128 pp. Veritas Publications. To purchase this book online go to www.veritas.ie
This small book has about 250 short prayers from grandchildren for their grandparents. The prayers are beautifully laid out each one separately on a coloured page; they have an innocence, directness and simplicity that is engaging. The book has a Foreword by Dr Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam. Below are a few examples of the prayers:
Father in heaven, please pray for my grandmother and my grandad. He is in heaven so will you please mind him, and wil you tell him that I always loved him. Tell him who I am because I didn’t see him, I was a baby. I hope you will still pray for my granny, and I will pray for you. Amen. This was the first prayer received by the CGA.
A Better Place: Dear Granny and Grandad, why did you have to go? i miss you every day and every night. How much I love you. I miss you all the time. My family also misses you and my uncle too. I hope you are in a better place with God by your side. Thank you God. Amen.`
Bread and Honey! Thank you God for my granny. She is very funny. She makes me bread and honey! Thank God she’s very healthy. Gran will run or walk or skip. she’s also very fair to us! Gran is a world-class baker with her bread and buns and tarts. And I know my granny has a big loveable heart! She makes us yummy bolognese and never has time to lay, for she’s the best out of all the rest. Thank God I have my granny!
Look After Me: Thank you God for my grandparents because they are really kind and they help me with my homework and when I was young they bought me sweets and brought me to footbal matches. They looked after me when my parents away and gave me good advice and they helped my younger sister with a lot of things. Thank you God for my grandparents. Amen.
How Prayers for Grandparents came about
The Catholic Grandparents Association was set up by Catherine Wiley in 2007, and for the past three years in September it has hosted the increasingly popular National Grandparents Pilgrimage to Knock, Co Mayo. The mission of the CGA is to pass on the faith from grandparents to grandchildren. Catherine Wiley is a native of Castlebar, Co Mayo, and now lives in Murrisk, Co Mayo. she is married to Stewart and is a grandmother of ten. See www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.com
The Catholic Grandparents Association, set up in 2007, . The Association wants to say thanks and appealed to the children of Ireland to write a prayer especially for their grandparents, to thank them, honour them, and remember them if they have passed on. This very successful appeal resulted in the Association receiving hundreds of submissions from all over the country, and a selection of these prayers now appears in this publication.
These beautiful prayers pour out love and affection for grandparents alive and deceased. Prayers for Grandparents celebrates these most special of people and the most special of roles they play in our lives.
