FAQ
Who is this book for?
This book of prayer is intended for:

• students in parish schools (years 3-6)
• students in parish religious education or sacramental classes
• students in religious education classes in government schools

What is different about this book of prayer?
CHILDREN’S DAILY PRAYER UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS is a book of prayer – like a missal rather than a book of ideas for prayer. It follows the church’s year and is based on the church’s long tradition of praying at certain times of the day – the Liturgy of the Hours. The ‘hours’ for prayer are:

• The beginning of the school day
• Lunchtime
• The end of the school day

Why a new book for each year?
CHILDREN’S DAILY PRAYER UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS is like a new diary. Right there on the right day and the right date are the prayers and readings for each day of the school year. Students don’t have to match up days and dates from other years. This is why the book is so user-friendly.

Why a book for each classroom?
There are several reasons why CHILDREN’S DAILY PRAYER UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS works best when each classroom has its own copy of the book. (Remember that this is now a book of ideas for prayer, nor a reference book to sit on a shelf in a school library).

1. It is important for students to participate in ritual action. Such participation is not possible when prayer is led over a public-address system from a place such as a principal’s office. Common prayer is an encounter between the assembly and God. This is hardly reinforced when the prayer is guided by a disembodied voice.
2. ‘Long-distance’ leadership does not permit the adaptation of prayers to the age or special needs of each class.
3. Having a book in each classroom allows for spontaneous intercessions, selection of hymns suitable to the age of students, special blessings for birthdays.
4. In the classroom setting, students can gradually become skilful and comfortable with proclaiming the scriptures, praying intercessions and in taking a leadership role in prayer. Hence it gives students first-hand experience of the different roles in communal prayer.

How does the book work if there is one in each classroom?

• The leader and reader share the book
• Each student has a copy of the Psalm, the Meal Prayer and the End of the Day Prayer for the month or season. These could be copied in seasonal colours and placed in prayer folders which students could make at the beginning of the year or each term.

What parts do the leader and reader take?

• The leader:
•  reads the Introduction, the Reflection and the Closing. It is good for the leader to check with the teacher about how many reflection questions might be used.
• Leads the parts of the Psalm marked ‘Side A’. Have ribbons of seasonal colours to mark the page of the Psalm
• Leads the blessing prayer if one is provided.
• The reader:
• Leads the parts of the Psalm marked ‘Side B’
• Reads the scripture reading for the day’s prayer.

How are the Scripture Readings organised?

• Prayer for Monday to Friday has its own schema of readings designed to introduce students to the great figures the spic stories, and major themes of the bible. As in the case of the Liturgy of the Hours which the daily prayer of the church, these readings are not linked to the daily mass readings.
• Includes in the Monday to Friday prayer, some weeks of readings from the gospel writer for the current Sunday cycle.
• Spreads longer readings over a number of days. Hence students hear the whole story through daily use of the book.
• Weekly Prayer usually uses the Gospel reading for the current Sunday drawn from the Lectionary for Masses with Children.

What is the role of music?
Sung prayer is at the heart of the Christian tradition of prayer. CHILDREN’S DAILY PRAYER UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS will always work better when song is an integral part of it. In the ‘Looking Ahead’ pages which precede each season or month, hymns, chants and short refrains are suggested.

• Hymns are drawn from the collections Gather Australia and As One Voice.
• The basis of selection is the liturgical season or the feast being celebrated, suitability for students, and what students are likely to hear in their parish Sunday assemblies.
• It is good to have a repertoire of Gospel Acclamations for Ordinary Time, Lent and Easter, as well as settings of ‘Lord have mercy’, ‘Kyrie eleison’, ‘Alleluias’, other chants, short refrains and litanies.
• There is a CD available containing a selection of hymns. It is accompanied by a book of black-line masters for copying.