Finally, Camping

I can't believe it's taken so long. We have an old trailer tent and we finally managed to take a break for a couple of nights after talking about it ad nauseam. We went to Arisaig in the West Highlands (of Scotland), about 4 hours by car. Though, I have to say, I saw the forecast and noticed there wasn't any rain. In fact, there was a hardly a cloud in the sky, which meant a clear view of the Northern Sky at night. It was really wonderful...

Our tent is in the middle on the hill, with the islands of Eigg and Rhum in the background.

I

The area is also referred to as Blessed Morar, relatively untouched by the Reformation.

In front of the cross you have a superb view of the islands. To the rear of the cross is Loch Morar. There is a somewhat lengthy account of the history of the cross and the area in the context of the Reformation given here. But the detail of how there was a secret seminary on the island after the Reformation and how it's chapel was destroyed is a salutary reminder of how the Catholic Faith survived during difficult times.

And here we have the very train viaduct used in three of the Harry Potter films that we passed in Glenfinnan on the way. (A clear view follows). We also saw the steam train twice! It was lovely. Literally, a blast from the past.

Turning down a no-brainer

Tonight is World Book Night.
World Book Night has a scheme that allows those who are interested to give away free books to those who might not read that much. My wife celebrated World Book Night by giving out free copies of books in our local town today with the help of her sister. Easy, eh? My wife didn't even have to bear the cost of the book giveaway.

Well, not quite. She was ignored mostly, some others were very rude, and one person even shouted at them. There was a cost, even if the gift was free.

The problem is we are so cynical that we don't believe someone could have something for us for free that doesn't come with strings attached or some other vested interest. There are a lot of people being untruthful out there.

So, there's a tip to be learned here about helping others, attempting to better direct them towards grace, the greatest free gift. Next time you're thinking of giving someone some help in a more serious matter, like speaking to someone about having faith, and a relationship with God, think of how it must appeal in this cynical world. The relationship's the thing. Your genuine relationship with God, and your genuine relationship with them. Do you make quiet, hidden sacrifices for love of both? Say interiorly who you're doing it for. This is sincere, genuine love, to sacrifice for the one you love.

I think Bl.John Paul II said 'prayer and sacrifice are the most powerful combination man has ever known'.

And, for Goodness sake, don't start with 'I'm not trying to sell you something'. Honesty is wonderful, great and essential, but you have to be smart as well.

And at the end of the night they were all gone. Persevere!

Stop and Wonder at a Snail's Pace

If wondered what snails ever did for us? Ever wondered what a special child in your family can do for you? Someone once said it's not more wonders we need but just a greater sense of wonder.

Sometimes we have to stop, smell the roses, or ... maybe just play with the snails.
This kept our special son going for, I'd say, about half-an-hour one day.

Get friends who move more slowly than you do and they'll stick around for longer.

Why suffering?

I may have written about this before, but one needs perspective so often. I don't pretend for a second to know of others' sufferings. I only know the loss of my parents within 5 months of each other rocked my faith a couple of years ago. Not knowing some intellectual answers didn't help me. 'Why do we have to have this life and not just be in heaven?' I remember asking myself, and also wanting books from my parish priest to find answers.

One answer that has helped me since then is the lack of contemplation of heaven. No one ever talks about it. We remain silent about God's greatest gift, I think largely because we don't believe it. It's just too good to be true. And in some senses our lives are like a more immediate heaven that doesn't require belief. (Here I don't intend to insult the suffering souls grappling for an answer in their anguish, just explain the general silence.)

My beloved parents on holiday in Austria. Now with the Father. My mum used to tell us she'd look at these views and think 'what must heaven be like?' My brother recalls my dad at a reservoir in Scotland revelling in the view and making a discrete Sign of the Cross from his wheel chair in the last weeks of his life.

