Objective: Opening our minds and hearts at the beginning of the new scholastic year
The educator greets students and then leads them to quiet down, starting with the sign of the cross and a simple thanksgiving prayer / a short moment of silence to think about the beauty of a new morning and of a new year.
Sharing (4 mins)
- The educator introduces the theme of Sowing Hope for the special morning reflections.
- The educator suggests that to sow any seeds is to have hope that they will grow.
- The educator asks about the kind of fruit we’d want to achieve this year and allows time for suggestions.
Reflection (4 mins):
- The educator explains with the optional aid of the following video clip in the background (1:30 mins maximum from the start) that we’d need to start by preparing the ground.
- The educator mentions how in a famous parable (Mk 4:1-8), we hear that only the “good soil”, the one ready to receive the seed, can produce much fruit – the other seed that the Sower sowed fell either in the pathway (where they ended up eaten by birds), on the rock places (where there was shallow soil – growing and dying quickly due to the scorching sun and for lack of roots), and in the thorns (where they were choked).
- The educator helps students ask reflectively about the meaning for us to ‘prepare the ground’ and suggests that we’d need to open up and be grateful for the promise of good things.
Prayer (1 min): Dear God, thank you for this new year and the new opportunities to learn and grow. Help me trust you with this process, and I always hope in your promise that I will produce much fruit. Amen
