Advent

Our Jesse Tree

Our Advent Wreath

It's beginning to look a lot like Advent!

The Hall Stand

Our Chapel

We are very fortunate to have our own private chapel here in the Pastoral Centre and we are well used to sharp intakes of breath when visitors to the Centre see the chapel for the first time, for it is beautiful.  Our stained glass windows are vibrant with colour and depict the Mysteries of the Rosary.  They are the first thing you notice when you enter the chapel.

We use the chapel for groups to meditate in during the day and to celebrate their prayer service in at the end of each retreat day.  

The De La Salle Brothers who live here, use the chapel for their morning and evening prayers too, so it is a well used and much loved sacred space.  

Recently the chapel has had a fresh coat of paint and the floor has been polished to a high shine. The morning after it had all been finished I took this photograph because it looked so peaceful and lovely.

Later on that day, a group from St. Bride's Primary School brought their own vibrant colours to the chapel, celebrating the day that they had in a prayer service of colour, song, scripture, thoughtful prayers and drama.

It is great sometimes to have a chapel all to yourself and spend some quality time with God, but it is equally good to be with others in God's presence, praying together and supporting one another.

Year 14 Retreats

At the start of this school year we had the pleasure of the company of the Year 14 students from Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School and Mercy College.

Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, Year 14 Class

Year 14 is a big year in so many ways and in between studying for very important exams, filling in university applications, getting organised for the school formal, making important decisions and choices about the future and facing the prospect of long-time friends going their separate ways, it can be very hard to find time to reflect on everything that is happening and try to see where God is in it all.

We believe that allowing ourselves that time is very important and so our Year 14 retreat encourages each individual to reflect on their own lives up to this point and to notice God's action in their lives. It also allows time for each person to reflect on the people who have been part of the journey through school with them, their classmates, and to affirm them.

It is perhaps the most reflective of all our retreat programmes and it can be very poignant for the Year 14s as they face into great changes in their lives.

When everything else in our lives is changing or in flux,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

 Hebrews 13:8

We thank all the Year 14s who came here for their retreats and we ask God to bless them and to bless all Year 14s as they prepare for the exciting changes and opportunities that await them.

The Blog Is Back

Hello everyone, we took a little break from our Blog for a while there but not from our work, which continued on apace, with 2000+ young people coming to our Centre in the last academic year (2013/14) for their Retreat.

We had the pleasure of facilitating retreats for young people from:

Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School 

St. Joseph's College, Belfast

De La Salle College, Belfast

St. Mary's CBGS, Belfast

Mercy College, Belfast

St. Bride's Primary School, Belfast

St. Columbanus College, Bangor

St. Kieran's Primary School, Belfast

St. Teresa's Primary School, Belfast

St. Rose's Dominican College, Belfast

St. James' Primary School, Carrickfergus

Glengormley Inegrated Primary School

John Paul II Primary School, Belfast

St. MacNissi's Primary School, Glengormley

St. Patrick's Primary School, Holywood

St. Therese of Lisieux, Belfast

St. Colman's Primary School, Derriaghy

St. Joseph's Primary School, Crumlin

St. Patrick's Primary, Waterfoot

St. Bernard's Primary School, Glengormley

Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School, Belfast

St. Michael's Primary School, Ravenhill Road

Holy Trinity Primary School, Belfast

Dominican College, Fortwilliam

St. John the Baptist Primary School, Belfast

Sacred Heart Primary School, Belfast

St. Joseph's Primary School, Lisburn

St. Finian's and St. Mary's Primary Schools, Newtownards

Ballymacrickett Primary School

St. Ciaran's Primary School, Cushendun

St. Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick.

So as you can see, we were very busy and we hope that all those young people who came on Retreat with us last year enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed meeting them.

We will be keeping the Blog up to date from now on, just in a slightly different way than before.  A change is as good as a rest as they say.  Anyhow keep checking in on us and feel free to send us your comments, especially if you have been on Retreat with us.  Hearing your thoughts and ideas about your Retreat experience helps us to make sure that our programmes stay relevant and engaging.

Prayer Ring

All our retreat days end in our chapel with a Prayer Service organised by the young people who come here.

  
Everyone at the Prayer Service will be bringing their own intentions into that special time. We believe that praying with and for others, is an important way of supporting one another, but sometimes people aren't comfortable saying their intentions out loud in a group.  One of the things that we decided to do was to invite each person to write their intention on a strip of paper instead. 

Then we invite them to staple their prayer strip onto a ring, with the prayer facing inwards so that no-one else can read it .

When all the prayers are attached to the ring, it is placed in the centre of the FOCUS.  It is a visual reminder that each one of us has need of the encouragement and support of each other in prayer. 

The ring itself symbolises the group, united in prayer for one another, AND the ceaseless love of GOD, which holds us all.

At this point in the Liturgy we pray together for each other, in the words that Jesus taught us...

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth

As it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

Amen