For couples facing infertility

For the month after month of hoping.

Infertility is a private grief with a public face: the questions at family gatherings, the pregnancy announcements, the monthly cycle of hope and disappointment. This prayer is for couples in the middle of it.

The Prayer

Lord, You gave children to Sarah, to Hannah and to Elizabeth,
and each of them waited longer than they thought they could bear.

We are asking for a child.
We have asked before, and we are asking again.

Give us a child, Lord, if it is Your will.
And if the answer is not the one we want,
do not let this hollow us out.

Keep us kind to each other on the difficult days.
Keep us from envy of our friends.
Keep our marriage from becoming a project.

And show us, if this is not to be, what You are asking of us instead —
because we would rather be fruitful in some other way
than bitter in this one. Amen.

At a Difficult Moment

Not this month either, Lord.
We are tired of hoping and afraid to stop.
Sit with us tonight. That is all we are asking for. Amen.

About This Prayer

St. Anne and St. Joachim, who were childless into old age before Mary was born, are the traditional patrons here, along with St. Gerard Majella and St. Rita. The Church’s teaching on fertility treatment is specific and worth discussing with a priest or a Catholic doctor; many couples find NaProTechnology and similar approaches, which work with the body’s own cycles, both effective and consistent with that teaching.