It was fantastic to see so many young people again for our 2nd Reflective Session for Faith in Action.
Our focus for the afternoon was ‘Loving our Neighbour is Loving Jesus’ and we worked towards
- Exploring the example of love that Jesus sets
- Understanding that following Jesus’ example means taking responsibility for the well-being of others
- Reflecting on what it means to love a neighbour and how our love affects them
We looked at he following video to understand the Scripture passage from Matthew 25:31-46 ‘The Sheep & the Goats’
We explored the life of St Therese of Lisieux
We were then delighted to welcome Sr Geraldine from Holy Innocents parish who came to share her expereinces of working with and supporting refugees and assylum seekers. Sr Geraldine explored the following ‘backwards’ poem with the youth and this inspired them to write their own:
Refugees by Brian Bilston
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
We split into our award level groups and shared experiences of all that we have achieved in the last few weeks
Practical exploration – some of the youth produced artwork based on the Gospel of John 13:117 & others took the time to complete their journals
Finally as part of our closing liturgy, we watched the following video:
Afterwards the youth completed prayer intentions on Lampedusa Cross cards which will be sent to CAFOD and then passed on to those who most need our love,support and prayers:
Thank you once again to all the youth, clergy and volunteers who participate in the Faith in Action Award Scheme 2017.