Religion

Every day class begins with a praise and worship song. I try to pick songs that relate to our topic of study or the liturgical season. Sometimes the students will give suggestions for the song of the week. We then say some type of prayer. This may be a teacher or student led prayer or a reading. We follow that with one quiet minute with God.

Every Friday, we do a Lectio Divina. I usually use the Gospel reading for the coming Sunday. We will read the Scripture, talk about how we can use our senses to visualize the scene, and picture/reflect on the reading.

There are several prayers that our fourth graders will be learning including the Hail Holy Queen and the Prayer to St. Michael.

Students in third through sixth grades have the opportunity to lead the school Masses. They serve as lectors, greeters, and cantors.

We have a new religion series this year - Christ in Us. There will be many topics discussed this year including: the Sacraments, the 10 Commandments, and the Liturgical Year. Each grade has been assigned a saint for the year. Our saint is Teresa of Avila. We will be learning about her throughout the year and turning to her for help and inspiration to live out a prayerful relationship with God.

More than anything else this year, I hope to impress upon the students the importance of spending some time with Jesus every day so that they will continue to develop their relationship with Him as a close friend. Maybe families can even establish a quiet time at home (10 minutes or so) so that everyone can spend that needed time with Jesus. What a refreshing time of peace we feel after having that connection with God!