Need help with talk about Jesus as best friend

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leonie

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I’m giving a talk this coming weekend to a group of 7 girls ages 10-13 about Jesus as a best friend.

I want to talk about knowing Jesus through prayer and scripture study.

Loving Jesus in prayer, embracing daily work, and acts of mercy

I’d like to include some stories of saints and from the Bible.

Any ideas?
 
I would highly recommend talking about the message of Divine Mercy revealed to St. Faustina. You can get a lot of information at thedivinemercy.org/

If you’re already familiar with the Divine Mercy, or have read St. Faustina’s Diary, you probably already know this, but in case you’re not…

Jesus actually said these words to St. Faustina, as He revealed to her in the Conversation of the Merciful God with a Despairing Soul (here’s an excerpt):
Jesus: What joy fills My Heart when you return to Me. Because you are weak, I take you in My arms and carry you to the home of My Father.
Soul: (as if awakening, asks fearfully): Is it possible that there is yet mercy for me?
Jesus: There is, My child. You have a special claim on My mercy. Let it act in your poor soul; let the rays of grace enter your soul; they bring with them light, warmth, and life.
Soul: But fear fills me at the thought of my sins, and this terrible fear moves me to doubt Your goodness.
Jesus: My child, all your sins have not wounded My Heart as painfully as your present lack of trust does - that after so many efforts of My love and mercy, you should still doubt My goodness…
…Tell Me all, My child, hide nothing from Me because My loving Heart, the Heart of Your Best Friend is listening to you."
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Jesus is our best friend, if we let Him be. He of course is first God and our savior, but He is also our friend. I’ve found this “side” of Him to be wonderful and comforting. :hug1: ❤️
 
that’s a hard age range to try to reach. developmentally, the 13 year olds are much different then the 10 year olds in the issues that they may want to cover. i would suggest maybe dividing them up wit hanother adult for part of it.

they are all at an age where you could teach them lexio divina, or better yet, ignatian gospel contemplation, using scriptures that will depict Christ as a freind. it may also help them later on if you depict christ as the the spouse of thier souls- the girls usually get this morre easily then the boys, and it (hopefully) will help them make good choices about the type of young men they date in the future (again, this would be a good reason to split up the age groups, the 10 year olds will better get the christ as friend, treat others as you would treat christ, etc, while the 13 year olds will be more open to understanding christ as the bridegroom who is “wooing” thier souls for the marriage of eternity in heaven.)

as for the outreach aspect of your discussion, this should come easy to them because (in general) young girls tend to sympathize easily with the suffering and marginalized- even if the subject in question is as superficial as “the girl that nobody else will play with”. let them come up with thier own examples, challenge them to think about the people that they may have missed, and tell them about the emotional and spiritual rewards of doing the right thing and helping others. generally, you will find that they would have tried to put it into practice within a week.

for the saints- try to diversify the many examples there are of the expressions of love from the female saints. they will more readliy identify with one over another if you read the background info and using the “shot gun method” (giving many examples) helps to also catechize about our faith through the saints. have them pick one that they will say a novena to or something to that effect.
Hope this helps!
 
I agree with Belle10, St Faustina’s diary would be an awesome resource to talk about a relationship/friendship with Jesus.
 
I would say that we can only talk about Jesus as our best friend only if you have first talked to them about Jesus being God. Jesus is so much more than just a best friend - and while we can say that he is one or like one - it does compare to the fact that He is our brother, our Savior, our King, our Mediator and so on.

I would suggest talking to the children about Christ as though he is their best friend. That he is someone that that they can always turn to and that He is always there for them. And tell them that while he can be looked upon as a best friend that he is so much more than that.
 
leonie said:
Wow, thanks!

I am greedy though, how about some more ideas? 🙂
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Leonie, I think most girls can relate to the desire to have a big brother who will protect them and will always want the best for them. If you speak to them of Jesus in this manner, I think it will resonate.
 
“Let the children come to me” - I forgot exactly where it is but you can google it to find out.
 
Since the girls are between the ages of 10 - 13… you might want to consider talking about several saints… who were themselves, young girls. A few who come to mind…

St. Maria Goretti
St. Bernadette of Lourdes
Blessed Jacinta Marto (one of the Fatima visionaries)
And I would also include, her cousin… Lucia Dos Santos… the eldest of the Fatima visionaries; who is not yet a saint, but her “cause” will soon be opened. She died in Feb. of 2005, in her 90’s.

