De La Salle Retreat Belfast

St. Joseph's Primary School

2012-01-18T14:46:00.000Z

Yet again we have thoroughly enjoyed having the young people from St. Joseph's. We all joined in on a number of activities from mediation to arts and crafts. Everyone got involved on the retreat day and it was wonderful to see the classes coming together at the end of the day with the prayer service that involved the work of everyone.

Focus:
We made this because it is joyful and fun for everyone. Its shows how we get up to heaven. The kites represent the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing all the kites up to heaven.

Music:
You've got a friend in me - it is a song that symbolises your friendship with God and Jesus.
Shine - It says for you to let your inner self shine.

Scripture:

We read out Mt 5, You are the light of the world, it helped us remember an important message today about using our own light.
We also lit a candle to represent that fact.

Prayers:

Dear God

Pray for the sick and homeless who don't have shelter
even in the worst weather

Amen

Dear God

Please pray for my grandad whos not feeling well
and for anyone else who is not feling well

Amen

Dear God

Pray for all the animals and for rare animals in pain

Amen

Dear God

We pray for the families who are in need and going through a rough time.

Amen

Dear God

Please pray for those who have no food or clean water

Amen

Dear God

Pray for all the families that have lost their jobs

Amen

Dear God

We pray for all the families that have financial problems

Amen

Dear God

We pray for the P7 children making their Confirmation this year

Amen

Poster:
We wrote We Are Special on our poster because each person who sticks their hand to the poster is unique and special to God.

Focus:
We chose Jesus for this because today we learnt about him, for example, we learnt that he will always be there for us and that he will always forgive us when we do something wrong.

Music:
You've got a friend in me - because it's about a friend who is always there for you, like our class friends.
We chose True Colours because it's about letting what you are shine through.

Scripture:
You are the light of the world - Matthew 5. This story means that you must show love to others and show your talents to praise God in happiness.

Prayers:

Poster:
We chose this title, Let your light shine, because it means you don't have to be someone you're not. God made you who you are.

St Kieran's Primary School

2012-01-18T14:30:00.001Z

The two days we had with the young people of St Kieran's Primary School were very enjoyable. We had the opportunity to talk about the Sacrament of Confirmation, to meditate and to organise a prayer service. The young people were very enthusiastic and a joy to work with.

Focus:
We made this person happy because this is how we felt on on retreat today. Our hands represent each person on retreat today and they are holding the kites that remind us of the Holy Spirit.

Music:
The Climb. We chose this song because it represents the steps that we are going to make in our lives and making our confirmation is our next big step.
Wisdom. We picked this song as it is one of the gifts we receive in confirmation, and it is a very important gift.

Scripture:
We read the reading 'You are the light of the world' (Mt:5) and as we read it out in our prayers service we thought of what it means. We are the light of the world and we need to help others.

Prayers:

Dear Lord

Please help the people in Africa who are dying

Amen

Dear Lord

Please help all the sick people in the world

and please help the homeless and give them homes.

Please take care of them

Lord hear us

Dear Lord

I would like to pray for the homeless and the needy.

I also would like to pray for the people who are lonely and are very sick.

And anyone who has died recently

Lord hear us.

Poster:
We wrote on our poster, let your light shine as we were talking about this today. The 3 colours at the bottom, white, grey and red, represent the Holy Spirit as dove, wind and fire.

Focus:
We made this because the dove represents God and the Holy Spirit. Also it makes God feel happy.

Music:
Hannanh Montana, The climb. We chose this song because it has a massage that reminds us to move on.
Where is the love, Black eyed peas. We chose this song because it tells people to think twice.

Scripture:

You are the light of the world. This means that we have light inside our body's and that we show that light by doing good things eg: helping people, caring for others, sharing.
We are holing the candle because it represents the light inside us all.

Prayers:

Dear God

Please pray for all the families that are having trouble or don't get along.

Pray for all the families who have had deaths recently.

Make sure they know that you will be with them.

I hope they will learn that it's ok because

whatever happened, you will be there for them.

You are the best cure for anything because they know

that when they die they will be coming to you and will be

never forgotten by their family and friends.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Please bless the people who are sick

and elderly and please bless their families

Lord hear us

Dear God

Please pray for all the people who are in poverty and are sick

Lord hear us

Poster:
We chose this title, Change the World, because we want everybody to go to mass and believe in Jesus.

St. Aidan's Primary School

2012-01-18T14:21:00.000Z

We had a great day with the boy's from St. Aidan's Primary School. Together we had the opportunity to talk about receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation and what it means to be Christian. We also enjoyed our meditation and prayer service.

Focus:
We picked this word, Jesus, because we can remember when Jesus died for us and it is a special occasion to have a prayer service. The kites are colourful and represent Jesus is always there for us and he always will be there.

Music:
Ellie Goulding, Your song. We picked this song because it's relaxing and calm.
Adele, Make you feel my love. This song is joyful and makes you happy.

Prayers:

Dear God

Please help those who are unhappy.

Give them hope and joy in the future.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Help the poor and the homeless

because they have nowhere to go.

Give them food and a home.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Please help the poor

and the ungrateful in life

Lord hear us

Dear God

Please help the homeless people

because they don't get any food, please help them.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Please help all the people in the world

who are addicited to cigarettes, drugs, cigars and beer.

Please help them get off it.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Please help all with cancer and addiction to drugs.

Lord hear us

Dear God
Please help the sick and brain damaged.
Lord hear us

Dear God
please help children with a disability
and elderly to get better
and have great strength and get on with their lives.
Lord hear us

Poster

We picked Follow Jesus because we like to follow Jesus' rules because we love him.

