God gave the 10 commandments to Moses. Do you know what they are?
When Jesus came to Earth, he summed up the commandments into just two! Try and remember those two commandments and follow them every day in all that you do, think and say.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
Jesus taught this prayer to his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray. God listens to us no matter if our prayers are long or short or if you just don't have the right words, God knows what you mean. God wants us to pray with our needs, thanks, praise, and what we're sorry for.
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Anyone can read or say the Lord's prayer, but it is important to think about what you are saying when you pray.
Our Father who art in heaven
This means we're praying to our father who is in heaven. We start the prayer out this way so we know that we're praying to God our father and we're not alone. God likes it when we call him father and he wants us to talk to him like we talk to our own father. God is our loving father and we are his special children.
Hallowed be thy name
This means holy is your name. Even though God wants us to call him our Father, he is still God. It's sometimes really hard to understand who God is and what he's like. How did he make us? How is he perfect and never makes mistakes? God just wants us to remember that we need to treat him with a lot of love and respect because he is God and when we pray to him we need to be respectful.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
If we think about heaven, we know its pretty great. The Bible says that in heaven there will be no more crying, God will live with us, and there will be no hunger or hurt there. This part of the prayer says let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. This means we are praying that
people would live in peace and love with one another the way it is in heaven. It reminds us that we should be living the way God wants us to every day of our lives.
Give us this day our daily bread
This means give us today all that we need. Keep in mind that these are things that we can't live without. We don't need video games and Barbie dolls - those are the things that we want! But we do need food, water and shelter. Even though we pray for things we need, that doesn't mean we'll
get them. There are still people with no food in many parts of the world but that doesn't mean we stop praying for these things. When we ask God for things that means we trust Him and we'll leave the decision to God.
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
This next part of the prayer is asking for forgiveness for our mistakes. Forgiveness means that we are sorry for something we've done and we don't want to do it anymore. But we also need to forgive people who have done wrong to us. Sometimes others hurt us very badly, so we need to ask God to help us forgive them because it's really hard or we don't want to. If we forgive others, God will forgive us.
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Is it sometimes tempting to do something you're not supposed to? This part of the prayer is really good because it asks God to help us to know the right thing to do and to protect us against the evil that is in the world and keep us away from it.
ACTIVITY 1: MAKE YOUR OWN PRAYER BOOKLET
ACTIVITY 2: USE 'ACTS' TO SAY A PRAYER
Download and print the template file and the Instructions file to make your very own prayer booklet.
Template Instructions
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Adoration: First, tell God how much you love and adore him.
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Confession: Next, tell God about what you have done wrong and tell him you are sorry. He will forgive you.
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Thanksgiving: Think about all the positive things in your life and thank God for these blessings.
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Supplication: Pray for something you need help with, and for other people who need God's help.
REAL PEOPLE... REAL LIVES
Amelie - aged 10
Isaac - aged 10
We have both been altar servers for the last two years. We enjoy doing this very much because it helps us to concentrate on the Mass and the prayers being said and what is going on. We get a lot of support for our Catholic faith at our school, which is a Catholic school. At school, we are both in the Mini Vinnies. In this group we have been able to fund raise for good causes. Our last fund raising was for Cafod. It feels good to be able to help other people.
We sometimes take part in the youth activities at our church. We had great fun on the Spy Hunt around Oxford and we also took part in the mini pilgrimage to Boars Hill. For this, we walked from the car park at Tilsley Park all the way up to the Youlbury Scout Centre at Boars Hill. Once we got there, we had quite a bit of fun, ate our packed lunches and then had Mass.