The every day Examen or Consciousness Examen is a reflective, prayerful, non secular follow that involves us from the Non secular Workouts of St. Ignatius Loyola. Its easy premise—that we will with follow grow to be extra consciously conscious of God’s exercise in our lives—makes it an incredible prayer for younger and previous. If you happen to’re in search of a enjoyable, interactive technique to introduce younger individuals to this excellent non secular follow, contemplate taking on the next problem for every week, and begin to grow to be conscious of Jesus in all of the moments of the day.
- Invite younger individuals or households to create a Jesus picture or figurine that they’ll take with them all over the place simply. It must be sufficiently small to hold within the hand however giant sufficient to maintain consideration. It shouldn’t be ready to slot in a pocket the place it is perhaps forgotten. I’ve completed this utilizing a easy paper craft tube, some card inventory, and markers.
- Inform individuals to take Jesus with them wherever they go for the subsequent week. If the youngsters in your group are sufficiently old to have their very own cellphone cameras or to borrow a household digital digicam, encourage them to snap photos of Jesus as he shares the day with them. If images are usually not an choice, preserve a small journal useful. Youngsters could make just a few notes all through the day about what sorts of issues they did with Jesus, including their very own sketches if they’re so inclined.
- College students ought to take 5 to 10 minutes on the finish of every day to assessment the day’s images and/or journal entries. They need to begin by asking Jesus to assist them select one or two moments to pay particular consideration to. They are going to wish to save images of those moments particularly, maybe printing them out and making a poster with them or highlighting the related journal entries. For youthful youngsters, Mother and Dad or an older sibling could have to assist. If “A Week with Jesus” is completed as a household undertaking, households may do that collectively on the finish of the day, starting with a prayer asking Jesus to assist everybody select one or two moments after which sharing the tales of these moments with one another.
- If this can be a class undertaking, you could want to lengthen the storytelling or sharing element by taking time on the finish of a one- or two-week interval to ask college students to share their images, sketches, or journal entries and the tales related to these “Jesus moments.” Encourage them to recall as a lot element as they’ll: Who was there? What have been they doing? What was being mentioned? Who was saying it? And most vital, how have been they feeling as all of this was taking place? Let youngsters converse quietly to God about their solutions.
- Whether or not within the residence or within the classroom, make sure to finish your time of storytelling and faith-sharing with a brief prayer of thanks in your personal phrases or, as advisable by St. Ignatius, a memorized prayer just like the Lord’s Prayer.
