Our October prayer resources explore faith, forgiveness and perseverance in prayer. We can be sure that God loves us and longs for us to grow in deeper friendship with Him.
One way of growing our friendship with God is by praying the Rosary, where we meditate and reflect on the life, ministry and death of Jesus and also His Blessed Mother, Mary. The month of October is dedicated to the Rosary, and children will be given opportunities to engage with this traditional prayer.
This newsletter shares some of the content children will experience in school throughout October, and suggests ways for you to engage with them about it. We hope it is a useful resource for your family prayer time.
RESPOND WITH FAITH
The assembly for the second week in October focuses on thankfulness and faith. Having faith in God, who is generous and loving, requires us to be expectant both that God will hear us and that He will respond. Through a dramatisation of the healing of ‘The Ten Lepers’, children explore what it means to have gratitude for God’s gifts to us.
Children will learn that by saying ‘thank you’ to God, we acknowledge Him as our Saviour. God does not expect our gratitude, but He always gives us an opportunity to respond with faith.
With your child/ren, you may also like to …
- Read together and discuss the story of ‘The Ten Lepers’. What made the Samaritan return to say, ‘Thank you’?
- Talk about why we say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. Do we say the words with real gratitude and appreciation? Maybe you could challenge your child/ren to count how many times over a day they say these words of politeness!
- Invite children to think, and maybe make a list, of things they would like to thank God for. The list could become part of their prayers, perhaps with a simple repeating phrase - ‘We thank you, O Lord’.
KEEP GOING!
The assembly for the third week of October focuses on persistence, and especially persistence in prayer. Through explorations of the parable of ‘The Persistent Widow’ and the fable, ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’, children will discover that prayer leads to a deeper friendship with God.
God longs to hear and answer our prayers! Children are encouraged to keep going with prayer, even when it may seem difficult.
With your child/ren, you may also like to …
- Share a time when you were tempted to give up but were encouraged to keep going. Then together, think of encouraging words that might help others.
- Discuss how praying helps us to grow closer in our friendship with God. You may also like to talk about what may prevent us from praying, and how we always have the Holy Spirit to encourage us and remind us to pray!
MYSTERIES OF LIGHT
In the week of the 6th of October, children will learn more about Jesus by praying the Rosary. Children will invite the Holy Spirit to open their hearts and minds as they reflect on the set of five stories and events called the Luminous Mysteries - the Mysteries of Light!
If you would like some guidance in praying the Rosary with your child/ren, our Rosary resource is available to parents via the Parent Portal to support your family prayer time.
You could begin your prayer time by asking for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit using the following:
Come, Holy Spirit.
Open our hearts to love.
Open our minds to God’s Word.
Help us to grow in love and faith.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Amen
Credits:
Created with images by Photocreo Bednarek - "Wooden rosary with cross on stone background." • Michael - "Low dusty mist blowing across the desert floor at sunset with mountains in the background" • Sinta - "Bright Sunburst with Sky, and Clouds."