How and Why We Pray for Our Students

Jared Dees has just written a book entitled: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator.  I had the opportunity to review it and enjoyed it very much.  He has been generous and given a glimpse below from his book.  Enjoy!

How and Why We Pray for Our Students

 

Be honest, how often do you pray for your individual students as a religious educator? I don’t mean a general intention like, “Lord, bless my class.” I mean, how often do you offer the specific needs, dreams, and desires of individual students to God during prayer? I know I don’t do this enough, but it is a hugely important practice to incorporate into your daily or weekly prayer life.

 

As religious educators, we’re called not only to be leaders for our students, but more importantly, we’re called to be their servants. One way in which we can serve our students is to pray for them. It is all about the way we think about our role. If we look at ourselves like kings expecting our students to listen and obey our every bidding, then we will fail. Pope Benedict XVI described Jesus’ role as king in this way:

 

“As king he is servant, and as servant of God he is king” (Introduction to Christianity, 220).

 

We’re called to be servants. So even when the kids drive you crazy, remember we’re supposed to pray for everyone, even our enemies. “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:45).

 

How to Pray for Our Students

 

So, how should we pray for our students with a servant’s heart? Try the following approaches:

 

1. Pray for students individually. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” Pray for each student one person at a time. Go deeper into prayer for them. Think quality not quantity.

 

2. Use a seating chart or an attendance sheet. It is hard to naturally remember each student in prayer. Try using a seating chart or attendance sheet and check off the names as you pray.

 

3. Spread students out over a one-week or a one-month period. Pray for them all, but try praying for each person in groups of three or four students at a time and rotate through the list.

 

4. Ask them about their needs. When they offer something during in-class prayer intentions, take note of it. Repeat the prayer in your personal prayer time. Or ask them in a conversation what they have going on in their lives right now. It is a great way to get to know the students better and to know what God can do for them in their lives.

 

5. Get help from the saints. Turn to the saints and Mary to intercede on their behalf. Do you know any patron saints that connect with their needs? Ask for their prayers. By default, turn to Mary, Christ’s first teacher, to intercede on behalf of your students.

 

6. Close with an Our Father. We are united in this prayer as one family. He is the Father for you, me, and all of our students. That is why we pray for each other. We’re in a family together and we need each other’s help.

 

This article is adapted from “Day 13: Pray for Your Students” in 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator now available at Amazon.com and AveMariaPress.com. 

 

Jared Dees is the creator of The Religion Teacher, a website sharing practical resources and teaching strategies for religious educators, and the author of 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator. 

 

The End Is Near

Many programs are finishing up for the year in the next few weeks.  For those who still have a few weeks to go I wanted to share 3 things to consider to make sure you end this year on a high note:

1) Sometimes the catechist can feel discouraged by how distracted the kids seem to be during this time of year.  Keep up the great work and remember God still wants to use you to share the Gospel with your students.  You may be the only one they are hearing the “Good News” from in their lives.

2) Find the opportunities to share your words of wisdom and for your students to see that you love Christ and desire for them to also grow in their relationship with Him.

3) Continue to pray for your students and let them know that you will be keeping them in prayer.  Consider writing each student a note of encouragement that you give out on the last day of class.

 

What are you planning to help encourage and inspire your students as the year concludes?

 

How’s the heart ever going to know what is good if…

My friend Dr. Farey (head of Catechetical Formation, Course Director B.Div, and Course Director License in Catechetics at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, England) has a wonderful quote that is so pertinent to catechesis today:

“How is the heart ever going to know what is good if we don’t use our mind to inform the heart? Don’t let anyone say to you, ‘don’t worry about all that study, all you need is to get your heart united to Christ’. Yes, we need our hearts plunged in Christ… be led by Christ but let your mind be led by Christ through the Church so that your heart can follow what is actually good, and not just what is an awful lot of opinions of what must be good… The Catechism is there to help us.”

I often speak of formation in Christ (not merely information) needing to be at the heart of catechesis.  However, I could not agree more with the importance of assuring that in our catechesis in the Third Millennium needs to incorporate both the heart and the mind when passing on the deposit of faith.

Too often today people struggle to have their hearts follow what is actually good. At the risk of sounding judgemental, it appears that individuals allow the messages and ideas given by society to shape their understanding of life, liberty and even in the pursuit of Jesus.  Teaching the truths of the faith, especially the deposit of faith articulated in the Catechism, will help others see how these truths that are Godly and that are point to the good (which is from God).  Too often our society desires to revise what is good or form ones idea of God based on a more modern application of what is seen as good (because they believe that “they see it more clearly” then what the Bible says or what the Church would say).

The Catechism is such a gift to help us see the beauty and the unity of the faith articulated and drawing the reader toward the ture and ultimate good – God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

What do you think about Dr. Farey’s quote? I’d enjoy your insights and thoughts.

 

Ways To Encourage Mass Attendance

In the Early Church followers of “the way” (Acts 9:2) would gather on the “first day of the week” (Acts 20:7) for “the breaking of the bread”((Acts 2:42).  This practice has been at the heart of the Church from the very beginning.  It is essential for the life of the Christian Community to gather each Sunday to honor God on the Lord’s Day.  Sunday Mass is foundational to living and bearing fruit in the Christian life.  Here are ways to encourage children and their parents to attend Mass every Sunday:

1) Share with them that they will be missed if they to not attend.

2) Communicate what God does every week at Mass (sharing His Word and His Body and Blood).

3) Discuss how faithfulness to the Commandments and the Precepts of the Church draw us closer to God.

4) Share the impact of the Mass in your life.

5) Pray for parents and kids to have the grace to respond to God’s love by coming to praise and honor Him each Sunday.

