BACKGROUND: Here at the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, we are in the middle of our synod implementation process, this year focusing on Synod Year III— “Parents as Primary Educators of Their Children in the Ways of the Faith.” To support parents as the primary educators of their children, they have published, “Reclaiming Sundays: Recover Sunday as a Day for the Lord and Family.”
This guide lays out monthly themes and practical suggestions for families — and the lay faithful in all walks of life — to build lasting habits and anchor their week in a joyful, prayerful and restful observance of Sunday.
Family Formation has a long history of promoting this sort of thing, so we are very enthusiastic supporters! And because we all need reminders, the plan is to highlight each month’s resources in blog posts throughout the year.
Prayer
September’s theme is a foundational pillar in the 12-month campaign. Prayer is the cornerstone for all “Reclaiming Sundays” efforts and will be carried throughout all the months. The recommended resource for parishes to assist parents in building habits of prayer is the Hallow App.
- Attend Mass every Sunday this month.
- Prepare your family for Mass by reading the Gospel in advance. Consider laying out
clothes, find everyone’s shoes, and do anything else that will make the morning
peaceful and efficient. - Pray before meals as a family and individually.
- Institute Lord’s Day evening prayer on either Saturday or Sunday and ask for
everyone in the family to offer prayer intentions. - Visit an adoration chapel for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or more as a family. If you want to know more about how to make this a doable goal, click over to this article from our archives or watch here for a video resource we like.
If you have ideas for promoting family prayer or reclaiming Sundays, we would love to hear them, so comments are open!
- The project’s introductory video from our Archbishop
- Reclaiming Sundays document
- Other resources, including a monthly video with discussion questions coming soon.
@archdiocesespm
Family Formation 
I think for me, as someone who works two jobs and volunteers a lot for the Church, one part of reclaiming Sundays came when I learned about not doing work at home on a Sunday that could be done another day. Sunday afternoons is usually the only time my husband and I usually have off at the same time, to know that it was okay to occasionally do big projects that we needed each others help and assistance to get done, to work together in a prayerful spirit, but to keep the sabbath holy, don’t do things that can be done another day- grocery shopping, doing the laundry etc