Praying with Young People

1. Praying with Young People

3. Praying with Young People What is Prayer?

4. What is prayer?

5. What is prayer? • Why do people pray? • When do you pray? • How do you pray? • Where do you pray? • How easy is it for you to pray? • Who taught you to pray? • When was the last time you prayed? • How did it feel?

6. Why pray? • Jesus prayed • 40 days in the wilderness • Taught us to pray and about prayer • Before choosing his disciples and at key times in his ministry • In the Garden of Gethsemane • On the Cross

7. The Lord’s Prayer • The saying of the Lord’s Prayer by the newly confirmed with the rest of the people is also of very great importance … because it is the Spirit who prays in us, and in the Spirit the Christian says “Abba, Father.”

8. Luke 11:2-4 • Jesus was praying in a certain place and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

9. He said to them, When you pray, say:

10. Father, hallowed be your name.

11. Your kingdom come.

12. Give us each day our daily bread

13. And forgive us our sins

14. For we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

15. And do not bring us to the time of trial.

17. St Thérèse of Lisieux “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

18. St John Damascene Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."

19. St Augustine The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.

20. Rooted in Prayer • When we seek the face of Jesus, we echo the words of the disciples who asked him to teach them to pray. As we do so, we discover that ‘prayer develops that conversation with Christ which makes us his intimate friends.’ • Growing Together in Christ. para 25 • We have to remember that we are in God’s time and in his hands, which is why prayer is so important. • Growing Together in Christ. para 54

21. Why is prayer important? • it celebrates and deepens young people's relationship with Jesus Christ through the bestowal of grace, communal prayer and liturgical experiences; • it awakens their awareness of the spirit at work in their lives; • it incorporatesyoung people more fully into the sacramental life of the Church, especially eucharist; • it nurtures the personal prayer life of young people; and it fosters family rituals and prayer.

22. How to Pray • Look at the cards • Which type of prayer do you use most often? Why? • Which type of prayer do you not use very often? Why? • Which type of prayer would you like to know more about? • Are there any others ways of praying with young people? Add these to the blank cards.

23. How to Pray • Introduce young people to a variety of prayer experiences • Symbols and images • Rituals • Music • Scripture Texts • Prayers of the Church

24. Symbols and Images language gestures actions signs silence

25. Rituals and Symbolic Actions

26. Music • "Address . . . one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." (Ephesians 5:19) • "He who sings prays twice.” (St Augustine) • The harmony of signs (song, music, words, and actions) is all the more expressive and fruitful when expressed in the cultural richness of the People of God who celebrate. (CCC 1158)

27. Music • Singing Psalms and hymns • “Traditional” Church music • Gregorian chant • Taizé chants • Classical Music • Gospel Music • Worship Music • Their own Music!

28. Scripture • Use the Sunday Readings! • Lectio Divina • Guided reflections • Biblical Prayers • Magnificat, Benedictus etc • Question of the Week (shared at home)

29. The Examen 1. Become aware of God’s presence. 2. Review the day with gratitude. 3. Pay attention to your emotions. 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. 5. Look toward tomorrow.

30. 1. Become aware of God’s presence. • Look back on the events of the day in the company of the Holy Spirit. The day may seem confusing to you—a blur, a jumble, a muddle. • Ask God to bring clarity and understanding.

31. 2. Review the day with gratitude. • Gratitude is the foundation of our relationship with God. Walk through your day in the presence of God and note its joys and delights. • Focus on the day’s gifts. Look at the work you did, the people you interacted with. • What did you receive from these people? • What did you give them? • Pay attention to small things—the food you ate, the sights you saw, and other seemingly small pleasures. God is in the details.

32. 3. Pay attention to your emotions. • One of St. Ignatius’s great insights was that we detect the presence of the Spirit of God in the movements of our emotions. • Reflect on the feelings you experienced during the day. • Boredom? Elation? Resentment? Compassion? Anger? Confidence? What is God saying through these feelings?

33. 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something during the day that God thinks is particularly important. • It may involve a feeling—positive or negative. • It may be a significant encounter with another person or a vivid moment of pleasure or peace. Or it may be something that seems rather insignificant. • Look at it. Pray about it. Allow the prayer to arise spontaneously from your heart—whether intercession, praise, repentance, or gratitude.

34. 5. Look toward to tomorrow. • Ask God to give you light for tomorrow’s challenges. • Pay attention to the feelings that surface as you survey what’s coming up. • Are you doubtful? Cheerful? Apprehensive? Full of delighted anticipation? • Allow these feelings to turn into prayer. Seek God’s guidance. Ask him for help and understanding. Pray for hope.

36. Praying with the Church • Liturgy of the Hours – Morning and Evening Prayer

37. Praying with the Church • The Prayers of the Mass

38. Praying with the Church • The Saints • St Francis of Assisi • St Ignatius of Loyola • St Teresa of Avila

39. Top Tips! • Make prayer a regular occurrence in your gatherings • Encourage a variety of different ways of praying • Get the young people to plan and lead prayer times • Encourage the parish to pray with and for young people • Spend time in prayer and developing your own prayer life

40. Pope Benedict XVI to young people This is the message I want to share with you today. I ask you to look into your hearts each day to find the source of all true love. Jesus is always there, quietly waiting for us to be still with him and to hear his voice. Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer.

41. But this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline; it requires making time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak. Even amid the “busy-ness” and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self.

42. And in discovering our true self, we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his Church and the redemption of our world.

44. Contact details Dave Hill Advisor for Youth Ministry Department for Pastoral Formation Park Place Pastoral Centre, Winchester Road, Wickham, PO17 5HA dhill@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk Tel: 01329 835583