Prayer – 6 Session High School Faith Formation Course

Session 1: The Basics What is Prayer? What is Required of Us to Pray? The Foundational Forms of Prayer

Session 2: Ongoing Growth in Prayer/The Lord’s Prayer Maturing in Prayer The Fruits of Faithfulness in Prayer Obstacles to Prayer The Lord’s Prayer – Understanding the Perfect Prayer to the Father

Session 3: The Mass – the Highest Form of Prayer Continuation of The Lord’s Prayer (if necessary) Heavenly Worship on Earth Examination of the Mass Joining Our Prayers to Christ’s Sacrifice Explanation of Eucharistic Adoration

o Adoration in the main church

Session 4: Pray At All Times Adoration in the main church (if was not done at previous session) St. Paul’s Instructions Offering Our Lives as Prayers

o Praying through work and sufferingo A consistent attitude of prayer

Time Set Aside for Prayero Contemplation & meditationo Praying the Scriptures

Role of the Holy Spirit

Session 5: The Church’s Relationship of Prayer The 3 States of the Church

o The intercessory prayers of each stageo The increased strength of the prayer of triumphant saints

The Preeminence of Mary The Tradition of the Rosary

o Pray rosary together

Session 6: Review & Personal Devotions The Liturgy of the Hours Developing personal devotions Story of Divine Mercy

o Pray Divine Mercy chaplet together

Notes from first use of these lesson plans:Ongoing theme/analogy that can be used is conversation and communication. It is the simplest way to make comparisons for understanding what we do in prayer, why we need prayer, and the different stages of going deeper in prayer.

Each of the first 5 classes includes homework. Make it clear to the students that they are required to turn this homework in if they are to complete the class.

Due to discussion, occasionally one session’s material will spill over into the next session. This occurred specifically when the class discussed the parts of the Lord’s Prayer, resulting in the continuation of that topic in the beginning of the next session and then the move of Eucharistic adoration to the start of the subsequent session. In the end this worked very well and the discussion with the students of the Lord’s Prayer was more in depth than originally planned.

The first time around, the class was held in the main church. This served very well for achieving the right atmosphere for times in prayer. The group knelt whenever we prayed. We sat in a side section of chairs rather than in the center pews. This allowed us to move for certain times of prayer, signifying the movement to a new action (learning to praying). We moved to the center pews for Eucharistic adoration and to the opposite side of the church (in front of the Mary statue) for the rosary. If the class is held in a regular classroom instead, have the students stand and face the crucifix during times of prayer. Also, allot time for moving the group to the main church when Eucharistic adoration, the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet are prayed.

SESSION 1: THE BASICS

Prep: chalkboard; handouts of Catechism paragraphs; homework handout

Begin with the Lord’s Prayer.

Briefly make introductions and describe the purpose of the class.

What is Prayer? Prayer is, above all, communication with God. It is conversation. It is interaction.

This communication with God can come in many forms – formal or spontaneous, brief or long, silent or aloud.

Because there are so many forms and so many reasons why we pray, we might think that there are also many rules for praying. This can leave us feeling like we simply don’t know how to pray, so we don’t even try. However there are only 2 criteria for prayer that must be present:

1. Know who you are communicating with.2. Be sincere.

Prayer is communication with God. In prayer, you engage in a relationship with God. This is the same God who created you,

who made you with the intelligence to know Him and the free will to love and serve Him. He is the same God who came and took on human flesh in order to die for you and rise from the dead to save you from eternal death. God is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all good.

o The more I know the person I am communicating with, the deeper and more effective a conversation with that person will be.

o Prayer is our means, our method, for having a relationship with God. Compare to a human relationship: i.e. the need for communication, the

need for time together, the need for understanding the other person, the need to communicate on all aspects of life.

The many forms of prayer and reasons to pray all give us the opportunity to have a well rounded, thoroughly developed relationship with God.

It is God who calls us to have this relationship with Him. He has given Himself totally to us in order that we may benefit. Our access to God by prayer is a great gift.

Sincerity in prayer is a must. God has sincerely given Himself to us. To go to prayer insincerely is to mock the gift of

God. Be genuine in the words you speak to God.

o Sidenote: this is the reason taking God’s name in vain is so sinful.

The proper attitude to have in prayer is an attitude of humility.o Humility means knowing where we stand with God. We are His creatures, very

unequal to Him. However, though we do not deserve it, He has given us life and give us forgiveness. He loves us and wants us to know His goodness. Though He does not benefit from it (He is already wholly perfect), God wants to be in relationship with us.

o Choose to pray as an act of love. “Because I love You, Lord, I will pray. I will live in a relationship with You.” It is the proper response to the gift He has made of Himself to us.

o This attitude will arise if we know who we are communicating with (i.e. 1st criterion)

Our hearts are known to God. He is never fooled. There is truly no point in pretending with Him.

Sincerity isn’t a feeling. It is a choice to be honest with God, to mean the words you say. Feelings may or may not match this choice.

o Analogy: I can sincerely tell someone that I love them even if I am irritated with them at the moment. The irritation doesn’t do away with the genuineness of my love for them. I continue to choose to love them while feeling all sorts of emotions.

Forms of Prayer -distribute handout of CCC 2623-2649(Recommendation: for each form of prayer, give students a minute to look at the handout and try to formulate a brief description of the form of prayer before giving your explanation)-can use chalkboard to chart the forms and their definitions/details

1. Blessing and Adoration a. Blessing is “the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter between

God and man.” (CCC 2626)i. It is our response to God’s gifts to us, His blessings. In return for them, we

bless Him, that is we lift our hearts to Him and encounter His blessing that comes down to us.

b. Adoration is the human person’s “acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord… the almighty power of the Savior.” (CCC 2628)

i. Adoration is an act of humility and reverence, giving the proper respect to and standing in awe of God.

c. The two, blessing and adoration, unite together as the most basic form of prayer: the most fundamental relationship between God and the human person.

2. Petitiona. Recognizing that God alone gave us life and sustains our lives, we bring our

needs to Him.b. Coming to God with our petitions requires:

i. Asking for forgiveness for our offenses against Him. Then, being in a right relationship with Him again, we can ask His help.

ii. Hope. Because Jesus Christ has already provided salvation, has opened the door for us to eternal life, we can always pray with hope. There is no reason to go to God in despair or to doubt that He will answer you. He has made known His goodness to such a degree that we can have confident hope, assurance that He hears and answers our prayers.

iii. Prioritizing our needs and submitting our petitions to God’s control. Our reason for often feeling that God doesn’t answer our prayers is that we have gone to Him with preset expectations of how He will answer us. Instead, bring your petitions to Him with the awareness that God knows even better than we do what we need, and that ultimately our destiny is to live in heaven forever with Him. He does not work for anything else within us. His answers to our prayers are always going to help us move toward that destiny.

3. Intercessiona. Intercessory prayer is prayer of petition on behalf of another person.b. Jesus is our example of this, as He prayed to the Father on our behalf.c. By our baptism, we have the Holy Spirit within us. Our prayers have His power,

making us able to intercede with the Father for other people.i. We are called to make use of that power for the sake of others. This is why

we not only pray for those we love but for even our enemies.4. Thanksgiving

a. It is literally what it states: giving thanks.b. Just like we can bring all things to God as petitions, we can also go to Him in

thanksgiving in all circumstances.i. Our trust and faith in God’s constant care for us makes us confident that

there is always reason to be thankful. We know that “all things work for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28), which means we can “give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess 5:18)

5. Praisea. Praise is worship of God because He is God. He deserves our praise, He deserves

to be glorified simply because He is God. In addition, His many attributes and His actions give us reason to praise Him.

b. We glorify a lot of things in this world, but nothing and no one is more worthy of our praise than God.

Faith itself is an act of praise because it means you have recognized that He is worthy of our belief and commitment.

Why Pray? (5-10 minutes) For the sake of the relationship: i.e., the relationship I have with God is directly affected

by my prayer lifeo The fullness of God’s life, love and happiness are available to us. It is according

to our choices that we experience any of it. Prayer is our means for entering into that life with God.

It is an immeasurable, incomparable gift.o By prayer we are able to be in this intimate relationship with God. We can

communicate with Him at any time, in any circumstances. No other creature has this gift. Only humanity has this access to God and

the ability to make use of it. Our perspective gets stuck on “do I have to pray?” because we do not

recognize or have not previously learned what prayer truly is, or what we receive when we engage in a prayerful relationship with God.

Distribute homework assignmento In the next week, keep track of the times you pray. The

purpose is to shake the attitude out of yourself that prayer is a burden. Each time you have to make time to pray, choose to think about it as a gift, as an opportunity.

o It is also a chance to expand upon the ways you pray. Try to include at least one day on which you do something that is outside of your regular habits.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

ARTICLE 3IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH

2623 On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Promise was poured out on the disciples, gathered "together in one place."92 While awaiting the Spirit, "all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer."93 The Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls for her everything that Jesus said94 was also to form her in the life of prayer.

2624 In the first community of Jerusalem, believers "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers."95 This sequence is characteristic of the Church's prayer: founded on the apostolic faith; authenticated by charity; nourished in the Eucharist.

2625 In the first place these are prayers that the faithful hear and read in the Scriptures, but also that they make their own—especially those of the Psalms, in view of their fulfillment in Christ.96 The Holy Spirit, who thus keeps the memory of Christ alive in his Church at prayer, also leads her toward the fullness of truth and inspires new formulations expressing the unfathomable mystery of Christ at work in his Church's life, sacraments, and mission. These formulations are developed in the great liturgical and spiritual traditions. The forms of prayer revealed in the apostolic and canonical Scriptures remain normative for Christian prayer.

I. Blessing and Adoration

2626 Blessing expresses the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter between God and man. In blessing, God's gift and man's acceptance of it are united in dialogue with each other. The prayer of blessing is man's response to God's gifts: because God blesses, the human heart can in return bless the One who is the source of every blessing.

2627 Two fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father—we bless him for having blessed us;97 it implores the grace of the Holy Spirit that descends through Christ from the Father—he blesses us.98

2628 Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us99 and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory,"100 respectful silence in the presence of the "ever greater" God.101 Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.

II. Prayer of Petition

2629 The vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even "struggle in prayer."102 Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is petition: by prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.

2630 The New Testament contains scarcely any prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the Old Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's petition is buoyed by hope, even if we still wait in a state of expectation and must be converted anew every day. Christian petition, what St. Paul calls "groaning," arises from another depth, that of creation "in labor

pains" and that of ourselves "as we wait for the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved."103 In the end, however, "with sighs too deep for words" the Holy Spirit "helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words."104

2631 The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"105 It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that "we receive from him whatever we ask."106 Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer.

2632 Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ.107 There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the object of the prayer of the apostolic community.108 It is the prayer of Paul, the apostle par excellence, which reveals to us how the divine solicitude for all the churches ought to inspire Christian prayer.109 By prayer every baptized person works for the coming of the Kingdom.

2633 When we share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become the object of petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all things, is glorified by what we ask the Father in his name.110 It is with this confidence that St. James and St. Paul exhort us to pray at all times.111

III. Prayer of Intercession

2634 Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners.112 He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."113 The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."114

2635 Since Abraham, intercession—asking on behalf of another—has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point of praying for those who do him harm.115

2636 The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely.116 Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel117 but also intercedes for them.118 The intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: "for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions," for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel.119

IV. Prayer of Thanksgiving

2637 Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew and make it return to the Father, for his glory. The thanksgiving of the members of the Body participates in that of their Head.

2638 As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"; "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."120

V. Prayer of Praise

2639 Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who love God in faith before seeing him in glory. By praise, the Spirit is joined to our spirits to bear witness that we are children of God,121 testifying to the only Son in whom we are adopted and by whom we glorify the Father. Praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal: the "one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist."122

2640 St. Luke in his gospel often expresses wonder and praise at the marvels of Christ and in his Acts of the Apostles stresses them as actions of the Holy Spirit: the community of Jerusalem, the invalid healed by Peter and John, the crowd that gives glory to God for that, and the pagans of Pisidia who "were glad and glorified the word of God."123

2641 "[Address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart."124 Like the inspired writers of the New Testament, the first Christian communities read the Book of Psalms in a new way, singing in it the mystery of Christ. In the newness of the Spirit, they also composed hymns and canticles in the light of the unheard-of event that God accomplished in his Son: his Incarnation, his death which conquered death, his Resurrection, and Ascension to the right hand of the Father.125 Doxology, the praise of God, arises from this "marvelous work" of the whole economy of salvation.126

2642 The Revelation of "what must soon take place," the Apocalypse, is borne along by the songs of the heavenly liturgy127 but also by the intercession of the "witnesses" (martyrs).128 The prophets and the saints, all those who were slain on earth for their witness to Jesus, the vast throng of those who, having come through the great tribulation, have gone before us into the Kingdom, all sing the praise and glory of him who sits on the throne, and of the Lamb.129 In communion with them, the Church on earth also sings these songs with faith in the midst of trial. By means of petition and intercession, faith hopes against all hope and gives thanks to the "Father of lights," from whom "every perfect gift" comes down.130 Thus faith is pure praise.

2643 The Eucharist contains and expresses all forms of prayer: it is "the pure offering" of the whole Body of Christ to the glory of God's name131 and, according to the traditions of East and West, it is the "sacrifice of praise."

IN BRIEF2644 The Holy Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls to her all that Jesus said also instructs her in the life of prayer, inspiring new expressions of the same basic forms of prayer: blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise.

2645 Because God blesses the human heart, it can in return bless him who is the source of every blessing.

2646 Forgiveness, the quest for the Kingdom, and every true need are objects of the prayer of petition.

2647 Prayer of intercession consists in asking on behalf of another. It knows no boundaries and extends to one's enemies.

2648 Every joy and suffering, every event and need can become the matter for thanksgiving which, sharing in that of Christ, should fill one's whole life: "Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thess 5:18).

2649 Prayer of praise is entirely disinterested and rises to God, lauds him, and gives him glory for his own sake, quite beyond what he has done, but simply because HE IS.

Notes 92. Acts 2:1. 93. Acts 1:14. 94. Cf. Jn 14:26. 95. Acts 2:42. 96. Cf. Lk 24:27, 44. 97. Cf. Eph 1:3-14; 2 Cor 1:3-7; 1 Pet 1:3-9. 98. Cf. 2 Cor 13:14; Rom 15:5-6, 13; Eph 6:23-24.99. Cf. Ps 95:1-6. 100.Ps 24, 9-10. 101.Cf. St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 62, 16: PL 36, 757-758. 102.Cf. Rom 15:30; Col 4:12. 103.Rom 8:22-24. 104.Rom 8:26.105.Lk 18:13.106.1 Jn 3:22; cf. 1:7-2:2.107.Cf. Mt 6:10, 33; Lk 11:2, 13. 108.Cf. Acts 6:6; 13:3. 109.Cf. Rom 10:1; Eph 1:16-23; Phil 1:9-11; Col 1:3-6; 4:3-4, 12. 110.Cf. Jn 14:13. 111.Cf. Jas 1:5-8; Eph 5:20; Phil 4:6-7; Col 3:16-17; 1 Thess 5:17-18.112.Cf. Rom 8:34; 1 Jn 2:1; 1 Tim 2:5-8. 113.Heb 7:25. 114.Rom 8:26-27.115.Phil 2:4; cf. Acts 7:60; Lk 23:28, 34.116.Cf. Acts 12:5; 20:36; 21:5; 2 Cor 9:14. 117.Cf. Eph 6:18-20; Col 4:3-4; 1 Thess 5:25. 118.Cf. 2 Thess 1:11; Col 1:3; Phil 1:3-4. 119.1 Tim 2:1; cf. Rom 12:14; 10:1.120.1 Thess 5:18; Col 4:2.121.Cf. Rom 8:16. 122.1 Cor 8:6.123.Acts 2:47; 3:9; 4:21;13:48.124.Eph 5:19; Col 3:16. 125.Cf. Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; Eph 5:14; 1 Tim 3:16; 6:15-16; 2 Tim 2:11-13. 126.Cf. Eph 1:3-14; Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:20-21; Jude 24-25.127.Cf. Rev 4:8-11; 5:9-14; 7:10-12. 128.Rev 6:10. 129.Cf. Rev 18:24; 19:1-8. 130.Jas 1:17. 131.Cf. Mal 1:11.

A Week in Prayer Name:______________

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Keep a record of prayer on at least 5 of the 7 days. Include: time of day when you prayed, where, and what you did (Did you have a conversation with God in your own words? Did you use memorized prayers? If so, which ones? Did you read Scripture? Which forms of prayer were included (adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, praise)?). Share any description you feel comfortable giving beyond these details. Use complete sentences.

SESSION TWO: ONGOING GROWTH IN PRAYER/THE LORD’S PRAYER

Prep: Bibles; Lord’s Prayer Handouts; pencils

Begin with prayer.

Briefly review definition of prayer and the forms of prayer from session one.

Maturing in Prayer Compare to a person’s development in communication from infant to adult. Our

communication skills and our reasons for communicating change and grow through time, experiences, and the nature of our relationships.

o Conversation with God is no different. It is comparable to a lifelong friendship that gives rise to a marriage.

Happens in stages, and full development and depth cannot be expected all at once. But development and increased depth should be expected over time.

Can expand on the analogy, describing the stages of the human relationship.

How might we mature in prayer?o Discipline – developing a habit of praying rather than leaving it to chance. Set

aside time to pray. Renew your commitment to attend Mass. Schedule it in if you need to.

o Try new things! If you’re starting at the beginning and you don’t have any prayer habits

yet, try something simple. Choose a particular struggle that you will bring to God in prayer and then every time you encounter that struggle, follow through on praying about it. Or choose a formal prayer to pray at the beginning of each day as a way to connect with God every day. Or spend at least 10 minutes every day or every other day reading the Bible and praying that God will teach you through His words.

Whatever you begin with, commit yourself to it. No matter how simple it is, choose to let it matter to you.

Then, when you are comfortable with how you are praying, change it or add to it. Challenge yourself. Memorize a new prayer. Increase the time you spend praying or how often you read your Bible. When you pray about the particular struggle, add thanksgiving to the prayer instead of only petition.

o Learn from others. Talk to someone who you know is close to the Lord. Ask them for ideas

on how to grow in prayer. Learn about the saints and their deep relationships with God and their

habits of prayer.o Pray with others.

Seeing the ResultsHow can having a prayer relationship with God affect the rest of your life? What can be gained?

Gradual understanding of God and of His ways Increased trust in God Peace of mind because you’ve entrusted your needs to God’s care Increased and lasting joy because you have spent time worshiping God and praising Him Awareness of God’s nearness and the gift of being able to speak with Him

The results, or fruits, of an active prayer relationship with God all have to do with familiarity with God. Again, like any relationship, the good things come when you are dedicated to that relationship, when you give your time and energy and attention to it.

Obstacles to PrayerGive students the opportunity to think of possible obstacles to prayer and to maturing in our prayer relationship with God. Write list on the board. Should include:

Busyness Resistance to getting closer to God Pride Fear (of what God might ask of you, of what other might think) Don’t know how to begin Discouragement (especially after starting to pray regularly, the devil will do his best to

create discouragement in you) Sin No one else in the house prays

There will always be obstacles. We must recognize them for what they are: the devil’s determined efforts to lead us away from God; our own excuses; fearfulness.

Recognizing the things that hold you back from praying or from going deeper in prayer is a must because ignoring the obstacles won’t make them go away. Rather, the obstacles will increase or become harder to defeat.

The Lord’s Prayer – Jesus’ Perfect Prayer To the Father-One method of maturing in prayer is taking a prayer that you are very familiar with and working to understand the meaning of its words. Sometimes we can recite these prayers without any thought of what we are saying. To be sincere in praying memorized prayers, we need to understand those prayers.-If necessary, this can carry over into the start of the next session.

Read Matthew 6:7-13

Verses 7 and 8 tell us that Jesus is teaching them a wiser way to pray. He recommends taking out what is unnecessary, what is meaningless. The Lord’s Prayer gets down to business and expresses all that we ought to express to our Heavenly Father.

Handout: The Lord’s Prayer Worksheet

On chalkboard, write a phrase of the prayer as a heading then discuss each phrase. Write key words and phrases in each column.

