A Foundation of Prayer

Yesterday Adam and I had our first class teaching the 4^th graders and we had a great class! We will have seven students total, but only five were there for the first session. Last week I spent two nights planning out and going over the lesson, but wasn’t sure if I had enough material to cover the hour and half allotted time. Apparently I forgot how many questions kids have! It was great to see their interest in the history of the church and the stories about Jesus. I was so thankful to have Adam there helping me keep the class on track and also answering their questions. There were a lot of history and geography questions that I didn’t have the answers to and Adam knows a great deal about those topics.

What made me really excited to be there working with the children is their enthusiasm to learn about Jesus and grow in their relationship with him and God. Our first lesson was about the different types of prayer and meditation, the rosary and the sacraments. The children already are very familiar with a lot of the prayers, so we said some of them together. Most of the class was lecture, but I had many kids in the class who volunteered to read, so I was happy to get them involved in the class. Once we covered all the written material, we had them start a craft project which was constructing their own rosary. Adam and I had purchased some string, beads and cross charms at Michael’s on Friday night after we found this project online. The kids didn’t have enough time to finish up the project, but we will continue it next week and I hope it is something they can keep and use at home and possibly even bring it to Mass.

One of the goals established by Bob (our director of religious education) was to get the kids to church each week. In our class we are asking the students if they attended church the Sunday prior to our class and noting that down on attendance. Unfortunately, only one out of the five students said they went to church, so I am hoping that by tracking this we will encourage them and their families to attend. I sincerely hope the parents want to continue their promise they made when they had their child baptized in the church—that they will aide in the development of their child and their relationship with Jesus Christ. Part of that promise is attending weekly Mass, to give them that opportunity to spend quiet time in the Lord’s presence. I really hope the parents want to play an active role in this part of their child’s life and show them by example on how to truly live a life for God.