There are also a couple of young boys who come to mind. Including them… might make the girls think more about the sanctity a boy can achieve… if he strives for holiness. Sadly, there are so many in this day and age… who do not. 😦

These young boys are…

St. Dominic Savio
Blessed Francisco Marto (Jacinta’s brother… and Lucia’s cousin).

These are just a few. They might also enjoy hearing about Little Nellie, of Holy God. This precious child was just a baby… when she exhibited a high degree of holiness. You can find information about all of these young saints… on the internet. God bless.
 
Actually, since Mary only wants us to do as her Son wants and since most girls that age are in the midst of puberty/pre-puberty with all the physical changes and this culture’s pressures, I would recommend having them learn friendship of Mary. I know for most of my teen years (plus) there were a number of instances of “things and sufferings” that I was too embarassed about to bring to Jesus (as a male) however I didn’t mind talking to Mary (a female) them.🤷
 
brigid12 said:
Actually, since Mary only wants us to do as her Son wants and since most girls that age are in the midst of puberty/pre-puberty with all the physical changes and this culture’s pressures, I would recommend having them learn friendship of Mary. I know for most of my teen years (plus) there were a number of instances of “things and sufferings” that I was too embarassed about to bring to Jesus (as a male) however I didn’t mind talking to Mary (a female) them.🤷
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good point. hmmm. may need to rethink this. 🙂
 
leonie said:
Still looking for help.

How do you develop an intimacy with God?
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The same way you do with anyone: spend a lot of time with them. 😃

Encourage daily prayer, frequent Confession, Holy Communion, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, reading of the Bible, reading of books on the lives of saints (again, I highly recommend the Diary of St. Faustina – see my signature line for info.).

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” ~James 4:8 ❤️
 
leonie said:
Still looking for help.

How do you develop an intimacy with God?
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I think that from square one you incorporate prayer. I’ve been doing alot of adult formation, and what I do is go to the adoration chapel and pray. then I sit at my desk and pray that the Holy Spirit will help me to organize my thoughts to find the material He wants covered as well as the specific topics and themes. then I write it down (whatever comes to me). then I pray that the Holy Spirit helps me and inspires me as i write my outline (or sometimes a paper to bounce off of that i turn into an outline later). then I write the outline. then a half an hour before the talk, i pray to mary and christ that i may teach only what they want taught and that they may inspire me as i teach. then i listen (many good outlines have gone to waste during this last part- sometimes the Lord decides to change things). then, during my prayers to jesus and mary I pray that they may make my heart ready to teach, then i pray that they may till the soil in the hearts of the people I am to speak to so that they may hear the truth of christ and his church. then i have a cigarrette and coffee, use the restroom, and go into the meeting area. when i’m done with the talk, I say a prayer of thanksgiving and have some more coffee.

the most important thing to remember is that nothing you can say or do will bring them into a relationship with christ. this is the work of the Holy Spirit. the best that you can do is to be faithful and teach what He inspires in your heart, pray for your students, and let the Holy Spirit blow where He will. be honest, sincere, and knowlegeable, and the Holy Spirit will do the rest. we cooperate in the salvation of souls, but we connot save them ourselves. pray for them and God will act in thier hearts. you can’t give them a relationship with christ, you can only point the way.
Hope this helps,
Glen
 
Thanks for sharing, Glen. I’ll be working on my talk during Adoration on Thursday, too.
 
MarieVeronica said:
Prayer and silence.
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Silence! I hadn’t thought about that. I imagine for girls this age, silence isn’t a highly sought state. I know that my dd likes noise all the time–music, books on tape, etc.

Which also reminds me about music. :hmmm:

I’d have to stick to traditional hymns though because some of the girls come from families that don’t allow modern music.
 
Belle10 said:
The same way you do with anyone: spend a lot of time with them. 😃

Encourage daily prayer, frequent Confession, Holy Communion, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, reading of the Bible, reading of books on the lives of saints (again, I highly recommend the Diary of St. Faustina – see my signature line for info.).

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” ~James 4:8 ❤️
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These girls come from devout families that encourage all of the above practices, so I want to take it a little further. Divine Mercy is a wonderful idea, though, esp since the preceding talk to mine is going to be about conquering root sins.
 
I hope you let them know that God is holy and one cannot be in his Presence forever if one sins, never repents (etc). I was never taught this, had to find out the hard way… Now i am paying for sins i committed years ago. I will pay for them for the rest of my days on Earth, one wya or the other…

Sin kills. We need to teach our young people this. Children who are not taught this have Hell to pay, often literally.

Jesus said that the way to eternal life is narrow and there are few who find it.
I have it from a reliable source that even children end up in Purgatory (and Purgatory is very painful in most levels).
 
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