“Our Father who art in heaven”-Jesus, who is the Son of God, gives us the honor of being able to call God our Father too. This is a new and great privilege. Through Jesus, by baptism, we are made God’s sons and daughters.-Calling upon the Father in prayer is an act of trust. All that we pray following these words is to be entrusted to Him.-‘who art in heaven’ refers to God’s majesty and divinity. It speaks of the eternal home, the Father’s house, which we hope to reach.

The rest is called the 7 Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. Their content and their order are Jesus’ teaching of what needs to matter to us, what needs to be priorities in our prayers and in our relationship with God.-the first 3 petitions point us toward God (thy name, thy kingdom, thy will); We think first of Him, not of ourselves. We worship Him, not ourselves.-the last 4 petitions concern us in our present state – the needs of our lives and the battle for eternal life

“Hallowed be thy name”-‘to hallow’ means to make holy. In truth, only God can make something holy. We can only recognize its holiness-we ‘hallow’ His name insofar as we adore His name and praise His holiness-in the context of the Lord’s Prayer, the phrase is a petition: we pray that God’s actions will display His holiness and that our actions will honor His holiness-implied in this petition is that we will be made holy as well. Our holiness comes through Christ, so we make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ (and all our prayers)

“Thy kingdom come”-The kingdom of God has been established by Christ’s death and Resurrection and it continues to come throughout time.-The fullness of the kingdom will come when Christ returns for the Final Judgment and this world ends. He will reveal the full and unimaginable glory of God’s kingdom.-We pray for the kingdom to come at the end of time because we look forward to our destiny of eternal happiness with God.-Praying for the return of Christ and the arrival of the fullness of the kingdom implies a commitment to prepare ourselves now for that kingdom. Our present lives can contribute to the building of God’s kingdom. We need to submit ourselves to God’s kingship each day of our lives.-Every act of obedience to Him is like a prayer that His kingdom will come; it is an act of submitting ourselves to His reign.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”-God’s will is greater and wiser than any will of our own. His will is a plan of perfect love, which means it is the only plan that can bring our lives the greatest good and happiness.

-In Jesus Christ, when He came to live among us and then died for us and rose from the dead, God’s will was revealed. His will is that all people will be saved, that all people will know Him and live in a right relationship with Him.-This living in perfect relationship with God is already taking place in heaven, among the angels and the saints. We pray that it will also take place here, in each of us.-Jesus fulfilled God’s will; He fulfilled the promises of God’s plans. God’s will continues to be fulfilled at present by us, when we accept His will and plans as our own. -Not only does this petition refer to the ‘big picture’ (God’s plan of salvation for all) but also to the will of God in particular circumstances. We pray to understand what He desires for us and what He is leading us to do and to choose in our individual lives.

“Give us this day our daily bread”-Firstly, asking the Father to give us anything means acknowledging Him as the giver of all good things. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). This glorifies and praises God for His goodness.-It is not a singular petition. We pray for the Father to provide for all people. You and I are included but Jesus is instructing us to pray for the good of everyone.-‘our daily bread’ refers to the material and spiritual needs of our daily lives. Praying that God will provide for us in those needs means trusting that He will take care of us, refusing to worry over those needs, and accepting the means God gives us in order gain what we need and to give to others what they need (i.e. work, service, charity).-‘our daily bread’ also refers to the Bread of Life: the Eucharist. There is a hunger and need in each person to receive God. In the Eucharist, Jesus Christ has provided us with His own body and blood

“And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”-The second part of this petition is just as important as the first part. We do not go to God to ask Him for mercy without also being merciful to others. Jesus Christ’s Cross provides the forgiveness we need but it is not an automatic gift. It is tied inextricably with our acts of forgiveness. -This petition is our return to the Father. Each sin is a turning away from God. Asking for forgiveness means repenting of what we have done to offend God and turning back to face Him.-We are capable of hardening our hearts toward God and refusing His mercy. To avoid this, we must choose to love as God has loved us. When we humbly recognize how merciful and kind God has been to us, without our earning His kindness, we will not have any good reason to refuse that mercy to other people.-Only God is perfectly merciful. Forgiving others will be a struggle. We can pray though that the mind of God will become our mind. If we think of people with God’s mind, and look at situations with His eyes, we will be more able to forgive.

“And lead us not into temptation”-Sin results from our consent to temptations-God is never the cause of our temptations but He does allow us to be tempted in order for us to turn to Him and build up strength within us.-The translation to English is weak. “The Greek means both ‘do not allow us to enter into temptation’ and ‘do not let us yield to temptation.’ (CCC 2846)

-The Holy Spirit is our warrior against temptation. He guides our minds, hearts and consciences so we can know temptations when we face them and we can also see the trials God is allowing us to endure. Those trials are never meant to include sin.-Asking God to help us to resist and avoid temptation implies that we too will do our part. We must be wise: know the commandments, know what is right and wrong, and know our weaknesses. Don’t place yourself in a situation that could easily lead you into sin. Make wise choices to cooperate with God’s help. And be vigilant in prayer.-Even Jesus prayed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in order to have the strength to resist the temptation to choose something easier that God’s will.

“But deliver us from evil”-Again, this is not only a prayer for the individual but for all. We pray that all people will be saved from evil.-We must admit that evil is real, that our enemy the Devil is real. -The Lord forgives and takes away our sins. Yet evil remains in the world and we must be persistent in choosing what is good and right. Evil and sin are never in our best interest. They can never bring us lasting good things. It is when we doubt this that sin becomes appealing and we are deceived.-Jesus defeated the devil once and for all with the Cross and Resurrection. His victory is a victory we can all share in. But we have to choose to share in that victory. Sin is a refusal to accept Jesus’ salvation for us.-This is also a prayer against all the ‘evil’ in the world – all the pain, sickness, poverty, war and any other distress. We look forward to the day when all things will be made new, when this world will pass away and the kingdom of heaven will be fully realized. It is not a despairing prayer, therefore, but hopeful.

“Amen” means “so be it.” We give our assent to everything we have just spoken to God.

Close by praying the Lord’s Prayer.

OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

THY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

GIVE US THIS DAY OURDAILY BREAD

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

SESSION THREE: THE MASS – THE HIGHEST FORM OF PRAYER

Prep: If holding Eucharistic adoration, have tabernacle key; monstrance on altar (empty); reflection or other prayer materials for during adoration (example included below); missals; Bibles; assignment handouts

Begin with the Lord’s Prayer.

If discussion of the Lord’s Prayer was not completed at session 2, continue now.

The Mass: the Fullness of the Church PrayingThe Mass is the universal prayer of the Church.

Prayed countless times a day, every day, throughout the entire world. It unites all Catholics.

The Mass includes within itself all forms and themes of prayer. Using missals (check page numbers ahead of time so you can direct students), or by

memory, have students come up with parts of the Mass and what kinds of prayer occurs in them. For example,

o Prayers of penance for sin (penitential rite and in Eucharistic prayer)o Words of adoration and praise throughouto Intercessionso Meditation on the Word of Godo Petitions for yourself (penitential rite, intercessions, in Eucharistic prayer)o Thanksgiving (Eucharist)o The Lord’s Prayero Songo Using words of Scripture as your own words of prayero The Creed

The Mass engages the whole person in prayer: heart and mind, body and spirit. The kneeling, standing, etc. are physical expressions of what we are expressing spiritually and verbally in the prayers.

o Our physical behavior while praying can greatly enhance our prayers (or detract from them). If our body is in an attitude of reverence and attention, we will be more able to be reverent and attentive in our hearts and minds.

God is present in the Mass in multiple ways: the assembly of the Body of Christ (in the people), in the Word of God (the readings), in the Eucharistic Sacrifice

The Mass is our earthly share in the heavenly worship. In the Book of Revelation, scenes of heavenly worship are described.

o The saints gathered around the altar and the throne of God; singing “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty”(4:8); elders in robes around the altar; incense and candles; songs of praise to God; the Lamb of God – these are all present in the Book of Revelation.

o The Mass is our prayer prayed before the heavenly throne of God. In it we are lifted up to join with the angels and saints in their worship.

o In Heaven, Jesus Christ is the victorious Lamb of God. He is called the Lamb nearly 30 times in the scenes of heavenly worship

found in Revelation. This same Lamb of God is offered in the ‘sacrifice of the Mass’: the

Eucharist.

The Mass is to be engaged in, not merely attended. Everything is there for us to have a full experience of the prayer of the Mass – the words

and movements – but we must bring ourselves to the Mass and engage ourselves in it. Give homework assignment for following weekend’s Mass

The EucharistAbove all, the Mass is the perfect and fullest prayer of the Church because it re-presents (presents again) the one perfect offering made to God: Jesus Christ.

In the Eucharist, the offering of Jesus on the Cross is not represented (symbolically) but re-presented: the actual sacrifice of His body and blood are offered again to the Father

o He died only once. He does not die again. Rather, that same death is made present in the Eucharist on the altar, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

o God is not confined by the limits that confine us: time and space. The Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

o Read John 6:51-58o Jesus veils Himself under the appearance of bread and wine but once the priest

speaks the words of consecration in the Mass, they are no longer bread and wine. Transubstantiation: the bread and wine are changed in their substance.

o It is a mystery of faith – partly understood, accepted with faith. At Mass, we join our prayers to the ‘prayer’ of Christ, i.e. the offering of Himself on the

Cross. We present all of it (Jesus and our prayers) to the Father.o The priest is our mediator, offering this sacrifice for us to the Father.o It is Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit, who changes the bread and wine

into His body and blood. The priest is the mediator through whom we receive that body and blood.

Since Jesus Christ is fully present in the Eucharist, He can be adored in the Eucharist. His presence in the consecrated hosts is why we show reverence to the tabernacle, we

kneel during the Eucharist at Mass, and we make an act of reverence as we are receiving Holy Communion.

Eucharistic adoration is the prayer in the physical presence of Jesus Christ. We can physically be in the same room with Him, kneel before Him, talk to Him, look at Him.

Close class with 15 to 20 minutes of Eucharistic adoration. (if necessary, this can be moved to the start of the following session)

Students should separate from each other throughout the first few pews on both sides of the main aisle. Handout reflection or other materials you chose for the students to use in prayer. Instruct them to remain kneeling and pray silently.

