Dear Jesus,
I prayed the rosary with a couple 2nd graders today. Boy was that a gift. I smiled more times during prayer than I have in a while. How many times you must smile at our prayers? The first smile came when I was showing a little girl the Apostles Creed on the paper that was handed out to the children. I told her we would begin with that prayer. She held the paper in her hand, looked at the whole prayer, tracing the words down the page with her finger, all the way down (it took up one whole side of the page because the font was enlarged for "little kid eyes"). Her big eyes looked back at me, got close to my face, and in a "kid-attempted whisper" (which is not even remotely close to a whisper) exclaimed, "we believer all of this!" I chuckled at her surprised response, but also the simple truth that she spoke and the appropriateness of her question. "Yes." I whispered back. "We do."
I showed the three children how to begin holding the rosary and
continued to coach them on as we prayed together. They were very concerned that they they were always on the exact bead for every prayer. This pattern continued of: prayer, hold-up the rosary to check, nod from me, sigh of relief from the kids and then smiles all around, prayers, repeat. Excitement was interlaced throughout our prayer as little legs kicked (since their feet could not reach the floor) to the rhythm and eyes peeked up occasionally to smile at one another. So proud and happy to participate!!
By the third decade the children were doing quite well without much assistance. At one point though, one little boy dropped his rosary...mid-prayer. The little girl sitting next to me, immediately turned to me, wide-eyed, leaned in real close to my face and was just ready to speak in her "kid-whisper", when all of a sudden she put her finger up to shush ME reminding me she was praying and we shouldn't speak. :) When she felt it was appropriate, she used her "kid-whisper" to tell me that whenever anything holy drops (the boy's rosary for instance) you need to kiss it to make it holy again...well the boy definitely heard this (along with the the pews in front and behind us I'm sure because I saw some heads turn and smiles as she spoke this) and the boy definitely heard because he quickly kissed his rosary and we prayed on. (I'm not sure about the whole kissing things to make them holy again, maybe as a sign of reverence, but I didn't dare interrupt her prayers to discuss this with her, in fear she would "shush" me again, she wasn't messing around the 1st time...lesson learned). The bead checking continued every once in a while but a good rhythm continued for the duration of our prayer until we ended with the sign of the cross.
When we finished the little girl turned to me and said, "I'm good at this!". The boy said, "I never prayed the rosary before." and he smiled happily. And I told them both "Thank you for letting me pray with you, I would love to do it again."
Just like St. Therese, with childlike faith, we too can approach prayer like children. They were just learning how to pray the rosary prayers, made some mistakes, even dropped a rosary...but what matters is they prayed with love for Jesus Christ and with their whole hearts! They wanted to please God and nobody else, they felt happy afterwards and about their prayer experience so much so they wanted to do it again!
Jesus I'm sure you smiled and felt their love no matter if they were on the right bead or said all of the prayers word for word, for you know what was in their hearts, how much they tried to do their best for you and how much they love you! I continue to learn so much from these kids each and every day. Thank you Jesus for teaching me through your children.
(from journal entry dated 10/11/13)
I prayed the rosary with a couple 2nd graders today. Boy was that a gift. I smiled more times during prayer than I have in a while. How many times you must smile at our prayers? The first smile came when I was showing a little girl the Apostles Creed on the paper that was handed out to the children. I told her we would begin with that prayer. She held the paper in her hand, looked at the whole prayer, tracing the words down the page with her finger, all the way down (it took up one whole side of the page because the font was enlarged for "little kid eyes"). Her big eyes looked back at me, got close to my face, and in a "kid-attempted whisper" (which is not even remotely close to a whisper) exclaimed, "we believer all of this!" I chuckled at her surprised response, but also the simple truth that she spoke and the appropriateness of her question. "Yes." I whispered back. "We do."
I showed the three children how to begin holding the rosary and
By the third decade the children were doing quite well without much assistance. At one point though, one little boy dropped his rosary...mid-prayer. The little girl sitting next to me, immediately turned to me, wide-eyed, leaned in real close to my face and was just ready to speak in her "kid-whisper", when all of a sudden she put her finger up to shush ME reminding me she was praying and we shouldn't speak. :) When she felt it was appropriate, she used her "kid-whisper" to tell me that whenever anything holy drops (the boy's rosary for instance) you need to kiss it to make it holy again...well the boy definitely heard this (along with the the pews in front and behind us I'm sure because I saw some heads turn and smiles as she spoke this) and the boy definitely heard because he quickly kissed his rosary and we prayed on. (I'm not sure about the whole kissing things to make them holy again, maybe as a sign of reverence, but I didn't dare interrupt her prayers to discuss this with her, in fear she would "shush" me again, she wasn't messing around the 1st time...lesson learned). The bead checking continued every once in a while but a good rhythm continued for the duration of our prayer until we ended with the sign of the cross.When we finished the little girl turned to me and said, "I'm good at this!". The boy said, "I never prayed the rosary before." and he smiled happily. And I told them both "Thank you for letting me pray with you, I would love to do it again."
Just like St. Therese, with childlike faith, we too can approach prayer like children. They were just learning how to pray the rosary prayers, made some mistakes, even dropped a rosary...but what matters is they prayed with love for Jesus Christ and with their whole hearts! They wanted to please God and nobody else, they felt happy afterwards and about their prayer experience so much so they wanted to do it again!
Jesus I'm sure you smiled and felt their love no matter if they were on the right bead or said all of the prayers word for word, for you know what was in their hearts, how much they tried to do their best for you and how much they love you! I continue to learn so much from these kids each and every day. Thank you Jesus for teaching me through your children.
(from journal entry dated 10/11/13)
O Glorious St. Therese, whom Almighty God has raised up to aid and inspire the human family, I implore your Miraculous Intercession. You are so powerful in obtaining every need of body and spirit from the Heart of God. Holy Mother Church proclaims you 'Prodigy of Miracles... the Greatest Saint of Modern Times.' Now I fervently beseech you to answer my petition (mention here) and to carry out your promises of spending Heaven doing good on earth...of letting fall from Heaven a Shower of Roses. Little Flower, give me your childlike faith, to see the Face of God in the people and experiences of my life, and to love God with full confidence. St. Therese, my Carmelite Sister, I will fulfill your plea 'to be made known everywhere' and I will continue to lead others to Jesus through you. Amen.
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