Year of Catholic Education Prayers

Two prayers to celebrate the Year of Catholic Education Prayer have been composed.  The first is an adaptation of the Prayer of Commitment used at The Big Assembly in the presence of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.  It is based on a well-known prayer composed by Blessed John Henry Newman and is suitable for saying together or line-by-line after a leader.

Prayer I

Let us ask God to bless all our schools and colleges

as we celebrate the Year of Catholic Education across

England and Wales. May all we do help us to find the

fullness of life Jesus promises to all who follow him as we pray together:

God has made me for his own

God wants me to do his work

God has given me a special place in his world

God has given me a mission

God has made me a link in a chain

God asks me to work with everyone who does good

I want to do God’s work

I want to do what is good

I want to be his angel of peace

I shall speak his word wherever I am

I will keep his commandments

I trust my God because he knows what he is about.

Amen

Prayer II

The second prayer is based on the theme of the Year of Catholic Education taken from John 10:10: “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full”

God, our Father,

we ask you to bless all we do in our schools and colleges

as we celebrate this Year of Catholic Education

in England and Wales

May we follow your Son, Jesus Christ, more closely

so that he can lead us to find the fullness of life

he has promised to all who love him,

who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.