Lesson 4

Jesus Christ: The Heart of Prayer

CONCEPTUAL Jesus is the center of one’s prayer life, the perfect example of a person who lives in true
UNDERSTANDIN freedom. He is our teacher, our model and the one who helps us how to pray by sending us the
G Holy Spirit. We follow Him not simply by “copying and pasting” his words into our prayer, but
by living the life He lived.

The Lord tells us: ‘The first task in life is this: prayer.’ But not the prayer of words, like a
parrot; but the prayer of the heart: gazing on the Lord, hearing the Lord, asking the Lord.”
(Pope Francis, October 8 daily homily)

GOALS  Discuss why Jesus is rightfully the center of one’s prayer life and the perfect example of
a person whose life illustrates the meaning of true freedom
 Strive to keep Jesus at the center of one’s prayer and commit to follow His example as
one strives to live in true freedom
 Pray to Jesus constantly
TARGETED Communication skills, Reflection skills
SKILLS
ASSESSMENT Reflection, PowerPoint presentation
REFERENCES

Lesson Proper
TUNING IN READ: ANSWER:
At the Center of our Human Life: The Heart  What amazing functions does the heart
(Click link to read below) [CL Book, 36] perform?

WATCH (click on photo):  Why is the heart said to be one of the

11 Fascinating Facts About the Human Heart strongest muscles in the body?
[Mercola]
 Aside from the functions of heart
mentioned in the written article, what
other function of the heart do you
know? Write them down.

 How important is the heart? Explain

your answer.

FINDING ANSWER EXPLORE

OUT  What important “tips” does Jesus give READ Offline:
when we pray?  Matthew 6:5-13
[Catholic Bible]
 What beautiful prayer does Jesus give us  Teaching About Prayer
in teaching us how to pray? [CL Book, p. 38]
 The Heart of Christian Prayer
 Why is Jesus regarded as the heart of [CFC 1486]
Christian prayer?  Understanding Our Faith
[CL Book, p. 40]
 How will we pray in the way Jesus does?  St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
[CL Book, p. 41]
  What wonderful plan has God laid out
for us?
 How do you think we can “make our
own mind the mind of Christ?”
 Despite many obstacles, what do you
think is the “secret” behind St. Rose
Philippine Duchesne’s enthusiastic and
fervent service to the youth? Explain
your answer.
 How does the Lord’s Prayer unites each
of the members of God’s family, the
Church?
READ Online:
 Matthew 6:5-13 [USCCB]
 The Heart of Christian Prayer
[CFC 1486 (p. 314); Cher Mercado]
 St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
[Franciscan Media]
WATCH:
 What It Really Means to Pray “Our
Father…” | Lent 2020 [Ascension Presents]
 The Meaning of the Lord's Prayer
[The Religion Teacher]
 St. Rose Philippine Duchesne: A Model of
Prayer
[Archdiocese of St. Louis]

NOTES:

SORTING Using a PowerPoint presentation with narration, creatively discuss your answers to the following
OUT questions:

 Why must we make Jesus the center of our prayer life?

 Is it possible for our life of prayer to “survive” without Jesus? Explain your answer.
 Why does Jesus send the Holy Spirit to help us pray when he already gave us an example
on how to do it?
 What does “putting on Christ” mean? Why is it relevant to the growth of our prayer life?
 How does praying and living like Jesus make us experience true freedom?

Attach your PowerPoint file to your assignment.

GOING (from CL Book, p. 45)

FURTHER
To live as Jesus lived and be rooted in Him are the requisites for us to be able to pray like He did.
Show your commitment to live like Him and be rooted in Him by accompanying the following:

 Under left column, write the positive traits that you possess which you want to further
enhance.
 Under the right column, write the negative traits that you possess which you want to
change.

Below the table, write a prayer to Jesus expressing your firm resolve to do away with your negative
traits and to develop further the positive ones

My Positive Traits My Negative Traits

 Prayer to Jesus

REFLECTING  On your journal, write the following under the title “Jesus Christ: The Heart of Prayer”:
AND ACTING o THREE new things you have learned
o TWO ideas that you need clarification with
o ONE sentence that summarizes the insight you gained after doing this learning
activity

 Take a picture of your answers and paste it below:

This is Our Life
At the Center of our Human Life: The Heart
 The heart weighs less than one pound. The average weight for
women is eight ounces and for men, 10 ounces.
 The heart beats with enough strength to shoot blood a distance of
30 feet.
 On average, a million barrels worth of blood is pumped through
the heart over a lifetime.
 Every year, the heart beats approximately 35 million times. That is
100,000 beats per day and 70 beats per minute. Over the course of
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
a lifetime, that adds up to an average of 2.5 billion heartbeats.
 The heart is a made up almost entirely of muscle. It is strong enough to life approximately 3,000 pounds—
roughly the weight of a compact car.
 The blood vessels fed by the heart are more than 60,000 miles long, they could wrap around the world twice.
 The human heart begins to beat as early as four weeks after conception. Scientists believe that by eight weeks,
when the embryo is only an inch long, the heart is fully developed.
Understanding Our Faith
Jesus Christ: The Heart of Prayer
Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray
 Prayer should not come from the lips but from the heart
 Prayer is done in the privacy of our room (in our heart) and there we converse with God is secret
 Prayer should spring from our desire to be in an intimate conversation with God
 Pray the Lord’s Prayer

 Do NOT simply recite prayers without putting mind and heart into them
 Do NOT pray as if you are performing, show off to others how prayerful you are and waiting for their
admiration and applause
Jesus Shows Us How We Should Pray
 Pray often, in solitude, drawing away from the crowd to be alone with His Father
 Pray to give glory to of the Father as what He did during the Last Supper
 Pray not only for oneself, but also for others, even those hurt us
 Pray before making important decisions, always open and submissive to the Father’s Will
 Pray always, but never forget to accompany prayer with acts of charity and service
Jesus Helps Us to Pray
 The Holy Spirit empowers us in our prayer life by intimately uniting us with Jesus, making us His true
disciples. Prayer becomes our way of life.
 The Holy Spirit is the interior animating force of our Christian life.
How to follow Jesus po?
 We follow Him not simply by imitating how He prayed but by living the kind of life He lived.
 We “put on” Christ; as St. Paul told the Colossians, “live in Christ Jesus, be rooted in Him and build up in
Him.”

"JESUS TRULY TEACHES US THE

PERFECT WAY TO PRAY WITH
THESE WORDS."
St. Thomas Aquinas on The Lord’s Prayer