End adoration with a prayer aloud together (can use the Divine Praises found in the back cover of the missal). Repose the host in the tabernacle.

Mass Worksheet Name: _______________________To be completed after attending the upcoming Sunday’s Mass and turned in at next Wednesday’s class.

What book of the Bible was the 1st Reading from?

What book of the Bible was the 2nd Reading from?

Which Gospel was the Gospel Reading from?

In complete sentences, summarize at least 2 points the priest made in his homily.

In complete sentences, identify at least 2 parts of the Mass that stood out to you this week and describe what you thought, felt or understood about them that you hadn’t thought, felt or understood before.(This will require you to pay special attention at Mass this week and to ask the Holy Spirit to help you. When we make the effort to listen closely and engage ourselves in praying the Mass instead of just attending it, we can gain new insights.)

Great is the LORD and worthy of high praise; God's grandeur is beyond understanding.

(Psalm 145:3)

The greatness of God can sometimes be discouraging to us. Perhaps you feel insignificant in His presence, unable to truly understand Him or know Him. The truth is, the greatness of God is precisely what makes your life great. His significance gives you significance. Nothing in your life, big or small, is insignificant to God. He cares about all of it.

Your prayers please Him.Your praise glorifies Him.Your happiness gladdens Him.Your love is desired by Him.

He wants to comfort you when you are suffering.He wants to encourage you when you are discouraged.He wants to guide you when you are confused.He wants to strengthen you when you are weak.

Take some time to pray silently before Jesus, thinking about these things. Then open a Bible and pray Psalm 145. Read the words of that psalm to God, speaking them from your own heart.

Great is the LORD and worthy of high praise; God's grandeur is beyond understanding.

(Psalm 145:3)

The greatness of God can sometimes be discouraging to us. Perhaps you feel insignificant in His presence, unable to truly understand Him or know Him. The truth is, the greatness of God is precisely what makes your life great. His significance gives you significance. Nothing in your life, big or small, is insignificant to God. He cares about all of it.

Your prayers please Him.Your praise glorifies Him.Your happiness gladdens Him.Your love is desired by Him.

He wants to comfort you when you are suffering.He wants to encourage you when you are discouraged.He wants to guide you when you are confused.He wants to strengthen you when you are weak.

Take some time to pray silently before Jesus, thinking about these things. Then open a Bible and pray Psalm 145. Read the words of that psalm to God, speaking them from your own heart.

SESSION FOUR: PRAYING AT ALL TIMES

Prep: Bibles, handout of New Testament readings, pencils, homework assignment

Open with Memorare

If Eucharistic adoration did not take place at the previous session, hold it at the beginning of this session. Remind the students of the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist and why we take the opportunity to pray in His presence.

New Testament ReadingsGive students handout of Scripture readings. Break into two groups to read scriptures and answer questions on handout. Then re-gather to discuss.

What do Jesus and St. Paul tie prayer to according to these passages? Faith, persistence, Holy Spirit, zeal, service, joy, hope, patience, constancy, anxiety (not

having), thanksgiving, peace, steadfastness, watchfulnesso Prayer is the thread running through all of these aspects of the Christian life. It

links them together and supports all of them. Prayer is necessary to maintain these aspects; without prayer (i.e. without communication with and from God) we only have human efforts to try to be faithful, etc. With prayer, divine help is given.

How can a person possibly “pray at all times”? Prayer is our method of being engaged in a relationship with God. To pray at all times,

we live in constant relationship with God. We don’t set that relationship aside and relegate it to only certain times or days of the week. In addition to having times of focused prayer, we consider God and our relationship with Him in the context of everything else in our life.

“The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer is also without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” –St. Augustine

o If we persist in longing to please God, desiring to be near to Him and love Him, then our prayer (our relationship) to Him lasts in all moments.

Offering Our Work and Suffering as Prayers-All of our actions can be made into prayers if we do them out of love for God and with the intention of honoring Him and His gift of life.-This is especially true of work and suffering.

In these aspects of life, the inclination of our sinful human nature is to think only of ourselves: of what we will gain by the work, to complain of the burden of work, to feel pity for yourself when you are suffering, to be angry at God or whoever else you blame for your suffering, to feel you don’t deserve to suffer.

If we are able to take a Christ like attitude toward work and suffering, then we can offer up our work and suffering as prayers for other people and for ourselves.

o What was Christ’s attitude?

-If you have time, have students look up each Scripture passage in order to find the characteristic of Christ’s attitude, otherwise simply list and discuss the characteristics. Humility (Philippians 2:3-8) Selflessness (Philippians 2:3-4) Commitment to God’s will over personal will (Matthew 26:39) Confidence and joy in God (John 16:33) Peace of mind and heart (Matthew 8:23-27; John 14:1)

o A Christian who remains faithful, hopeful and loving toward other and God throughout times of suffering and hardship, is a Christian who prays at all times. That Christian is engaged in a relationship with God at all times.

Making Time for PrayerAlthough we can make our lives a prayer to God, and live our relationship with Him at all times, we also need to set aside time dedicated to focused prayer.

A human relationship would suffer and deteriorate if there was no time set aside for being in each other’s company and communicating without doing other things at the same time. The same is true of our relationship with God. We need time alone with Him.

o Even Jesus Christ set time aside to frequently pray alone. In those times of focused prayer, what can we do? (Ask students for ideas.)

o Silence, thinking about God, His attributes, His gifts to us (contemplation)o Speaking words of praise and thanksgiving to Himo Reading and meditating on Scripture

For example, read a passage of Scripture, pray for the Holy Spirit to give you understanding, then reread the passage and spent time thinking about its meaning and how it can affect you and your life

o Devotional prayers such as the rosary Can be for specific intentions/petitions or for the purpose of simply

worshiping God.o Reading from a book of reflections/devotions, then meditating on what you read

In any prayers of mediation (on Scripture or other materials), ask the Holy Spirit to give you insight into what you have read.

Role of the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is:

o The Spirit of Truth: He is our teacher. He enlightens our mind and helps us to understand what we learn of our faith, what we read in the Bible, etc. His mission is to continue the work of Christ in us. We have the gifts of faith and knowledge; the Holy Spirit works in us to increase those gifts.

o Advocate: He is our intercessor. He prays for us and works on our behalf with the Father and the Son. He helps, whenever and however we need Him.

o Perfector of Our Prayers: (Read aloud Romans 8:26) He takes our prayers to the Father and the Son and perfects them. Often our prayers are said selfishly or without wisdom. We might seek only what we want instead of praying for what

we truly need or surrendering ourselves to God’s will. The Holy Spirit adds His prayers to our own and His prayers are perfect, always seeking what is our greatest good and what we truly need.

Pass out homework sheet and explain assignment (meditation on Scripture).

Read:

Matthew 21:21-22Luke 11:5-10Romans 12:11-12Ephesians 6:18Philippians 4:6-7Colossians 4:2

In these Scripture passages, what do Jesus and St. Paul tie prayer to? List as many things as you can.

How can a person “pray at all times” like St. Paul instructs us to do?

Name:________________________________Read the following Scripture passage then spend time meditating on its meaning and how you can apply it to your life. What effects should it have on you, on your relationship with God and on how you relate to other people? Write down your thoughts on the Scripture passages meaning and effects. Use complete sentences.*Remember to pray to the Holy Spirit to give you the gift of understanding. Be willing to read the passage more than once and pray about it more than once in order to understand the meaning and effects of the words.*Do not do both Scripture passages at the same time. Set aside time one day for one of the passages, and another day for the other passage.

John 15:4-17

Colossians 3:1-17

SESSION 5: The Church’s Relationship of Prayer

Prep: chalkboard; rosaries & rosary guides; homework assignment

Collect previous week’s homework.

The 3 States of the Church(Use chalkboard to teach this section.)

The Church Militant (aka the Pilgrim Church) The Church here on earth. We are the pilgrim Church, journeying toward heaven, always

with that destination in mind. We are militant. We are engaged in a battle against evil, against sin. The final victory is

already won by Christ, however our partaking in that victory depends on our faith and actions during our lives on earth. The victory of Christ did not end the existence of evil, but it destroyed its power over us. By our free will, we choose whether to give ourselves over to sin or to God.

It is a life of movement. Moving forward toward heaven requires continual action and growth.

The Church Suffering (aka the purgative state) Those who die in good relationship with God but still need purification before entering

heaven have a period of existence in purgatory. By purgatory, the soul is freed from any lingering attachment to sin and the world, and from the stain of minor sins.

The soul who enters purgatory is going to heaven. The chief pain of purgatory is the separation from God when He is so near. The soul is aware then of all the ways that he or she could have been more ready to enter heaven and not needed further purification first.

The Church Triumphant (aka the saints) The saints in heaven. Those who were prepared at death to enter directly into heaven and

those who have been purified by purgatory and are now in heaven. They have reached the destination toward which we are called to move.

Their souls are perfected. They have learned perfectly who God is, who they are, how to love, how to be happy, how to live in the truth. There is no unhappiness, no sadness, and no sin or even temptation.

How does each state relate to the others by prayer? Militant intercedes for each other and for the Church Suffering. The Militant also prays to

the Church Triumphant (the saints) to request their prayers. Suffering intercedes for the Church Militant. They cannot do anything to ‘help’

themselves but they witness our prayers for them and will intercede for us when they arrive in heaven.

Triumphant intercedes for both the Church Militant and Suffering. They hear our prayers to them and respond with prayers of perfected faith, hope and love. Their prayers are of the greatest strength.

Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13This relationship of prayer that exists between the whole Church is possible because Christ made us His body. There is only one body of Christ, the Church, and death does not have the power to separate its members. Because the soul is eternal and lives on after death, the soul remains a member of the body of Christ.

This is why what one person does in the Church affects the whole Church. It is called the Mystical Body of Christ: by it, humanity enters into the supernatural life of Christ, a life that is not limited by time or space like our earthly lives are.

“I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.” St. Therese of Liseux The saints in heaven continue to be active in the building up of the Church and working

for the salvation of souls. They relish the opportunity to help us, encourage us and lead us closer to the Lord.

Give homework assignment: Choosing a Patron Saint

Mary, the Mother of God, is the Queen of Heaven, the Queen of Saints Her earthly life surpassed all other saints by its perfection: sinlessness, obedience,

service, love, trust, etc. Her role in Heaven is to be the mother of the Church. Her intercession on our behalf is the most powerful amongst all the saints.

