You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, Sproutes. Today is Friday, August 3rd, 2021. Today is also the Feastay of St. Gregory the Great.

Now, all week we have been talking about discipleship and the 10 marks of being a disciple. They are. The disciple is called.

A disciple responds to this call. Disciples love. Disciples are obedient. Disciples follow.

Disciples are taught. Disciples keep their eyes on heaven. Disciples suffer willingly for Jesus, and disciples serve God by serving other people. Now today we are on number 10, and this is number 10 because

it is the most important mark of a disciple, and that is that a disciple prays. This is the ultimate mark of a disciple.

You know, what we do in the world, the way we love other people, whether we practice our faith publicly or not, sure, those are important. But what is most important

is that we have a relationship with Jesus that we spend time with him each day. It can be small,

but we need to spend time with him each day.

Because remember, a disciple follows.

Now, we aren't lucky enough to live on earth when Christ lived, so we can't actually walk after

him.

And the only way that we will really know him and be able to follow where he leads

is if we are prayerful. Now, prayer is difficult, difficult for children and adults. It takes both

practice and dedication. The best way to pray is to set aside time when you will pray every day and to remain committed to that time.

Now, I know as children, you might not have a lot of control over your schedule, but what I encourage you to do is each night after the lights are turned out and it's quiet and you're all alone, before you fall asleep,

say some simple prayers then. Even if you only say one our father and say, Jesus, I love you,

help me to follow you, that will go a long way. Now, we might not hear God's answer right away in that moment,

but you can rest assured that if you are praying and spending time with Jesus each day,

the way ahead of you will become clear. Jesus will make it easy to follow him because he will lead

you. And so the best thing that we can do as disciples,

the first thing we have to do is we have to pray. Now we've talked about the 10 marks of a disciple.

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