Suffer Little Children...

This lent I found myself with the happy task of retreating 5-11 year old students.  Class by class I welcomed them, a total of over 500 boys and girls!   

I taught them about prayer and with the different levels I did a different type of prayer.  As we prayed they shared their lives with me.  The five year old boys prayed for things like fireman trucks, iPads and cellphones!  The six to seven year olds prayed for help in their studies, and one for his father to get the money to finish building his home.  The 8- 9 year olds  praised and thanked God for their families, and refreshingly, for the environment, for oxygen and for their hearts, their lungs and their brains. The 10 -11 year olds asked forgiveness for lying, kicking each other, not listening or paying attention and for calling each other names, among other little 'transgressions!' 

For all of them a highlight was making a prayer flower on the petals of which they wrote their different prayers.  For me it was their eagerness to be blessed.  They all came up as I blessed each of them and prayed that they would become beautiful flowers for God. 

Even as I retreated these little cuties, I challenged myself about the quality and nature of my own prayer. 

What in your Lenten journey so far, has challenged you and the way you pray? 

Gail Jagroop, OP
St. Joseph, Trinidad