Give your students a great spiritual gift this year. Introduce them to the devotion to Divine Mercy with this lesson and activities. The Divine Mercy devotion originated with a polish nun, St. Faustian Kowalski, who had visits from Christ in the 1930s. She wrote down her conversations with Jesus in a diary, which included a…
Prayers
School-wide Prayer: Tips for Making an Impact
Every Catholic school I know gathers together to pray in some way beyond the celebration of Mass. In grade schools especially, there are many times throughout the day that students and faculty stop and pray in unison. The challenge is making sure these public prayers do not become so routine that students and teachers lose touch with the deeper meaning…
A Catechist Blessing
What our Church needs most today is men and women who are willing to touch the heart and not just the head. As Pope Paul VI once wrote, we need to be more like witnesses than teachers. We need people who will not only catechize, but evangelize our Church’s youth. The following blessing for catechists…
A Teacher’s Prayer
TEACHER’S PRAYER Heavenly Father, Enable me to teach WISDOM, For I help to shape the mind. Equip me to teach with TRUTH, For I help to shape the conscience. Encourage me to teach with VISION, For I help to shape the future. Empower me to teach with LOVE, For I help to shape the world….
Our Father Activity: Pray It and Have Fun Too
I spent a couple of days in prayer at a monastery not long ago and when I got back and told my students about the experience and the life of a monk, they’re response was a little disheartening. “How boring!” one student exclaimed. “ALL day long? They just pray all day long?” asked another student…
Praying the Rosary for Your Students
On Day 13 of the book, 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, I suggest that one way to become a better disciple/servant to God and our students is to pray for the kids we teach. In the book, I suggest more than just a general class prayer, but specific prayers and intentions for…
The Basic Steps of Lectio Divina
Lectio divina is an ancient Catholic prayer method for reading and praying with the Bible. Don’t let the Latin scare you away from learning to do it yourself or from sharing it with your students. It is an essential practice for all Catholics to learn and certainly not something we should avoid teaching young people…
The Angelus Prayer for Children
Since Advent of last year I have had an incredible experience praying the Angelus every day. At first I started praying it at noon each day. Then I added it to my morning prayer routine. Now, I have reminders set in my phone for 6:00 a.m., noon, and 6:00 p.m. to tell me that it…
Holy Week Prayer Services
There are a number of great Holy Week prayer services for kids that religion teachers and catechists can use in class the week before Easter. We should all use this time, known as the Triduum, as a special week of preparation for the joys of Easter with particular focus on preparing our hearts with the…
Prayer Service for Vocations
Mid-January of every year in the United States is declared National Vocations Awareness Week by the USCCB to coincide with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Why is this week so important? From the USCCB website: “National Vocation Awareness Week gives dioceses and parishes across the country a chance to promote vocations through prayer…