When I have started to contemplate it, I have begun to realise that in heaven we may wish we could show this great God just how much we love Him, as a relatively paltry effort in return for eternal, never-ending bliss (I could go on).
It's a simple truth, verified by experience, that proof of love is to sacrifice for the one we love. When we die we can open our hands with offerings of suffering to show we understand the enormity of the gift of eternal life.
But I am truly humbled by those who can, in the midst of great involuntary suffering, say 'I love you God', as we stumble on clinging to faith, not fully knowing the One we talk to. Even Christ felt forsaken on the Cross but called on his Father. Do I suffer? Yet somehow Christ suffered more. I distinctly remember this forsakeness helped me, He had gone through this before me. But I remained hurt inside for a long time, and probably still now subconsciously the trust in God hasn't fully returned. It's a work in progress.

One day, standing before God, I will be properly ashamed of that lack of trust. But, like admitting sin, the first step is to recognise it's there (or in the case of  trust, not there) and work on it. He has, after all, made the first move in making me and giving me true freedom to respond. Then he's shown me exactly how.

A Good Friday all-round

On Good Friday this year we went on an ecumenical walk in Edinburgh across Leith Links. There is a plaque on a large table-like stone at one end of Leith Links that commemorates the world's first competitive game of golf played there (though now it's simply a park). We do this accompanied by adults with learning difficulties welcomed by the L'Arche community of Edinburgh. For most of the walk I had the pleasure of the company of George, who is in the far right of the picture on the previous link. When I first met my wife she was in the middle of a 3-year stint as a voluntary assistant living in Edinburgh. If if wasn't for L'Arche our paths wouldn't have crossed (though, as we discovered, we had been at pro-life conferences without having met).

The whole team with Edinburgh Castle directly above my head. What a cool mum they have! Don't be deceived by the sunglasses. I'd say there was a windchill of -5C up there. I could hardly bear to take my gloves off to take the photo below.

It was a lovely experience and reminded me of what L'Arche events have done through the years for me. Like Pope Francis' call to "step outside ourselves", taking part in their events has always been a very welcome break from introspection and stress, even when it didn't seem attractive to go to one and we went anyway. Thank you L'Arche.

It was a wonderful reminder of the universality of the christian faith as well. I met young people from Germany, France, Wales, and Australia.

Then we decided to go up Arthur's Seat, the high point in the middle of Edinburgh. It's only fair that I should point out that one can take the car on a road half-way up Arthur's Seat, walking the last, steep part of the path for 20-30 minutes or so.

The rest of the team with Holyrood Palace in the middle background.

There was some resistance to this trip up a hill. But, as you can see, it was worth it for a 360 degree panoramic view. Snow-clad hills on two sides (the Pentlands on the outskirts of Edinburgh and in Fife). Fife is over the other side of the River Forth behind us in the photos. This is where you'd find St.Andrew's.

We managed to do the reading of the Passion in the car, not being brave enough to take the little ones and our special son to any 3 o'clock service without a childrens' liturgy, and also the Rosary on the way home.

But the most heartening experience of the day was watching a crowd of 40 or so gather for a Good Friday service, journeying up Arthur's Seat. Accompanied by a priest who was one of their own, a group of pilgrims of Asian-Indian origin were making a Stations of the Cross, complete with beautiful wooden crucifix. There were many children among them carrying their Palm Sunday crosses. It was inspiring and, not knowing how to tell them just how beautiful it was, I knelt down on both knees as they past me.

After all, it's not about us. It really was His day, a Good Friday indeed.

The Child and a Half

My son has autism. This is the child and a half.
I don't suppose he'll ever read this (though actually he can read quite well, he's just not going to be interested), so I don't mind revealing it now.
The wonderful thing is his innocence. He is naive. No, he is...straight-forward. Mostly. He delivers some of his lines with perfect sincerity, oblivious to how they come across.

I asked him the other day if he'd had a good day at school.

"Nearly", he said. I love this boy. "Ask me that question again later", he added.

So after dinner, he pipes up "Dad, you know that question you were going to ask me earlier? Ask me it now".

"Did you have a good day?"

"Nearly. My teacher took a note of a recipe I was telling her and she said that we might do it. Then, later, we had a vote and the other boys voted for something else".

