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St. Augustine's School Prayer

Our Father in Heaven,

Look over and bless St. Augustine’s while we are working and playing.

Help us to respect and care for each other as you taught us to.

Give us the opportunity to do our best for you each day.

We look forward to being able to share our lives with our friends and families.

Keep us safe and give us the courage to be

people who want to know you more.

Amen.

I invite all families to pray this prayer at home, maybe one morning each week.

Prayer of the Week

O Lord,

Risen, alive and full of grace.

You paid such a price that we may live in freedom today.

We worship your holy name and give thanks for your redeeming grace.

Heavenly Father,

May we drink in your tender love so that we can pour this love out to others.

Come reign in our hearts, minds and spirits.

Holy Spirit,

We welcome you to blow through our every word, action and thought.

Come transform us on the inside so that each day we become more like our risen Lord.

Amen.

Prayer for the Year of St. Joseph

To you,

O blessed Joseph,

do we come in our afflictions,

and having implored the help of your most holy Spouse,

we confidently invoke your patronage also.

Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus,

we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood,

and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ;

O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence;

O our most mighty protector, be kind to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness.

As once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril,

so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by your constant protection,

so that, supported by your example and your aid, we may be able to live piously,

to die in holiness, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven.

Amen.

Scripture of the Week

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

When the sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices with which to go and anoint him. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, just as the sun was rising.

They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they could see that the stone – which was very big – had already been rolled back. On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, ‘There is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him. But you must go and tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him, just as he told you.”’

Reflection

by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

Jesus’ tomb was empty. It had even been cleaned up. The linen burial cloths were folded and rolled up neatly. Everything was left in order and taken care of. Jesus was clearly finished with this grave. No more of this ‘death business’ for him. He left it totally behind, and was fully alive, never to know the sufferings of death again.

Have you ever made a transition in life? Did you ever take a step and know that a part of your former life was totally behind you? What happened? How did you feel? Did you find yourself trying to take care of things or leave things in order in any way? Obviously Mary, Peter and the other disciple were close friends with one another and with Jesus. It is easy to picture the three of them running to the tomb together to be sure of what actually happened.

Who are the Marys and Peters in your life? Have you ever hurried to get to some important place? Have you ever struggled with someone else to figure out what was really happening in an important situation that affected you or a friend of yours? What happened and how did that affect your relationship?