Annual Gathering of Lasallian Retreat Teams in Ireland

Our annual gathering of De La Salle Retreat Teams in Ireland took place at the beginning of this week in Emmaus Retreat House in Swords.  There are four De La Salle Pastoral Centres in Ireland, they are:

• Benildus Pastoral Centre in Dublin - Directed by Michele Sinnott
• De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Belfast - Directed by Margaret McClory
• De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Castletown - Directed by Derek Doherty
• Parmenie Pastoral Centre, Downpatrick - Directed by Frances McBride

We meet to reflect on our year and to draw support from each other, as well as having some quiet time for personal prayer and reflection, facilitated this year by Rosemary Lavelle.  It is always great to meet and catch up with everyone.  Some of our collegues were unable to attend for various reasons but were very much with us in spirit.  

This school year, De La Salle Pastoral Centres have had the privilege of facilitating retreats for almost ten thousand young people from all parts of Ireland.  This has been a great blessing for us as teams and as individuals.  We have met and worked with so many truly good young people and journeyed with them in their searching and their hoping and it is a great deal we learn about ourselves, each other and God through this. 

As our year draws to a close we thank God for the blessing of each other and of the young people we have met and we pray that the year ahead will be fruitful and blessed.

Ballymacrickett Primary School

Our last two groups of the school year were the P7s from Ballymacrickett and what a lovely way to finish off the year. The groups were full of fun and had loads of questions and chat, which we really enjoyed. Leaving their primary school is only days away and this brought a mix of emotions to the groups.

Most people are so excited to be going to a post-primary school, but the thought of leaving the familiar and stepping into the unknown can be a bit worrying. One of the things we talked about was our first day at primary school and how we went about making friends. We talked about the importance of friendship and everyone is looking forward to making lots of new friends in their new schools.

As usual we did some meditation and quiet prayer and we had plenty of time for laughter and games too.

The prayer services on both days were very special. In our centre we have been amazed by just how creative and expressive all the different groups are in preparing their prayer services. We always remind groups that even though us on the team experience roughly four group liturgies a week, we are always delighted by the uniqueness of each and every one.

The focus below shows two figures. One represents Jesus and the other represents us. The footprints represent walking. The group did this because they wanted to show something of their experience of taking a walk with Jesus in their imagination, which they did as part of their prayer time. In Jesus's hand you can see the book with all the prayers and intentions which visitors to our centre have written this year. The group placed it here to show that the love and support of Jesus is with everyone, even in their difficulties.

The focus below was of a red cloth symbolising the primary 7 class, all together. They are gathered around a candle which represents Jesus. The blue pathway out of it is their journey into post-primary school, at the end of which is also Jesus - they have met him in primary school and they will meet him in their new schools too.

These prayers were written for the prayer service...

Dear God,

We pray for those who are moving onto high school next year

who are nervous or worried about making new friends

and pray for the teachers from primary school

who helped us get so far and taught us to read and write.

Amen.

Dear God,

Please pray for all my teachers so they don't have too many troublemakers to deal with.

Also help me to appreciate my coaches in sports trips and all the people who care for me.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Please help families that are sick or worried or that are suffering from illnesses.

I ask for you to help the people get better and end their hard times.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Please help the poor people who have no homes and who are very cold and hungry.

Help them to find a house.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Please help me and my friends to get on well, cope with the difficulties and have fun and be happy when we go to our new schools.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Thank you for keeping my family and me safe and well. Please continue keeping us well and happy.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Please help the sick to get better and help those who care for them.

Amen.

Dear God,

Thank you for all my friends and all my family. I love them and you do too.

Help them to stay safe and healthy.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Will you please help people who are hungry, thirsty and need shelter and need. There are people in Chile and Haiti who had two earthquakes - help them in these troublesome times.

Lord hear us.

What a lovely way to end the term. We had such a great time with these young people, as we have had with all the groups we've had the privilege of meeting and working with this year. We wish each and every one of them the very best for the future. We look forward to meeting again, those who will return to this place and those we we will not meet again will remain in our prayers. We offer to all the blessing that we end each of our group liturgies with...

May God the Father bless you,

May God the Son protect you

And may God the Spirit lead you on the right path.

Amen

St. Colman's Transition Retreat

It was great to have the P7s from St. Colman's in our Centre this week for their transition retreat.  They were a great bunch, lively and enthusiastic.  It's so near the end of term that the reality of leaving primary school is near.  They had loads of happy memories from their primary school years, some of which they shared with us.

They wrote heartfelt prayers for their prayer services...

Dear God,

Help the people with no friends.

We pray that they will make many new

friends in their new school.

Amen.

Dear God,

Pray for those families that have members that have passed away.