This was nearly a good day. In heaven, this boy is going to get all his recipes made. I know it.

A True Spritual Father

I've tried to follow Pope Emeritus Benedict's weekly catechesis on Faith for weeks now and, as I've read it and other writings of his over the years, I've been struck by just how well he writes. He is a master teacher. Archbishop Vincent Nichols spoke on BBC Radio 4 of the Pope's wonderful 'turn of phrase' and I was so grateful as that is exactly what I felt too. There seems to be so much he offered those who seek truth.

The Young Josef Ratzinger

A Prophet

Firstly, he was an academic, a university professor, and began to be recognised as an excellent scholar. This beginning was important for the future of the Church. His enormous intellectual ability allowed him to foresee the dangers during the Second Vatican Council. He was seen as 'progressive', as were a handful of his German colleagues, such as Karl Rahner. He jointly authored a document 'much more Rahner's work than my own' which 'evoked some rather bitter reactions' (in his autobiography, 'Milestones' p.128). This perhaps explained how he was seen to be, but was not, as progressive as some make out. As early as 1966 he realised how the redefining of Catholicism being proposed by some would leave anything being possible in theology, Catholicism having been wrenched away from it's Tradition. With the anchor pulled up, it could be tossed in the wild seas (which could be clearly seen and foreseen in the 60s). He spoke in his autobiography (covering up to 1977 only):

As we worked on it together, it became obvious to me that, despite our agreement on many desires and conclusions, Rahner and I lived two different theological planets...His was a speculative and philosophical theology in which Scripture and the Fathers in the end did not play an important role.

What a prophet he was! The significance of there being diverging paths, disunity in the Church, were devastating. Therefore, it became possible for Teddy Kennedy, the brother of President John F. Kennedy, to write of the pro-life vision in 1971:

“when history looks back at this era it should recognize this generation as the one which cared for human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.” (source)

Yet later Teddy Kennedy would help lead the way, from within the powerful Kennedy dynasty, for many Catholics in America to support abortion rights. This is perhaps one of the most powerful illustrations of the leap that was made between between one 'theological planet' and another, with the advice of errant priests.

But Joseph Ratzinger foresaw this and had the courage to distinguish himself from his colleagues' views. He was only an adviser to the Council at that stage but a significant one. Ratzinger himself said in a 1993 interview, "I see no break in my views as a theologian [over the years]". ^(source)
Thank be to God for his constancy. Lately, once again, he has spoken to us all as a prophet for our times on the defining of what it is to be human. This is a man who exemplifies commitment to the Faith, but will quote the Chief Rabbi of France.

A joyful spiritual father

^{A Father Figure}

^{But then there is the father figure. I lost my dad in 2010. He was born the same year as Joseph Ratzinger. My dad spoke German well that he learned at school and introduced us to Austrian holidays when I was a teenager (Joseph Ratzinger was born in Southern Germany very close to the Austrian border). When I first read his autobiography it was interesting, but different the second time around. On second reading I noticed his beautiful reflection on his parents' passing. I felt his empathy. His parents were holy people and he loved them and missed them.
Reading Pope Benedict's writings was informative before but now became comforting for me. He was wise, calm, had 'seen it all' including the war years, if only a teenager as my dad was. And he had this 'turn of phrase' that Archbishop Nichols spoke of.}

Different vocations, similar humility.