St. Patrick's College

2011-11-30T10:37:00.001Z

The boy's from St. Patrick's college were great to work with. We enjoyed our discussions on Christian attitudes and not judging people and also our meditation.

Focus
We chose to make a circle because it represents never ending friendship. The different colours represent the diversity in our class. The candles represent life and the books represent each individual person.

Music
For the prayer service we chose When You Believe because it can inspire you and can help you achieve your goals, and when times are hard if you believe God is always with you that gives you spiritual strength.
We also chose Will You Be There? because if times are hard you just need that one person to keep you company and remind you that you're only human and can make mistakes but learn from them and be faithful to yourself.

Scripture

The Good Samaritan, We acted this story because it is relevant to today as it shows that despite peoples differences we should help each other and bring love and peace to the world.

Prayers

Dear God
Could you help those fortunate
to receive your gift of wisdom and and generosity
to help support those less fortunate
Amen

Dear God
Please pray for those who have lost a close member of their family
Amen

Dear God
Please help the sick.
Help them to get better and not to suffer any longer,
and to help the families of the sick feel supported and not to feel lonely.
Amen

Dear God
Pray for those children who won't get anything for Christmas.
Remember them in our prayers.
Amen

Dear God
Pray for those who we have lost a friend.
Remember them in our prayers throughout our day.
Amen

Focus
We made the word God because we talked about him today and he is in the room.
We made the fish as a symbol of Christianity.

Music
Wonderful world - we chose this song because it makes you think what a wonderful world you live in.
Man in the mirror - because we must change ourselves before we change the world.

Scripture
We chose to read 1Cor 4 because these are the morals every body should live by. If we could all do this the world would be a much more peaceful place.

Prayer

Dear God

Help the ill and the sick and the poor,

little kids around the world with no homes.

Stop the fighting and hate in our country and around the world.

Amen

Dear God

Help the homeless for they should be treated with respect,

and they should also be treated with loving homes and family.

Amen

Dear God

Please take care of the starving kids in the third world countries.

Help them get support from others and to live a slightly better life.

Amen

St. Mary's Yr 11

2011-11-28T11:55:00.000Z

Once again we met the Yr11 boys from St.Mary's and it was great that they all remembered so much of their retreat in first year. This week a wide range of topics were discussed in relation to living Christian community. Everyone enjoyed the group conversations and activities.

Music:

For our prayer service we picked Ghetto Gospel by 2pac as this song is about equality. Everyone is equal and everyone should be treated the same and everyone should stop fighting over race.

We also chose 2pac's Changes as it is about how hard it is to live as a black person 20 years ago.

Focus:
We made a shooting star as it represents the unity of people and we used candles to represent the nations of the world.

Scripture:
We picked, Judging others (Luke 6:37-42) because this story tells us not to judge people and it is wrong to judge people, and that everyone is the same and has equal rights.

Prayer:

Dear God,

Help all the homeless and loney people on the run up to Christmas
and keep them safe.

Amen

Dear God,

Please help the students and parents with their exams coming up
and help them to do well and have a good future.

Amen

Dear God,

Please pray for the sick who are dying in hospital
and pray for their families during these hard times.

Amen

Dear God,

Help all those who are sick, imprisoned or are worse off than ourselves
or are in need of guidance and assistance, in our society and around the world.

Amen

Dear God,

Will you please pray for the imprisoned people that feel like strangers in our community.

Amen

Dear God,

Pray for all those who are not treated as equals in the world.

Amen

Reflection:

Music:
We chose Man in the Mirror as it reminds us to look at ourselves and see how we can make a change in our world.
Born this way: We picked this because it tells us not to judge anyone for being different as we are all unique and different in our own way.

Focus:
We made this focus as it stresses the fact that God is always here. The yellow in the focus represents light, and how God can be our light in the darkness.

Scripture:

Do not judge others (Matt7:1-6). We chose this passage because today was about not judging people before you even get to know them. In this passage Jesus tells us to look at ourself first before judging someone.

Prayers:

Dear God,

Please look after the elderly of all our families

Amen

Dear God,

Pray for the people who are living in poverty and are starving

Amen

Dear God,

Pray for the homeless and the less fortunate today
and keep them in your memory

Amen

Dear God,

Please pray for the imprisoned people in our society

Amen

Dear God,

Please look after the people who have cancer

Amen

Remember the people who are victims of abuse
and there families

Help them

Remember all the babies that don't live long.

Think of their family
Amen

Reflection:

Focus
The blue is a road representing the journey of life. The cross is Jesus dying for us and faith. The rainbow is happiness and God's love.

Music
For our prayer service we chose Personal Jesus by Johnny Cash because it is about confessing to someone close and finding Jesus and faith in people.
We also chose The Times They are A-Changing by Bob Dylan because it is about how the times are changing in religion, culture and politics and in our lives.

Scripture

We chose Love your enemies (Lk 6:27-36) because today was about learning how to live with eachother, and learning who you are as a person.

Prayers

Dear God

Thank you for giving us clean and fresh water which we are greatly thankful for.

Lord hear us

Dear God

We are thankful for our family and hope you keep them safe and well.

Amen

Dear God

Please help all the sick people both old and young, to get through.

We pray for them and ask you to ease their pain, in sickness and in health.

Lord hear us

Dear God

Could you please look after my family.

Most importantly, my granny because she is only out of hospital.

Could you also look after my grand-dad who is dead one year today.

Amen

Dear God

I'm here to thank you for many things you have brought upon this earth.

We thank you for the green grass, the tall trees, the fresh air and so on.

Every one appreciates this and is grateful for this and will continue to look after your beauty.

Amen

Dear God

I pray that you give each and every person in this world

the same equal rights, and to not have anyone being treated differently.

