Liturgy and Prayer

"God can hardly be at the centre of the school if staff and students do not spend time with God in prayer"
This is such a powerful statement. As a REC I feel I have a big responsibility to ensure moments are woven into our day where students have the time to experience meaningful prayer. Meaningful is so important. As I suggested in my last post - sometimes familiarity blocks meaningful. Sometimes I think the prayer is just a repetition of words without reflecting on the impact this time with our Lord should have on our daily life. How do we ensure prayer is meaningful for our community?

Last year at the Year Six camp I remember how awe struck I was when the girls asked if they could pray before they went to bed. Most girls had packed a set of rosary beads and we sat in pray. Such a beautiful and powerful moment. It is moments like these that I realise that young people have a burning desire to be connected to our deep traditions and we need to reinforce the opportunities so they can spread the Good News too.

The form of Examen:
Thank you God for ...
Help me to understand why ...
I  look at my day/week and ...
Next time I will ...
Keep with me Jesus as I ....

would be a wonderful way to have the students reflect on their week but I can also see it fitting in with the 'stones' from the beginning of the year Mass.

Liturgy
Such an important aspect to our faith life. It pleased me to read that we need to 'prepare liturgies that engage students and provide them with life-giving celebrations'. Over my years of being an REC i feel honoured and lucky to work closely with priests that challenged and also allowed me to creatively present liturgies that held true to our Catholic traditions but also engaged students.
Every time I prepare, participate in liturgy my understanding is deepened. Last year's input by Fr also furthered my understanding and reinforced my love of liturgy and the deep mystery within it.
Hopefully this year we can continue to develop the staff's understanding through our Professional Learning.

The phrase 'in communion' is so important when we discuss liturgy as was so clearly illustrated throughout the second half of the chapter. With out the 'community' there is no liturgy. Do we successfully educate our students of the value of this during liturgical experiences? How can we continue to provide students with the opportunity to 'befriend a liturgical tradition'?

One of our aims this year is to develop the capabilities  of staff so we can all lead the students into deeper liturgical understandings. This is so important so liturgy is not seen as the REC's job but a way of sharing our faith and proclaiming the word of the Lord.

Looking forward to discussing this chapter.