Use this reflection to help students prayerfully meditate on the wounds of Christ and to enter deeper into his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. This exercise will encourage students to grow in their personal relationship with Christ as they reflect upon his infinite love.
First, invite students to pull out their notebooks or journals. Explain that during this activity, they are to enter into personal, individual prayer. This can look different for everyone. Some people prefer to pray by journaling while some prefer internal prayer. Some like to close their eyes while others prefer to keep their eyes open. Some bow their heads and fold their hands while others prefer a different posture. Encourage students to find a posture of prayer that is reverent, comfortable, and allows them to focus on their prayer.
Next, project the following image, which was painted by Matthias Grunwald, in a slideshow, or pass out the following image to each student.
Read the following meditation out loud, giving students time to reflect and meditate on the image.
Look at the image before you.
Where are your eyes drawn first? What do you notice first?
Stay there for a moment. Observe what first caught your eye.
What strikes you? What emotions do you feel? What do you see?
Now, allow your eyes to slowly scan Jesus on the cross. Begin at His head and move to His feet.
Notice his hand, pierced for your sake.
Notice his had, crowned with thorns.
See his precious face.
Look at the bones in his rib cage and torso, and imagine the suffering he endured for you.
Look at his feet, which were nailed to the cross for you.
Now, look at the people surrounding him. Notice St. John and how he holds Mother Mary, who is stricken by grief. Do you think that our Mother holds you in this way when you are suffering? Do you think she understands the pain you experience since she, too, has a wounded heart? What do you think she felt as she watched her Son be crucified and die upon the cross? How can you console her heart by being her child today?
Look at the other people in the image and the lamb that stands by the cross. Who stands out to you among them? Why? How do you think you would respond if you were at the foot of the cross, gazing upon your Savior? Would you fall to your knees, or would you stand? Would you bow in reverence? Would you kiss His bloodied feet? Would you be silent, or would you speak to him?
How do you imagine Christ would look at you from the cross? Do you believe he would gaze at you with love? Do you believe that his blood and water would wash over you as a beautiful cleansing and a sign of his mercy?
If Christ had to be crucified again and go through his suffering all over again just for you, He would. His love for you is endless, unconditional, and unfailing. There is no length to which he would not go to know you and to love you.
Take a moment to talk to Jesus – the One who gave everything to save you.
Amen.
Megan Neuman is an Editorial Curriculum intern at Ave Maria Press. She is a senior English major at Franciscan University.
Use this prayer from the diary of St. Faustina Kowalska to encourage students to meditate on their past, present, and future. This exercise can help students to learn to appreciate the blessings that surround them, to surrender the past to Jesus, and to entrust the future to his will.
Begin by passing out handouts with the prayer printed on it.
O My God, when I look into the future, I am frightened, but why plunge into the future? Only the present moment is precious to me, as the future may never enter my soul at all. It is no longer in my power to change, correct or add to the past; for neither sages nor prophets could do that. And so, what the past has embraced, I must entrust to God.
O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire. I desire to use you as best I can. And although I am weak and small, You grant me the grace of Your omnipotence. And so, trusting in your mercy, I walk through life like a little child, offering You each day this heart, burning with love for Your greater glory.”
Excerpt from the Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, Notebook 1, Section 2
Invite students to close their eyes and find a posture of prayer. Then read the prayer aloud, slowly and intentionally.
Next, tell the students to silently read through the prayer a few more times, praying with the words and contemplating what they mean to them. Encourage them to think about the following questions (write on board):
How does this prayer relate to your life today?
What do you struggle to surrender to Jesus the most?
Have you ever struggled to live in the present moment and to appreciate the blessings around you? Perhaps you find yourself constantly thinking about your past, weighed down by your wounds or regrets. Maybe you find that you are always looking ahead and waiting for what is to come, and this distracts you from the ways God is working in your life today.
What are some practical ways you can learn to be grateful for this day? Maybe consider starting a gratitude journal, or documenting your blessings and joys through pictures on your phone.
What does it mean to “walk through life like a little child?”
