The Magic of Prayer, Patience, and Perseverance

I honestly don't know where the time has gone. Although my stay at St. Lucy's is temporary, the memories and lessons that I learn will be permanent. I truly hope that I am making a positive impact in the lives of the students and in the St. Lucy's environment. I have spent three weeks in the Rosella classroom and counting. I have entitled this post with a focus on three P's, and I chose to do this because I have seen some really great things happen when prayer, patience, and perseverance are used.

Prayer

God Our Maker

God our maker and friend, 

We love you

And we thank you for loving us....

Every morning and every afternoon, the children gather together and say this prayer. The prayer is a sweet prayer that is simple to say, easy to sign, and powerful for the children and us all to remember. As a school with the Catholic and Dominican foundations, the children are in a learning environment that does an extremely good job at reminding them of who they are and that God is always with them. Knowing that God loves them is something that I think is really important for these kids to know because some of them really struggle with self-esteem and need that reminder that they are perfect as they are.

Be with us always,

Give us food each day.

Help us to do only what pleases you.

 One of my boys asked me whether God was 'here'. And I asked him what he meant as we sat in the classroom doing some multiplication work. He asked me if God knew that he was struggling with his work, and if he did: why didn't he help? And I honestly paused because I wasn't sure how to answer his question. I went on to remind him that God was definitely here with him and giving him the strength to keep trying. God gave you a lot, buddy and he's happy you're working and trying your best. And he nodded, smiled, and continued trying to please God. (Super proud of this student, by the way) Oh, and I talked about how the kids experienced food from God in this post, check it out if you haven't read it!

Forgive us when we hurt others,

and help us to forgive those who hurt us.

Keep us safe,

for we are your children.

Amen.

I think this final part of the prayer is super important for the children at St. Lucy's and for everyone honestly. We ask forgiveness from God, in regular thoughts and prayer and in Confession. But, how often do we ask God to help us to forgive others? That is much harder. That is something that we remind the students of forgiving someone when they say sorry. Because if the kids can't do that, they don't fully get to feel all of the graces that God gives them. Such a sweet and simple close to the prayer. Keep us safe. Safety is something that we all crave. Something that is natural and human. For we are your children. All of us. No matter where we are from. Regardless of age, ability, sex, gender, religion, orientation and more, God loves us and keeps us safe because he is there for us. Since the kids hear this and say this prayer every single school day, they get to be reminded of this twice a day and will live their life that way.

Patience

A virtue that is difficult for many, but is necessary when working with people and particularly individuals with disabilities. I have been blessed to have gotten to work with some extremely patient staff at St. Lucy's in the Rosella classroom. Vanessa and Maria have been so patient with me as I worked to find my place in the classroom as a volunteer. They always are supportive with a smile on their faces and also are always interested in what I am doing during my stay in Sydney. They were exceptionally patient when I had to ask them what different things meant and how to sign them as I learned a bit of the Auslan signs for the kids.  If I may say so myself I think I've come a long way now knowing around 30 signs. I'm really lucky to have been able to have such patient people to work with.

A rosella figure we have in the classroom

Patience. Being patient with a student when all they want to do is look at their book rather than do some work is a difficult task. Another volunteer that comes in weekly was working with a student that I had been working with since I've joined the Rosellas. He has a very hard time focusing on the tasks designed to increase his literacy skills and identification skills. He would much rather look at a book of cars. One day, this other volunteer was trying to encourage him to work on his work but she was facing the same problems that I had when I first tried to work with him. But we were patient and worked out a routine where Massimo was able to understand that he could do both: his work and looking at his book. Being patient succeeded as he is able to do more work and still enjoy his preferred activity.

Obviously, cars are more fun than working

Perseverance

This is a word that I remember seeing plastered on the wall of my elementary school walls. Particularly in 4th or 5th grade. Always striving to continue on despite difficulty. I have found persevering to be something that has helped me a lot in my life so far. I encountered someone who truly perseveres and is a really great example for the children at St. Lucy's; Sister Helen.

Sister Helen is a Dominican Sister who is affiliated with St. Lucy's. The Sisters down here in Australia don't wear habits, only a small Dominican cross. She comes in each Wednesday and travels from classroom to classroom and teaches the children spirituality. Through song and music, she and the children sing about being thankful to God for various things. Sister Helen also leads the class in a rousing rendition of "If You're Happy And You Know It" where they sing about being happy and wanting to show it, but also about turning your day around if you're not quite as happy. She plays the guitar and invites some of the students to strum the guitar with her as well.

As you may have noticed, Sr. Helen is accompanied by her dear companion Miriam. Miriam is a seeing eye dog that goes with Sr. Helen everywhere as Sr. Helen is blind. The children get a chance to pet and interact with Mir (pronounce meer) after we sing, and after Miriam's uniform (harness) is taken off. I think it's really great because the children learn how to interact with a seeing eye dog, for example, to not pet a dog while it is working, along with getting to enjoy that interaction with a dog!

A student playing the guitar with Sr. Helen with the help of Mr. Dan Parkinson, the Rosella's teacher on Wednesdays.

Sr. Helen truly amazes me with her perseverance. As she is blind, some would be surprised that she travels about St. Lucy's at times without asking for help. I was lucky to have been shared the story of her asking to be walked to the stairs, and then going on and walking down the set of stairs in front of her service dog! She is just incredible. Sr. Helen plays her guitar skillfully, interacts with the children in a way that engages their young souls and knows each child by name. Each Wednesday when she comes, an air of excitement is there as the kids are just so excited to see her and Miriam and learn about connecting to God with her. Having such a strong example of persevering and being your best is important at a school and St. Lucy's is blessed to have her and I am blessed to have been able to meet and interact with her.

Seeing the three P's pay off... This student has learned to ride a two-wheeler during his time at St. Lucy's. It took a lot of patience both on his part and of the teachers, prayers to keep him safe and perseverance on the part of this young boy to make this goal achievable. Now, he is able to ride his bike ever so confidently and with such joy. The magic of prayer, patience, and perseverance is so apparent at St. Lucy's and I am so grateful to have been able to witness this first hand.

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VIVID Sydney

A super unique experience that I got to have while here in Sydney is experiencing the early winter light festival of music, lights, and ideas that are called Vivid. Around the city, different buildings and landmarks are lit up by lights for nearly a month. While I caught glimpses of the different displays during various trips through the city, my host family took me to see the lights on night and we had a really great time. I loved it because they enjoy seeing the different displays each year as well! Here are some pictures from that outing! [Above: Top: Me with a wall of angel wings Bottom: Physical manifestations of anxiety] [Below: 1. Sydney Opera House (sorry about the quality) 2. Sunflower in the Botanic Gardens 3. The MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) 4. I pressed the button.... 5. More Botanic Garden!]