Amen

Reflection

F orgive and forget C lever

A mazement O n the ball

I ntelligence U r the man

T ruthful R espect

H appiness A lways making good decisions

G ood lad

E verybody supports you

Focus:
We made this focus because God lights the way for us everyday. The 3 lights also represent the trinity.

Music:

Make you feel my love and Man in the Mirror.

Scripture:

We read Luke:8:22 Jesus calms the storm, because it reminds us never to lose faith and that Jesus will always be there for us.

Prayers:

Dear God,

We pray for those who have passed away.

We pray for their families and friends that

they may be safe and keep them away from harm.

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the world,
that it will be peaceful the way you would like it to be,

a world without wars and fights over land and possession.
Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the homeless and poor,

the people who struggle to feed themselves and their family,

the people who struggle to find shelter.

Amen

Dear God,

Help us achieve the highest grades

we could possiblily achieve in school

Amen

Dear God,

We thank you for our friends and our families.

May they always be there for us when we are ill and in pain
and that we never loose them

Amen

Dear God,

May we pray for the sick,

so that we may find a cure for them and also

look after their friends and families,

if they are feeling low.
Amen

Reflection:

S priritual F ree speech as everyone hatered and respected our opinions

P eaceful mediation A fun day

I nfluential I nteresting

R espect T ruthful

I nspirational H appiness

T rust in others and God

U nderstanding of each other

A quiet day

L ovely day

Focus:

The cross is to represent God, the cirle is to represent the earth and the people of the world and the candles around it represent the people of the earth and life.

Music:

Iris - If you're not confident about who you are then you don't want the world to see you.

Man in the mirror - If you feel good about yourself, you're able to have confidence and say you look good in the mirror.

Scripture:

Mark 5:21-43 - We chose this story, the woman being healed, because we believe that the women had faith and confidence in Jesus, and that he could heal her. This shows you if you have faith anything can happen.

Prayers:

We pray for the people who are struggling in the ressession

Amen

O Lord,

I pray for the people who are imprisioned,

they should not be treated differently as they are humans like us.

Even if they are innocent or not.

Amen

Dear Lord,

We offer this prayer to all the victims of bullying and who are constantely abused.

Amen

Dear God,

I pray for people who are poor and homeless.

I pray that they will someday get out of poverty.

Amen

Focus:
After Jesus was baptised a dove came down from heaven. It is because of this that we wrote Dove here.

Music:

Prayers:

Dear God,

We pray for our families and friends and

hope that we remain close forever.

Amen

Dear God,

I pray for my relatives who have gone to heaven.

So that you can keep an eye on them.

And if you could keep an eye on the rest of my family.

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the poor

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for everyone to be happy

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for the sick, and hope they get better.

Amen

Dear God,

I pray for my family and friends

to keep safe over the winter and

Christmas break in the weeks to come.

Amen

Focus:
We made the shape of a flower as to us it was a sign of happiness.

Music:
We picked Iris becuase it's about the world not understanding who we are.
What a wonderful world is the second song as it is relaxing.

Scripture:
Luke 4:18
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has chosen me to bring Good News to people less fortunate"

Reflection:
F - Forgive
R - Relaxation
I - Innocent
E - Education
N - Never give up
D - Dont forget to work hard
S - Special
H - Happiness
I - Inspiration
P - Peaceful

Focus:
We made this because today has been good and it made us smile.

Scripture:

We picked Mathew 5:14, You are the light of the world, because we need to help others by showing and shining our abilities.

Prayers:

We pray for the people who are homeless

Amen

We pray for the people who are sick

Amen

We pray for our families

Amen

We pray for the people who are sick

and also those people who have cancer.

Amen

Reflection:
C - Christ
H - Hears
E - Everyone
E - Exciting
R - Retreat
F - Fellas were singing
U - Unbelieveable
L - Loving

D - Delightful
A - Awesome
Y -Y is the questions we were always asked

St. Mary's Yr8

2011-11-15T12:09:00.001Z

It was great to see the boys from St.Mary's again, we always look forward to to their visits. During the group sessions we talked about moving into a new post-primary school and leaving old friends behind. We also discussed hopes and fears for our future. It was great to see the boys communicating and respecting each other's opinions within our smaller groups today.

Music:

We picked The Climb because we have taken a big step forward to secondary school.

We picked Reach because the stars in the song represent our friends. We have kept our old friends and are reaching out for new ones.

Focus:

The reason for making the cross is because we love Jesus. The reason we made the rings is for friendship because God is always our friend. We are setting the friendship bracelet over the heart for love.

Scripture:

We picked The Good Samaritan because it's about helping other people.

No matter how different people ar,e you should always try and help them.

Prayers:

Dear God,

Please help all the victims and families of the 9/11attack.

Help them get through it all.

Amen

Dear God,

Please help all the poor people in Africa.

Amen

Dear God,

Help my dad get better

and also all the people around the world so they don't have to go through any pain.

Amen

Dear God,

Let us pray for all the people who have recently lost a family member or a friend.

Amen

Dear God,

Please help the children in the hospice and their families cope with their fears and worries.

Amen.

Reflection:
We picked lots of different words to describe the day we had today, for example...
Fun - We had lots of games today.
Jesus - We were learning about Jesus while we were meditating
Friendship - We made the friendship bracelets.

Music:

Man in the Mirror - If you want to make a change to the world you have to make a change to yourself.

Hero - People dealing with poverty are like heroes because they help others and we can be heroes too by helping others.

Focus:
We used the friendship cirlce to show our friendship and how much we are connected to God.
We used candles because God is the light of the world and this shows our belief in him.
We used different colours to show creativity in God's world.