^{A Humble Servant} 

<sup>In his autobiography, he indicates that he clearly saw himself called to be an academic. So, when invited to become Archbishop of Munich and Freising he hesitated but accepted on the strong advice of his confessor. Considering Pope John Paul II did not accept his resignation when Josef was Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wanting him to continue in the role, and then he was elected Pope when, in his brother George's view, he wanted to retire, Joseph Ratzinger has truly been a 'servant of the servants of God' all his life. He has conformed his will to God's will all his life.
And in return? He has been vilified by the press. I distinctly remember the - at the time very Catholic-influenced - Daily Telegraph reporting of John Paul II's death as the loss of 'Our Father' in a bold headline. Non-Catholics must have wondered if they had picked up a religious paper by accident. But note the volte-face for the election of the 'Rottweiler'. How cruel. How deceitful. Even, his affluent, liberal German homeland did not accord him the respect his intellect should have merited.
But he showed them the truth, in typical humble style. His first encyclical? Simply, 'God is Love'. His visit to the UK and many other personal encounters left people wondering 'is this the man the media like to maul?' Thus love confounded hatred. Truth trumped Falsehood. Humility defeated Pride. Meanwhile, the media here in the UK had to eat humble pie in the discovery of their own lies and depravity. Even Peter Seewald, the German journalist who interviewed him on several occasions for three published books, made the journey from atheism to Catholicism.
And his final flourish? The so-called Rottweiller humbly resigns his post in favour of another, avowing 'reverence' and 'obedience' to his successor. He is not greater than the Office, the Office of Peter is greater than even that wonderful man, Josef Ratzinger.
Thank you Lord, for the gift to mankind of Josef Ratzinger. And thank you Josef Ratzinger for the gift of yourself to us.

May God reward you.</sup>

God, the casual artist, master painter

A camera capture from the Divine portfolio- 'sunrise'

I was prompted by Testosterhome's delight in the morning sunrise to recall (if only to myself!) what beauty I notice all around me. These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago. I had to stop my journey for the first one and get out the car. I just felt I had to.

It's hard to concentrate when God
is doing His stuff all around you.

Even today, we had our first real 'heavy snow' (BBC Weather forecast definition), which was both thrilling and frightening (my car nearly didn't stop on an ungritted road). Then it had almost all melted by 3 in the afternoon. God turned that West of Scotland Temperature Gauge up just a notch or two and wiped away His work: just a little fun for the children, a reminder of the season, a brief re-appreciation of the milder weather. It had it's purpose for each person. Two immense books illustrated this small point in passing.
Firstly, in the Diary of St.Faustina God uses the weather to effect the changes He desired in His divine plan for her (para.64). A planned trip had to be postponed, as Our Lord had assured her, due to a very sudden change in weather. Secondly,  there is a story I had remembered from one of my readings of Story of a Soul by St.Therese, the Little Flower, and Doctor of the Catholic Church. Here it is recounted by an EWTN article:

Snow had always had a particular attraction for Teresa. She was born amid the snow of winter. She had a great desire to see the earth clad in white on the day of her Clothing. But the extreme mildness of the day made it seem impossible. On re-entering the cloister after the ceremony she found it covered with snow. Ever after, this was referred to as the little miracle.

A Rolf Harris Magic
Brush Christmas
present of mine circa 1980

It was January, but faith sees the hand of God. However, it is the improbability of snow existing at all that excites me. I am to be persuaded by the world that we are here by chance, that there is no explanation. We just are. What?? When surrounded by such wonders I feel surrounded by God's Love. It's such a benign, non-intrusive, respectful-of-freedom Love. But He draws me to Himself.
And it's great to know I'm not alone on that path. Others are looking up in awe and wondering. They wonder at God, the artist who need only think to create. Here we see more than just something of the artist in his work, we are enveloped in His Love.

Rolf Harris

But, to follow the theme in the Testosterhome post, does God the artist resemble the artistic hero of British childhood?

Truth and Common Sense (1)

I thought I'd better blog. One reason for blogging in the first place was what good it might do me to 'talk sense' and so make sense of my view of the world (how grandiose)! So perversely, my not wanting to post anything has also been, in part, due to a feeling of 'why would anyone want to know what going on in my head?' It was really a self-put-down. So back to blogging. I'm not that bad.

To the point of the post. Lately I've come to realise the truth about the Truth I believe. So why do so few people believe it? Well, that's a big question but I'd like to suggest a couple of reasons.

Rest to think,
know the truth
and be happy.

