Engaging Faith

School is coming soon. When it does, share some of these prayers with your students. Have them create other prayers to help them and their classmates through the school year. These prayers are all included in Day by Day: The Notre Dame Prayerbook for Students. Prayer Before Study Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, lofty origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your brilliance penetrate into the darkness of my understanding and take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of both sin and ignorance. Give me a sharp sense of understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations, and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion; through Christ our Lord. Amen. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Open My Mind Lord Jesus, you were once a student like me. You studied God’s law, the history of your people and a trade by which to earn a living. You lived in a human family, made steady progress in understanding and yearned to discover your vocation in life. Open my mind to the truth of things, make me humble before the awesome mysteries of the universe, make me proud to be a human being and a child of God and give me courage to live my life in the light of your gospel. Amen. The Balance Help me, God, to find a balance between study and leisure. When work must be done, let me realize that I am here to learn and cannot go to every party. Let me also see that life is more than books and being a person comes before grades. A snowball battle, a walk around a lake or a simple talk with a friend will do wonders when studies get me down. Guide me along this balanced line. Amen. Loretta Mirandola Anything Can Be Accomplished It’s never easy to be a student. Every day brings more assignments until it seems that the hard work will never end. I know I’d rather watch TV or listen to music many times when I sit down to study, but please, Lord, help me to realize that knowledge, like your love, can never be lost. Help me never to underestimate myself as a student because anything can be accomplished with your guidance and love. Let me be helpful and understanding toward my fellow students, and not judge them but radiate the same love you show us through your lasting mercy. Amen. Bill Starr Give Me Dear God, give me the strength to love others and to be loved. Guide me through each day with your helping hand. Give me the knowledge that you are already there, Especially when I need you the most. Give me the courage to live each moment as if the next will never come. Show me how to be strong when I am feeling weak. Give me the strength to live as you intended me to. Amen. Cassie Koberts Prayer Before Examinations Lord, it seems as though our lives are one test after another, weighing us in somebody’s balance. Save us from taking the coming tests too seriously or too lightly, but grant that we may reflect the best of the work we’ve done and the best of the teaching we’ve received; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. John W. Vannorsdall

The USCCB is sponsoring an educational week, July 22-28, that focuses on National NFP Awareness. When your students return to school, consider incorporating some lessons of this campaign along with a synopsis of Pope Paul VI's reaffirmation of Church teaching in his encyclical Humane Vitate (released in July 1968) in some of your opening lessons. "NFP Awareness Week is an opportunity for married couples and Catholics everywhere to better understand and embrace the Church's uniquely positive and liberating message on the truth of married love," said Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. "The theme for 2012, 'Faithfully Yours,' highlights the beauty of how husbands and wives are called to live out their total dedication to one another." Natural Family Planning Lesson Idea For high school students, share the following material from the Marriage and Holy Orders: Your Call to Love and Service text on what Pope Paul VI termed "the contraceptive mentality": What Has Happened Since 1968 The consequences of the “contraceptive mentality” has been far-reaching, especially since 1968 when Pope Paul VI released his encyclical Humane Vitae which reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on married couples using only natural means to regulate and space the birth of children. In his writing, the Pope warned of what would happen if artificial birth control became widely practiced: Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives great cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection. Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife. —Humanae Vitae, 17 What has happened since 1968? Unfortunately, Pope Paul VI’s predictions about the results of a contraceptive mentality have come true in so many cases. Here are some of the results: The rates of abortion, venereal diseases, out of wedlock births, and divorce have risen dramatically. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of women occur at unprecedented levels. Population control policies are now a part of nearly every foreign aid discussion between developing and developed nations. The export of contraception, abortion, and sterilization tools to developing nations is now a requisite for reception of foreign aid in dollars. The defining element of a woman’s identity—her potential for bearing new life—has been redefined as a liability. Her new identity is as a person with the freedom to choose to end life if she wishes while, ironically, the man bears no responsibility. Assignment: Write a position paper on the “contraceptive mentality” explaining its affects on women. In the paper, cite up-to-date statistics to support your claims. In addition, mention how the contraceptive mentality also adversely impacts men.

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