PRAISE ANOTHER PERSON!

If we are on the way, where exactly are we going? This life is a journey from God to God. He is our source and our destination. We are each a pilgrim on that narrow path. It’s not an easy journey. We all know that. However, if we co-operate with God’s grace we can make it and, even better, we can make it together. And, so, to the topic of our first challenge: Praise.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God” adding that it “embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal” which is Almighty God (#2639).

Praise puts us into right relationship with God and, as a result, we also find ourselves in right relationship with our brothers and sisters. Hence praise is an ideal place to begin our pilgrimage because it’s also where, please God, we’ll end our earthly pilgrimage.

Here is a twofold challenge which can be placed on a bulletin board:

First: Praise God every day. Every day, pray the Divine Praises or the Glory Be depending on the level of the students. Place these prayers on the Bulletin Board as a reminder

Second: Praise at least one person each day And praise them for something specific. How quick we can be to criticize. How slow we can be to praise. Yet, to praise others is also to praise God for the goodness of his creation. Place a reminder on the bulletin board. At the end of each day, ask the students if they have remembered to praise God by praising others.

October

Mary, the First Missionary Disciple

Mary’s Magnificat is a beautiful hymn of praise to God. Mary recognizes she is lowly. So are we! And yet, through her perfect co-operation with God’s grace she will become loved and praised until the end of time. There is the lesson for us. In praising God, we share in God’s great plan for his universe and all creation, There lies the path to happiness as well as the path to Heaven. Bishop Fulton Sheen, liked to compare the radiance of Mary to the reflective light of the moon. He writes:

“God, who made the sun, also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. All its light is reflected from the sun. [Thus] the Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing. With Him, she is the Mother of All.” As with Mary, so too with us.

October is a perfect month to focus on prayers to Mary. In addition to Mary’s hymn of praise, we can also focus on the Rosary and its beautiful mysteries, Dedicate a bulletin board to the Rosary and spend some time teaching the Rosary to the students. Try having the students do one of the following:

• Create a booklet showing the mysteries of the Rosary.

• Using craft beads and string, have students make their own rosary.

• Join with another class once a week in October to pray a “living Rosary.”

• There are many You Tube videos of the Rosary such as Kristen’s Crosses.” Pray a decade of the rosary each day in October after the lunch recess. Even the youngest students can do a decade each day.

• Teach other prayers to Mary Memorare, Litany to Mary.

Hence, my challenge this month: Pray to Mary each day this month.

As Disciples, together on the Way, we turn our attention this month to the theme of thanksgiving. No, not the annual holiday with turkey and the cranberry sauce but, instead, the reason for that holiday, that we are always to give thanks to God our Father for the many blessings we have received. For the Christian disciple the theme of thanksgiving is essential. It stands at the very heart of our faith and our worship; the word Eucharist itself means ‘thanksgiving offering’. Being thankful is an acknowledgement of God’s goodness and love, as well as his greatness and power. If we don’t practice thanksgiving, we run the risk of forgetting that all good things come from God and, thus, that we could be distancing ourselves from God himself. Practicing thanksgiving in our prayer life can be a means of keeping us connected to God, maintaining our focus and attention on Him. This month:

• Pick a person each day and think of something about that person deserving our thanks. And then do it. Tell him or her of your appreciation. This will be pleasing to God love.

• Take a set of rosary beads and instead of saying Hail Mary’s use each bead to mention something for which we are thankful. If we do this, we will have to name 60 thanksgivings.

• Just as Mary plays such an important part in the gift of eternal life offered to each of us through her Son, Jesus, our own mothers too have literally given us the gift of life Write a letter to your mom, living or deceased, and then say a Hail Mary for our mom every day this week

• Try dedicating each meal as a "screen free zone". This means no TV, no tablet, and no phones. That means the phone is switched off –not just on silent – and away from the table. Doing that allows us to be fully present to each other and to God.

We see Jesus offering a Blessing before many meals. In the Jewish tradition, the Blessing corresponds to the type of food or the importance of the meal. Regardless of which type of Blessing, we can understand that it was a prayer ordered to give Praise and Thanks to God. Write your own prayer of Thanksgiving that you can use for Thanksgiving dinner.