5 min: Opening Prayer Scripture: Matthew 6:5-8 Luke 11:9-13 10 min:Intro: Jesus was in continual prayer, the most important moments of his life were accompanied by prayer. He often went off by Himself to pray. If Jesus is , yet He needed to spend alone with the Father, why wouldn’t we think that we need prayer even more than Jesus?

Scripture Search – Students each take one to find and read to the class

Luke 5:16 Luke 6:12 Luke 9:28 Luke 11:1 Luke 22:39-46 John 11:41 John 12:27 John 14:15-17 John 17:1-5 John 17:6-19 John 17:20-26 Matthew 11:25-27

10 min: What is Prayer (Most of this should be a quick overview for the majority of the students – try and focus more on the Consolation/Desolation part)

Who can tell me what prayer is? Simply put, it is a conversation with God. And what are the two parts of a conversation? Hearing and listening; we need to stop talking and let God talk.

Prayer is a response to the call of God. God is calling our name constantly; He wants us to come to Him and to know Him. When we pray we are saying yes to God, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us and lead us to a conversation or to a relationship with the Trinity.

Who can tell me what types of prayer there are?

Verbal or mental or another way to look at it is communal or private. Now some can be both. For example: The can be done privately or with a group. It is also a verbal prayer (or Rote prayer) and at the same time it is a mental (or meditative) prayer.

Vocal prayer or Rote prayer This type is the easiest to understand and practice. It is the first kind of prayer that we teach our children. It helps us learn how to pray and can help take us to a deeper form of prayer.

Over time people may learn other prayers, some examples of Rote prayer are: The , Our Father, , Glory Be, St. Michael prayer, and the , which is a prayer asking Mary, the Mother of God to pray for us in our time of need.

Mental Prayer or Quiet prayer “But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father; who sees in secret, will repay you.” (Matt 6:6)

This type of prayer needs to be practiced; it is either a meditative prayer or a contemplative prayer.

What will you get from this type of prayer? A feeling of refreshment in you daily life It’s a way to cultivate God’s friendship A path of transformation to a deeper understanding An exercise in deepening faith, hope and self-less love

Mental or meditative prayer is just what it sounds like. This is not always easy, that’s why it takes practice!

When we meditate, a variety of things can help us to concentrate and to spark our imaginations. We may use Scripture (Lectio Divina) - particularly the Gospels; traditional rote prayers; writings of the spiritual fathers or saints; or meditate on religious images.

Basic guild lines for practicing quiet prayer are:

Get in a comfortable position, but don’t lie down. Although it is OK if you fall asleep it is not something that we want to encourage by lying down.

It is recommended to work up to at least 20 min. of quiet prayer. But in the beginning start small and just try to get 5 min, then 10 min and work your way up.

Most of the fruits that you receive from this type of prayer are not experienced during the prayer time; they are usually not until later in your daily life. So you may feel that nothing is happening, just sit quietly and let God do His work.

During this prayer many various thoughts may arise. If that happens ever-so-gently just try and release the thought and go back to quiet.

What are different ways to pray?

Rote prayer – including: – a period of prayer lasting nine consecutive days. Origin – Medieval Latin, from Latin, feminine of novenus nine each, from novem

Litanies – "The word ‘’ comes from the Latin ‘litania’, ‘letania.’ It stood for a form of responsory prayer which involved a series of petitions for use in church services, usually recited by the clergy and responded to in a recurring formula by the people; usually focused around one main subject or sacred theme."

The oldest litany is the , which was in use (of course not in the same form as we know it) as far back as the fourth century A.D.

Meditation Contemplation

Lectio Divna Praying with scripture, this type of prayer has both meditative and contemplative prayer.

Journaling Rosary/ Chaplets Examples: Chaplets - Divine Mercy, Holy Wounds, St. Michael the Archangel

Adoration Fasting When we offer a fast for a certain intention then that fast becomes a pray to God.

Liturgy of the Hours Also called the Breviary (priests) or Christian Prayer (lay people)

This is when we stop at certain times to pray throughout our day, it is required for priests and religious. However, it is encouraged for the laity. People all over the world are saying the same prayers that you are. That means there is someone praying somewhere in the world continuously. This is truly the church praying at all times. By praying the Liturgy of the Hours you unite your prayers with the rest of the church around the world.

*Consolation vs. Desolation When we start to pray there will sometimes be times that we are filled with peace, a sense of calm, or happiness. Or maybe we hear God speak to us or we gain an understanding about a certain situation. These are experiences are called consolations. A consolation is a gift from God. He does this to bring you closer to Him.

However, sometimes when we pray, we don’t “feel” anything. We don’t hear anything and we may think that God isn’t there; that He is not listening or doesn’t care about us. Maybe we are sad, feel rejected, or angry at God because of this. This is called a time of desolation. Satan will cause this because he doesn’t want us to pray. He doesn’t want us to get closer to God so he will try anything he can to stop you from praying. Satan may even try to make your life busy with things that seem “good” in order to keep you from praying. This is a trial, and God will allow this desolation so that you have the chance to grow stronger in your resistance to satan, by rejecting him and choosing God.

60 min Fr. Larry Richard’s video – Prayer *Scripture references from the video: Matthew 6:5-15, Luke 11:1, Romans 8:14-5, 26, 1Samuel 3:1-10.

5 min End class with Journal Questions: Pick one question or let them pick a question that they want to write about.

What is your prayer life like right now? Do you think God is calling you to pray? What can you do to improve your prayer life? Are you willing to put in the time and effort to make a special time for God?

Suggestion: Take the class to Adoration for their journaling time.