In this unprecedented time of church and school closures, Ten Ten is offering all schools and their families the opportunity to access FREE prayer resources for the home.

Take A Moment

The end of the school year provides a perfect opportunity to take a moment to look back and reflect, as well as look forwards with renewed vision and hope.

As the final week of daily prayers for this school year, we finish with The Five-Day Examen – a simple but beautiful resource for use in the classroom or at home. We have produced this resource along with our partners, The Jesuits.

Based on the traditional Ignatian meditation, these daily reflections are used at the end of each day to help children reflect on all that has taken place, how they have felt and responded and how they can allow Jesus to work in them more.

.

Holy-days

The prayers this week help children to plan ahead and prepare for the summer holidays, something they might usually be very excited for, but perhaps a little less so this year – they might feel like they’ve already had a long holiday at home!

The word ‘holiday’ comes from ‘holy day’, when people would be allowed time off work to observe religious festivals and feast days. Today, a holiday means any time off from our usual work. These prayers consider how children’s ‘holidays’ can truly become ‘holy days’.

Each day children will be led in reflection using Psalm 34 (note that this is the Sunday Psalm from last week, rather than 5th July) and offered a suggestion for an activity to do, either this week or during the holidays. You might like to encourage children to keep a list of these activities so that they remember them.

Praying The Rosary

This week, our daily prayers are produced in partnership with Mission Together, which is the children’s branch of Missio, the Pope’s charity for world mission. Designed to coincide with the Feast St Peter and St Paul, the Day of Many Colours is Mission Together’s annual day of celebration. It is a time to remind children that we belong to God’s worldwide family and is based on the five ‘continent’ colours of the Mission Rosary.

You may be aware of the ‘rosary’: the traditional prayer which uses beads as a guide to meditate on the life of Jesus whilst praying the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. ‘The Mission Rosary’ follows the same tradition, but each section of the rosary (known as a ‘decade’ because it has ten beads in each section) is a different colour representing a different continent: green for Africa, red for the Americas, blue for Oceania, yellow for Asia and white for Europe.

Each day, the children will focus on a different continent and pray the rosary. Decide for yourself how many times to say the prayers each day. The options are:
- Option 1: 1 x Our Father, 1 x Hail Mary, 1 x Glory Be
- Option 2: 1 x Our Father, 3 x Hail Mary’s, 1 x Glory Be
- Option 3: 1 x Our Father, 10 x Hail Mary’s, 1 x Glory Be

If the children are saying 10 Hail Mary’s, they can use their fingers to count.

Lift My Eyes

In this week’s Gospel Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not be afraid.” This is a message we hear in the Gospel at different times, mainly from Jesus, but also from others. It’s an important message for us today: it helps us to remember that Jesus is always with us, helping us leave our fears behind and lift our eyes to Him.

Each day the prayers look at different times we hear the words, “Do not be afraid,” said in the Gospels, and help children apply this message to their own lives.

Welcome Home

In the Gospel this week, we hear Jesus declare, “I am the living bread… Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.” When we celebrate the Mass we too can share in this living bread, so our focus this week is on preparing our hearts to meet Jesus in the Mass. Each day suggests something we can do to get ready to receive Jesus.

To note: Even though we can’t go to Mass in church at the moment, we can still use all the points to welcome Jesus into our hearts at home and as preparation for when we can return to celebrate Mass together.

Live In Me

This week we’re spending some time prayerfully reflecting on God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Children are invited to bring all that is in their hearts and minds to God. With two days devoted to praying to each member of the Trinity, children will understand that:

- God the Father loves us as a perfect parent, whom we can turn to no matter how we are feeling;
- God the Son supports and cares for us as a constant friend who teaches and guides us through the person and example of Jesus;
- God the Holy Spirit guides us as a wise teacher, who lives in us as our closest friend and advocate, bringing hope, peace and love to our hearts

Fill Our Hearts

Sunday 31st May was Pentecost Sunday; the time when we remember Jesus sending the disciples His Holy Spirit. In receiving the Holy Spirit, the disciples were inspired with joy to go out into the world and make Jesus known. The Holy Spirit is what encourages and inspires us to do good.

The theme of this week’s daily prayers is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Taking a little of the traditional prayer ‘Come, Holy Spirit’ each day, children will come to understand what the prayer means.

Make Me Hopeful

In this week’s Gospel we hear about Jesus’ preparation to return to heaven. Even as He tells the disciples that He is about to leave them, He reassures them that He is not leaving them alone. This reassurance and His resurrection are the reasons we can be hopeful.

Hope is the theme of our prayers this week and we take encouragement through the words of Pope Francis.

You Were Like Me

The daily prayers for this week help children to relate to God in a personal, fun and tangible way. The prayer allows children to think of God not as a distant figure in the sky, but as a personal God who came down to earth and walked and talked just like we do!

The prayers for each day are the same: a litany of 12 prayers and actions. Adults can encourage children to follow the actions by joining in themselves! The prayers naturally conclude with a more reflective tone, so please encourage children to close their eyes and reflect at the appropriate moment during the prayer time.

I Shall Not Want

This week's prayers help children to reflect on how shepherds help the sheep in their care. By exploring this, and by recognising that Jesus is our ‘Good Shepherd’, children are encouraged to think about how following Him helps us live our life to the full. Each day, children are given the opportunity to reflect on how Jesus, our Good Shepherd, provides us with:

Monday – Food
Tuesday – Guidance
Wednesday – Help
Thursday – Shelter
Friday – Community
Saturday – All of these things

This week's Gospel shows how Jesus walked with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter Sunday. In the Gospel, we hear descriptions of all the ways Jesus shows His love, care and attention to them. Even so, it is not until near the end of the passage that the disciples actually recognise that it is Jesus - when He breaks the bread and shares it with them.

Jesus 'secretly' showed His love by walking with them, asking how they were, explaining Scripture to them, spending time with them and giving them the confidence to return to Jerusalem and tell the other disciples about meeting the risen Jesus.

This week's prayers help children to look for ways that they can be like Jesus this week and 'secretly' show their love and care to others. While we are isolated at home this is a beautiful way to be creative with our relationships, so you might like to use these prayers as a family.

Each day, children are invited to choose a particular way to 'secretly' show the love of Jesus to those they live with. Perhaps in the evening, you can share as a family the ways you think you were all showing Jesus' love to each other.

Holy Week

On Palm Sunday, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem riding a donkey and greeted by crowds shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ By Good Friday, the same crowds were calling for Him to be crucified. This ‘Holy Week’ is the final week of Lent which takes us to Easter Sunday, the most important event in the Church calendar.

This week, our prayers focus on the last supper that disciples ate with Jesus, and help children to prepare for Easter.

A New Normal

Welcome to the second week of your new ‘Prayer at Home’ resource!

The message of this week’s Gospel is that like Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, we too can be raised to new life through belief in God.

The prayers create space for children to reflect on their ‘new normal’ – albeit a temporary one – and understand that as Christians, we can always know a new normal because we are always offered forgiveness and a fresh start when we ask.

Welcome to your new ‘Prayer at Home’ resource!

This week's Gospel tells of a man who was born blind receiving miraculous healing after an encounter with Jesus: the story helps us to reflect on how Jesus restores both physical and spiritual sight.

The blind man who was healed came openly and honestly to Jesus, and so was able to see Jesus as He truly is, the Son of God. However, the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees, were more concerned with their own dogma and failed to see the true Jesus.

This week's prayers help children to know that they can come to Jesus openly and honestly and share all their questions, hopes and fears. As they do this, they will be invited to recognise how Jesus is at work in every moment of their lives.