Scripture:
The reason the we chose the story, The Prodigal Son, is because we think it is trying to tell us that God will welcome anyone back and forgive their sins
.

Prayers:

Dear Lord

We pray for those who have lost loved ones.

We pray to the Lord

Dear Lord

We pray for the sick and we ask you to watch over them and their families

We pray to the Lord

Dear Lord

We pray for the people who aren't safe and need help and let them live a peaceful life

Lord hear our prayer

Dear God

Help people on the battlefield, for those that have lost their lives during conflict

and give strength to those fighting

Lord hear our prayer

Dear Lord

We pray for the poor because they are in need of food and water.

Please look after them

Lord hear our prayer

Reflection:
Our group decided to make a poster on how we all felt over the day.
Each of us said something different.

Enjoyable

New

Exploring

Fun

Exciting

Relaxing

Music:
Pack up; We picked this song because it makes you relax and push your problems away, and that is what we were doing today.
Make you feel my love; We picked this song because the lyrics are as if God is there even when you're alone and times are bad.

Focus:
We made a cross because it is a symbol of our religion and we chose to use candles because we all have a light, and the chain to show friendship.

Scripture
We chose the woman who touched Jesus because in this story Jesus helps the woman and we should help eachother

Prayers

Reflection

Focus
We wrote LOVE because we are meeting new friends and the friendship chain means we are all linked together as a class. The jig-saw means, even though we are all different we are all together

Music
The first song we chose is Man in the Mirror because we are looking at a new us, we have changed from P7 to First year.
The second song is Reach because anything is possible if we put our mind to it.

Scripture
We picked the paralysed man because this story is based on friendship shown by how the man's friends brought him to Jesus.

Prayers

Reflection
Today we were talking about friendship and about treating others how you would like to be treated. We did meditation and talked about respecting people.

Music:

We picked The man in the Mirror because we have to make changes about the bad things in our lives.

Reach, We picked this song because its about your friends being there with you.

Focus:
We made this focus because everything in it represents something. The candles represent that God is always here for us. The friendship chain represents the unique qualities that everyone has and that everyone is unique. The cross represents God and peace.

Scripture:
We chose the story, Love your enemies from the bible as it shows us that we should love everyone like Jesus loves us.

Prayers:

Reflection:
We picked these words because it represents what we were thinking and feeling today on our retreat.

Music:
We chose Make me feel my love because this song reminds us that Jesus will always love us.
We picked Your song by Ellie Goulding because is is about friendship in the world.

Focus:
We made the flame to represent the holy spirit. The blue cloth represent our hands holding the Holy Spirit, this shows how the Holy Spirit guides us through life. The jigsaws represent how we come together as a class through our mediation. The art at the top shows our creativity which we have used today.The friendship chains represent our class friendship.

Scripture:
The Good Samaritan is a story about a man who gets beaten up and no-one wants to help him. But then a man who was different from him helps him, this shows friendship and this is why we picked it.

Prayers:

Dear God

Bless those who have passed away from us

that they will be safe in heaven.

and their souls will be healed

Amen

Dear God
We ask for forgiveness for lying, stealing etc

I ask you to help my brother pass his test to get into St.Mary's in a couple of months.

Amen

Dear God

Help those who are poor or treated wrongly

Amen.

Dear God,

Please help my nan as she has broken her hip not so long ago,

and anyone else who is ill

Amen

Reflection:

Music:
We picked Pack up because today was all about not worrying and trying to bond and getting to know God better.
We also picked Hero because Jesus is our hero and we should choose to follow in his footsteps.

Focus:
The sun symbolises Jesus as the light of the world. The tree symbolises us as we grow up and the friendship chain represents us as friends.

Scripture:

We chose the story about the Road to Emmaus because no matter how scared you get Jesus is always with you.

Prayers:

Reflection:
Today our retreat was fun so we wrote happy words and drew happy things

St.Bride's Primary School

2011-11-15T12:00:00.002Z

We had four wonderful days on retreat with the young people from St. Bride's Primary school. We talked about reasons for being Confirmed and why it is so important. We did this through games, discussions, prayer and art.

Music:
Reach, For our prayer service we chose this song to show that anything is possible and there is no limit to what God can do, so reach for the stars.
Pack-up, We picked this song as it says pack up your troubles and throw them away and don't worry about it. We feel this is a very important message in life.

Focus:

The candle is us and Jesus Christ. The hands are all of us around Jesus. The kites are us and then the wind is Jesus.

Scripture:
You are the light of the world (Matt:5). We heard this today and it made us think of how we can shine our light in the lives of others.

Prayers:

Dear God

Please help all the people who are doing exams

Amen

Dear God

We pray for the ones who don't follow in Jesus' footsteps.

The ones who do not know what they are doing

and don't know how to lead their lives

in the way Jesus wished for them.

Pray that they are reunited with the

Holy Spirit once again. Thank you God

Amen

Dear God

I am praying to you to say

please look after our family and friends.

They are very important to us

so please look after them

Stay with us

Amen

Dear God

Look after the people in heaven

keep their families safe

and watch over them

Amen

Dear God

I hope my granny gets better.

I also hope that endangered animals stay alive.

and please pray for the people who have cancer

Amen

Dear God

Pray for all the families and keep them safe and healthy

Amen

Poster

We chose Hand of God because God is working through each one of us. The hands represent each person in our class.

Music:
We chose Pack-up because some people are worring about the transfer test so we all need to pack-up our troubles.
We also picked Your Song because in this song she is happy with how she is and that it is the simple things that make her happy.

Focus:
Our focus is a garden. We made flowers with our hands. The sky represents God and the kites represent us.

Prayers:

Dear God

We pray for the people who are sick and sore.

we hope that they become better and get the care they need.

