St Anne’s Catholic School
Southampton
Praying in school: why do we bother?
A little theology …
We don’t usually associate religious faith with risk-
taking. After all, what could be less risky than
conforming our lives to an established faith that
has been around for over two thousand years?
There’s nothing especially daring or radical about
that … or is there?
Actually taking risks in the sense of letting go of
unhelpful beliefs and practices is at the very heart
of authentic religious faith. ‘You have heard how it
is said [in the Torah] … but I say to you …’ are not
the words of someone who thought that religion
was about unthinking conformity. If we are to grow
spiritually, as people who have a capacity to
experience and know that great other we call
‘God’, we must keep letting go of some things and
actively embracing others. This is the ongoing
challenge of a faith that invites us to become fully
human.
Letting go (some suggestions)
If we want to make sense of prayer we have to let
go of the idea that God is an incredibly powerful
superperson somewhere in the universe that we
would like to be on good terms with. Some of our
images of God are very helpful – God is
enlightenment, Father, love, a rock, a shepherd -
all these give us insights into what God is like. But
none of these ideas, even the best of them, tell us
who God is. Unfortunately for many ‘God’ has
become equated with a particular set of human
pictures, including being powerful (like a
monarch), being condemnatory (like a judge),
being male and being in control. Many people
(understandably) have difficulties with such a
God. Praying seems to be a matter of persuading
‘God’ to do things which would otherwise not be
done. Needless to say, this is not the
understanding of prayer that
we would want to promote at St Anne’s (or
anywhere else).
September 2006
Without abandoning images altogether (which
would be silly) we need to embrace the insight
that God is the truly real in life (without turning
that into just another image). This truly real,
according to many of the ancient world faiths and
certainly according to Christianity, is to be found
at the heart of our lives as persons. God, in a way
that we struggle to say in words, is the Mystery at
the centre of my life, and your life and everyone’s
life. To pray, then, is the most liberating thing we
can do. Prayer connects us to the creative Centre
that our lives are always trying to express.
Incarnation and salvation
John’s gospel tells us in a poetic way that what is
truly real is, amazingly, completely wedded to the
human condition. ‘The Word (God) became flesh’
means that, again in a mysterious sense, human
and divine are not two separate realities but one.
For Christians Jesus exemplified this truth in a
very concrete and outstanding way. But it would
be a mistake to see him as a one-off. The whole
point of the incarnation (the ‘en-fleshment’ of God)
is that all people should experience their divine
centre and destiny. Indeed, the Church is the
community that witnesses to this through their
experience of Jesus as the Godsend.
During the last 1000 years of Christianity we have
become used to the idea that salvation is a kind of
rescue operation of God led by Jesus resulting in
(eventually) a right relationship between
humankind and God. Interestingly many of the
earlier (Greek) Christians thought of salvation
differently. Salvation for them was ‘apotheosis’
which means being raised up to be like God. This
earlier understanding of salvation complements
the idea that God is fully involved in the reality we
call ‘human’. Through prayer we become more
connected with our deepest selves, with others
and with the total mystery of life. This is what it
means for us to be fully human/God-like. This
marvellous destiny is ‘the pearl of great price’ that
anyone who is fully awake would want to possess.
Prayer at St Anne’s
Praying in school has a rationale. Given a faith
perspective on life and an acceptance of the
points outlined, it should be clear that praying (far
from being a waste of time) is one of the main
ways in which we affirm our human identity.
Prayer is the necessary condition for the complete
life which is also the life of faith. The challenge is
to help ourselves and our students experience
prayer in this way.
Day
Praying or saying prayers?
Acts of worship, usually involving prayer, take
place every day in school either during whole-year
assemblies or in classrooms.
If prayer in these contexts is to be meaningful
certain conditions must be created by the
teacher to ensure that the right kind of praying
takes place.
• There is a distinction between time and
‘prayer time’. Prayer time is ‘holy ground’
that should be approached in a respectful
way. Prayer time does not have to be
longer than business time. What makes
prayer time special is the way it is
prepared and handled.
• The teacher’s role in establishing the right
conditions is decisive. If she/he regards
the time as special so (eventually) will the
students. It may be hard to quieten the
group down or to put aside activities that
seem important, but the teacher’s
willingness to do this day after day will
ensure that the right messages are sent
out. Praying is a habit and habits need to
be established.
• Minimally, there must be no noise,
chatting or any distractions during prayer
time. Actually the experience of
silence/quiet for a couple of minutes is
very liberating for students and many
appreciate the efforts to achieve this.
• One good way to mark off the time as
special is to light a candle and place it in a
prominent position for the class.
Sometimes playing quiet music or
displaying suitable posters can be just as
effective.
• Don’t think you have to highly creative
every time the class has prayer time. In
fact I would urge you to use formats that
will be presented on the weekly reflection
sheet for at least two of the four weekly
class assemblies:
Format
Each week there will be a phrase from
the week’s Gospel on the reflection
sheet. Get someone to read this out to
the class (or read it yourself sometimes).
1 Then read the short reflections on the
Gospel. They are meant to help the
students apply the gospel to their lives.
End with the short prayer provided.
Use the bidding prayers/prayers of the
faithful on the reflection sheet. These
2 could be read by an individual or a small
group. Everyone should say the
response (written on the whiteboard).
Prayers and reflections relevant to the
3 week, often related to the (liturgical)
calendar, are included. Use at least one
of these if possible.
• Don’t be afraid to spend a minute in
silence. Everyone has people and things
on their mind. Leave these thoughts with
God and enjoy the stillness.
• You will know your form better than most.
Some classes will want the opportunity to
say their own thoughts and prayers to the
class: create a secure environment in
which this can continue. Some groups will
prefer quiet (and music) to words: use
these means to give them the support
they need.
• We want to avoid the two extremes of
everybody doing the same thing (ie
reading from the reflection sheet) and
everybody doing their ‘own thing’
(which can mean nothing at all). We
are praying as a Christian community
and it is right for us all during the week
to reflect on the same gospel and to
express our common needs. Equally
we have needs that are specific to our
classes and we will need to work out
our own way of expressing them.
• The following pages present some further
suggestions for class/assembly prayer
that might be helpful.