One, there is an inertia when it comes to thinking deeply about anything in our culture. In many ways you can't blame people for this. Apart from the culture encouraging just 'feeling good', we also live such stressful, hectic lives that (on the face of it) physically and mentally we really need rest, rather than more thinking. Think 'I need to rest', rest, then think. This is why Sunday is no longer Sunday.
An illustration of this would be where I work. After any occasional discussion that is about religion (even though it's a Catholic school) people (even myself against my better judgement) feel a need to excuse the conversation. Something along the lines of "that was deep" or "I'm glad we've sorted out the world now". Part of the reasoning is because we're at work, which is truly exhausting at times, and we're showing respect for everyone's need to not think much during our breaks. But our continual bustle to this degree isn't healthy. We are no more than living like animals if we don't reflect.

So many of us see the
world through the
 eyes of our stomachs.

Secondly, we are so ruled by our feelings that even if something were to be obvious to us, we can't overcome our feelings, and the rule-of-the-feelings. This can be strong so sympathy is often due but sometimes it is just selfishness. The obesity crisis in developed countries is a good example. On the one hand, some people have medical conditions, inherited or otherwise, that require sympathy and treatment. But on the other, some of us (and I am one who loves to eat) just indulge our senses. We do what we want, not what's obviously good for us. Now, I happen to have great difficulty putting on weight. I always appear slim, it's fair to say (cue great envy, I know) but one day my eating habits may be so strongly ingrained and my metabolism slowing down, that I will reap the rewards of following my feelings. Simply following our feelings is a path to disaster. I know from experience. They have their part to play, but it isn't the main character. The principal is principles.

Doesn't that sound like a neat diagnosis of the developed world at present? There is almost nothing we cannot do and we try really hard to do them all filling all our time. And feelings take the lead. "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, " (1 Corinthians 2:18 NRV). I had memorised this quote close to it's more literal translation: "But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God" (Douay version). Perhaps in changing the translation we have lost the sense - in more ways than one! But the two translations cover the ground of lack of reflection/prayer and sensuality, respectively.
However, I know regarding the teaching point I should not point the finger elsewhere. The Truth of things is what we each have to wrestle with, taking the time and space to do so. It's obvious to every person they are mortal and satisfying the senses can't solve it and obscures the vision of God's laws of Love.

I don't love because I don't feel like it. I don't change because I don't stop to reflect on it.

So this is what the other half do?

Helpful tip: try to avoid cracks, puddles and cars.

Last night I told my wife I was going Christmas shopping. I have to confess that she has done almost everything on that front. But I console myself with the fact that I'm the hunter/gatherer and she is the...spender; what did cave women do in their spare time?

So I took the advice of an expert, I didn't wear clothing that would make me too warm as I walked around shops (no 'jumper'/'sweater'), took the train (no parking issues), and did a bit of planning before I set off.

But I didn't reckon on it being Thursday night, not a Saturday afternoon. This means two things: I'd been at work all day so I was spent before I was spending and, as only the desperate shop at that time of night it wasn't so busy, and a third thing (which has just popped into my head making this a very long sentence) is that it is colder in the night (didn't you know).

So, I found I was cold, was sent back and forth by sales assistants to their 'other store' across the city, wondered what the rest of the shoppers were doing at home who were supposed to be out there with me, and...it was raining and my shoes were NOT waterproof, it turns out. In fact, I could feel the bit that was coming apart at the sole with every step.
And when I say raining, I mean raining in the West of Scotland kind of way. I looked like a child avoiding the cracks as I tried desperately to find a bit of the pavement without a puddle.
So I got home exhausted at about 13 hours after I'd first left it in the morning.

Now, here's a question: is this really what some women call a hobby?

But I have to concede what a joy a bookstore can be. Let's here it for the Waterstone store that soldiers on against the online onslaught. It seems to be the only major one left in town. You stand there, not a puddle in sight, the assistants approach you to help in a friendly way and you get lost reading a very interesting book in a section and forget what you came for.

I did my bit to support them- but what I did has to remain a surprise!

