“God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation.” -  CCC 2567

Everything that we do in youth ministry should be centered on the fact that we want to bring young people into a relationship with the Lord, to help them respond to his “initiative of love.”  We need to be John the Baptist to these young people; we must always be pointing them to Jesus Christ.

The only way that any of us can grow closer to Christ is by spending time with him in prayer and worship. We need to model and teach this to young people in everything that we do. We need to pray “always” and “all ways”.

Because every young person is different, it is important that we make a concerted effort to offer a balanced variety of prayer opportunities within our ministries. Particularly as the Holy Father has asked that 2024 be marked as the Year of Prayer in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee year, there should be a great emphasis on promoting opportunities for individual and communal prayer.

We encourage all ministry leaders to read Teach Us to Pray: Living the Year of Prayer in Preparation for Jubilee 2025. This resource, inspired by the teachings of Pope Francis, was prepared by the Dicastery for Evangelization and is “written as an invitation to intensify prayer, understood as a personal dialogue with God,  and to lead readers to reflect on their faith, and their commitment in today's world, in the various contexts in which they are called to live.”