Lord hear us

Dear Lord

We pray for all the people in the wars

and make sure that our world makes peace with one another

Lord hear us

Dear Lord

We pray for our school

and that it will always stay a cheerful place

and that the pupils will always enjoy it.

I pray for our class that we enjoy our last year

together as we may lose contact when we move school.

Lord hear us

Dear Lord

We pray that all the poor people in the world will

someday be able to get good clean food and nice shelter

Lord hear us

Dear Lord

We pray for all the starving people,

may the get clean water and food

Lord hear us.

Poster
We chose the title Hands of God because we need to do work for God. We drew the world in the hands because the hands represent God and the way he holds the world up. And the hands represent all the people on the planet.

Focus
We Made a rainbow because it represents colour. We used the hands and the candles because it shows how you can shine your light and we used the kites to represent fun times.

Music
We chose Man in the Mirror because he wants to change the way he treats people. It will encourage people to do this.
We also chose Your Song because she is not that wealthy and she is happy with what she has. So this tells us to be happy with what we have.

Prayers

Lord

Help the people that lack manners to change

and let them turn to you

Lord hear us

Lord

We pray for those who are poor.

We pray that one day they will have the money for food and clothes.

We pray that you will help them survive for now, the time they need you most.

Lord hear us

Lord

We pray for all those people who are sick and help them recover.

Lord hear us

Poster
We chose this title because it ties in well with what we were doing today

Focus

We made the world because every country is different. The sun represents God. The hands represent people in the countries. The kites represent things we live.

Music
For our prayer service we sang This Little Light of Mine because it represents the light shining in us.
We also chose Make You Feel My Love because it shows how we will show that we love God and other people because it says "when the wind is blowing in your face, and the whole world is on your case, I can offer you a warm embrace to make you feel my love."

Prayers

Dear God

Please watch over old people who are in need of help.

Give them all the help they need

Lord hear us

Poster
We chose the title Helping Hands because we all help each other in our own unique way like our hands, every hand is different.

Comments

Thank you for a wonderful day

I enjoyed the meditation best it was so relaxing

Dominican College

2011-11-09T09:16:00.001Z

It was great to meet the girls from Dominican College. We talked about how we treat people who are different, this made us understand how a person feels when they are left out or excluded from things.

We really enjoyed the different ways of praying, as they were special and unique in there own way.

We have also added in our Jig-saws, this showed us that no matter how different we are, together we can do a lot more for our friends, our school and our world.

Music:
We chose Listen by Beyonce because it reminds us to listen to God. Listen to your heart and never let anyone hold you back.

To end the prayer service we chose, Someone like you by Adele. It tells you to pick yourself up when something bad happens and find faith in God to move on.

Not everyone is perfect but we can forgive and forget.

Focus:
We chose to make this focus because the moon represents God. The stars represent each person God loves, no matter what their condition.

Prayers:

Reflection:
R is for Retreat
E is for Enjoyment

T is for Treating others nicely

R is for Relaxing

E is for Effort in trying something new

A is for An Amazing day

T is for Team effort

Music:
Miley Cyrus - The Climb. We chose this song because the words reflect someone reaching their goal and not giving up. They have belief in themselves and strength from their faith and life. It is emotional and reflects the spirit and determination inside each of us.
Reach - S Club 7. We chose this song because it reflects the friendship betwen 7 friends. It shows that you aren't on your own, and I've got you and you've got me.

Focus:
The reason we made a sweet box is because the sweets represent how we wish to act each day and the boxes around are the boxes where our wishes are stored. The posters are made up from drawings from each of us. It represents that everyone is different.

Scripture:
The reason we chose the Good Samaritan is because people judge others too easily. We want to show the best in everyone.

Prayers:

Reflection:

We wanted to use our hands in the poster to represent everyone here on retreat and we wrote the word Friendship as it was an important word for today.

Focus:

We Have placed the jig-saw in our focus as we all believe in the same thing but we see it in different ways.

We have the larger candles in the centre to show that christ is the light of the world and we all follow him.

We added the boxes to show that we, as a class (9C), have all come together to follow God

Music:

Make You Feel my Love - We chose this song because we think it represents how God loves us and how we should love everyone around us.

Man in the Mirror - We chose this song because we all need to take a look in the mirror and see what we need to change about ourselves and the world around us

Prayers:

Reflection:
We wrote RETREAT and things that are important about respecting other people, especially those who are different.

R - Respecting others

E - Exel ourselves

T - Treat everyone the same

R - remember Jesus throughout our day

E - Enjoy ourselves

A - always include others

T - The end

Music:
Christine Perry - Jar of Hearts. We chose this song because when people hurt you and you're feeling low, you always have people there for you like family and friends.

Cher Lloyd - Stay. We chose this song becasue it's about needing God when you're at your lowest point and realising that he's always there.

Focus:

The river represents the flow of God's love for us. The boat represents trust while sailing through God's love. The smaller fish represents us and the big fish represents God. All the fish are coming together to follow one person, even though they are all different. People have different opinions and views but we are all the same deep down.

The boxes around the focus represents the different people here today.

The jig-saws represent all the different pieces (us) coming together to form one beautiful piece.

Scripture

We chose a collection of stories about LOVE to tell others to love and respect each other and not to judge people.

Prayers:

Reflection:
We came up with this idea because it shows everyone's opinions on what we learned today. We wrote rules in our reflection poster about things we should think about and quotes we should use everyday, for example; do not Judge, everyone is different, don't be afraid to shine.

Focus:
We decided to make a flower, a sky, a moon and stars.

