St. Patrick's College

The boy's from St. Patrick's college were great to work with. We enjoyed our discussions on Christian attitudes and not judging people and also our meditation. 

Focus
We chose to make a circle because it represents never ending friendship. The different colours represent the diversity in our class. The candles represent life and the books represent each individual person.

Music
For the prayer service we chose When You Believe because it can inspire you and can help you achieve your goals, and when times are hard if you believe God is always with you that gives you spiritual strength.
We also chose Will You Be There? because if times are hard you just need that one person to keep you company and remind you that you're only human and can make mistakes but learn from them and be faithful to yourself.

Scripture

The Good Samaritan, We acted this story because it is relevant to today as it shows that despite peoples differences we should help each other and bring love and peace to the world.

Prayers

Dear God
Could you help those fortunate 
to receive your gift of wisdom and and generosity 
to help support those less fortunate
Amen


Dear God
Please pray for those who have lost a close  member of their family
Amen

Dear God
Please help the sick.
Help them to get better and not to suffer any longer,
and to help the families of the sick feel supported and not to feel lonely.
Amen


Dear God
Pray for those children who won't get anything for Christmas.
Remember them in our prayers.
Amen


Dear God
Pray for those who we have lost a friend.
Remember them in our prayers throughout our day.
Amen

Focus
We made the word God because we talked about him today and he is in the room.
We made the fish as a symbol of Christianity.

Music
Wonderful world - we chose this song because it makes you think what a wonderful world you live in.
Man in the mirror - because we must change ourselves before we change the world.

Scripture
We chose to read 1Cor 4 because these are the morals every body should live by. If we could all do this the world would be a much more peaceful place.

Prayer

Dear God

Help the ill and the sick and the poor,

little kids around the world with no homes.

Stop the fighting and hate in our country and around the world.

Amen

Dear God

Help the homeless for they should be treated with respect,

and they should also be treated with loving homes and family.

Amen

Dear God 

Please take care of the starving kids in the third world countries.

Help them get support from others and to live a slightly better life.

Amen 

St. Mary's Yr 11

Once again we met the Yr11 boys from St.Mary's and it was great that they all remembered so much of their retreat in first year. This week a wide range of topics were discussed in relation to living Christian community. Everyone enjoyed the group conversations and activities.

Music: 

For our prayer service we picked Ghetto Gospel by 2pac as this song is about equality. Everyone is equal and everyone should be treated the same and everyone should stop fighting over race.

We also chose 2pac's Changes as it is about how hard it is to live as a black person 20 years ago.

Focus:
We made a shooting star as it represents the unity of people and we used candles to represent the nations of the world. 

Scripture: 
We picked, Judging others (Luke 6:37-42) because this story tells us not to judge people and it is wrong to judge people, and that everyone is the same and has equal rights.

 Prayer:

Dear God,

Help all the homeless and loney people on the run up to Christmas 
and keep them safe.

Amen

Dear God,

Please help the students and parents with their exams coming up 
and help them to do well and have a good future.

Amen

Dear God,

Please pray for the sick who are dying in hospital 
and pray for their families during these hard times.

Amen

Dear God,

Help all those who are sick, imprisoned or are worse off than ourselves 
or are in need of guidance and assistance, in our society and around the world.

Amen

Dear God,

Will you please pray for the imprisoned people that feel like strangers in our community.

Amen

Dear God,

Pray for all those who are not treated as equals in the world.

Amen

Reflection:

Music: 
We chose Man in the Mirror as it reminds us to look at ourselves and see how we can make a change in our world.
Born this way: We picked this because it tells us not to judge anyone for being different as we are all unique and different in our own way.

Focus: 
We made this focus as it stresses the fact that God is always here. The yellow in the focus represents light, and how God can be our light in the darkness.

Scripture: 

Do not judge others (Matt7:1-6). We chose this passage because today was about not judging people before you even get to know them. In this passage Jesus tells us to look at ourself first before judging someone.

Prayers:

Dear God,

Please look after the elderly of all our families

Amen

Dear God,

Pray for the people who are living in poverty and are starving

Amen

Dear God,

Pray for the homeless and the less fortunate today 
and keep them in your memory

Amen

Dear God,

Please pray for the imprisoned people in our society

Amen

Dear God,

Please look after the people who have cancer

Amen

Remember the people who are victims of abuse 
and there families

Help them

Remember all the babies that don't live long.

Think of their family
Amen

Reflection:

Focus
The blue is a road representing the journey of life. The cross is Jesus dying for us and faith. The rainbow is happiness and God's love. 

Music
For our prayer service we chose Personal Jesus by Johnny Cash because it is about confessing to someone close and finding Jesus and faith in people.
We also chose The Times They are A-Changing by Bob Dylan because it is about how the times are changing in religion, culture and politics and in our lives.

