Reflection and Opening Prayer for a Staff /Board of Management Meeting (1)

“Consult not your fears, but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you have tried and failed in, but what it is still possible to do. Now is the time to put aside past and present setbacks and failures and look with confidence to a new day called tomorrow.”

Pope John XXIII 

God our Father as we gather for this meeting may we be guided by your wisdom, your love and the abiding presence of your Spirit.

For your wisdom teaches us about what is truly important and gives us to the courage to do the right thing

Your love reminds us that our compassion is not only for those we think deserving but is for all your children who are in need

Your Spirit empowers us to recognise the ways in which we are blessed and to build a community of learning that is characterised by joy, creativity and a spirit of service.

Through our work may this school be true to the charism of our Founder and the heritage that it is our privilege to pass on.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord and brother in whose name we gather and who is with us always. Amen.

Reflection and Opening Prayer for a Staff /Board of Management Meeting (2)

It seems to me

We can never give up

longing and wishing

while we are alive.

There are certain things

we feel to be beautiful and good,

and we must hunger for them.  

                                                                                                                                                                (George Eliot)

God of all life and longing,  

We give thanks for this day and everything that has brought us here.

Share with us your Spirit that nourishes our longing for life in its fullness.

Leave us open to the ways of your Wisdom,

and generous to the promptings of your Love. Amen

Reflections and Prayers for a Staff meeting or Assembly

(1)

“I do dimly perceive that while everything around me is ever changing, ever dying there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together; that creates, dissolves and recreates. For I can see that in the midst of death life persists; in the midst of untruth, truth persists in the midst of darkness light persists.” Mahatma Gandhi

God of life you hold all things together by the power of your love.
In times of uncertainty and change help us to trust that you are at work in ways that go beyond our understanding.
Do not allow us to be overwhelmed by anxiety or fear
Give us instead the courage to keep doing the right thing and the confidence to offer hope to others.
Thank you for never ceasing to call us to be the best that we can be.
May we always respond with generous hearts.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

(2)

“If the hijackers had been able to imagine themselves into the thoughts and feelings of the passengers, they would have been unable to proceed... Imagining what it is like to be someone other than yourself  is at the core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion and the beginning of morality”.

Ian McEwan (novelist) in an interview in the Guardian just after 9/11

God our Father
We have been made in your image and likeness and therein lies the core of our dignity as human beings. In our busy and distracted lives we can easily forget about the other,
being aware only of our own needs and difficulties.
Through the power of your Spirit that lives within us and the example of Jesus our guide,
bring us to a greater awareness of those around us, open our eyes to see their gifts and talents,
their problems and concerns
and lead us to become a community built on compassion and respect for the other. 
Amen