Optional: Have the students meet in small groups to discuss the questions, write answers to the questions in their journals, or write a short essay on one or two of the questions.
Megan Neuman is an Editorial Curriculum intern at Ave Maria Press. She is a senior English major at Franciscan University.
Pray and reflect with St. Francis of Assisi’s “Prayer of Peace.”
Begin by making a copy of and distributing the following prayer to the students.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Invite the students to read the prayer to themselves, underlining or highlighting anything that stands out to them.
Next, divide the students into small groups and ask them to share with one another what struck them about the prayer. Ask them to read the prayer together and then have a discussion. Use the following questions to guide their discussions.
What stuck out to you from the prayer? Why?
In what ways can you emulate the virtues portrayed in this prayer?
What habits can you build in your day-to-day life to sow love, pardon, faith, hope, light, and joy?
Are there any parts of the prayer that are difficult to read? Is anything hard to understand?
What do you think St. Francis means when he says, “it is in dying that we are born to eternal life,” and how can you die to yourself in order to more fully love the Lord?
If you are looking for more ways to encourage your students to pray this prayer, use some of the following activities:
Print off the prayer and hang it in the classroom
Pray this prayer to begin or end each class this week
Encourage students to keep this prayer on their nightstand or in their mirror to pray at the start and end of each day
Do an artistic activity! Grab some craft supplies and ask students to write the prayer – or their favorite line from the prayer – on the paper. Then decorate and hang them in a special place.
Megan Neuman is an Editorial Curriculum intern at Ave Maria Press. She is a senior English major at Franciscan University.
Materials needed: cardstock, colored pencils or markers
Instructions:
1. Distribute art materials to students.
2. Read the following quote by J.R.R. Tolkien to your students: "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death."
This exercise will allow students to meditate on this quote through sketching.
3. At the bottom of the cardstock, have students draw an image of darkness (e.g. a stormy sea) and write down any darkness and frustration that they are currently facing in their lives.
4. Next, have students draw a monstrance in the center of the page, above the darkness. Read the following words, one at a time: romance; glory; honor; fidelity; death to life; healing; surrender. Pause between reading each word to have the students write the word on the rays of the monstrance. Before going on, ask he corresponding question for general class discussion, partner discussion, or journal writing:
Romance: How is the Eucharist a romance?
Glory: What is the glory Jesus destines you for?
Honor: How can you honor Jesus in the Eucharist? How does Jesus honor you in the Eucharist?
Fidelity: How is Jesus faithful to you in the Eucharist? How does he teach you fidelity?
Death to life: How is Jesus in the Eucharist calling you to die to sin and selfishness? Is your faith in the Eucharist more alive or more dead?
Healing: When you receive Jesus in the Eucharist, what healing do you need to ask for him to give you?
Surrender: What is one situation in your life that Jesus is inviting you to completely surrender to him, trusting that he will take care of everything?
5. On the stem of the monstrance, have the students write True Love. Beneath the monstrance, have them write down the people who they love and who they want to surrender to Jesus, as well as ways that Christ is calling them to love these people.
Display the finished artwork in the classroom.
In December 1531, a beautiful woman appeared to an Indigenous farmer named Juan Diego outside of Mexico City. Over the next few visits this woman, who Juan Diego eventually learned was the Virgin Mary, asked him to petition his bishop to build a church. She also told Juan Diego to bring roses to the bishop, though it was not the season for roses. When he did as she instructed and opened his tilma before the bishop the roses dropped to the floor and an image of Our Lady appeared on his cloak.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has named the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 as a day of solidarity with immigrants and refugees.
Have the students work together to print the following prayer developed by Catholic Relief Services on a large sheet of butcher paper. Pin the prayer on a wall in the classroom.
Hail Mary, Lady of Peace, we pray for the peace in our world; make us peacemakers.
Hail Mary, Friend of Common People, unite us across economic lines; together let us raise up the cause of the oppressed.
Hail Mary, Mother of Mexico, help us both appreciate Latin America’s culture and work to end its poverty.
Hail Mary, Mother of the Infant Jesus, we pray for all children who are victims of war and hunger; let us stand for them.
