Page 59 - Lessons and Activities on Prayer

Catechist background
Lectio divina means “holy reading” and refers to a method of meditative scripture reading practiced by monastics in the early church. st. benedict is usually associated with this practice, but it was an 11th-century carthusian monk named Guigo who formalized the method in a letter he wrote to a friend. is letter is known as the “stairway to heaven” and describes a four-rung ladder to heaven. each rung is one of the four steps of the method mentioned in lesson plan one.
leCtio DivinA LeSSon PLan 1
Objectives
□ To teach students to use the lectio divina form of meditation
materials
□ Pat Prayer Penguin
□ Place mats one for each child to sit on (prayer mat) □ Children’s Bible
□ Soft music
lesson
▪ Gather the children around you.
▪ using the background material for catechists,
begin introducing children to lectio divina. ▪ introduce lectio divina in small
incremental steps.
▪ explain that lectio divina is a four-step process. ▪ Tell the students we will always begin our
special prayer called lectio divina, which means “holy reading,” by putting our prayer mat on the oor and lying down on it so it is underneath our shoulders. Following are the four steps of this method. we will begin with step 1.
1. read a short scripture passage. Give the students a brief idea of the passage. For example, today i’m going to read you the story of the prodigal son. read luke 15:11-24.
2. Tell the children you are going to read the same passage again very slowly. ask them to listen for a word or a phrase that makes them think about God or a word or a phrase that makes them think about how this passage connects to them. For example, in the story of the prodigal son, i might think about someone i need to forgive. read the scripture passage very slowly.
3. after thinking about the scripture passage, think about an action the scripture is calling you to do. For example, do i need
to call my friend and apologize? do i
need to pray for someone? do i need to be a better friend to someone?
4. now, it’s time to just be in God’s presence. lie quietly and listen for God’s voice in your heart.
# Tell the students that if they are doing this at home in their rooms, this is the end
of the prayer. however, if you do it as a class, there is a step ve: we sit in a circle and share the word or phrases that were special to us and the action we are going to do. students tend to be very open. it’s amazing what they hear God tell them!
# be sure to “think aloud” during each step until students become familiar with the process.
# continue the lesson by explaining the lectio divina activity.
NOTE: it’s very important to do this prayer process in small steps. in the beginning, do
meditative prayer
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LeCtio Divina
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