The Rosary – The Church’s tradition of Marian prayer-Summarize the history of the rosary for the students. Emphasize the strong tradition of the rosary, that for hundreds of years it has been the Catholic’s weapon against evil, comfort in suffering, tool of meditation, etc. (See attached pages for history of the rosary.)

-Twofold purpose of the rosary: to meditate on the mysteries of our redemption in Christ, and to invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary

-Demonstrate how to pray the rosary: pass out rosaries and guides, run through the steps of praying the rosary.

Pray the rosary aloud with the students (begin praying 30 minutes before end of session). Invite each student to voice an intention for which the group will pray. Pray the mysteries appropriate to the day of the week.

-Teacher should lead opening prayers and first decade, with students praying the response parts aloud. Have volunteers already assigned the remaining 4 decades. All pray “Hail Holy Queen” to close.

CHOOSING A PATRON SAINT NAME: ___________________

Using one or more of the following resources, choose a saint as a patron for yourself. This can be a patron for a particular aspect of your life, for what you hope to do in your life, or for a particular cause you would like a saint to pray for on your behalf.

Websiteswww.americancatholic.org/Features/saints/patrons.aspwww.catholic.org/saints/patron.php

BooksButler’s Lives of Patron Saints, by Alban ButlerThe Directory of Saints: A Concise Guide to Patron Saints, by Annette Sandoval

Name of patron saint: ______________________________

Write one paragraph summarizing who this saint is and why you chose him or her as your patron.

(for catechist’s study so he or she can give summary of the tradition and history of rosary during class)

HISTORY OF THE ROSARYFr. William Saunders

Please explain the history and background of the rosary. Is it true that the Blessed Mother gave it to St. Dominic?

The rosary is one of the most cherished prayers of our Catholic Church. Introduced by the Creed, the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Doxology ("Glory Be"), and concluded with the Salve Regina, the rosary involves the recitation of five decades consisting of the Our Father, 10 Hail Marys and the Doxology. During this recitation, the individual meditates on the saving mysteries of our Lord's life and the faithful witness of our Blessed Mother.

Journeying through the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries of the rosary, the individual brings to mind our Lord's incarnation, His passion and death and His resurrection from the dead. In so doing, the rosary assists us in growing in a deeper appreciation of these mysteries, in uniting our life more closely to our Lord and in imploring His graced assistance to live the faith. We also ask for the prayers of our Blessed Mother, who leads all believers to her Son.

The origins of the rosary are "sketchy" at best. The use of "prayer beads" and the repeated recitation of prayers to aid in meditation stem from the earliest days of the Church and has roots in pre-Christian times. Evidence exists from the Middle Ages that strings of beads were used to count Our Fathers and Hail Marys. Actually, these strings of beads became known as "Paternosters," the Latin for "Our Father."

The structure of the rosary gradually evolved between the 12th and 15th centuries. Eventually 50 Hail Marys were recited and linked with verses of psalms or other phrases evoking the lives of Jesus and Mary. During this time, this prayer form became known as the rosarium ("rose garden"), actually a common term to designate a collection of similar material, such as an anthology of stories on the same subject or theme. During the 16th century, the structure of the five-decade rosary based on the three sets of mysteries prevailed.

Tradition does hold that St. Dominic (d. 1221) devised the rosary as we know it. Moved by a vision of our Blessed Mother, he preached the use of the rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, who had denied the mystery of Christ. Some scholars take exception to St. Dominic's role in forming the rosary. The earliest accounts of his life do not mention it, the Dominican constitutions do not link him with it and contemporaneous portraits do not include it as a symbol to identify the saint.

In 1922, Dom Louis Cougaud stated, "The various elements which enter into the composition of that Catholic devotion commonly called the rosary are the product of a long and gradual development which began before St. Dominic's time, which continued without his having any share in it, and which only attained its final shape several centuries after his death." However, other scholars would rebut that St. Dominic not so much "invented" the rosary as he preached its use to convert sinners and those who had strayed from the faith. Moreover, at least a dozen popes have mentioned St. Dominic's connection with the rosary,

sanctioning his role as at least a "pious belief."

The rosary gained greater popularity in the 1500s, when Moslem Turks were ravaging Eastern Europe. Recall that in 1453, Constantinople had fallen to the Moslems, leaving the Balkans and Hungary open to conquest. With Moslems raiding even the coast of Italy, the control of the Mediterranean was now at stake.

In 1571, Pope Pius V organized a fleet under the command of Don Juan of Austria the half-brother of King Philip II of Spain. While preparations were underway, the Holy Father asked all of the faithful to say the rosary and implore our Blessed Mother's prayers, under the title Our Lady of Victory, that our Lord would grant victory to the Christians. Although the Moslem fleet outnumbered that of the Christians in both vessels and sailors, the forces were ready to meet in battle. The Christian flagship flew a blue banner depicting Christ crucified. On October 7, 1571, the Moslems were defeated at the Battle of Lepanto. The following year, Pope St. Pius V established the Feast of the Holy Rosary on October 7, where the faithful would not only remember this victory, but also give thanks to the Lord for all of His benefits and remember the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother.

The fact that our Church continues to include the Feast of the Holy Rosary on the liturgical calendar testifies to the importance and goodness of this form of prayer. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, "The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description."

Fr. Saunders is president of the Notre Dame Institute and associate pastor of Queen of Apostles Parish, both in Alexandria.

This article appeared in the October 6, 1994 issue of "The Arlington Catholic Herald." Courtesy of the "Arlington Catholic Herald" diocesan newspaper of the Arlington (VA) diocese. For subscription information, call 1-800-377-0511 or write 200 North Glebe Road, Suite 607 Arlington, VA 22203.

Provided Courtesy of:Eternal Word Television Network

The Rosary

In the Western Church

"The Rosary", says the Roman Breviary, "is a certain form of prayer wherein we say fifteen decades or tens of Hail Marys with an Our Father between each ten, while at each of these fifteen decades we recall successively in pious meditation one of the mysteries of our Redemption." The same lesson for the Feast of the Holy Rosary informs us that when the Albigensian heresy was devastating the country of Toulouse, St. Dominic earnestly besought the help of Our Lady and was instructed by her, so tradition asserts, to preach the Rosary among the people as an antidote to heresy and sin. From that time forward this manner of prayer was "most wonderfully published abroad and developed [promulgari augerique coepit] by St. Dominic whom different Supreme Pontiffs have in various past ages of their apostolic letters declared to be the institutor and author of the same devotion." That many popes have so spoken is undoubtedly true, and amongst the rest we have a series of encyclicals, beginning in 1883, issued by Pope Leo XIII, which, while commending this devotion to the faithful in the most earnest terms, assumes the institution of the Rosary by St. Dominic to be a fact historically established. Of the remarkable fruits of this devotion and of the extraordinary favours which have been granted to the world, as is piously believed, through this means, something will be said under the headings FEAST OF THE ROSARY and CONFRATERNITIES OF THE ROSARY. We will confine ourselves here to the controverted question of its history, a matter which both in the middle of the eighteenth century and again in recent years has attracted much attention.

Let us begin with certain facts which will not be contested. It is tolerably obvious that whenever any prayer has to be repeated a large number of times recourse is likely to be had to some mechanical apparatus less troublesome than counting upon the fingers. In almost all countries, then, we meet with something in the nature of prayer-counters or rosary beads. Even in ancient Nineveh a sculpture has been found thus described by Lavard in his "Monuments" (I, plate 7): "Two winged females standing before the sacred tree in the attitude of prayer; they lift the extended right hand and hold in the left a garland or rosary." However this may be, it is certain that among the Mohammedans the Tasbih or bead-string, consisting of 33, 66, or 99 beads, and used for counting devotionally the names of Allah, has been in use for many centuries. Marco Polo, visiting the King of Malabar in the thirteenth century, found to his surprise that that monarch employed a rosary of 104 (? 108) precious stones to count his prayers. St. Francis Xavier and his companions were equally astonished to see that rosaries were universally familiar to the Buddhists of Japan. Among the monks of the Greek Church we hear of the kombologion, or komboschoinion, a cord with a hundred knots used to count genuflexions and signs of the cross. Similarly, beside the mummy of a Christian ascetic, Thaias, of the fourth century, recently disinterred at Antinöe in Egypt, was found a sort of cribbage-board with holes, which has generally been thought to be an apparatus for counting prayers, of which Palladius and other ancient authorities have left us an account. A certain Paul the Hermit, in the fourth century, had imposed upon himself the task of repeating three hundred prayers, according to a set form, every day. To do this, he gathered up three hundred pebbles and threw one away as each prayer was finished (Palladius, Hist. Laus., xx; Butler, II, 63). It is probable that other ascetics who also numbered their prayers by hundreds adopted some similar expedient. (Cf. "Vita S. Godrici", cviii.) Indeed when we find a papal privilege addressed to the monks of St. Apollinaris in Classe requiring them, in gratitude for the pope's benefactions, to say Kyrie eleison three hundred times twice a day (see the privilege of Hadrian I, A.D. 782, in Jaffe-Löwenfeld, n. 2437), one would infer that some counting apparatus must almost necessarily have been used for the purpose.

But there were other prayers to be counted more nearly connected with the Rosary than Kyrie eleisons. At an early date among the monastic orders the practice had established itself not only of offering Masses, but of saying vocal prayers as a suffrage for their deceased brethren. For this purpose the private recitation of the 150 psalms, or of 50 psalms, the third part, was constantly enjoined. Already in A.D. 800 we learn from the compact between St. Gall and Reichenau ("Mon. Germ. Hist.: Confrat.", Piper, 140) that for each deceased brother all the priests should say one Mass and also fifty psalms. A charter in Kemble (Cod. Dipl., I, 290) prescribes that each monk is to sing two fifties (twa fiftig) for the souls of certain benefactors, while each priest is to sing two Masses and each deacon to read two Passions. But as time went on, and the conversi, or lay brothers, most of them quite illiterate, became distinct from the choir monks, it was felt that they also should be required to substitute some simple form of prayer in place of the psalms to which their more educated brethren were bound by rule. Thus we read in the "Ancient Customs of Cluny",

collected by Udalrio in 1096, that when the death of any brother at a distance was announced, every priest was to offer Mass, and every non-priest was either to say fifty psalms or to repeat fifty times the Paternoster ("quicunque sacerdos est cantet missam pro eo, et qui non est sacerdos quinquaginta psalmos aut toties orationem dominicam", P.L., CXLIX, 776). Similarly among the Knights Templar, whose rule dates from about 1128, the knights who could not attend choir were required to say the Lord's Prayer 57 times in all and on the death of any of the brethren they had to say the Pater Noster a hundred times a day for a week.