 

Challenges In Ministry

Over the last year I’ve noticed a trend that is unsettling to me – the consecutive missing of weekly class by students.  Last night, 10 kids out of 16 were missing from one class.  No one informed our office that their child would not be in class.  Recently when one parent wrote me an email saying that their kid was really busy with school work and they thought it best to miss School of Religion, a friend said to me that I should have said “don’t worry about your son missing, it’s only eternity we are talking about”.

Here are few questions that I wish I had more clear answers to:

1. Why is it that parents put other things consistently before faith formation?

2. Why is it a challenge to get kids to make up the work they missed when not attending class?

3. What can be done about helping parents see that when all is said and done about raising their child (ok, it’s never all said and done) will there be faith? And did you as a parent help your child come to know and love Christ to the best of your ability (and that is going beyond merely bringing you child to religious education classes).

Parents and kids alike are over-scheduled, but they find the time to fit two or three sports in at a time, what is it about faith formation that does compel them to make it a priority?

Any insights?  Please take a few moments to comment.

 

 

Holy Weeks Thoughts

Holy Week is underway and we are on day 4 of it and I’ve been struck by a few things:

1) Just as the people were spreading their cloaks on the road of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, we need to spread our hearts on the ground for Jesus’ will and ways to be done.  In my life it is easy to be prideful, want to be a little territorial, desire justice because of “my” rights, but that is not the way of Christ.

2) In Sundays Gospel Reading (the 2nd one) Jesus asks the chief priests and temple guards:“Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? Day after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”  Things haven’t changed much have they?  Many of the things going on today apply.  Society’s “hour” has come, “the time for the power of darkness” – all in the name of justice, equality, freedom and love.

3) Until this week after reading the Gospel for Monday of Holy Week – The healing of Lazarus, I had never remembered that the Jewish leaders also wanted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony of the miracle performed by Jesus and how it was drawing Jews to follow Christ.  Here is the text from Jn. 12:

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.

Lazarus gave testimony to the power of God in Christ Jesus and the chief priest were so outraged that they wanted to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.  The power of darkness can be great.  We as followers of Christ need to pray to respond with the power of the light – Christ, the light of the world.

 

Blessings to you, your family this holy week!

 

Pope Francis’ Catechetical Moments

Historic Day

Today, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Pope Francis was inaugurated as the 265 Pope to continue the same mission that Christ gave St. Peter.  Pope Francis has made a huge impression on the world in just a week.  Although, I think all of his gestures and witness are not opposite of Pope Benedict who is a wonderful humble and holy man.  The media is making it look like this Pope is so different than Pope Benedict.  Yes, all are different/unique, but each Pope brings with him rays of the spirit of Christ and seeks to shine it to the world.

Why all the buzz about Pope Francis?  It has been wonderful to see the secular media so interested in what is going on with the Church over the last month.  Pope Francis I’s humility, frequent mention of the poor, his message of carrying one’s cross as a disciple of the Lord and much more all have contributed to the great attention and affection toward the Pope from all around the world.

What is His Secret?

His secret is Christ and it has clearly “gotten out”.  What a gift the Church is experiencing at this moment.  It’s the New Evangelization before our eyes.  Thanks be to God for all the blessings that we are encountering in this Year of Faith!!!

Catechetical Moments

Pope Francis is witnessing more by his actions than even by his inspiring words regarding Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church.  What can we take away from this and convey to others (inside and outside our classrooms)?  I want to share 3 things:

1. We should encourage a greater simplicity in our own lives.  Pope Francis I is not choosing the modern convenience that he has the privilege to experience but he is modeling simplicity.  We should reflect on this in our own lives as well as encourage our students to reflect on being more simple and less focused on material things or personal recognition.

2. I think the message Pope Francis gave to the Cardinals the day after his election speaks also to each of us who are disciples of the Lord Jesus.  He said:

“When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly.”

He added, “We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.”

This message is worth our consideration as well.  We who are members of Christ Body through Baptism and have been made new creatures in Christ must not walk the way of the world (although we live in the world) but we must be first disciples of the Lord which implies that we all have crosses to carry and sacrifices we can make to more fully be, as St. Paul said, “conformed to his death” (Phil.3:10).  It’s important to share this message that following Jesus involves enduring challenges and making sacrifices.

3. Pope Francis said: “Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor.”  I’m not exactly sure what he was thinking when we said he “would like a poor Church”, but suspect among other thoughts it’s a Church that approaches the Lord in a spirit of poverty not with pride or arrogance of “rights” deserving this or that.  This goes for bishops, priests, Deacons, and the laity.  All are to come with a spirit of poverty.  Also, the constant mention of the poor in our world that we need to serve and to help.  This means giving greater focus in our classrooms to how we can fulfill our mission to take care of the poor, to assist them, to be a source of support for them.  Operation Rice Bowl, Serving at a homeless shelter, giving up some of our clothes (those that are not worn but in good condition) to help those less fortunate have a nice shirt, coat or pair of shoes for themselves.  These are examples of things we could promote in our classrooms.

Pope Francis has certainly made a great impression on us all and he is a living witness of Christ.  Let us continue to pray for Him and for the Church!

I want to share the following comments that Basalian Fr. Rosica made the day after Pope Francis’ election.

And I close my eyes, and we shouldn’t make comparisons right away, but I couldn’t help but feel the presence of John XXIII, the smile of John Paul I, that courage and firmness of John Paul II and the solid-rootedness in Jesus Christ of Benedict XVI.

So what I found last night, and I thought about a long time when I finally got home at three o’clock this morning, is that the story continues: we have a pope and we have a shepherd and he’s going to build it on a solid foundation.