(Continued)  May You stand by pious parents with Your grace, so that they bring up their children with holy admonitions and discipline [Eph. 6:4]. May they acknowledge that their children, the fruit of marriage, are Your gift, and may they offer them back to You through a pious and faithful marriage. May they place before the children an example of a holy life, lest they entangle themselves in the most grievous sin of causing others to stumble. Bend also the hearts of the children, so that they show to their parents the compliance of obedience owed to them. May they be the fragrance of the little plants of a heavenly paradise, so they do not become useless wood, subject to the flames of hell. May they scatter about the most pleasant smell of piety, obedience, reverence, and every type of virtue, so they do not fall into the detestable stench of sins and hell. May they remember the commandment to honor parents. May they be roused to cherish their parents in return. May they remember to return to their parents the care they received, lest they fall headlong into the abyss of all sorts of misfortunes [Eph. 6:2-3].

May parents and children worship You, true God, with united devotion in this life, so that they may praise You in eternal life with united praises. May servants be willingly obedient to their masters, serving them with fear and simplicity of heart, not with eye-service alone or desiring to please men, but rather may they decide to render this service to Christ [Eph. 6:5-6]. And, in turn, may masters embrace them with paternal kindness, so from lawful authority there does not come tyrannical cruelness. The household estate is a household church, highly esteemed by God and angels. Amen.  (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.85-87)

Omnipotent and merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Your most wise judgment in addition to the ministry of the Church and the rule of government, You instituted the household estate. I praise You and beg You with my whole heart that You guard this holy nursery of Church and Republic. Grant to virgins, widows, and those married, true holiness of soul and pure chastity of body. May virgins depend completely upon You [1 Cor. 7:34]. May widows continue in prayers day and night [1 Tim. 5:5]. May husband and wife highly esteem one another with sincere love [Eph. 5:25]. May all serve You in righteousness and holiness with their whole heart. May the marriage bed be undefiled [Heb. 13:4] and every soul unstained. May they be violets of humility and lilies of chastity. May they be roses of charity and balms of sanctity.

Bind together the hearts of the pious who are married, with the bond of a chaste love, so that they embrace each other willingly and continue in Your holy service. Guard them from the plots of Asmodeus [Tobit 3:8], lest they burn with hatred, one for the other. May the wife be a helper for the man and supply comfort in adversity [Gen. 2:18]. May the indissoluble bond of marriage be for us all a holy mystery of the love between Christ and the Church [Eph. 5:32]. The closer the fellowship of husband and wife, still more fervent may their zeal in prayer be. The more they are subject to greater perils and misfortunes, with souls more closely joined, the more may they be engaged in piety and prayers. (Continued on Sexagesima)  (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.85-87)