Scripture

We chose  Love your enemies (Lk 6:27-36)  because today was about learning how to live with eachother, and learning who you are as a person.

Prayers

Dear God

Thank you for giving us clean and fresh water which we are greatly thankful for.

Lord hear us

Dear God

We are thankful for our family and hope you keep them safe and well.

Amen

Dear God

Please help all the sick people both old and young, to get through.

We pray for them and ask you to ease their pain, in sickness and in health.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Could you please look after my family.

Most importantly, my granny because she is only out of hospital.

Could you also look after my grand-dad who is dead one year today.

Amen

Dear God

I'm here to thank you for many things you have brought upon this earth.

We thank you for the green grass, the tall trees, the fresh air and so on.

Every one appreciates this and is grateful for this and will continue to look after your beauty.

Amen

Dear God

I pray that you give each and every person in this world 

the same equal rights, and to not have anyone being treated differently.

Amen

Reflection

F orgive and forget                                      C lever

A mazement                                                O n the ball

I ntelligence                                                 U r the man

T ruthful                                                      R espect

H appiness                                                  A lways making good decisions

                                                                   G ood lad

                                                                   E verybody supports you

 Focus:
We made this focus because God lights the way for us everyday. The 3 lights also represent the trinity.

Music:

Make you feel my love and Man in the Mirror.

Scripture:

We read Luke:8:22 Jesus calms the storm, because it reminds us never to lose faith and that Jesus will always be there for us.

Prayers: 

Dear God,

We pray for those who have passed away.

We pray for their families and friends that

they may be safe and keep them away from harm.

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the world, 
that it will be peaceful the way you would like it to be,

a world without wars and fights over land and possession.
Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the homeless and poor,

the people who struggle to feed themselves and their family,

 the people who struggle to find shelter.

Amen

Dear God,

Help us achieve the highest grades

 we could possiblily achieve in school

Amen

Dear God,

We thank you for our friends and our families.

 May they always be there for us when we are ill and in pain 
and that we never loose them

Amen

Dear God,

May we pray for the sick,

so that we may find a cure for them and also

 look after their friends and families,

 if they are feeling low.
Amen

Reflection:

S priritual                               F ree speech as everyone hatered and respected our opinions

P eaceful mediation                A  fun day

I nfluential                              I nteresting

R espect                                T ruthful

I nspirational                          H appiness

T rust in others and God   

U nderstanding of each other

A quiet day

L ovely day

Focus:

The cross is to represent God, the cirle is to represent the earth and the people of the world and the candles around it represent the people of the earth and life.

Music:

Iris - If  you're not confident about who you are then you don't want the world to see you.

Man in the mirror - If you feel good about yourself,  you're able to have confidence and say you look good in the mirror.

Scripture:

Mark 5:21-43 - We chose this story, the woman being healed, because we believe that the women had faith and confidence in Jesus, and that he could heal her. This shows you if you have faith anything can happen.

  Prayers:

We pray for the people who are struggling in the ressession

Amen

O Lord,

I pray for the people who are imprisioned,

 they should not be treated differently as they are humans like us.

 Even if they are innocent or not.

Amen

Dear Lord,

We offer this prayer to all the victims of bullying and who are constantely abused.

Amen

Dear God,

I pray for people who are poor and homeless.

I pray that they will someday get out of poverty.

Amen

Focus:
After Jesus was baptised a dove came down from heaven. It is because of this that we wrote Dove here.

 Music:

 Prayers:

Dear God,

We pray for our families and friends and

hope that we remain close forever.

Amen

Dear God,

I pray for my relatives who have gone to heaven.

So that you can keep an eye on them.

And if you could keep an eye on the rest of my family.

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the poor

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for everyone to be happy

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the sick, and hope they get better.

Amen

Dear God,

I pray for my family and friends

to keep safe over the winter and

Christmas break in the weeks to come.

Amen

Focus:
We made the shape of a flower as to us it was a sign of happiness.

Music:
We picked Iris becuase it's about the world not understanding who we are.
What a wonderful world is the second song as it is relaxing.

Scripture:
Luke 4:18
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has chosen me to bring Good News to people less fortunate"

Reflection:
F - Forgive
R - Relaxation
I - Innocent
E - Education
N - Never give up
D - Dont forget to work hard
S - Special
H - Happiness
I - Inspiration
P - Peaceful

Focus:
We made this because today has been good and it made us smile.

Scripture:

We picked Mathew 5:14, You are the light of the world, because we need to help others by showing and shining our abilities.

Prayers:

We pray for the people who are homeless

Amen

We pray for the people who are sick

Amen

We pray for our families

Amen

We pray for the people who are sick

and also those people who have cancer.

Amen

Reflection:
C - Christ
H - Hears
E - Everyone
E - Exciting
R - Retreat
F - Fellas were singing
U - Unbelieveable
L - Loving

D - Delightful
A - Awesome
Y -Y is the questions we were always asked