Extracting Good from Evil

With a class of six-year-olds and five of my own, it's natural that the Newtown tragedy in the US has an impact on my own thoughts.

I looked at my own children and thought 'what if I didn't see them again?' What if something so horrible happened to them- then you have to stop thinking along those lines. But it simply makes you realise the need to value them in preference to the limitless number of things that can get in the way.
"Wouldn't life be great if I did X,Y,Z?" Well, maybe life would seem better. But wouldn't someone else be much happier if I did A,B,C?
In fact, A,B,C is very likely to be my primary duty. And some duties towards my own children only I can do. A,B,C is also staring at me and X,Y,Z is often Walter Mitty or Ideal Dad material.

I worry if I'm a good teacher. All the time. Sometimes I just want to give up. But then I hear another teacher say something similar and I realise I'm not alone. We can't all give up.
But when I posed this to a priest friend of mine months ago he asked me 'do you love them?' And of course I said I did.

The wisdom in this is something for another post. What is it to educate?

Do I love the children I teach? How do I show this? Do I respect their dignity? Do I contribute to them earning a bad reputation by the way I speak to colleagues about them? Am I always acting in their best interests and not just 'spouting off', letting off steam at their expense? Am I sarcastic?

What if one of these children wasn't to turn up the next day? And what if that was it? If I only had memories of our relationship what would it be? What is my relationship with each child in my care?

When they are in my class I am acting 'in loco parentis'. How am I actively working on loving these children before me, modelling myself on the love the Father has for each one of us?

Look at my car, of course there's a God

I was in a rush to work a couple of days ago, made all the more hectic by the winter frost we've been having. But amidst frantic scrubbing of frost off the car windows I was stopped in my tracks, as it were, by the look of my car roof.

I was glad I wasn't having to brush it off, it would have felt cruel. It made me immediately think of the wonder of creation. From a more argumentative perspective, it made me wonder how people could look at the complexity of such small features of beauty and say 'this is all by chance'.
It reminds me of two further points. The first being the complexity of snowflakes, that doesn't need the assertion that 'no two snowflakes are the same' to be true to make you gaze in wonder at these chilled feathers from heaven (don't my car frost patterns resemble feathers so wonderfully?)

The second point is regarding evolution, of all things!
It matters little to Catholics weather God created the world with or without his tool of evolution. Evolution within species has plenty of evidence. Even humans have evolved in time. However, when I recently read that the Theory of Evolution has not one single example to prove it as the explanation of the 'origin of species', this made me wonder again at God's more direct Providence.
Creationists, as I remember from Higher Biology at school, believe God to have created everything at a particular moment in time. Well, that was one extreme view presented to us. Certainly, He is proposed as having created each specie directly, not one from another. Subsequently, another year at university studying Biology still confirmed in my own mind the idea that evolution was the answer to the origins of life.

But there still is an evidence gap I have discovered. So, when I suddenly realised that evolution as the origin of species is a theory that has become an assumption for the order and variety I see around me, I felt slightly duped.
I felt duped that I could have been wondering at God's direct involvement in my life through the material world I saw around me all through my life. Instead I'd been persuaded to see God somewhere distant at the beginning, pushing the big ball of mass off His table to start the Big Bang. He was so far removed, with milions of years of evolution separating us, that God couldn't be realistically perceived, nowhere had He left His mark in my environment.

But now, with evolution back into it's proper scientific status as a theory, I could wonder again at Providence as more immediately graspable. And if evolution as the origin of species, as God's chosen tool of Nature, is proven, so be it. I'm still a Catholic. God is still the Author. God is still the Boss.
One final point. How clever then is God to have thought of evolution, if it is proven to be all some would like to be. In all it's complexity, it's a means of masking his Providence from those who want to deny His existence. It gives a means to ultimate freedom of intellect -to put God at the centre and science as a servant of Truth or Science at the centre and God as just a tool.
Pity you if the latter is all you have, it's a pittance.

Choose the former and be filled with Love and Wonder.

