Our God is always Good, even in the Hard Times

During this unprecedented season of quarantine due to the coronavirus, as our normal routines have drastically changed, we can either fill our days with mindless activities and the latest news headlines or, we can also open the Scriptures and find comforting truths to guide us through this uncertain time.

As Psalm 119:11 reminds us, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” And the truth is, we need the Word of God to help guide us and keep us focused when we are faced with the news all the time.

God still holds the world in His hands. And maybe, just maybe, He is allowing this season and giving us an opportunity in the uncertainty to recenter our lives on His will, His way, and His Word.

Our God is always good, even in the hard times and the times of uncertainty. Our circumstances may be changing, but He never does. We might not be able to go to school, or to church, or see friends, but the awesome thing about this is, even if we can’t be together, the school building doesn’t make school, the church building doesn’t just make the church, and community isn’t only when we’re together. We are still one body in Christ and God is everywhere. He’s not just in the church, not just at our school, He’s omnipresent and always with us, just like it says in Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”. He is WITH US through it all.

By Claudia, Year 9

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Year of the Word

Our Ignite (student chaplaincy) team have chosen some of their favourite Bible verses to share in this “Year of the Word” that the Catholic Church in England and Wales is celebrating. Enjoy!

Which one speaks to you the most?

Lent 2018 (and what you can do)

Introduction

Lent can be sometimes daunting, and it can scare us because we don’t know what to do with ourselves. Do we give something up and/or take something on, and how do we deal with it. Lent is not made to be stressed over, but it can give us a better insight of ourselves and what it was like for Jesus spending forty days in the desert. With temptations, obstacles and the deprivation of things we too often take for granted. When we have been derailed and stumbled along paths we shouldn’t have, Lent is the time to turn our attention and needs back to God and make up for our mistakes again. In this post I will tell you some great ways to spend your lent this year.

Giving something up

A small positive change can impact our lives even after Lent’s ending and giving something up is a way to pause distractions, conquer bad habits and sacrifice up to God what we take for granted. Lent is a time to turn our focus back to God and by cutting unnecessary things out of our lives we can do this more easily. By giving something up that you buy all the time, the money you have that would have been spent on that thing can be given to charity. There are many many food things that could be considered to be given up: fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolate or alcohol. Or you might want to go the more behavioral route and give up complaining, procrastinating, staying up late or arguing, whatever is going to help you.

Taking something on

Not only does Lent have to be about negatives and sacrifice, but it can also be about positives and learning new things. Taking something on for Lent can help you realise more about yourself and the world and it helps you appreciate all that Jesus did for us. In a way you could say that you are giving something up: A little chunk of your time each day to do something positive. You can take something away from it too like a new hobby or something that you have learnt. You could use this method of spending Lent to be very beneficial and get things done that really needed to be. From the many, many options out there here are some positive things you might like to add into your routine this Lent : write a letter to someone each day, call someone you don’t usually phone up, do extra chores and help around the house, smile at a random stranger or donate money to your local charity. Whatever it is, you can find a way to add a little positive into yours or someone else’s life this Lent.

Dear God,

Although we find it difficult sometimes, help us on our Lenten journey this year. Whether it be by showing gratitude, sharing compliments, erasing bad habits or sacrificing indulgences, help us to get closer to you in this season. Thank you for all you have given to us and thank you for the sacrifice you made when you died on the cross for us. Help us to not take our family, friends and all we have for granted, but to Amen.

 

– Ignite Team

Inspiration for the Week…

I thought this is an inspirational picture because it shows that they are making a road out of his obstacles. In life you will face a lot of obstacles and troubles so this shows there is always a way. Build a road over them all.

– Ignite Team

Advent Inspiration….

Advent: the season of hope, expectation and preparation. Let’s prepare our hearts to receive our King.

“Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing…”

How can I prepare my heart this week?

– Ignite Team

 

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ADVENT: Here we Go….

 

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HOPE: Our Theme for the Year

The year of hope (2017-18)

 

Hope: A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.

Where is ‘Hope’ mentioned in the bible and what does it say about it?

HOPE gives us life (Romans 8:24). HOPE connects us (Ephesians 4:4).  HOPE moves us (2 Corinthians 3:12). HOPE keeps us (2 Corinthians 1:17). HOPE grounds us (Colossians 1:23). HOPE protects us (1 Thessalonians 5:8). HOPE anchors us (Hebrews 6:13). Our savior is HOPE (1 Timothy 1:1). Everything written in the Bible was written to give us HOPE (Romans 15:4).

