Page 40 - Lessons and Activities on Prayer

11
Contrition
Catechist background
as we prepare to enter God’s presence in prayer, we often prepare ourselves by petitioning God for forgiveness. at some time in our lives, all of us have those moments when we hurt others. it’s important to apologize to the person we’ve hurt as well as let God know we are also sorry. according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this prayer type is called petition although many of us learned it as contrition. e best part of this prayer is that God is already waiting for us and loves us when we are our best self as well as when we are our worst self. For most of us, this is a very di cult prayer because when we are disappointed in ourselves, it can be di cult to believe deep down that God still loves us. we have experienced so much conditional love in our life that the experiences of uncondi- tional love are almost unfathomable.
Contrition LeSSon PLan 1
Objectives
□ To be aware of times when we hurt God or others
□ To acknowledge that we are sorry when we hurt others
materials
□ Large Construction paper (Variety of Colors)
□ Markers □ Heart template
lesson
▪ Gather the children around you. ▪ discuss the names of the types of prayers. ▪ Focus on the prayer of petition. ask the
children if they have ever hurt someone? has someone hurt them? what feelings did they have? what did they say to
the person they hurt? how does it feel
when we tell someone we’re sorry? ▪ From the previous lesson, get the ower center that says “Petition.”
▪ Get the eight previously cut out petals. ▪ write an “i’m sorry” prayer on each petal. ▪ Glue the petals onto the center.
▪ Glue the ower blossom onto a popsicle stick. ▪ Put the popsicle stick in the ower pot. ▪ sing the Prayer song.
trees of sorrow activity
1 Get a large sheet of construction paper.
2 lay your forearm and hand on the construc- tion paper beginning at the bottom.
3 spread out your ngers.
4 Trace your forearm and ngers; however, do not trace the tip of your ngers. leave it open.
5 your forearm is the tree trunk and your ngers are the branches.
6 write the words “i’m sorry” on the tree trunk. 7 Trace eight or nine hearts (page 42). on some of the hearts write things that you’re sorry you did. For example: i’m sorry i didn’t share my toys with my friend.
8 9
Glue the hearts around the tree. hang your tree in the kitchen.
Contrition LeSSon PLan 2
40
Catechist background
e prayer before receiving communion at Mass is a penitential prayer. catholics realize that we are sinners and we do not receive Jesus in a state of perfection. each day, we try not to sin and to come to Jesus with humility and love. is prayer is based on the words spoken by the centurion in Matthew’s gospel. e centurion said, “lord, i am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed” (Matthew 8:8). Jesus wants to be with us in the eucharist. he once told st. Faustina: “when i come to a human
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