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!