elizabeth and Zechariah — who bore John the Baptist in old age;
  • Saints Joachim and Anne — who waited until old age the motherhood of the blessed Virgin Mary.

We know also your promise in Ps 126:3-5 Vulgate: «Behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb. As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken. Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them.»

By these Holy spouses and by this promise, we ask you:

  • Grant our marriage the gift of children — as many as you wish to entrust to us, in the time which you know best;
  • Grant us a deep faith which is not shaken by the waiting, but knows like Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth how to remain in confident prayer;
  • Grant us the humility to accept your silence if it be your will — understanding that the Christian vocation to marriage does not biologically require physical paternity, but can call to spiritual fecundity, to the welcome of children by adoption, to dedication to the children of others (godchildren, nephews, parish poor, mission);
  • Deliver us from the temptation against faith which could arise from suffering — do not allow us to resort to means contrary to the doctrine of the Church on the transmission of life (cf. Donum Vitae);
  • If it be your will to give us children, give us the grace to educate them Christianly from the first instant of conception — that they may grow in wisdom, age and grace before you and before men (Lk 2:52); if it be your will another path, give us the grace to recognise it with peace and embrace it with hope.

Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Mother of God, universal models of spouses who awaited from God the gift of motherhood; intercede for us, that we may receive from the hand of the Father what he has prepared for our good and for the good of the Church. Amen.

Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, that walk in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. (Ps 127:1-4 Vulgate)

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