A parent's blessing
Trace the cross on your child's forehead with your thumb — with holy water if you have it — and say: N., I bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. May the Father keep you, may the Lord Jesus walk with you on every road, may the Spirit give light to your mind, and may your angel stay at your side, through this night and into the morning. Amen.
Pass it on
When this prayer is prayed
The practice is far older than any book: a thumb, a forehead, a cross. Fr Amorth begged parents never to drop it — a mother's or a father's blessing over their own children carries a weight the Church has always honoured — and he gave the reason from his own childhood: he never once went to bed without his mother's. Every night, and at every leaving of the house.