In Home
October 2024

Theme: What is Prayer?                    

During the month of October, we came together each class session as a large group to pray the Rosary. October is a month dedicated to the Holy Rosary! We celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7. 

Let's begin our In-Home with an Our Father and close with a Hail Mary as a way to continue to celebrate this special month. 

Opening Prayer:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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 our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Discussion:

Discuss amongst your family the following questions:

• • Who is your favorite person to talk to?
  • Why do you like talking to this person?
  • What is your favorite way to talk to this person? Face to face? On the phone? FaceTime? Snapchat? Instant Messenger?

Catechesis:

Prayer is just like talking with your best friend except you are talking to Jesus, who WANTS to be your best friend. It’s telling him what’s going on, asking for help, thanking and praising him and seeking forgiveness. Prayer is also about listening to Jesus. Sometimes we talk too much about what we want and fail to listen to what Jesus is telling us.

Jesus already knows what is going to happen, he has already gone before us. But Jesus wants us to talk to him because he wants a RELATIONSHIP with us. Think about your best friend. If you never talked with him/her, hung out with him/her or even looked at him/her, is he/she really your best friend? No. Jesus wants to be our best friend. He wants us to talk with him and tell him our worries, our fears, and even funny things that happen to us. We can talk to Jesus about everything and anything!

Discussion:

As a family talk about what each of you already knows about prayer.

Here’s what we know about prayer:

• • Jesus wants us to know Him: He created us for a relationship with him. He wants to be our best friend!
  • Jesus really does answer prayer. Jesus, in his mastery, chooses to use our prayers to accomplish his purposes, his will. So, Jesus has ordained that certain things would happen in response to our prayer.  Basically, what we’re asking in prayer matters! This is awesome and should cause us to pray without ceasing or stopping!
  • Jesus loves us through prayer: We get to know Jesus through prayer and he loves us through it. We feel closer to Him and that means we feel his love even greater.
  • We love Jesus through prayer: When we worship Jesus through prayer, we tell him we love him. We thank Him for everything he has done.

Our prayer is a conversation with Jesus. Sometimes it is best to use prayers we know by heart like the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, Angel of God, Meal prayer, etc. Those prayers we have memorized have the words for us and Jesus knows what we are praying for through those prayers.

Sometimes our prayer is more of a conversation where we tell Jesus how our day went and where we struggled through the day; we might tell Jesus the times we got frustrated throughout the day and needed for patience; me might tell Jesus how excited we were when we got our test score back or our day at work went just like it was planned; or we can tell Jesus that we are sorry for not being a good follower today and ask forgiveness and tell him we’ll try harder tomorrow.

Prayer is just talking to Jesus. He hears us. He answers us. He wants us to tell us where we need him in our lives.

Read:   

The following passages can be found online https://bible.usccb.org/bible

• • • Matthew 21: 22
    • 1Thessalonians 5:16-18
    • Philippians 4:6-7

Discussion:

• • • What do these passages say about the importance of prayer?
    • How can these passages help you improve your prayer life?
    • Based on these passages, what do we now know about prayer?        

Prayer for family is foundational to spiritual growth. Prayer is a very personal form of communication between us and Jesus, our Savior. But it’s also meant to be shared with others! The Bible tells us: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).

Prayer is an essential skill, and your kids will learn it from you as you do it together. Nothing will communicate the why and the how of effective prayer to your kids like seeing you pray.

So, when can we pray? The answer: All the time! Prayer is not supposed to be just before dinner, bed and at church. We are to pray and talk to Jesus all the time. Prayer is about you and Jesus  1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing”, in other words don’t stop praying. You can pray in the car on your way to school, at school, in a bathroom, in your own room, you can pray with friends, with adults, with strangers even. All the time!

Watch Video:

Grades 1-4

The Power of Prayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnYM9cPBBQ  

Grades 5-10 

What is Prayer? https://youtu.be/_qlS3ynVdcc?si=iqA7GFn_JpsA4lr5

How am I suppose to Pray? https://youtu.be/mpfcBsqlXGE?si=rJu37HK-bKteM16V

Activity:

Take a walk around your neighborhood or town and pray together as you walk. Pray for your neighbors and their families and the situations you know they are facing. If you don’t know your neighbors, ask God to give you opportunities to get to know them well.

If you’re walking through town, stop at community buildings such as police and fire stations or city hall, and pray for those who work and serve your community, for wisdom and protection as they lead your town.

Extra Credit:

When you return from your walk, shoot a video of each family member commenting on who or what they prayed for on the walk. Send the video by email Amy Bolle

Conclusion:

Effective prayer provides an opportunity to open up to each other in an environment of love and support rather than judgment. By doing this, you become more than just an overseer for your child — you’re their advocate. And that can make a world of difference.

Closing Prayer:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Questionnaire: