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

Hey there, Sprouts.

Today is Wednesday, August 29, 2018.

It is also the feast of the beheading of St. John the Baptist.

This week on the Catholic Sprouts podcast, we are tackling the topic of prayer.

With the help of St. Monica on Monday, we talked about what prayer actually is. On Tuesday, with the help of St. Augustine, we talked about why prayer is so

important. And today, with the help of St. John the Baptist, we are going to talk about how we pray during difficult times.

Do you know the story of St. John the Baptist?

He, of course, was the cousin of Jesus. He baptized Jesus in the Jordan.

But after he was done baptizing Jesus, St. John the Baptist was arrested

and held by an evil king. The evil king didn't really have any intention of beheading John

the Baptist, but his wife, who was jealous of St. John the Baptist and did not like what he was

saying about her choices,

asked for his head on a platter, and the king agreed. So St. John the Baptist was killed. Now, chances are

you aren't going through quite as hard of a thing as St. John the Baptist did, and yet we all

face hard times and struggles. Maybe you've lost someone that you've loved. Maybe you've gone

through a hard time at school where you didn't have close friends or felt left out. Whatever the

situation is, we all go through suffering, and it is important

that while we suffer, we pray. However, it can be hard to pray when we're suffering. Sometimes,

it feels like the hardest time of all to pray, and yet it is the most important time to pray. So how do we pray

when we are suffering or we are going through a deep sadness? First of all, sprouts, I want you to

remember that God is everywhere. Whether you are praying or not, God is already there with you in that situation.

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