To count these accurately there is every reason to believe that already in the eleventh and twelfth centuries a practice had come in of using pebbles, berries, or discs of bone threaded on a string. It is in any case certain that the Countess Godiva of Coventry (c. 1075) left by will to the statue of Our Lady in a certain monastery "the circlet of precious stones which she had threaded on a cord in order that by fingering them one after another she might count her prayers exactly" (Malmesbury, "Gesta Pont.", Rolls Series 311). Another example seems to occur in the case of St. Rosalia (A.D. 1160), in whose tomb similar strings of beads were discovered. Even more important is the fact that such strings of beads were known throughout the Middle Ages -- and in some Continental tongues are known to this day -- as "Paternosters". The evidence for this is overwhelming and comes from every part of Europe. Already in the thirteenth century the manufacturers of these articles, who were known as "paternosterers", almost everywhere formed a recognized craft guild of considerable importance. The "Livre des métiers" of Stephen Boyleau, for example, supplies full information regarding the four guilds of patenôtriers in Paris in the year 1268, while Paternoster Row in London still preserves the memory of the street in which their English craft-fellows congregated. Now the obvious inference is that an appliance which was persistently called a "Paternoster", or in Latin fila de paternoster, numeralia de paternoster, and so on, had, at least originally, been designed for counting Our Fathers. This inference, drawn out and illustrated with much learning by Father T. Esser, O.P., in 1897, becomes a practical certainty when we remember that it was only in the middle of the twelfth century that the Hail Mary came at all generally into use as a formula of devotion. It is morally impossible that Lady Godiva's circlet of jewels could have been intended to count Ave Marias. Hence there can be no doubt that the strings of prayerbeads were called "paternosters" because for a long time they were principally employed to number repetitions of the Lord's Prayer.

When, however, the Hail Mary came into use, it appears that from the first the consciousness that it was in its own nature a salutation rather than a prayer induced a fashion of repeating it many times in succession, accompanied by genuflexions or some other external act of reverence. Just as happens nowadays in the firing of salutes, or in the applause given to a public performer, or in the rounds of cheers evoked among school-boys by an arrival or departure, so also then the honour paid by such salutations was measured by numbers and continuance. Further, since the recitation of the Psalms divided into fifties was, as innumerable documents attest, the favourite form of devotion for religious and learned persons, so those who were simple or much occupied loved, by the repetition of fifty, a hundred, or a hundred and fifty were salutations of Our Lady, to feel that they were imitating the practice of God's more exalted servants. In any case it is certain that in the course of the twelfth century and before the birth of St. Dominic, the practice of reciting 50 or 150 Ave Marias had become generally familiar. The most conclusive evidence of this is furnished by the "Mary-legends", or stories of Our Lady, which obtained wide circulation at this epoch. The story of Eulalia, in particular, according to which a client of the Blessed Virgin who had been wont to say a hundred and fifty Aves was bidden by her to say only fifty, but more slowly, has been shown by Mussafia (Marien-legenden, Pts I, ii) to be unquestionably of early date. Not less conclusive is the account given of St. Albert (d. 1140) by his contemporary biographer, who tells us: "A hundred times a day he bent his knees, and fifty times he prostrated himself raising his body again by his fingers and toes, while he repeated at every genuflexion: 'Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb'." This was the whole of the Hail Mary as then said, and the fact of all the words being set down rather implies that the formula had not yet become universally familiar. Not less remarkable is the account of a similar devotional exercise occurring in the Corpus Christi manuscripts of the Ancren Riwle. This text, declared by Kölbing to have been written in the middle of the twelfth century (Englische Studien, 1885, P. 116), can in any case be hardly later than 1200. The passage in question gives directions how fifty Aves are to be said divided into sets of ten, with prostrations and other marks of reverence. (See The Month, July, 1903.) When we find such an exercise recommended to a little group of anchorites in a corner of England, twenty years before any Dominican foundation was made in this country, it seems difficult to resist the conclusion that the custom of reciting fifty or a hundred and fifty Aves had grown familiar, independently of, and earlier than, the preaching of St. Dominic. On the other hand, the practice of meditating on certain definite mysteries, which has been rightly described as the very essence of the Rosary devotion, seems to have only arisen long after the date of St. Dominic's death. It is difficult to prove a

negative, but Father T. Esser, O.P., has shown (in the periodical "Der Katholik", of Mainz, Oct., Nov., Dec., 1897) that the introduction of this meditation during the recitation of the Aves was rightly attributed to a certain Carthusian, Dominic the Prussian. It is in any case certain that at the close of the fifteenth century the utmost possible variety of methods of meditating prevailed, and that the fifteen mysteries now generally accepted were not uniformly adhered to even by the Dominicans themselves. (See Schmitz, "Rosenkranzgebet", p. 74; Esser in "Der Katholik for 1904-6.) To sum up, we have positive evidence that both the invention of the beads as a counting apparatus and also the practice of repeating a hundred and fifty Aves cannot be due to St. Dominic, because they are both notably older than his time. Further, we are assured that the meditating upon the mysteries was not introduced until two hundred years after his death. What then, we are compelled to ask, is there left of which St. Dominic may be called the author?

These positive reasons for distrusting the current tradition might in a measure be ignored as archaeological refinements, if there were any satisfactory evidence to show that St. Dominic had identified himself with the pre-existing Rosary and become its apostle. But here we are met with absolute silence. Of the eight or nine early Lives of the saint, not one makes the faintest allusion to the Rosary. The witnesses who gave evidence in the cause of his canonization are equally reticent. In the great collection of documents accumulated by Fathers Balme and Lelaidier, O.P., in their "Cartulaire de St. Dominique" the question is studiously ignored. The early constitutions of the different provinces of the order have been examined, and many of them printed, but no one has found any reference to this devotion. We possess hundreds, even thousands, of manuscripts containing devotional treatises, sermons, chronicles, Saints' lives, etc., written by the Friars Preachers between 1220 and 1450; but no single verifiable passage has yet been produced which speaks of the Rosary as instituted by St. Dominic or which even makes much of the devotion as one specially dear to his children. The charters and other deeds of the Dominican convents for men and women, as M. Jean Guiraud points out with emphasis in his edition of the Cartulaire of La Prouille (I, cccxxviii), are equally silent. Neither do we find any suggestion of a connection between St. Dominic and the Rosary in the paintings and sculptures of these two and a half centuries. Even the tomb of St. Dominic at Bologna and the numberless frescoes by Fra Angelico representing the brethren of his order ignore the Rosary completely.

Impressed by this conspiracy of silence, the Bollandists, on trying to trace to its source the origin of the current tradition, found that all the clues converged upon one point, the preaching of the Dominican Alan de Rupe about the years 1470-75. He it undoubtedly was who first suggested the idea that the devotion of "Our Lady's Psalter" (a hundred and fifty Hail Marys) was instituted or revived by St. Dominic. Alan was a very earnest and devout man, but, as the highest authorities admit, he was full of delusions, and based his revelations on the imaginary testimony of writers that never existed (see Quétif and Echard, "Scriptores O.P.", 1, 849). His preaching, however, was attended with much success. The Rosary Confraternities, organized by him and his colleagues at Douai, Cologne, and elsewhere had great vogue, and led to the printing of many books, all more or less impregnated with the ideas of Alan. Indulgences were granted for the good work that was thus being done and the documents conceding these indulgences accepted and repeated, as was natural in that uncritical age, the historical data which had been inspired by Alan's writings and which were submitted according to the usual practice by the promoters of the confraternities themselves. It was in this way that the tradition of Dominican authorship grew up. The first Bulls speak of this authorship with some reserve: "Prout in historiis legitur" says Leo X in the earliest of all. "Pastoris aeterni" 1520; but many of the later popes were less guarded.

Two considerations strongly support the view of the Rosary tradition just expounded. The first is the gradual surrender of almost every notable piece that has at one time or another been relied upon to vindicate the supposed claims of St. Dominic. Touron and Alban Butler appealed to the Memoirs of a certain Luminosi de Aposa who professed to have heard St. Dominic preach at Bologna, but these Memoirs have long ago been proved to a forgery. Danzas, Von Löe and others attached much importance to a fresco at Muret; but the fresco is not now in existence, and there is good reason for believing that the rosary once seen in that fresco was painted in at a later date ("The Month" Feb. 1901, p. 179). Mamachi, Esser, Walsh, and Von Löe and others quote some alleged contemporary verses about Dominic in connection with a crown of roses; the original manuscript has disappeared, and it is certain that the writers named have printed Dominicus where Benoist, the only person who has seen the manuscript, read Dominus. The famous will of Anthony Sers, which professed to leave a bequest to the Confraternity of the Rosary at Palencia in 1221, was put forward as a conclusive piece of testimony by Mamachi; but it is now admitted by Dominican authorities to be a forgery ("The Irish Rosary, Jan., 1901, p. 92). Similarly, a supposed reference to the subject by Thomas à Kempis in the "Chronicle of Mount St. Agnes" is a pure blunder ("The Month", Feb., 1901, p.

187). With this may be noted the change in tone observable of late in authoritative works of reference. In the "Kirchliches Handlexikon" of Munich and in the last edition of Herder's "Konversationslexikon" no attempt is made to defend the tradition which connects St. Dominic personally with the origin of the Rosary. Another consideration which cannot be developed is the multitude of conflicting legends concerning the origin of this devotion of "Our Lady's Psalter" which prevailed down to the end of the fifteenth century, as well as the early diversity of practice in the manner of its recitation. These facts agree ill with the supposition that it took its rise in a definite revelation and was jealously watched over from the beginning by one of the most learned and influential of the religious orders. No doubt can exist that the immense diffusion of the Rosary and its confraternities in modern times and the vast influence it has exercised for good are mainly due to the labours and the prayers of the sons of St. Dominic, but the historical evidence serves plainly to show that their interest in the subject was only awakened in the last years of the fifteenth century.