The flower represents us growing in friendship. All the petals are unique which is why we chose to put our individual boxes on them.the sky represents the calm and serenity of today. The moon and the stars represents us shining our light and being proud of who we are.

The jig-saw represents us all being different but coming together to form as one.

Music:
To start with we picked Pack up by Eliza Doolittle because when we came here we left our school behind for the day. We are letting go off all our troubles.

To end the prayer service we picked The Climb by Miley Cyrus because it gives us inspiration. This is giving us hope before we leave here today, it also tells us to keep going no matter what.

Scripture:
The reason why we chose The Good Samaritan is because we think that everyone should be treated equally and no-one should be left out.

Prayers:

Reflection: We Chose the word PEACEFUL because we all think today was very peaceful.

P - Prayer

E - Excitement

A - Amazing

C - Care

E - Enjoyment

F - Fun

U - United

L - Laughter

Focus
We made a rainbow as our focus because the colours show everybody's personality. We put our boxes down on top to show that everyone is part of it.

We put our jig-saws together because we all fit together although we are all different.

Music

We chose, Someone Like You, because even though you are not with someone you still love them.

We chose The Climb. because life is a climb, but you'll get to the top with help from your friends.

Scripture

We chose The Good Samaritan as it shows a man who didn't judge the man with another religion.

Prayer

Reflection

We chose the word REFLECTION because it means to look back on our day. Our day was enjoyable, fun and exciting, and we learnt many things like,we left no one out, joining in, we listened, we relaxed....

Our Lady of Mercy

2011-10-05T14:40:00.000+01:00

We loved having the girls of Our Lady of Mercy with us these past two days. The girls especially enjoyed the group conversations as it gave them an opportunity to question their values and beliefs and to get to know each other better. They discussed God in their lives, and how to practice their own faith. They also focused on their journey through life and were given time to reflect on this in a creative way. They also gave each other affirming comments writing them down in a book so that when someone feels sad or alone they can be reminded of the good things about them through the lovely comments that were written about them.

Music: The Climb by Miley Cyrus. We used this song because the words in the song pretty much tells us that over the years we have reached our dreams and achievements. Life will always be a climb.

Reach by S Club 7. The words in the song, We've got to all stick together, sums up our friendship and the years we've shared together.

Focus: We chose to make a tree because we have blossomed into young women. We have learnt a lot through the years and this is what we have turned into. The reason we put candles down is because they represent a bright future. The leaves represent each one of our personalities and qualities.

Scripture: We chose to read The Good Samaritan because we wanted to show people that the 'other side' of the community isn't bad. We have too many judgements on people we don't know.

Prayer:

We pray for all the people going through hard times at the moment.

Help them get through it.

Amen

We pray for our families

who have always been there for us when we have needed them.

Let them know we are very thankful.

Amen

Dear God,

I would like to pray for everyone who has lost someone they love,

whether it's friends or family.

I will think of them and try so hard in all I do.

Help us not to miss them too much, they're in our hearts always.

Amen

We pray for the sick people and their families

through their hard times and wish them all the best.

Amen

We pray for all the homeless people in the world.

We hope that they will get homes soon.

Amen

Reflection:

Our poster says FRIENDS because our whole year group has become friends in the past 5 years.

Music: We picked Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls because it talks about the world not being able to see us as we are, because people don't understand us or our opinions, but after today we all have an idea of each other's opinions.

Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror, we chose this as our last song because when we all look in the mirror we always see the negative things about ourselves but today we focused on the positive things about ourselves and others.

Focus: This flower represents everybody growing together over the years. It also represents the friendships that have grown. The candles in the sky represent loved ones that have been lost and that they are looking over us all through our lives.

Scripture: We chose two pieces of scripture that we thought fitted into the day.
Lamp on a table (Matt 5:15). We chose this because each of us have talents that we should use. We shouldn,t hide them away. We should always use our talents to help others in our lives.
God asks us to care for each other as we want to be cared for. We should apply this to our everyday lives and help our friends not to put their talents to waste.

Love is patient (Cor:13:3-4). We chose this verse because God is love and he wants us to follow in his example, to put the needs of others first.

Also, we want to show how love is thoughtful, patient and kind and this is the way we should be towards each other as God's friends should be.

Prayers:

Dear God,

May you look over all of us and our family,

and any of us going through a rough time and need your help.

Give us strength.

Amen.

Dear God,

We pray for all the year 14's,

that they may find the motivation to do well and succeed in exams

and all they do through life.

May God guide and protect them on their Journey.

Amen

Dear God,

We pray for those who need strength to get through difficult situations in their life.

We pray for Cailin Murphy and her family.

Amen

Dear God

Please look over people who are in poverty.

May God help them and relieve them of their suffering, guide them into a better life.

Amen

Reflection:

Words that will remind us of the retreat day we had.

Praying

Relaxing

Reflection

Enjoyable

Sentimental

Quietness

Aquinas

2011-10-03T12:37:00.000+01:00

It was great to see the pupils from Aquinas as they are always a pleasure to have at the centre. Today we disscussed what it means to be a Christian and how we can make a difference in our world. At the end of the day we enjoyed a prayer service as it had specail touches from everyone in the class.

Music: We chose Aerosmith because it's an uplifting song. we feel the title I dont want to miss a thing, is inspiring as sometimes life is very, very busy and yet we don't want to miss anything in life.

For our second song we chose Snow Patrol's - Run because sometimes you just want to run away, but then you realise the people in your life can light you up, even if you can't hear their voice.

Focus: The river symbolises the journeye of our lives leading up to a bright future and the red rocks represent difficult times.

The sun symbolises us as people as we are the light of the world and we must shine.

