Introduction

The course’s aim led by Fr Reuben was to get in touch with ourselves and God, and how to create a deep communication with Him. Fr Paul Chetcuti thought us that religion and spirituality work hand in hand. Spirituality is invisible but it is the reality of life, and religion is what makes the invisible visible.

Fr Paul gave us the example that when we have our birthday it is the reality of life that we grew another year, this is like spirituality because we will not know that someone has his or her birthday if we’re not told, so this is the spiritual part of life. When we celebrate our birthday with others, that celebration is like religion. So, religion is making our spiritual tangible, it helps us to connect also with others. Spirituality is built on 4 pillars:
1. Me
2. Those around us.
3. Nature and the animals.
4. God.

The aim of creating prayer spaces is to take care of our spirituality. Following you’re going to read how I created a prayer space, and the creative process on need to go through. From seeing other prayer spaces for inspiration to the final prayer space.

What is a prayer?

According to the Diocese of London, prayer is giving our devotion to the Divinity in a mutual spiritual bond where we talk to the Lord and also listen to Him. Prayer is like a kid’s conversation with their dad. It is normal for a child to ask his father for the things they want, or to ask for advice or direction.

We don’t pray on our own, but together with Christians throughout the ages and around the world. Prayer brings us in touch with God and others, we offer every circumstance to God, and God uses our prayers to bring love and fairness into the world.

My inspirations

The prayer space that I have in mind is focusing on community building, and each one of us is important. My two main inspirations for this prayer space were:
The ‘mirror’ prayer space because I like the reflective part in focusing on yourself to see the good in yourself, to feel that you’re not worthless and that you’re not just a number in God’s eyes and also with us in the community.

The ‘prayer wall’ prayer space because it is community-based. In doing it you can see what others are praying and feeling that belonging of needing others to build this wall.

Where do I want to set up my prayer space and why?

I called my prayer space “Feeling home”, it gives warmth and a feeling of peace with yourself. This is how I greet guests when they enter my house. “Make yourself at home”.  My target audience is everyone passing by in a public space. We know that Jesus said, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me” Act 1:8

So it is our duty to make Jesus more visible to others in this modern world.

Sometimes as a believer in God, I feel that I need to create some time for Jesus because sometimes our lives are so hectic that we don’t even find just a few seconds to thank God. Creating this public space will help us in doing this.

Set up can be in a public space such as outside, in front of the parish priest’s house or parish office or indoors such as in a school near a window where you can see houses and buildings.

What is the prayer space about?

This prayer space is focusing on me and how important I am in contributing to the community. It’s about focusing on the good that God gave us.  God’s love flows through us to share it with others.

Evaluation

Asking these questions to evaluate this prayer space:

1. Is it clear and simple?
I used two words for the title to be straight to the point. Also, the points are clear so those doing the prayer space think step by step about themselves without being confused about what the prayer space is trying to help them in achieving.

2. Is it Easy to access?

3. Is it inclusive to everyone?
I am thinking about a simple stand-alone podium somewhere in an open space so it can be accessible for everyone, height of the podium should be the height of a table so wheelchair users can also make use of the prayer space, approximately 86cm high. Also, I made sure not to use religious terms to make sure that it’s open to everyone even for the non-believers. After all, we all have good qualities and we can all contribute to our society with our talents and traits.

4. Use of the senses to be more interactive.
In this prayer space, sight is the most used sense and you’re using the space around you, meaning that this prayer space is open, this will help you to use your surroundings to create a prayer atmosphere.

5. Does it teach skills?
Yes, it helps you to see how valuable you are and to be grateful for the things that you have to make your life beautiful and to help others with what you have.

6. Personal and corporate
This prayer space includes activities that invite people to reflect and/or pray alone, and also invite them to reflect and/or pray with others.

7. Rooted in Jesus’ values
The inspiration from the bible for this prayer space came from Philippians 4:8-9. Saint Paul inspired by Jesus’ teachings wrote, “ 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Feeling home

This prayer activity encourages one to identify the positive aspects of oneself and in using these characteristics to contribute to society.

Equipment: Podium, sheets in the form of a house, big artwork of a scene where the houses will be stuck with.

Ages: Kinder, Early Years, Primary Years, Middle Years, Secondary Years, Post-Secondary Years

Topics

  • Being Still & Quiet
  • Hope & Trust
  • Identity & Self Esteem
  • Mental Health
  • Relationship with God
  • Relationship with others
  • Thanks & Gratitude

Instructions

Sometimes, in our life, we feel useless, and alone and it’s like the world will be the same without us.

Look around you and focus on one of these houses around you. Look at the uniqueness of the house. The colours, positioning of windows, door and light. This house is representing you!

Now look at the surroundings of the house, look at the other houses. These houses are representing the other people around you. The scene that you’re looking at will not be the same without that house that you started focusing on.

  • Think about something beautiful in your personality like being thoughtful of others, generous, honest or kind.
  • Take a paper house and write a prayer to God for this good quality that you have and stick your note onto the artwork.

Bibliography

  • 24-7 prayer. (2022). Build a daily habit. Retrieved from 24-7 prayer: https://www.24-7prayer.com/
  • Diocese of London. (2022). What is Prayer? Retrieved from Diocese of London: https://www.london.anglican.org/
  • Spiritual development in schools. (2022). Resources. Retrieved from Spiritual Development in Schools: https://sds.mt/

This article was written by Mr David Ellul