That the Rosary is pre-eminently the prayer of the people adapted alike for the use of simple and learned is proved not only by the long series of papal utterances by which it has been commended to the faithful but by the daily experience of all who are familiar with it. The objection so often made against its "vain repetitions" is felt by none but those who have failed to realize how entirely the spirit of the exercise lies in the meditation upon the fundamental mysteries of our faith. To the initiated the words of the angelical salutation form only a sort of half-conscious accompaniment, a bourdon which we may liken to the "Holy, Holy, Holy" of the heavenly choirs and surely not in itself meaningless. Neither can it be necessary to urge that the freest criticism of the historical origin of the devotion, which involves no point of doctrine, is compatible with a full appreciation of the devotional treasures which this pious exercise brings within the reach of all.

As regards the origin of the name, the word rosarius means a garland or bouquet of roses, and it was not unfrequently used in a figurative sense -- e.g. as the title of a book, to denote an anthology or collection of extracts. An early legend which after travelling all over Europe penetrated even to Abyssinia connected this name with a story of Our Lady, who was seen to take rosebuds from the lips of a young monk when he was reciting Hail Marys and to weave them into a garland which she placed upon her head. A German metrical version of this story is still extant dating from the thirteenth century. The name "Our Lady's Psalter" can also be traced back to the same period. Corona or chaplet suggests the same idea as rosarium. The old English name found in Chaucer and elsewhere was a "pair of beads", in which the word bead originally meant prayers.

In the Greek Church, Catholic and schismatic

The custom of reciting prayers upon a string with knots or beads thereon at regular intervals has come down from the early days of Christianity, and is still practised in the Eastern as well as in the Western Church. It seems to have originated among the early monks and hermits who used a piece of heavy cord with knots tied at intervals upon which they recited their shorter prayers. This form of rosary is still used among the monks in the various Greek Churches, although archimandrites and bishops use a very ornamental form of rosary with costly beads. The rosary is conferred upon the Greek monk as a part of his investiture with the mandyas or full monastic habit, as the second step in the monastic life, and is called his "spiritual sword". This Oriental form of rosary is known in the Hellenic Greek Church as kombologion (chaplet), or komboschoinion (string of knots or beads), in the Russian Church as vervitza (string), chotki (chaplet), or liestovka (ladder), and in the Rumanian Church as matanie (reverence). The first use of the rosary in any general way was among the monks of the Orient. Our everyday name of "beads" for it is simply the Old Saxon word bede (a prayer) which has been transferred to the instrument used in reciting the prayer, while the word rosary is an equally modern term. The intercourse of the Western peoples of the Latin Rite with those of the Eastern Rite at the beginning of the Crusades caused the practice of saying prayers upon knots or beads to become widely diffused among the monastic houses of the Latin Church, although the practice had been observed in some instances before that date. On the other hand, the recitation of the Rosary, as practised in the West, has not become general in the Eastern Churches; there it has still retained its original form as a monastic exercise of devotion, and is but little known or used among the laity, while even the secular clergy seldom use it in their devotions. Bishops, however, retain the rosary, as indicating that they have risen from the monastic state, even though they are in the world governing their dioceses.

The rosary used in the present Greek Orthodox Church -- whether in Russia or in the East -- is quite different in form from that used in the Latin Church. The use of the prayer-knots or prayer-beads originated from the fact that

monks, according to the rule of St. Basil, the only monastic rule known to the Greek Rite, were enjoined by their founder to pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Luke 1), and as most of the early monks were laymen, engaged often in various forms of work and in many cases without sufficient education to read the prescribed lessons, psalms, and prayers of the daily office, the rosary was used by them as a means of continually reciting their prayers. At the beginning and at the end of each prayer said by the monk upon each knot or bead he makes the "great reverence" (he megale metanoia), bending down to the ground, so that the recitation of the rosary is often known as a metania. The rosary used among the Greeks of Greece, Turkey, and the East usually consists of one hundred beads without any distinction of great or little ones, while the Old Slavic, or Russian, rosary, generally consists of 103 beads, separated in irregular sections by four large beads, so that the first large bead is followed by 17 small ones, the second large bead by 33 small ones, the third by 40 small ones, and the fourth by 12 small ones, with an additional one added at the end. The two ends of a Russian rosary are often bound together for a short distance, so that the lines of beads run parallel (hence the name ladder used for the rosary), and they finish with a three-cornered ornament often adorned with a tassel or other finial, corresponding to the cross or medal used in a Latin rosary.

The use of the Greek rosary is prescribed in Rule 87 of the "Nomocanon", which reads: "The rosary should have one hundred [the Russian rule says 103] beads; and upon each bead the prescribed prayer should be recited." The usual form of this prayer prescribed for the rosary runs as follows: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Word of the living God, through the intercessions of thy immaculate Mother [tes panachrantou sou Metros] and of all thy Saints, have mercy and save us. If, however, the rosary be said as a penitential exercise, the prayer then is: O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. The Russian rosary is divided by the four large beads so as to represent the different parts of the canonical Office which the recitation of the rosary replaces, while the four large beads themselves represent the four Evangelists. In the monasteries of Mount Athos, where the severest rule is observed, from eighty to a hundred rosaries are said daily by each monk. In Russian monasteries the rosary is usually said five times a day, while in the recitation of it the "great reverences" are reduced to ten, the remainder being simply sixty "little reverences" (bowing of the head no further than the waist) and sixty recitations of the penitential form of the prescribed prayer.

Among the Greek Uniats rosary is but little used by the laity. The Basilian monks make use of it in the Eastern style just described and in many cases use it in the Roman fashion in some monasteries. The more active life prescribed for them in following the example of Latin monks leaves less time for the recitation of the rosary according to the Eastern form, whilst the reading and recitation of the Office during the canonical Hours fulfils the original monastic obligation and so does not require the rosary. Latterly the Melchites and the Italo-Greeks have in many places adopted among their laity a form of to the one used among the laity of the Roman Rite, but its use is far from general. The Ruthenian and Rumanian Greek Catholics do not use it among the laity, but reserve it chiefly for the monastic clergy, although lately in some parts of Galicia its lay use has been occasionally introduced and is regarded as a latinizing practice. It may be said that among the Greeks in general the use of the rosary is regarded as a religious exercise peculiar to the monastic life; and wherever among Greek Uniats its lay use has been introduced, it is an imitation of the Roman practice. On this account it has never been popularized among the laity of the peoples, who remain strongly attached to their venerable Eastern Rite.

About this page

APA citation. Thurston, H., & Shipman, A. (1912). The Rosary. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 31, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13184b.htm

MLA citation. Thurston, Herbert, and Andrew Shipman. "The Rosary." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 31 Jan. 2009 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13184b.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael C. Tinkler. In gratitude for the Most Holy Rosary.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SESSION 6: REVIEW/DEVELOPING PERSONAL DEVOTIONS & HABITS

Prep: handouts: divine office, litany of the sacred heart, titles of Jesus and Mary, how to pray the chaplet; rosaries for praying the chaplet

Course ReviewSession 1

1. What is prayer in its most basic sense?2. What 2 principles should we keep in mind about how to pray?3. What is our attitude when we go to prayer?4. What are the 5 foundational forms of prayer?5. What must we do before making prayers of petition or intercession?6. What does our ability to pray say about us as human beings (i.e. our dignity)?

Session 21. Name a few ways we can continue to grow in prayer.2. Why would we want to make the effort to go deeper in prayer?3. What are a few ways we might see the results or fruits of having a relationship of prayer

with God?4. Name a few obstacles to prayer that we have to overcome.5. Why is the Lord’s Prayer a perfect prayer?6. What is ‘our daily bread’ in the Lord’s Prayer?

Session 31. What is the universal prayer of the Church?2. What does the priest offer to God the Father when he prays the sacrifice of the Mass?3. In what ways is God present in the Mass?4. What do we share and participate in when we pray the Mass?5. What is the Eucharist?6. What does the word Eucharist mean? Why is it the perfect offering of thanks?

Session 41. Name some virtues and aspects of Christian life that are associated with prayer in

Scripture.2. How do we pray at all times?3. Why is it important to also set aside times just for prayer?4. How do we offer our work and sufferings as prayers? What traits characterized Christ’s

attitude?Session 5

1. What are the 3 states of the Church?2. How does each state relate to the others?3. How can we claim to still be in a living relationship with those who are in the other states

of the Church? Why isn’t there a separation (other than physical separation)?4. Why are the saints’ prayers for us so powerful?5. Whose intercession in heaven is strongest?6. What is a patron saint?

Personal Commitments to PrayerSignificance of choosing personal devotions and commitments

Analogy: time in prayer is time with the coach, the trainer, the instructor. There is great benefit to having time with that person, one on one and tailored to you, in addition to the time spent with the whole team or group.

The Mass – the prayer of the whole Church together, joined with heavenly worship, receiving the Eucharist – is the most important and most fruitful act of prayer for the individual member of the Body of Christ.

o Yet, we are meant to do more. We are meant to engage in a one on one, very personal relationship with God.

o We cannot expect our faith to bear fruit if our faith is not supported by prayer. The sacraments and personal prayer are the resources for our Christian faith, strength, endurance and growth in all virtues.

Examples of Personal DevotionDaily Mass

- Receiving the Eucharist and praying with the Church beyond the Sunday obligation.Lexio Divina

- This is ‘praying the Scriptures.’ Personal meditation on Scripture. (refer to previous session’s homework as example)

- Helpful to use devotional books or writings by saints or scholars as guides for understanding what you are reading and to choose what to read.

Liturgy of the Hours- The Divine Office: the official prayer of priests and religious

o Priests, deacons and religious sisters and brothers commit themselves to praying the Liturgy of the Hours every day.

o Every person can pray the Divine Office. It gives you a personal part in the daily prayer of the universal Church and helps you to mark your day with prayer.

o Can be prayed once or all the times of day (morning, midmorning, noon, evening, night)

- Handout example of the day’s Divine Office (available at http://catholicexchange.com/divine-office/). Include this link on the handout in case a student is interested in checking it out.