Let's 'ear it for the funny side of things

What I'm about to impart will not perhaps be a universal experience. In fact, maybe you had to be there to appreciate it. But I can't help myself relate it.

My wife and I have deal. I can do her nails because I've lots of experience of keeping mine in trim for playing the classical guitar, and she can trim the hair out of my ears.

So last night she started on the left ear. No problem. Then she did the right one and the fun began. I just couldn't stop laughing. And as she tried to clip the hair as my head moved about she was laughing as well. Have you ever tried to cut something while it moves? I was imagining handing my right ear around friends saying 'never mind the blood, look how hairless it is!'

Praying in class

I pray with my children in class at school in the morning and, I suppose, I try to do that part of the day well. Being the infant department it may go downhill from there.

One part of it is to prepare children a little so that they're not just doing it as a rote learned exercise. But yes, there is a value even in that. In the short time available at that point in the day I vary which one prayer we use as an offering for our petitions in order that we don't neglect the memorisation of all our basic prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be- they are only six years of age). So, there is a rote memorisation going on over time.

1. However, I try to introduce a prayerful attitude to start with. This is very, very important. It's an education in sincerity. Besides why they are praying, I also try to remind them of Who they are praying to. Who's listening anyway? Who are they talking to?
   'Let's try to think of God who loves us so much. That's why we are alive. He made us because He loves us so much, more than you can ever imagine. So let's pray to Him and offer Him something back for everything He gives us...'
2. We then do the Morning Offering.
    
3. Then each group in my class gets a turn at offering verbal petitions, one group per day. But others can add their own 'if it's serious and can't wait 'til it's your turn'. 
   
   This is a chance to remember those who have died and for occasional reminders that we are even more important than the animals we pray for often (because we are made in God's image and likeness). This is helpful because the children see the immediate relevance of praying. They understand why they should pray with some seriousness because someone's mum is ill or brother has an exam. All they can do to help is pray. It's real. I always add that we pray for the pupils, staff and all their families in our own school and the non-denominational school we are joined to. God is the Father and Our Lady the Mother of all of us.
4. Then I choose a prayer and briefly remind them of the purpose in that particular prayer. For example 'remember that we owe everything to God, so we pray the Glory Be to offer everything back to God in return for Him giving us all we have that is good'.
   
   Especially for the longer Our Father and Hail Mary, I try to briefly explain a part of the prayer so that they aren't 'just saying it' i.e. without understanding. I don't expect an overnight result but this is a case of chiseling away at adult language barriers for children and allowing them to enter into the prayer a little bit. For example, 'Who art in Heaven' is just an old, beautiful way of saying 'Who is in Heaven' so He sees everything and we want to go and be with Him'. Who knows, maybe one day they'll say to their own children or someone else 'my teacher used to say this meant...'
   
5. We say the prayer, hopefully praying the prayer. If it is a new prayer then obviously they would learn it a line at a time, repeating it after me (and point 4 wouldn't make so much sense yet).
6. We finish with 'Holy Mother Mary and St.Joseph' and they respond 'Pray for us'. Then 'And all the angels and saints of God' and they respond 'Pray for us'. Even this is something, like a liturgical norm, they need to be taught. It's an introduction to the Communion of Saints. Every now and then it could be explained, especially after a serious petition, 'everyone in Heaven is praying for you right now'.

Perhaps there will be a little more living of our prayers as a result. What would the world be like if we all lived a little more of 'as we forgive those who trespass against us'?
There are wider educational benefits to this approach. The class forms a unity in purpose (in life), see their inter-connectedness as a family of God, and express themselves and listen to everyone else in a respectful attitude. I'm sure there are so many other benefits.

This all might take some time, but if I had to move it to a slightly later part of the day it would be fine. I would just start with the Morning Offering by itself and do the rest later, once the register is in and the pressure is off.
Of course, my register might be one of the last to go into the office, but I know I've done something that puts the heart into what a Catholic school ought to be. I've started the day as I mean to continue. Even if it might often go downhill, we started well.