This week, our chaplaincy teams planned and delivered heart-felt liturgies on the theme of Remembrance.
Our school community have been sending in the names of lost loved ones who they would like us to keep in our prayers during the month of November; their names were a feature on our prayer focus during the liturgy.
Each pupil made poppies to decorate our cross in honour of those who lost their lives in the wars. Each class then made a poppy wreath which was laid in front of the prayer focus during a special litany of remembrance written by our chaplains Isabel, Nachi, Elijah, Lilly and David.
The chaplains shared with the children that although this time of year can be sad for those of us who have lost people close to us, as Christians, we have hope that those who have died have gone to their resting place in Heaven with Jesus. But how do we ensure we get there when we die?
To explain how we can earn ourselves a place in Heaven for when we die, the chaplains chose the Beatitudes as their scripture for this liturgy. They made up actions for each Beatitude to help us remember the things we should strive to do on Earth to live a live pleasing to God. By doing these things, we can receive the virtue of Hope as a gift from God, that one day, we hope to join Jesus in Heaven when we pass away.
The Junior Choir were invited by the chaplains to sing a touching song at the end of the liturgy: May the Road Rise up to Meet You. This song was sung by our school community at Fr John Joe’s retirement mass and is based on the Irish Blessing Prayer. It was chosen for our remembrance liturgy as it asks God to hold us in the palm of His Hand, which is where we want our loved ones to be when they pass away.
We hope you found our liturgy moving yet comforting to hope that our loved ones are now in Heaven with God. Many of our teachers told our chaplaincy team afterwards how touching they found this candlelit liturgy.
‘Eternal Rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they Rest in Peace. Amen.’