Scripture: We chose Matthew 6:34 as this passage is very comforting. we often worry about small things but do not stop and think, is there any point in worrying? This passage tells us there is not, and that we should focus on positive things. If we do this, God will sort out everything.

Love your enemy, Matthew 5:44. We also chose this because there is no point in being angry. We need to love everyone the same.

Hatred and grudges are pointless.

Prayers:

Dear God,

We pray for the happiness of our form class.
We pray that God will guide us through any hardships and help us bring out the best in each other.

Lord hear us

Dear God,

Please bless our form class throughout our final year at Aquinas.
Help us to reach our goals both acidemically and spiritually, and guide us to happy and fulfilling futures

Lord hear us

Dear God,

Please grant us the guidance to make informed decisions and be good people.

Lord hear us

Dear god,

We pray for our families, especially those facing berievment.

Lord hear us

Dear God,

We pray for the sick, that God may help them through their struggle, especially
those closest to us,

Lord hear us

Reflection:

On a day like today we have absorbed much advice, opinions and knowledge, from disscussing our belief in God to the imprtance of a moblie phone; help us to process this, and enrich our lives and develop us as young people. Do not fear, for even if you have cleared your mind, this retreat will have been a treat.

It is important for us to realise that in our busy lives it is imprtant to clear our minds. *(Edited version)

Focus: 14J represents our class. The different colours represent the different groups in our class, but together we are one. The sky is our limit and we are one and we are the stars in it. The candles represent the burning essence of love burning in our hearts. Even though we will take our separate books and go our separate ways. we will always be together, in here (hand to heart).

Music: For our first song we chose What a wonderful World by Willie Nelson , for obvious reasons that are mentioned in the song.

Our final song is, I want to know what love is by Foreigner. We chose this song because we all need to know what love is.

Scripture: We chose the prodical son because today it is very easy to become lost in the hustle and bustle of life, to be carried away by tempation and become lost in who we are, but we must remember there is always someone there who we can trust in and rely on like; friends, family, teachers and God, who will always help.

Prayers:

Dear lord,

We pray for all the sick people in the world,

so their families may gain support and guidance.

Amen

Dear Lord,

We pray for all the people all round the world suffering from poverty.

May God help them and enrich their lives.

Amen

Dear Lord,

We pray for our friendships, that they remain strong

and loyal after we leave school and go our separate ways.

Amen

Dear Lord,

We pray we achieve the success in examinations that we deserve

and that God is there to support us in our future endeavours.

Amen

Dear Lord

We pray for our families, may they always support us and know our appreciation,

Amen

Dear Lord,

We pray for any special intentions that

any of us may have today

Amen

Reflection:

We chose these words as we feel they best descibe our day.

LOVE; today we respected each other and mixed together in activites
FRIENDSHIP; After writing in each others books we showed the love we have for one another, as friends.

BONDING; we have all mixed together and all came here today, we joined in with all the activities having
FUN with all our friends

The day started off with fun when we played the two games, this really got the day going.

The most relaxing part of the day was the meditation, it was great to take time out of our day to sit and not have to think about anything. I really feel that we bonded more as a form class,especially because we weren't put into our friendship groups, and we were able to talk to others we might not normally talk to everyday.

Music: We have chosen Newton Faulkner, Dream Catch Me, becasue it encourages you to be anyone you want to be and gives you hope for the future.

For our second song we chose C'est la vie by Bewitched becasue we have grown up with this song and it reminds us of all our good memories. It teaches us that no matter what happens we will all support each other.

Focus: We have made a flower. The yellow in the middle surrounded by the candles represents God and how he is the centre of everything. The colours around it represents all of us. The different colours represent the different cultures and backgrounds coming together.

Scripture: We chose Jesus Cures the Centurian's servant, because God loves everyone equally, no matter how rich or poor, sick or healthy. Everyone deserves to be saved regardless of their status.

Prayers:

Dear God,

Please pray for the sick and terminally ill and may you grant courage to their families at this time.

Lord Hear Us

Dear God,

Please pray for those in the world who are living in poverty.

May they find happiness in life.

Lord Hear us

Dear God,

Please pray for all those who are feeling lonely at this time,

may God comfort them and offer a helping hand.

Lord Hear Us

Dear God,

Please pray for all of our friends who are studying for exams.

Please help them not to be stressed and enjoy this year.

Lord Hear Us

Reflection: The river represents, not the river of life, but the river of today. We wanted to add in all the things that made our day special; candles for prayer, the sun for fun and God, skipping, the booklets....

Music: We chose Alabma3, Let's go back to Church because it's themed on religion and about returning to God.
Our last song is The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony because it's about life.

Focus: For our focus we decided to integrate the idea of the river of life. The boat represents protection from the waves which represents bad things or fears. The stars represent hope and act as guiding lights.

Scripture: The reason for choosing, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, is because this story is to encourage forgiveness and friendship, and to remove negative feelings.

Here in Northern Ireland there is a lot of retailiation, and we believe you must rise above this. It means going that extra mile, and truly being a Christian.

Prayers:

Dear Lord,

Thank you for our friends and all the fun we had today

Amen.

Dear Lord,

Pray for all those who we care for,

for those who care for us,

for those who have nobody to care for them...but you.

Amen

Dear Lord,

Thank you for our families and friends,

thank you for our wonderful school and teachers.

Amen.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for being able to go to school as there

are those in our world who are not able to go.

I ask that you help us through this year and

help us achieve the grades we need for university.

Amen

Reflection: Friends Forever...

F - Fear that we have had

R - Relationships we have formed

I - Interesting topics arose

E - Education we have shared

N - Never give up on each other

D - Depending on each other
S - Special memories

St. Joseph's

2011-10-03T12:01:00.001+01:00

As we begin our new term we want to thank the young people from St.Joseph's College who helped us ease into our new retreat year.

