“You can’t pray Lectio with little children.”
I’ve heard it many times. From priest, teachers, parents. I believed it myself.
“They don’t know enough.” “They can’t reason yet.” “They don’t pray… They can’t even sit still.”
Lies, Lies, Lies every last one of them… Actually, each one of those are the exact reasons we aren’t as “good” at prayer as we could be. We know too much. We reason too many excuses. And not much has changed in my few decades on this earth… I still can’t sit still.
But… Children can pray Lectio. I wouldn’t have believed it unless I saw it. A group in our parish sitting down with the K-2nd graders and just praying with them with scripture. How is this possible? How do they express prayer? Quite simply, the same way a child expresses love to their parents or a sibling or their teachers. Take a big old magnet and slap that prayer up on the fridge.
I was educated as a young child with the Montessori Method. So once I saw this, it clicked. Read the Bible passage and let the child express it in the way they can. Give them a piece of paper, pencil and crayons. Tell them to be with Jesus as they color. And…. Trust.
Don’t put words in their mouth or on their page. Just simply ask them… “What did you draw? (Write…)” They will let you know. And if teaching is needed…. Teach.
After I saw this, and reflected… I wasn’t surprised anymore. After all, “Unless you acquire the heart of a child, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3) A little child’s prayer is pure, innocent, and absolutely trusting. Believing truly that God is bigger than anything they can imagine. Thus, there is no limit on God, not even the limit of HOW they should pray.
This is a great reflection Joe, you weren’t too bad at Mass when you were little considering I brought you to Mass every morning after I took the girls to school. So true how children can express them selves in other ways , besides written prayer, for sure they teach all of us to pray sometimes!!!
Had the first grade children color this morning would I read them the last supper… It was so neat, I tell them every time I do it…. You’re coloring is praying when you’re with Jesus while you are doing it