My Monday evenings for as long as I can remember mean one
thing: catechism. Growing up and still today, it means a quick dinner, then
jumping in the car and driving to spend an hour and fifteen minutes in
classroom. As I’ve grown up, my role has changed from student to teacher.
Teaching catechism is one of the highlights of my week. Thanks to the Institute
of Church Life, I’ve been able to continue teaching catechism while in college
as a part of their Catechist Program. This is my second year teaching 5th/6th
Grade at Holy Family Paris. I look forward to watching my students discover
their faith learn more God’s love for us.
One
particular activity that I always look forward to sharing with my class is
called “prayer stations.” It is one of
the most fun, but also most important lessons that I teach. I arrange several
stations around the room- one for journaling, one with prayer books, candles,
and rosaries for silent prayer, one tucked into a corner for partner prayers
and faith sharing, and one in the hallway for meditative walking. After giving
kids an overview of each station and how to use it, I put on some peaceful
music and let them try each station for 5 or 10 minutes before rotating. It’s a
chance to see a different side of many of students. It’s a chance to watch the
boy that struggles with answers in class smile thoughtfully into his journal.
It’s a chance to see the troubled student walking peacefully through the
hallway. It’s a chance to overhear a conversation from the faith-sharing corner
where two students are praying for one’s grandfather in the hospital or
discussing how they learned about their faith. As often our catechism
curriculum is tied down to textbooks and curriculum standards, it’s one of my
favorite opportunities to see my own students take their faith in their own
hands and explore prayer.
A few weeks
ago, while on Sophomore Road Trip, the tables were turned. Our first on the
road trip, we were presented with a “prayer buffet.” I’m not going to lie, the
SRT leaders did a much better job than I did at creating prayer stations. They
had stations for drawing and using clay, some for reading the Bible, prayer
books, and sacred readings, some for writing intentions, some for silent
meditation, some for praying before the cross… there were honestly so many
different opportunities to pray there. I loved it! It felt like a wonderful
gift to escape the business of life and spend an hour exploring prayer. By the
end, I realized different forms of prayer that I never would have tried or thought
worked for me, ended up being wonderful chances to escape in God’s love.
It also made me realized what a
great gift I give to my students. As they often come from families where faith
isn’t important or they rarely attend mass, giving them tools to form a prayer
life is such an important ministry I can offer them. At the same time, I
realized that in order to be a good catechist, I need to continue to explore my
own prayer life. I can only help my students grow in faith, when I make the
commitment to do the same thing myself.
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