In our groups we disscussed how people, events and memories can play a role in creating the person we are today. We also talked about our beliefs and values and how we can affirm our belief in others as well as ourselves. We ended our day with a prayer service which the whole group organised.

Focus:

For the 'Focus' at our prayer service we decided to make a river, as it represents our life. On one side the lit candles represent people who follow God, on the other side of the river are unlit candles on a rough bank which represents the people who have not heard of God. There is also a bridge in the middle allowing people the opportunity to cross over to the lit side.

Music:

We picked Fast Car by Tracey Chapman as it talks about starting from nothing to making something of your life, having hope and faith in life.

Our second song was Just the way you are by Bruno Mars because God loves us the way we are.

Scripture: We picked this scripture, 'I know the plans I have for you' (Jer:29:11), because it relates to what we were doing in our groups today; talking about the future and where we see God in this.

Prayers:

Dear God,

Please pray for those who suffer from terminal illnesses.
Give them and their families the strength and courage to cope through these hard times.

Please help them to have faith that they will get through it.

Lord hear us

Father Almighty,

We pray for the people who suffer from poverty and corrupution,

may you shower them with blessings,

and happiness as they live their everyday lives.

Ease their suferings and help them find joy inside their hearts.

We pray this through Christ, Our Lord.

Amen

Lord Almighty,

We pray for peace in our world.

We pray for our families and friends and those who have asked us to pray for them.

O Lord, keep themsafe and healthy and bless them Lord.
Amen

Reflection:

We chose the word friendship because we all came here as a class and we got to know each other better.

Day 2

Music: We chose Lean on me to start our prayer service as it reminds us all that even though it is our last year we still need to support and look out for each other.

For our second song we chose Castles in the sky because it mentions in the first line of this song 'do you ever question your life?' and we feel this is an important life questions we all need to ask.

Focus: This focus represents our journey of life.
The yellow sun at the beginning of the river represents the beginning of life.
The blue material is the River of life that we journey through.
The greens parts of the focus are our experiences through life.
The candles for us ment - Light - Hope - God is hope.
We wrote the word 'End' because this is when we go home to God

Scripture: I know the plans I have for you (Jer:29:11):

We chose this story because of our imminent changing future. If you fear the future, don't, your friends, family, and more importantly, God, will guide you into a prosperous future, full of happiness.

Prayers:

Reflection:

We designed this poster to represent how we felt throughout the day;

Calming,

Revealing,

Spiritual,

Inspirational and

Fun

Holy Trinity Primary School

2011-06-24T09:50:00.000+01:00

We have enjoyed wonderful days with the young people of Holy Trinity. Together we recalled memories of primary school and talked about our hopes and fears for our new school. We also took time to pray trusting that God is always with us on our journey.

Music

We chose You've Got a Friend in Me for our prayer service because God's always there, even when we have no one, he is there.

Scripture Reading - Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need

He gives me places to be calm and peaceful

He gives me inner strength to do good things

He shows me the right way to go

Even when bad things happen I will not be afraid

for God helps me to get through difficult things

And God's love will be with me all my life.

Prayers

Music
We chose Hero as our song because it's about God and he loves us for who we are. When you feel like you're on your own just look inside yourself and you'll realise that God is always with you.

Scripture Reading - Psalm 23

Thr Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need

He gives me places to be calm and peaceful

Even when bad things happen I will not be afraid

for God is with me to help me get through difficult things

And God's love will be with me all my life.

Prayers

Dear God

Please help all those who are sick,

homeless or in hospital around the world.

Amen

Dear God

Please take care of all the poor children with illnesses

and the ones with no food or water to drink or eat.

Lord hear us

Music: We chose Man in the Mirror, to help change the world and to make happy boys and girls.

Scripture - Psalm 23

The lord is my shepherd I have everything I need

He gives me places to be quiet and peaceful

He shows me the right way to go

He gives me inner strength to do good things

Even when bad things happen I will not be afraid

I know God's love will be with me all my life

And I will always be welcome in God's house

Prayers

Music: We chose 'Man in the Mirror' because we want to make a change even if it's the smallest thing, to make a difference in the world. But we need to start with ourselves before we can judge other people.

Scripture-psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need

He gives me places to be calm and peaceful

He shows me the right way to go

Even when bad things happen, I will not be afraid

He gives me inner strength to do good things

I know God’s love will be with me all my life

And I will always be welcome in God’s house as long as I live

Prayers

St.Marys-on-the-Hill Primary School

2011-06-16T08:56:00.000+01:00

We really loved having the students of St. Mary's On the Hill. We had time to talk and pray about how we felt about moving to a new school and leaving our old school behind. We enjoyed the day and it was fun to see everyone joining in on our final song. (Peace, Love, Joy)

Music:

We Chose 'You Got the Love' for our prayer service because sometimes you get fed up. You can get fed up in school, with friends and in work. Sometimes you think you are alone, but God is always there.

Scripture - Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need

He gives me time to be quiet and to relax

He shows me the right way to go

even when bad things happen I will not be afraid

God will help me get through difficult things

His love will be with me all of my life

and I will be welcome in God's house as long as I live

Prayers

Music

The song we chose is 'You've got the love' because sometimes you feel like throwing your hands up in the air and saying, 'I dont care about anything' but at the end of the day, no matter how much you don't care, God always will.

Scripture - Psalm 23

The lord is my shepherd I have evcerything I need

God gives me time to be quiet and to relax

He gives me inner strength to do good things

He shows me the right way to go

Even when bad things happen I will not be afraid

I know God's love will be with me all my life

And I will be welcome in God's house as long as I live

Prayers