St. Columbanus' College, Year 8

Year 8 marks the beginning of a new stage in life for us all. The end of your primary school career and saying farewell to old friends and teachers is swiftly followed by the nervous excitement of embarking on your post-primary career, getting to know your new school and the people in it. Times of change in our lives often provide the perfect opportunity to do a bit of reflecting, and so when the Year 8s from St Columbanus' College joined us last week, that's exactly what we did!

We spent time thinking about the process of forming new friendships. We thought about the qualities we look for in people we're considering forming friendships with. As Year 8 is a time where we meet lots of new people, we get to appreciate the variety of personalities around us and the qualities they bring to the class.

One of the Scripture readings we looked at was 1 Cor. 13 about the qualities of love and we thought of people in our own lives who are patient and kind and forgiving! Maybe some of us recognised those qualites within ourselves too!!

Jesus asked us to love one another!

Another Scripture reading we reflected on was the story of the paralysed man whose concerned friends carried him to Jesus and lowered him down through a hole they made in the roof of the house where Jesus was. That's going to great lengths to help your friend!!

One of the groups made a focus that was in the shape of the stretcher upon which four brave men carried their friend. They also drew a picture that had Jesus at the top, and under it, their class name, showing that they are disciples of Jesus.

Here are some prayers:

Dear God,
Please help my family and people who are sick.
I want to pray for people whose houses have been destroyed by earthquakes.
I would also like to pray for some people who are sad because a family member has died to make them happy again.
Amen.

Dear God,
Thank you for putting me on this earth but people can get lonely and I don't like people being lonely, 'cause sometimes I am and its not a good feeling.
So I'd like you to pair them up with someone who is lonely if you can.
Sad and rainy could be happy and shiny.
Amen.

Dear God,
I'm praying for all of the people in Africa who can't get any food or even water and can't afford anything. So please help them with love and kindness.
Amen.

Some of the songs the groups chose to play during the Liturgies this week were "Man in the Mirror" and "Hero." When we listened to Man in the Mirror, we thought about how an individual can change the world. One of the things we'd thought about was how a good quality is when you're happy to be yourself... this isn't always easy, but it's good to grow to love the Man or Woman in the Mirror!

As usual the young people we met were concerned for the difficulties that have been happening in the world and prayed for people who have experienced natural disasters around the world in the last few months.

Dear God,

Help the children in Haiti and Chile who have lost their parents.

Give them care hope and love.
Please Lord hear us.

Amen.

Dear God,

Help those in Haiti as they are less fortunate than us. Help them get money and support and a house to live in and give them love and more help.

Amen.

Dear God

Thanks for encouraging people to donate to Trócaire and to care for the people in need.

Amen.

One of the activities that our groups got up to this week was making a chain of Friendship. This is made up with strips of card. Each strip had a person's name on it, a quality that someone in their class sees in them and one that they see in themselves. It's a lovely thing to hang up in a form-class to remind everyone of the qualities that are present all around them and in themselves. Some groups used their chain as part of their focus.

Dear God,
Please help those who have nowhere to live and nothing to eat and help those who don't have clean water to drink. Help those who have lost their lives to hunger and secure a place in heaven for them.

Amen.

Dear God,

Thank you for looking after all my family and friends, and for looking after us today and keep us safe on the way home.

Amen.

A little prayer in honour of the Weather:

Dear God,Thank you for bringing rain, to feed the plants and to help them grow - thank you fo rbringing sunshine so we can play outside. All the weather you bring to us helps in so many ways.Please continue to give us it!Amen.

Our Year 8 groups were full of life, hairspikes and energy, and that's just a few of the qualities they brought to their Retreat days! We hope they enjoyed their day as much as we enjoyed meeting them and we wish them all the best, and happy days in St. Columbanus College!

St. James' Whiteabbey

We had a great day with the P7 class from St. James' in Whiteabbey today... it was cold, grey and wet outside, but it was warm, colourful and lively inside - they are a great class.

Reflection Poem:

Choose for yourself

Offer your heart

New beginning

Follow God's will

Include Everyone

Respect Yourself

Make each other feel good

Always trust God

Think before you act

It's not easy

Only keep trying

Never give up.

We also had six prayers, written by six different pupils...

Dear God,

Thank you for creating me, thank you for creating us.

We pray for our friends that they will always be there for us, no matter what.

Lord hear us.


Dear God,

We thank you for our families that feed us, water us and love us in each and eery way.

Lord help us to be grateful for our families.

Lord help us.

Dear God,

We pray for the sick that they may get better and that the doctors and nurses can help them.

Lord hear us.

Dear Lord,

Please help the people who are starving and I hope that they gain strength and that all souls go to heaven and all the people help each other and me too.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

Please help the people in Haiti who were harmed by the earthquake and we also ask that the aid may reach them.

Please protect the people that bring aid to them and also help us totry and help in one way.

Lord hear us.

Dear God,

I thank you for all my friends.

I would be very lonely without them.

I also pray for us the P7 pupils that we may be happy in our new schools.
Lord hear us.

And we at the Centre would like to thank this class for making their retreat day such a great success. God Bless all of you as you prepare for the big committment that is Confirmation.

St. Kieran's, Poleglass

We had our 1st groups of 2010 last week from St. Kieran's Primary School. It was a lovely beginning to the new decade. The P7s are preparing for Confirmation and so we talked about how the Holy Spirit can work in us if we allow Him.

We made kites to represent the wind, which is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit.

We also thought of the ways that we show love in the world...

We thought they were a...

Here are some of the lovely prayers that were written for the prayer services:

Dear God,
In this prayer we think about the poor.
If you think about it, they have no home, no clothes and no food.
And I would like you to help me to be helpful to the poor.
And try raise money for clothes.
And food,
thank you.
Amen.

Dear God,
I am asking you to help homeless people.
They are very poor. They live on streets where it is very cold and wet.
I want you to help me to help them.
I want you to help the people that help the homeless people.
Amen.

Dear God,
Help the people who need friends.
The people whoneed friends are lonely and sometimes homeless.
St. Vincent de Paul could help the people who have no friends.
Amen.

Dear God,
Please bless all the people who got hit by the earthquake.
Lord help them to rebuild their lives.
Amen.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for this wonderful day which helped us with our confirmation.
Please guide us through our confirmation day
Lord hear us.

And we heard a prayer-poem too, written by one of the pupils for Christmas... (well done!)

I'd fill a box with all my love
and send it to Jesus up above
you died for us
to set us free
so this is a gift from me
I came today
just to say
happy birthday.
Amen.

Normally we end the day with a blessing, but P7s love singing, so they sang the blessing "May the Road Rise to Meet You." No better way to end the day...so may the Road Rise to Meet Us All!

Prayers and Art from St. Bride's

We had our first group of Primary 7s this year, from St. Bride's Primary School. They had a lovely day thinking of ways of letting their light shine! They certainly brightened up Monday for us on the team. Have a look at some of the ways they did that, below...

Dear God,


Please take care of all the people who have been caught up in the floods all over the world.
Help them to stay strong. Please make all the flooding go away so they can be happy.
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.


Amen.

Dear God,

Please bring peace to the world and to stop people from suffering and help us to be more kind to others.

Amen.

Dear God,

Thank you God for helping me when I am going through hard times especially now when we have to do hard exams.
Thank you Lord for my family and friends also for the world around me.

Amen.

Dear God,

We pray for all the children at our school; help them to keep healthy and in good condition.
Help them to make friends, and guide newcomers to friendships.
We also pray for all the teachers and staff.

Amen.