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Engaging Faith: Practical lesson ideas and activities for Catholic Educators

July 6, 2009

Prayer Service: Becoming A Better Me


The following prayer service is intended to encourage teens to avoid alcohol and drugs and to treat their bodies in healthy ways. It is taken from Everybody's Problem: Addiction and Recover by Therese Borchard.

1. Light a candle and darken the prayer space. Tell the teens to enter the space and quietly stand around the candle. When all are present and silent, lead this prayer:
Dear God,
alcohol and drugs have hurt many people we know.
We seek your help to encourage those affected by alcohol and drugs
to seek a right course and become the
people you intend them to be.
We ask this prayer in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
2. Say: "We all want to become a 'better me.' We all want to be healthy people in body, mind and spirit. With God's help, the help of others, and our own persistence, we can become the people God intends us to be. Take some time to write honest responses to the following questions (write on board or recite slowly):

What discourages you from treating your body in a health way?

What discourages you from developing your mind to its fullest potential?

What discourages you from knowing God better and putting God first in your life?

3. When everyone has completed the questions, have the teens recite the following prayer of Charles de Foucauld (make copies or project for everyone to see):

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me; and in all your creatures—
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
without reserve, and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
Amen.

4. Next, tell the teens to reflect and write responses to the following questions (write on board or recite slowly):

What encourages you from treating your body in a health way?

What encourages you from developing your mind to its fullest potential?

What encourages you from knowing God better and putting God first in your life?

5. For the final prayer, ask everyone to stand around the candle and recite the Our Father.


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Posted by: Mike Amodei

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