Rosary- The most popular and powerful devotion to Mary.- Has two-fold purpose and effect: invoking the intercession of Mary and meditating on the

mysteries of salvationTitles of Jesus and/or Mary

- Jesus and Mary have many titles. Jesus and Mary are relevant to every aspect of life. They have numerous traits and there are numerous aspects of their lives worth focusing on in prayer.

- Using their titles in prayer allows you to praise them for all sorts of things, as well as meditate on them and their lives.

- Handout list of titles of Jesus and Mary

Litanies- Means ‘list’ – litanies are prayers that make use of many titles of God or others. They

usually focus on a specific area of devotion.- Litanies are especially helpful when you desire to pray with dedication, with urgency or

with great focus. Their words keep your mind from wandering and prevent you from struggling to find words to use in prayer.

- Handout Litany of the Sacred HeartLenten Devotions

- The season of Lent is an especially good time to practice special devotions and prepare yourself to commemorate Christ’s Passion and death, and to celebrate His Resurrection.

- Fasting, acts of special service, praying the Stations of the Cross- The purpose of Lenten practices are to meditate more deeply than usual on the actions

and sacrifices Christ made for the sake of saving us. Dedicating yourself to Lent will make the celebration of the Easter season a time of greater joy and thankfulness.

Saints- Devotion to patron saints; regularly asking for their prayers, as well as taking time to

learn about their lives- Learning the devotions of the saints: the ways they prayed, what they recommend for

people learning to pray, aspects of God that they especially focused on in their own prayers and writings

Divine Mercy- Explain the background of the devotion to divine mercy and St. Faustina (see pages

below)- Handout directions for praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Wrap up class with your own thoughts and hopes for the students regarding prayer.

Finish by praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together.

The Divine Office 2/11/2009Night Prayer

O God, come to my aid.– O Lord, make haste to help me.Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.Amen. Alleluia

Make a personal examination of conscience.

HymnNow that the daylight dies away,By all thy grace and love,Thee, Maker of the world, we prayTo watch our bed above.

Let dreams depart and phantoms fly,The offspring of the night,Keep us, like shrines, beneath thine eye,Pure in our foe’s despite.

This grace on thy redeemed confer,Father, co-equal Son,And Holy Ghost, the Comforter,Eternal Three in One.

Psalm 30Response: Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord.

Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord:  Lord, hear my voice.Let your ears listen out  for the voice of my pleading.(Response)If you took notice of our transgressions, Lord –  Lord, who would be left?But with you is forgiveness,  and for this we revere you.I rely on you, Lord,  my spirit relies on your promise;my soul hopes in the Lord,  more than the watchman for daybreak.(Response)More than the watchman for daybreak,  let Israel hope in the Lord:for with the Lord there is kindness  and abundant redemption.He himself will redeem Israel  from all its transgressions.

(Response)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,  world without end.Amen.

Reading Ephesians 4:26-27Be angry if you must, but do not sin: do not let your anger outlast the sunset: do not give the Devil his chance.

ResponsoryInto your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.You have redeemed us, Lord, God of faithfulness.– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

CanticleKeep us safe, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us as we sleep, so that we can keep watch with Christ and rest in peace.

Now, Master, you let your servant go in peace.  You have fulfilled your promise.My own eyes have seen your salvation,  which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples.A light to bring the Gentiles from darkness;  the glory of your people Israel.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,  world without end.Amen.

Keep us safe, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us as we sleep, so that we can keep watch with Christ and rest in peace.

Closing PrayerLet us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, you lay a gentle yoke upon those who follow you. Meek and humble, you give them a light burden to carry. Receive the work and the prayers we have offered to you today; and give us rest, to make us more eager to serve you, who live and reign for ever and ever, Amen.

May the almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. Amen.

Titles of JesusAdvocate (1 John 2:1)

The Amen (Revelation 3:14)Apostle of Our Profession of Faith

(Hebrews 3:1)Author and Finisher of Our Faith

(Hebrews 12:2)Author of Life (Acts 3:15)

The Beginning and The End, The Alpha and The Omega, The First and the Last (Revelation 22:13)

Blessed and Only Ruler (1 Timothy 6:14-16)Bread of Life (John 6:35)

Captain of Salvation (Hebrews 2:10)The Chief Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-21)

The Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4)Christ (John 1:41)

Daystar (2 Peter 1:19)Deliverer (Romans 11:26)

Emmanuel, God With Us (Matthew 1:23)Eternal Life (1 John 5:20)

Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11)Faithful Witness (Revelation 1:4-5)

First Born of the Dead (Colossians 1:18)Good Shepherd (John 10:11-14)

Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14)Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians

5:23)Hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27)

I Am (John 8:58)Jesus Christ Our Lord (Romans 1:4)Just and Righteous One (1 John 2:1)

King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1 Timothy 6:14-16)

Lamb of God (John 1:29)Light of the World (John 8:12)Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5)

Lord (Philippians 2:10-11)Lord of All (Acts 10:36)

Lord God Almighty (Revelation 4:8)Master (John 13:13)Messiah (John 1:41)

Morning Star (Revelation 22:16)Offspring of David (Revelation 22:16)

Our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7)Power and Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24)

Rabbi (John 1:49)Resurrection and Life (John 11:25-26)

Rising Sun (Luke 1:77-79)Ruler of the Kings of Earth (Revelation 1:5)

Savior (Luke 2:11, 2 Peter 2:20)Shepherd and Bishop of Souls (1 Peter 2:25)

Son of God (Matthew 26:63-64)Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32)

Son of Man (Matthew 26:64)Teacher (Matthew 23:10)

Vine (John 15:1)The Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)

Word of God (Revelation 19:13)Word of Life (1 John 1:1)

Titles of MaryHoly Mother of God,

Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ,

Mother of the Church, Mother of divine grace,

Mother most pure, Mother most chaste, Mother undefiled,

Mother most amiable, Mother most admirable, Mother of good counsel, Mother of our Creator, Mother of our Savior, Virgin most prudent,

Virgin most venerable, Virgin most renowned, Virgin most powerful, Virgin most merciful, Virgin most faithful,

Mirror of justice, Seat of wisdom, Cause of our joy, Spiritual vessel, Vessel of honor,

Singular vessel of devotion, Mystical rose,

Tower of David, Tower of ivory, House of gold,

Ark of the covenant, Gate of heaven,

Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners,

Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians, Queen of angels,

Queen of patriarchs, Queen of prophets, Queen of apostles, Queen of martyrs,

Queen of confessors, Queen of virgins,

Queen of all saints, Queen conceived without original sin,

Queen assumed into heaven, Queen of the most holy Rosary,

Queen of families,Queen of peace

From the diary of a young Polish nun, a special devotion began spreading throughout the world in the 1930s. The message is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the church has always taught through scripture and tradition: that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness. But in the Divine Mercy devotion, the message takes on a powerful new focus, calling people to a deeper understanding that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone — especially the greatest sinners.

The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.

The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us —no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy. It is a message we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC.

A — Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approachHim in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins andasking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and uponthe whole world.

B — Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercyand let it flow through us to others. He wants us toextend love and forgiveness to others just as He doesto us.

C — Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to knowthat the graces of His mercy are dependent upon ourtrust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we willreceive.

The Divine Mercy Devotion

Devotion to The Divine Mercy involves a total commitment to God as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in Him, to accept His mercy with thanksgiving, and to be merciful as He is merciful.

The devotional practices proposed in the diary of Saint Faustina and set forth in this website are completely in accordance with the teachings of the Church and are firmly rooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Savior. Properly understood and implemented, they will help us grow as genuine followers of Christ.

Merciful Heart

There are two scriptural verses that we should keep in mind as we involve ourselves in these devotional practices:

1. "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts arefar from me" (Is 29:13);

2. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Mt5:7).

It's an ironic and somewhat frightening fact that many of the most religious people of Christ's time (people who were actively practicing their religion and eagerly awaiting the promised Messiah) were not able to recognize Him when He came.

The Pharisees, to whom Christ was speaking in the first quotation above, were very devoted to the prayers, rules, and rituals of their religion; but over the years, these outer observances had become so important in themselves that their real meaning had been lost. The Pharisees performed all the prescribed sacrifices, said all the right prayers, fasted regularly, and talked a lot of about God, but none of it had touched their hearts. As a result, they had no relationship with God, they were not living the way He wanted them to live, and they were not prepared for the coming of Jesus.

When we look at the image of the Merciful Savior, or pause for prayer at three o'clock, or pray the Chaplet — are these things drawing us closer to the real sacramental life of the Church and allowing Jesus to transform our hearts? Or have they just become religious habits? In our daily lives are we growing more and more as people of mercy? Or are we justgiving "lip service" to God's mercy?

Living the Message of Mercy

The devotional practices revealed through Saint Faustina were given to us as "vessels of mercy" through which God's love can be poured out upon the world, but they are not sufficient unto themselves. It's not enough for us to hang The Divine Mercy image in our homes, pray the Chaplet every day at three o'clock, and receive Holy Communion on thefirst Sunday after Easter. We also have to show mercy to our neighbors. Putting mercy into action is not an option of the Divine Mercy Devotion; it's a requirement!

Our Lord strongly speaks about this to Saint Faustina:

I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to

excuse yourself from it (Diary, 742).

Like the gospel command, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful," this demand that we show mercy to our neighbors "always and everywhere" seems impossible to fulfill. But the Lord assures us that it is possible. "When a soul approaches Me with trust," He explains, "I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls" (Diary, 1074).

How do we "radiate" God's mercy to others? By our actions, our words, and our prayers. "In these three degrees," he tells Sister Faustina, "is contained the fullness of mercy" (Diary 742). We have all been called to this threefold practice of mercy, but we are not all called in the same way. We need to ask the Lord, who understands our individual personalities and situation, to help us recognize the various ways we can each show His mercy in our daily lives.

By asking for the Lord's mercy, trusting in His mercy, and sincerely trying to live His mercy in our lives, we can assure that we will never hear Him say of us, "Their hearts are far from Me," but rather that wonderful promise, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

It is our hope that you will continue to read and reread the information on this website and make the prayers, attitudes,and practices presented a real part of your life, so that you may come to trust completely in God and live each day immersed in His merciful love — thus fulfilling the Lord's command to let your life "shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in Heaven" (Mt 5:16).

 

 (source: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/backgr.htm)