One person who participated in my Leading Prayer Webinar (I’m still gonna get that recording up here for y’all…hang in there!) was Jonathan Sullivan who is the Director of the Catechetical Ministries Office for the Diocese of Springfield, IL. Jonathan posted about how much he enjoyed the Webinar (thanks for the shout-out, Jonathan!) and has developed an excellent handout describing how to lead spontaneous prayer relying on the “you, who, do, through” method. Pay attention also to the comments on that post that provide a glimpse into the background of this structure for prayer – the Hebrew Berakah. Thanks for making this handout available Jonathan!
Intermediate Grades
Stories of Abraham and Jacob: Around the “Campfire” (While Roasting Marshmallows!)
This evening’s session is all about storytelling! First, we need to finish our work on the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac from last week but then we will segue immediately into the great stories of that rascal, Jacob! To set the mood for the storytelling, I’m going to build a pretend campfire! Take a look: (For directions on how to make the pretend campfire and marshmallows, visit http://www.funinthemaking.net/2009/02/17/pretend-to-campout-how-to-make-a-pretend-campfire-and-paper-marshmallows/). Here’s the overall plan: BIG IDEA: […]
Online Retreat for Catechists
Faith Refreshed Online Retreat Week 4: Three Venues of Prayer
Welcome to Week 4 of Faith Refreshed, an online retreat to help us “hit the refresh button” in our spiritual lives so that we might better see things we weren’t previously seeing and return to our lives and ministry with a new outlook! Throughout this retreat, I am drawing from my best-selling book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe, as we re-visit the four pillars of our Catholic […]
Prayer/Guided Reflections
Does God Decide Who Wins Based on Our Prayers?
I’ve written about this before, but every year the issue comes up again when teams are playing for championships. The matter touches very close to home this year with the Chicago Blackhawks battling the Philadelphia Flyers for the Stanley Cup. A friend of mine who grew up in Chicago, is a big Hawks fan, but now lives in Princeton, NJ, not far from Philly, sent me the following, which is about a nun and priest […]
Thank you for the shout-out, Joe — and thanks for the great webinars you provide to catechists!
(BTW – I’ll be driving up for your Being/Knowing/Doing workshop in Romeoville at the end of the month. I’m looking forward to finally meeting you in person!)
Great Jonathan…I look forward to meeting you there!
Have you ever had a chance to view the children’s programs on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) ?
http://www.ewtn.com/tv/kids/index.asp
I think the shows for children are great for Catechists and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, especially “Truth in the Heart”.
Debra, thanks for the suggestion.
I had been searching the internet on how to do spontaneous prayer. I have attended seminar on how to pray for others but was told to just speak our mind. I am loss for words. Some of us can pray without help. But not me. I need a guide. I found your website. This is an answer to my prayer. Now I think I can begin to practice. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You’re very welcome, Merian! I’m glad you found this helpful. Not all of us can formulate words spontaneously!