Learning About Forgiveness With St. PatrickSample

The Power of Prayer

While serving as a shepherd,

God’s grace came down to me.

The holy Dove descended

and gave me faith to see!

God’s Spirit was now with me

and all along the way,

I lifted my prayers up to him

a hundred times a day.

The passage above tells us that St. Patrick prayed to God a hundred times a day. What do you think about that? Have you ever prayed a hundred times in a single day?

Whether or not it was exactly one hundred times, we do know that St. Patrick prayed a lot. What do you think he was praying about? What kinds of things do you pray about?

When we have a problem, sometimes it is easy to move right into trying to fix that problem, rather than slowing down and taking the time to pray. Prayer can bring peace to our worried hearts, but also can bring understanding that helps us know what we should do next.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for the example of St. Patrick and how he prayed. Please help me to slow down and be a more prayerful person, just like St. Patrick.

Activity: Find a shoe box or other container that you can make into a Worry Box. Decorate the outside of the box. Use small scraps of paper to write down things you are worried about and put them inside the box. Each time you pray, pull one slip of paper out, and pray about that worry. Throughout the week, when you feel worried about something, write it down and add it to the Worry Box.