What is the purpose of education in a Catholic school? As staff and students prepare to begin the new school year you might find these two brief video clips helpful – from the FFF archive and first posted in January 20118
This one is a reflection on Catholic education:
and here’s a thought on prayer in schools:
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I try not to repeat these daily Lenten posts year to year but there are times when the same scriptures pop up annually and I realise that I can’t write it better than I did last year. Today is one such day, not only because of the thought I share but even more in the comments that are added by FFF readers. Today I have left some of last year’s comments helping us to appreciate the power of today’s readings.
The heart of the home in years past was the hearth.
It was at the hearth that the family gathered for the warmth and light of the flame and the food that was prepared there.
The fire was treated with respect since the same flame which provided energy for the home could just as easily destroy it.
The Israelites in their forty years in the desert were journeying from captivity to freedom, but the struggle of their desert years made them vulnerable to attack from every temptation as today’s first reading continues
I’m not sure if children today are told the great story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, but if not let’s make sure that the parable is taught at all schools of higher learning.
A few years ago I discovered the wonderful way that God uses my imagination in my prayer.
Such openness to imagination when seeking God does not take us away from reality into fantasy but instead brings me into what is most real and inescapably personal and intimate.
What a wonderful reflection on the Totality of Reality. Thank you Father John. It will give me a lot to think about today.
I must comment on your ‘preparing for death’ talk and say ,as a new Catholic of only 20 years!
that is indeed a wonderful and necessary part of a Funeral Mass that automatically and perfectly introduces Catholic school children to death.
Whilst perhaps uncomfortable to a new pupil ,as my daughter waa at 8ish, she was surrounded by classmates .She didnt know the deceased but it was such a natural and affirming ,indirectly of the cinstant of Jesus as being Our Saviour.
Thank you a thousandfold my beloved Catholic faith,Church,and schools for this natural ,solid teaching of life …and Thank you Father for your teachings. We must never forget or fail to acknowledge the Catholic teachings in schools and not be swayed or influenced by ‘the world’ .
Amen thanks Father John for beautiful reflection and inspiration Amen