The National Youth Sunday materials this year are a lot better than last year but there are still some low points. I don't know about you, but every time I see a sight like this my heart sinks...

Yes. Very clever. I see what you did there. You got some bread and you broke it. Now all we need is a bottle of Jacob's Creek and we're all set.

My heart sinks even more when I see novelty experimental prayer suggestions...

1. Eat and pray

Based on part of the WYD theme: “...the living God” (1 Tim 4:10)

You will need

• Lectionary open at Christ the King (B), or a Bible open at John’s Gospel, chapter 18
• Bread, grapes, chocolate, jelly babies etc.

Preparation

Place the book and the food close to each other.

Explanation

Simply ask the young people to eat slowly whilst reading the word of God. This is a good way to form an association - each time they eat that food again they will remember the word of God.

If there are no allergy issues in your group, chocolate is a good choice because it melts slowly in the mouth.

[pdf]

What bothers me about this is the attitude that prayer with young people has to take the form of a novelty activity that somehow hints in the direction of a religious experience but doesn't explicitly consist of, you know, actually praying.

It should really be called "Eat and read" because nowhere in the instructions does it say anything about prayer. Yes, I know, reading the scriptures can be a form of prayer but that in itself needs to be explained and it isn't.

How does it make things inclusive and straight forward to encourage young people to pray in such a way that they will only understand it as prayer if they already know about it beforehand?

Have you ever thought about teaching your child to pray?

That's not a challenge - it's just that I hadn't. Not really. It's one of those "in the future" things like learning to ride a bike. I mean, my daughter isn't even two years old, she can't talk yet, how in the world would I teach her to pray? Teaching her to pray hasn't even been on my radar screen. Building blocks, Yes. Praying, No. Maybe when she's older.

Every day we say grace before our evening meal. It's the old classic "Bless us, O Lord and these thy gifts..." (we have no imagination) but it does the job. We started doing it when we first got married because we wanted prayer to be a part of our lives and while we struggle to find the time to say the rosary (which roughly translated means "at any given moment we would rather watch TV"). It takes about four seconds to stop and say "Bless us, Oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen." so we really didn't have an excuse. If you don't say grace before your evening meal then you should really start because it's very easy and then when people say "do you pray together as a family" you can say "yes, every day" and they will be really impressed (though they will also think you are weird).

Babies don't understand grace before meals - nobody expects them to. So we say the prayer (with the sign of the cross on the front for good measure) and Leona just gets on with eating. That's how it is. Sometimes she doesn't have her food yet as we say the prayer (it might need cutting up or something) and she points at it and makes a noise. To emphasise the fact that we are busy for a moment we put our hands in the prayer hands position

and stare of in to space so she knows we are busy and not paying attention to her. It's only a moment and then she gets her food.

So where is this all going... Well, yesterday we sat down to eat and as we started the sign of the cross Leona spotted what was going on an copied our prayer hands posture. She stayed like that through the prayer and then at the end attempted the sign of the cross (attempted being the operative word). I'm not stupid - I know she wasn't praying like we were praying, but at twenty-one months old she has spotted that before every meal there is a moment when we stop, put our hands in a special position and say something - ending with the sign of the cross. She can't do the sign of the cross yet, but she has spotted it and is trying to do it.

Leona doesn't know that evening meals are different from lunch time (for some reason, we have never said grace at lunch time) so she has now started with the prayer hands thing at lunch time and we have started to say grace then as well. At twenty-one months old, she is reminding us that there is really no reason why grace shouldn't happen at every meal.

So when can you start teaching your child to pray? As soon as your child is old enough to see your actions and copy them... scratch that. As soon as your child is old enough to see your actions. Leona copied us yesterday - she probably spotted it weeks ago.

General Intention...

That the Synod of Bishops may help the pastors and theologians, the catechists and promoters who are engaged in the service of the Word of God to courageously transmit the truth of faith in communion with the entire Church.

Mission Intention...

That in this month dedicated to the missions, through the promotional activities of the Pontifical Missionary Works and other organisms, every Christian community may feel the need to participate in the Church's universal mission with prayer, sacrifice and concrete help.

This is beautiful...

That faithful to the sacrament of matrimony every Christian family may cultivate the values of love and communion in order to be a small evangelizing community, sensitive and open to the material and spiritual needs of others.

General:

That the human family may learn to respect God's plan for the world and become ever more aware that Creation is God's great gift.

Mission:

That the answer of the entire people of God to the common calling to holiness and mission may be promoted and fostered by means of careful discernment of charisms and constant commitment to spiritual and cultural formation.