Two beautiful back-to-school prayers

I stumbled across these prayers (one for parents, & one for teachers, because we're all teachers) at A Concord Pastor Comments, and thought that they were well worth sharing at this time of year.  Like many of you, I remember well the day that I dropped my oldest child off for his first day of Kindergarten.  He was excited & happy; I cried in the car as I left the parking lot.  He looked so tiny in my rearview mirror compared to the "big kids," and now he's one of them.  Where does the time go? 
For all of us, I pray that we learn to stop, pay attention, and enjoy this time in our lives.  Even in the midst of our hectic everyday lunch-packing, hair-combing, face-wiping, shoe-tying, gonna-be-late mornings, some part of us knows that we'll miss it all if we don't slow down and enjoy it.            

Parents' Prayer for Students
Dear Lord,
As my children leave for school,
I pray that you will keep them in your care.
Send your Spirit to open their minds

to all that is true and beautiful and good.

Help them to see the gifts and talents
you have given them and to use them well.
Help them to grow in knowledge and wisdom.
Help them to be kind to others
and lead others be kind to them.
Give their teachers patience and understanding
and help them teach what is just and true.

Send your angels to guide and guard my children

and to keep them from all harm.
Open their young hearts to your presence

and enfold them in your peace and protection.
Hold them in the palm of your hand
and bring them home safely at day's end. Amen.

Prayer for Teachers
Dear God,
A new school day is about to begin
and my classroom door will soon open
to the students you've assigned to my care...
Open my mind and heart to each of them
and especially to the ones
who will challenge me the most...
Help me challenge my students, all of them,
to study, to learn, to grow in knowledge
and even in a little wisdom...
Help me remember, Lord,
how young my students are:
give me patience to help them grow up, at least a little,
and insight to know the help they need...
Help me to understand that sometimes
my students may not understand me:
may I be clear in the things I say and do,
and in how I say and do them…
These children don't know the burdens and worries
my heart may bring to the classroom,
so help me remember, Lord,
that their hearts may be anxious and heavy, too...
Keep me from favoring any particular students, Lord,
except for those who most need my help...
Let my decisions in the classroom
be fair and just, honest and true...
Send your Spirit to fill me with gifts
of knowledge and understanding, counsel and wisdom…
Lord, open my mind and heart to my students' parents,
especially those who will challenge me the most:
help me challenge them to challenge their children
to study, to learn and to grow...
Help me to teach as you teach, Lord:
make me firm when I need to be,
gentle in all things,
and patient until the last bell rings…
A new school day is about to begin, Lord:
I wonder: what will you teach me today? Amen.

Novena to St. Monica (feast day Aug.27)

Monica was an early Christian living in what is now Algeria.  Through her incessant prayers, she was able to convert her pagan husband and two of her three children to the faith.  Her third son, Augustine, was a bigger project.  Although a brilliant student, he opted to live a dissolute, sensual, pagan lifestyle.  Monica prayed for him for 17 years before he converted, and, having accomplished her goal, she died that same year (387).  Augustine, of course, went on to become one of the greatest Christian writers in history. 

I think that St. Monica is a good reminder to all of us mothers never to give up on our children.  There are so many parents out there who, when their children arrive at their rebellious adolescence, throw up their hands in defeat way too soon.  If we truly believe in the power of prayer, there is nothing that we can't hope for.  How proud would you be in heaven if, one day, your child was canonized as a saint?  Nothing is impossible with God.   

This novena to St. Monica begins on Thursday, August 18th, for 9 days before her feast day. 

Novena To Saint Monica

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,
You perserveringly pursued your wayward son
Not with wild threats
But with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day
So that they may learn
To draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain
Close to their children,
Even the prodigal sons and daughters
Who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St Monica, troubled wife and mother,
Many sorrows pierced your heart
During your lifetime.
Yet you never despaired or lost faith.
With confidence, persistence and profound faith,
You prayed daily for the conversion
Of your beloved husband, Patricius
And your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude,
Patience and trust in the Lord.
Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,
That God may favorably hear my plea
For

(mention your petition here)

And grant me the grace
To accept his will in all things,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Aug.15, 2011

House of the Blessed Virgin Mary - near Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey

Until just a few years ago, I was unaware of the existence of Mary's house.  My parents had returned from a cruise, and they brought me a small icon from this site.  It's shaped like the arch of the house's doorway above.  On this Feast of the Assumption, I wanted to share what I learned about it.

Tradition holds that the apostle John took Mary into his home after the crucifixion, and took care of her until her body was taken up to Heaven.  Roman Catholics refer to this event as the Assumption.  In Orthodox Christianity, it's known as the "Dormition" (falling asleep).

This house was only recently (in a big-picture kind of way) discovered in 1881.  The story of how it was found begins in Germany.  An Augustinian nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich lived in the convent of Agnetenberg.  She had been ill and bedridden for many years, but was known in the area as a visionary and mystic.  She was reported to have received the stigmata.  She wrote about a series of visions, in which she was shown the last days of both Jesus and Mary.  Although tradition placed the house in the city of Ephesus, Anne claimed that this was not quite correct.  In her visions, she was able to describe the location of the house - on a sloping hillside about three hours' journey from Ephesus.  She described not only how to reach it, but also knew details of the house, such as the building material, the placement of the windows, and the room layout.  It should be noted that, at the time, the city of Ephesus had not yet even been excavated.  Her visions were recorded in a book in 1852.

Some thirty years later, a French priest used her descriptions as a guide, and located the building.  Not much attention was given to this discovery until a second 'discovery' was made in 1891.  In a distant mountain village in Turkey, there lived a group of people who claimed descent from the first Christians in the area.  They had venerated this house for as long as they could remember.  It was known as 'Panaya Kapulu' ("doorway to the virgin" in Turkish), and they made a pilgrimage there every (you guessed it) August 15th. 

Although the Vatican has not spoken officially on the authenticity of this site, three recent Popes have made the pilgrimage there.  Anne Catherine Emmerich was beatified in 2004.  

To me, this kind of modern-day miracle suggests that Mary wants us to know that she is still very much a part of our world.  She invites us to invoke her in our prayers, because she knows us -- our doubts, our weaknesses, our failings -- and loves us all.  Mary is the Queen of Heaven and a divine advocate for our souls, but she is also the mother of us all.  I think that she wants us to be closer to her, and uses sublimely orchestrated methods to achieve that goal.  By revealing herself to one devout soul, and the discovery that resulted from that vision, she refreshes the faith life of us all.  Like her divine son, Mary is both constantly the same, and eternally new.                 

Feast of St. Dominic - August 8, 2011

St. Dominic is the patron saint of one of my children, and as such, we celebrate his feast day in our house.  In past years, I've been stumped for what food to prepare.  We've gone the 'colors of the Dominican habit' route, by having black-and-white cookies, or dark-chocolate covered cannolli.  Just today, though (two days late!), I stumbled across a reference to St. Dominic associated with oranges.  Oranges?  Really?  From this site we read:

The orange tree pictured is at Santa Sabina and is said to be a direct descendant of the one planted in Rome by Our holy Father Dominic in 1220. Apparently this was the first of its type to be planted in Italy. The Villa Sciarra in Rome has an orange grove grown in commemoration of the bringing of the plant to Italy by St. Dominic.

Apparently, the Dominicans claims that their patron was the one who introduced this variety orange to Italian soil.  I'll have to keep this in mind the next time I watch 'The Godfather'; did you ever notice how many times oranges play a prominent role in that movie?  Maybe that's just my observation.  At any rate, next year, maybe I'll have a Mimosa or a Bellini along with my cannolli.