25 October 2017
On Monday 9 October, Year 8 travelled to Aylesford Priory in Kent for a day of reflection. The theme for the day was “Rooted”, which linked in to our Sacred Heart Goal for the academic year of Personal and Active Faith in God. The students worked in pairs and small groups, giving them the opportunity to listen, respond and reflect on their life story to date.
Life is different for all of us and the students were reminded that we are all created in the image and likeness of God, who accepts us where we are and loves us so much that he challenges us to grow and experience the fullness of life (Isaiah 61:1-3). The students prepared the liturgy and took an active role as readers. By using drama to illustrate the message from the scripture readings we listened to, they challenged us to find our unique purpose in life and how we can serve the world and those we meet on a daily basis by being the “light shining in the darkness” by our words and deeds (Matthew 5: 13-16). We returned to school thinking of the words of St Madeleine Sophie: “Your actions, even more than your words will be an eloquent lesson for all”.
The students shared lovely, uplifting comments about the day: “to be more positive and confident that I’m good enough” and “embracing our differences, taking in the fact that we are all different and unique but we are all worth the same as each other”.
Fr Gerry Devlin, Chaplain