Here’s a prayer for our families echoing Jesus prayer from John’s Gospel, chapter 17:

Jesus’ prayed: “You have granted [me] authority over all people that I might give eternal life to all those who have given [me]. This is eternal life: that they may know you…”

Father, I have tried always to reveal You to those You have given me, my beloved family. I pray today, that they will truly know you, their true Father.

Jesus’ prayed: “Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.”

Protect my loved ones by the power of Your name. I have tried to protect them from harm and evil influences. As they grow, I’m counting on the power of Your name to watch over them, to surround them, to be their firewall, shielding them from harm. May your protection keep them close, united and intent on one purpose: loving and following you.

Jesus’ prayed: “I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.”

Jesus, your teaching gives us joy, not mere human joy, but the delight you know and experience continually, eternally. This is a world we haven’t even begun to explore. Joy is foreign to us, in our world of fear and depression. I ask that the joy you came to give would rule in my family. Your teaching is the key. Open our hearts to hear and follow your Word. Teach our family to treasure it more than anything.

Jesus’ prayed: “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.”

Keep my family safe in the context you have placed them. I won’t ask you to remove them from where they are planted, but to protect them from the devil and his temptations.

Jesus’ prayed: “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”

Father, purify my family and teach them to hunger for your word more than for food. Give them an insatiable appetite for what you have to offer. Open the eyes of their understanding to hear and know and appreciate every precept you have laid out.

Jesus’ prayed: “I pray that they will all be one.”

May the fractions that Satan perpetuates be broken by your power. Expose, forgive and redeem every division of distrust that the evil one plants in the hearts of our family. This alone is the clarion call the world is waiting to see – the true love between people can be real on this planet. May my family be a living proof that love lives!

In Jesus!”