God, Give Me Courage

To help the children identify things they can do to emulate the fortitude of saints

The children will be able to define the word fortitude.

• Prepared sheets with "God, give me courage to . . . " written or typed across the top
• Pencils

• Review the meaning of fortitude as the virtue that gives us the courage to follow Jesus even when it is difficult.
• Divide the class into groups of two or three, and distribute the prepared sheets (one to each group) and pencils.
• Explain to the groups that saints did not know they would become saints, but dedicated themselves to listening to God's Word and trying to follow in Jesus' footsteps, even in the face of difficulty.
• Ask the children about things they could do today that would directly impact the world around them for the better.
• Have them fill in the blanks on their sheets of paper with suggestions for things they could do, with the help of God's fortitude, to be more like Jesus and to make the world a better place.
• Ask the groups to present their ideas to the class.

People Smart, Word Smart

Be sure to arrange the children so that there is at least one person in each group who likes to who make presentations.