Hail Mary, Wife of the Carpenter, Joseph, we pray for the rights of hardworking laborers in all the world; let their dignity be recognized.
Hail Mary, Woman of All Generations, move us to speak for the elderly who lack adequate health care and shelter.
Hail Mary, Homeless Mother, we pray for those without homes; let us advocate for affordable housing.
Hail Mary, Lady of All Colors, show us how to love all people by challenging racism and discrimination.
Hail Mary, Mother of Our World, make us global citizens, working for justice and well-being in all the world.
Amen
Next, share a link to Native Land Digital. Have the students check in on the site and locate the native people that once resided on the land where their ancestors first came to this country. Provide colored markers and have the students print the name of the indigenous people from their ancestral land on the prayer poster.
When everyone has printed a place, pray the prayer together with the class.
Who Is St. Faustina?
St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938 ) was a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. On September 13, 1935, Jesus revealed himself to her in a vision. Her feast day is on October fifth.
Born as the third of ten children of a family of poor Polish peasants on August 25, 1905, Helena Kowalska felt the call to religious life from an early age. She lacked her mother’s permission and spent some time working as a housekeeper in order to provide her family financial support. At age nineteen she went with her sister to a dance at a local park and had a vision of the Suffering Jesus who spoke these words to her: “How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting me off.”
Helena made arrangements immediately to leave by train for Warsaw, eighty-five miles from her home. There she went into the first Catholic Church she saw and asked a priest for advice on which convent she might enter. Only the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy accepted Helena, provided that she first earned enough money to pay for her religious habit.
Taking the name Sr. Maria Faustina, her life as a religious would have been ordinary except for Jesus’ choice of her to be his “Apostle of Mercy.” She recorded Christ’s words in her diary, which she titled Divine Mercy in My Soul: “I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with my mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.”[1]
Sr. Faustina also wrote that Jesus told her to paint an image according to the pattern revealed in a vision to her, with the words “Jesus, I trust in You.” She was not an artist, and three sisters in the convent refused to help her draw. In 1934, her spiritual director, Fr. Michael Sopoćko, introduced her to artist Eugene Kazimierowski, who painted the image of Jesus and Divine Mercy as she described it to him.
Fr. Sopoćko had Sr. Faustina evaluated by a psychiatrist who was associated with the convent to gauge her mental health. She was declared mentally sound, and Sopoćko fully trusted her visions. On September 13, 1935, Sr. Faustina wrote about a vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Jesus also revealed to Sr. Faustina mystical visions of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. These, too, are recorded in diary entries.[2] For example:
On Heaven
I saw its unconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, which spreads to all creatures, making them happy; and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source; and they enter into the depths of God, contemplating the inner life of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom they will never comprehend or fathom. This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures.
On Hell
Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a great place of torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is. The kinds of torture I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it, a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is conditional darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses, and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are tortures designed for particular souls. These are torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned.
On Purgatory
I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls called Her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice which said] “My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.” Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.
St. Faustina died from complications of tuberculosis on October 5, 1938. She was only thirty-three years old. When a sister asked St. Faustina if she was afraid of death, she replied, “Why should I be? All my sins and imperfections will be consumed like straw in the fire of Divine Mercy.”
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was revealed to Sr. Faustina Kowalska comes from a vision of Jesus in which he told her to offer to God the Father the gift of his Body and Blood as a way to appease God’s wrath, specifically over a “most beautiful” Polish city which had fallen into sin. Jesus told Sr. Faustina to “unite yourself closely to me during the sacrifice of Mass and to offer my Blood and my wounds to my Father in expiation for the sins of that city.” Sr. Faustina prayed the following words, given to her by Christ: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.” This prayer remains central to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, today prayed on the beads of a rosary.
Sr. Faustina was questioned by her spiritual director, Fr. Michael Sopoćko, about the visions, and he recorded her response. When the Chaplet was printed on a holy card of Sr. Faustina after her death, Catholics around the world began to pray it for the benefits promised by Christ, specifically that everyone who recites it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Sr. Faustina had written these words of Jesus in her journal: “When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand before my Father and the dying not as the just judge but the Merciful Savior.” Sr. Faustina also prayed in her own words to Jesus, “to be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners.”
Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope, opened an investigation into the life of Sr. Faustina in 1965 while he was the archbishop of Krakow. Pope John Paul II would eventually beatify Sr. Faustina in 1993 and canonize her in 2000. He also established the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. Praying the Chaplet on the nine days before this Feast of Divine Mercy brings, in the words of Jesus to St. Faustina, “every possible grace to souls.”
How to Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
You can use Rosary beads or special Divine Mercy Chaplet beads to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Opening
1. Make the Sign of the Cross
2. Pray an Optional Opening Prayer
St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon you and I beg your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with you for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of you light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equaled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in his mercy. God will not deny his mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to your feet that they may glorify your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us.
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in you! (Repeat three times.)
3. Pray the Our Father
4. Pray the Hail Mary
5. Pray the Apostles’ Creed
Body
6. On a large bead pray the Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
7. On the ten small beads of each decade say:
For the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (Repeat for the remaining four decades.)
Concluding Prayer
8. Pray the Holy God
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (Repeat three times.)
9. Pray the Closing Prayers
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to your mercy—to your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth's exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to you, we implore you: anticipate us with your grace and keep on increasing your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do your holy will all through our life and at death's hour. Let the omnipotence of your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as your children, await your [Son’s] final coming—that day known to you alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through his merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven (Diary, 1570).
[1] St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1588.
[2] The following three quotations are taken from St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, entries 777, 741, and 20, respectively.
Print the following Scripture passages on 1.5 x 11 strips of paper (one passage per strip):
John 2:1-12
Matthew 15:32-39; 16:5-11
John 6:1-14
John 6:22-71
John 15:1-11
Give each students a Bible and a set of all five strips.
Tell them that in each passage, Jesus offers some explanation for the Eucharist, which he will reveal, finally at the Last Supper.
Ask the students to go to a place where they can be by themselves and reach each passage. On the back of each strip, have them write one sentence that expresses an insight they have about the Eucharist based on the particular passage.
Play some instrumental background music. Allow at least twenty minutes for the students to read, reflect, and write.
When the time is complete, gather the class together, preferably in a large circle. Go around and ask each student to share one or two insights on the Eucharist.
Conclude with a dramatic reading of the Emmaus story (Luke 24:13-35) or the meal with fish (John 21:1-14).
This exercise works well as a classroom prayer and meditation.
Share this story in your own words:
An older man came to the library every evening, sitting at the same table each time. At 9:50 the announcement came: “The library is closing in ten minutes.” Still the man wouldn’t leave. Every night the librarian would have to come to his table and tell him that it was time to leave.
One night, she could resist no longer. “Why do you come here each night? You never have a book. All you do is sit here.”
“Oh,” the man said. “Why I am waiting for my friend. My friend is the most beautiful person you could ever meet. So talented in many ways. I love my friend so much. If you give me just a few more minutes, my friend is bound to come.”
So the librarian gave the man some extra time. A few minutes later, as the library was being closed, she returned to the man and told him to leave.
“My friend is extremely busy,” the man said on his way out into the night. “But tomorrow my friend will certainly be here.”
Ask the students to share some thoughts on what the story means. They should recognize that the older man is meant to represent God. The man’s friend is meant to represent each of them.
Point out that God longs to spend time with each of us. How patiently God waits for us. God will never give up on us. God will always be waiting. It’s up to us to notice God’s presence.
Play a reflective song as an interlude, perhaps “Center of My Life” by Paul Inwood.
Have the students turn to Psalm 139 in their Bibles. Tell the students to spend a few minutes reflecting on the words of the psalm. Explain that Psalm 139 is a message that God is a loving, caring presence in their lives and has been intimately connected with their lives since they were first conceived.
Ask the students to complete the following sentences as a journal exercise:
The thought of a God who is very close to me . .
When God examines my heart, he finds that I am . . .
As appropriate, call on students to share their finished sentences either with a partner or with the entire class.
Conclude by praying the Our Father.
