St. Bernard's, Glengormley

The Primary 7 classes from St Bernard's in Glengormley were here for their Confimation Retreat last week. Being a Confirmed Christian means you've said YES to being a follower of Jesus. We were asking the P.7s what they thought about Jesus. You can see some of their thoughts in the photos below.

Confirmed Christians have to try and be like Jesus. We are called to be kind, thoughtful, loving, considerate and truthful too. Though we may not be able to perform the type of miracles that Jesus performed, we can be like a miracle to someone, in the way we treat them.

Some people were wondering what Jesus looked like. We can only speculate on this but it is up to us to try and see Him in everyone we meet, even the people we find hard to get along with. We talked about how difficult this can be.

Jesus told stories about the Father. He tried to get people to love one another. He asked us to be a light in the world so that people might see "the good things you do, and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) This means that when we are living as Jesus asked, our actions can bring people closer to God. That's a HUGE responsibility!

To be able to follow Jesus, we need to let His Spirit work in us, so we made kites to symbolise the Holy Spirit working in us, the way the wind works in a kite and transforms it.

The groups wrote some beautiful prayers for our liturgies each day.

Dear God,
Help us as we go to a new school and help us make some new friends.
Thank you for all the teachers and friends. Amen.
Lord hear us.

Dear Lord,
Please help the people who have been in natural disasters.

Make sure that they will have water, shelter and food for the future.
Amen.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Help all people who are seriously ill with terrible diseases and have threatening

injuries, because I know they are in a great deal of discomfort and pain.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Help all the children who get bullied.

May they have the courage to stand up to the bully and tell the teacher.
Help all of us to help our friends and tell the teacher if they're too scared.
Help us to stand up for each other and our friends.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Please pray for people with alcohol problems

as they are sometimes homeless and without friends.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We pray that your people will take care of your world,

stop vandalising so we will live in a better place.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We pray that Northern Ireland's problems may be resolved

and that our country may be at peace once again.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
We pray for the sick hoping they get better soon.

We also pray for people looking after those who are sick.
Lord hear us.

Dear God,
Let us pray that the elderly may remain safe in their homes

and please keep them away from sickness.
Lord hear us.

Look at the beautiful focus below. It is a heart, to represent God's love for us and the love we have for one another.

Faith is something we try to have, but it can be very difficult. Even Peter became afraid when Jesus asked him to walk towards Him on the water, and Thomas, when told that Jesus was risen, said that he would only believe it when he'd seen it for himself. Sometimes we need to ask the Holy Spirit for help to 'just believe.'

In the Centre we have a poster which says "Faith is a Verb!" It's a great way of looking at faith. The things we actually do for others can help to deepen their faith and ours too.

Look at the beautiful focus below. The group made a sky with clouds and sun and some of the kites that everone made were added to it. They also made a cross with the remaining kites.

We had a great couple of days with the P7s and we wish them all the best.