Amen.

Dear God,

Bless our teachers for their kindness and patience throughout our

years at school and that our new teachers will be as kind as them.

Amen

They wrote these brilliant Reflections...

Look at the way they created a prayerful atmosphere in the chapel for the Prayer Services by making these meaningful focuses.

This one shows  a person made out of the footprints they made during the day. The person represents all of us.  Above the person they made the world out of cloths.  This was to represent that it is up to us to be like Jesus in the world, to bring Jesus to everyone we meet, through the way we treat them.  They used the cards thay made in the day to represent the cosmos.  All of God's creation was represented in this excellent focus.

The other group made a display called, "A Burst of Colour."  They used the coloured cloths to represent all the different aspects of our personalities and all the qualities we have as individuals.  They put all the footprints and cards round it to include us all.  They chose the song "True Colours" to play, because in the song it says, "I see your true colours and that's why I love you."  That's just the way God feels about each one of us. God loves us exactly as we are.

We talked about how important it is to just be yourself when you go to the new school.  We're sure all these P7s will let their light shine in all their new schools in September and we wish them blessings and happiness.

Holy Trinity, Transition

We had the Primary 7 pupils from Holy Trinity Primary School in the Centre over the last few weeks for their Transition Retreat in preparation for moving on to post-primary school.  They talked about the PAST! We can learn a lot about ourselves and others through reflecting on the past and acknowledging the people who have been important in our lives.

We talked about the PRESENT which is the moment we are in right now! It's really important to reflect on the past and plan for the future, but we can't live in the past or predict the future.  We are sure of the moment we're living in right now, so it's important that we make the most of it.

The FUTURE is something that can make us feel a little bit worried, especially when we know that a big change, like moving school, is definitely taking place.  Jesus told us "Do not worry about tomorrow..." Jesus understood our tendency to worry and tried to reassure us.  When we accept how much God loves and cares for us we can begin to feel less worried!  Thinking about the FUTURE can also make us feel very excited when we think of all the experiences which await us and all the new friends we might meet.

Whether it's the past, present or future we're thinking about, God is always with us.  When we think of the lovely memories we have of good times with our friends, we get a little glimpse of God's love for us.

Look at the lovely focus below.  It represents Jesus and the beauty of nature.

For the beautiful focus below the group wrote the following explanation...

This is the pathway to God as we follow him as confirmed Christians.
It is also the pathway to lead to the different schools of many choices.
Amen.

The beautiful prayers below were written for the Prayer Services.

Dear God,
We thank you for giving us life and hope for our new school
and also for the lovely toys and presents from our family and friends.
We also want to thank you for giving us a life to remember.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We ask you for peace and happiness for us and for our families and friends.
God we ask you to help them to be good, loving and faithful.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We ask you to help in the new schools we are moving to.
Help us to get through our tests and GCSEs.
Lord hear us.

Lord,
We thank you for all the wonderful things you have given us.
We sometimes forget to thank you but now we can.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We pray for the people who died.
May they rest in peace.
Lord hear us.

Lord,
We pray for the sick and ask you to bless them and that they would
get better and they could go home to their families.
Lord hear us.

Dear Lord,
Please help the poor people.
May they find shelter and food and just pure happiness.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Pray for the families for the 12 people in Cumbria
who have passed onto a better place.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Help those who are moving to a different school.
Help them do well and make new friends.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
I am praying for a good friend of mine called Cory Wisdom,
aged 13, goes to Corpus Christi, died in the Falls Park.
God I am counting on you to take good care of him
and treat him the same way as you treat everybody else.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We pray for the people who have died.
Please help their families.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
I hope everyone makes new friends in their new schools.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Please help all the sick people in the world.
We can only hope they get better.
Help their families through this difficult time.
Lord hear us.



Lord,
We pray for the people who are homeless.
Help them to find a new life.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
thank you for friends.
Amen.

Dear God,
Help all the sick and people in Africa.
Amen.

Dear God,
Thank you for the day off school.

Amen.

Dear God,
Can you help the homeless kids and help the environment.
Amen.

Dear God,
Pray for the sick.
Amen.

Dear God,
I love you because you help the poor people.
Amen.

Dear God,
Help me to be good forever.
Amen.

Dear God,
I pray for all the sick people in hospital.
Amen.

Dear God,
Help people who no no friends.
Amen.

Dear God,
I love you. You made me full and happy
and I hope you make the others happy.
I think they need a lot of it.
Amen.

The Focus on the last day can be seen below. This is the reason the group wrote...

We did God Is With You because we were thinking about that today.
God will be with us in our new school.

We had a lovely time with these great young people, who are bringing great enthusiasm, talent and joy to their new schools.  We wish them every blessing.