 

This year is a year of hope. A year we hope for peace. A year we hope for joy. A year we hope for good things to come in our future. However, this year isn’t the only year we should look for hope. We should always be hoping, but if we want to do something to make our hope a reality, we have to take action.

 

‘What can I do to take action and make my hope a reality?’

You could make an action plan and decide what to do. But remember: Start off with something small and achievable. For instance, If your goal is to do well in a test, set yourself the goal to make notes on a certain topic that evening. Once you achieved that, you can set yourself a more challenging task. There are, however, things that we can not do anything about. For instance, we can not force a school to let us in, but this is where hope comes in. Many people worry about things which makes everything worse and it is also easier to worry rather than hope, but you have to focus on the positive notes and know that you have gone above and beyond in everything and done all you can. HOPE IS STRONGER THAN FEAR AND WORRY.  

I will end with the following quotes which I find sum up what hope is:

‘Hope is never dead, it is just larger than our imaginations; its purpose extending beyond our comprehension’ –Kathy Hobaugh

‘LEARN from yesterday, LIVE for today and HOPE for tomorrow’- Albert Einstein

 

Holy Cross day 2017

 

The theme for Holy Cross day this year was being culturally aware, so we had the chance to dress up in a costume from a culture we are either from or respect. It really was amazing to see so many different cultural costumes and  putting the effort in to dress up.

This year we started a new system where we have houses: Peace, Hope, Charity, Mercy and Faith. We were split into these houses and were mixed into groups with year 7-13 so that we could all work together to make something from a certain culture. The activities we had to complete were: Creatively remaking the map of the world, making something well known from a certain culture (e.g. dream catchers), learn a dance or a song from a certain country (e.g. the haka, New Zealand) and learning a phrase from a language.

We also had our very first house mass (!) which was exciting as it was new and we hadn’t done anything like it before.  Peace, Charity and Faith were in the first assembly and Hope and Mercy were in the second one.

This year was the last Holy Cross day for some of my friends as they would go off to college or another sixth form the next year, so it was fairly emotional for them, but we all knew that we needed to ensure we would enjoy our final one, which we did! Many people agreed that the new house system and masses were exciting and made the whole day enjoyable. The year 7 also had the opportunity to meet people from other years in their house whom they would be able to talk to if they had any difficulties, so it helped them to settle into the school better.

In my opinion, this year was the best Holy Cross day we’ve had since I joined 5 years ago and I really am looking forward to next year, where hopefully I will be able to participate as one of the  leaders of the house!

 

The Ignite Team

 

Hope on Holy Cross Day!

Holy Cross Day

Holy Cross Day (celebrated on 22nd September this year) is when we celebrate the founding of our school, in 1931, by the sisters of the Holy Cross, in Menzingen. Each year, we have a special theme to focus on. This year, our theme was HOPE. We also focused on embracing our different cultures, and added a bit of competitive fun (with our houses) and conversed with older and younger people. We also took part in a special mass, and were given special badges: years 8-13 got a nice Hope badge and year 7 got their Holy Cross Badge, as a sign of being part of the Holy Cross family. It is important to our school because we were founded by the Holy Cross Sisters, who migrated from Menzingen, went through countless tribulations, and were strong in their faith to the extent that the cross was their only hope (now our motto) and they believed it a lot, which came to help them a lot, and gathered the funds to lay the foundations to make the school the school it is today.

2017 Badge

The badge above is the winning design chosen this year, on our theme of hope, designed by two Year 10 students. In their words:

“Our badge is in the shape of a shield, and we chose this shape to symbolise the fact that hope is a shield against bad things in the world such as terrorism. Our badge also consists of sun rays coming from the clouds to show that God is always there and that He is the light of the world. In Him we have hope. It also shows the fact that hope can bring light into darkness. The plant shows that even when times are tough, we need to keep on growing strong and not give up. We have included the roots of the plant, holding it down, because as it says in Hebrews 6:19, “Hope Anchors the Soul” and the roots are a symbol of that hope.

 

The Ignite Team 

 

 

 

What is the Ignite Team?

The Ignite Team is our student chaplaincy team at Holy Cross made up of students from all year groups and we exist to……

• To have regular input with spiritual activities / events in school
• To have opportunity to initiate student led ideas
• To encourage peers with spiritual activities and events
• To action ideas
• To bring fresh ideas and vision to the spiritual life of the school
• To be good examples of Christianity in our school

We are looking forward to initiating lots of fresh ideas soon, so watch this space!