Week 6 – 2023/34

Day 1 – Head

We begin our prayer today with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit, Amen.

You may know that October is Black History Month, a month that gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture. This week we are going to link this into our prayer during form time.

Today’s scripture comes from the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the final book in the Bible, and can be quite a tricky read. It portrays an apocalyptic future, and speaks of the second coming of Jesus and the trials that will come before this great event. It uses lots of signs and symbols, and plenty of imagery too. As such, people sometimes find it difficult to read.

The author of the book identifies themselves as a man named John, and many people believe that this was the Apostle John (although there is no definite proof of this). He wrote the book to seven Churches that were in a place called Asia Minor, now part of Western Turkey.

In the verses we are looking at today, John is talking about the followers of Christ at the end of time, and we will explore the importance of this briefly afterwards.

After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd—no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

Revelation 7:9-10

This scripture is important, because it specifies that there were people from everywhere at the end of time as followers of Jesus. It doesn’t say that there was one race, one ethnicity, one culture etc., instead it is telling us that the Church should be a multi-cultural place where everyone is welcome.

Pray our school prayer together to finish this morning, reminding everyone that we are part of one community together.

To the Glory of God, we build our school on faith, love and respect.

May our eyes focus on Christ’s cross, may our words witness to the Gospel,

may our hearts offer forgiveness, and may our hands do your work, today and

everyday, Amen.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Day 2 – Heart

We begin our prayer today with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit, Amen.

Before we begin today’s reflection, let’s see what we can remember from yesterday! Answers at the end of the day’s text.

1. What was the name of the person who wrote the book from yesterday’s scripture?
2. Where in the Bible is the book from?
3. What was the book called?
4. How many Churches was the book originally written for/sent to?

Hopefully you got some of those right! Today we are going to explore the scripture in a bit more detail and delve into the themes that it reflects on.

One of the reasons that we have Black History Month is to celebrate the culture of the Black community and to recognise the incredible things that have happened within that community despite historic oppression and discrimination. Our scripture this week is telling us that as a Catholic community, we should be welcoming and celebrating those of every race, as part of one body in Christ.

One inspiring lady in the Church is St Josephine Bakhita. She was the first black saint of the modern era, canonised in 2000. Born in Sudan, Josephine was kidnapped at the age of 7, sold into slavery and given the name Bakhita, which means fortunate. She was resold several times, until finally in 1883 she was sold to Callisto Legnani. Two years later, he took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend Augusto Michieli. Bakhita became babysitter to the mans children, and it was when the Michiele’s went away that she found the Catholic Church. She was baptised and confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine.

When the Michieli’s returned from Africa and wanted to take Mimmina and Josephine back with them, the future saint refused to go. It went to court, but the judge concluded that since slavery was illegal in Italy, she had actually been free since 1885. Josephine became a nun three years later, and was well-loved by the children attending the sisters’ school and the local citizens. She worked tirelessly for the Church throughout the rest of her life, ensuring that everyone around her met God.

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Day 3 – Hands

We begin our prayer with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

As you know, this month is Black History month, and this week we have been reflecting on the role we have as Christians to be a welcoming and diverse community. Think about how incredible our community is here at Trinity, and how the diversity of our community is such a strength. Below are some pictures from our Cultural Week last year, take a minute to look through them and reflect on this strength.

Yesterday we thought about St Josephine, an inspirational Saint. This morning, can you think of any other inspirational Saints? They might be from the black community, or they may be from different communities. How many countries can you name a Saint from as a form? St Josephine is from Sudan, that’s a start! Let us know in the comments how many you can get!

Spend a moment in silence saying a prayer to God, one of acceptance and celebration of the diverse communities in our world, and ask some of the Saints to intercede those prayers for you.

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.