By Vanessa Premala Patrick
KUCHING — In an unusual twist on what normally happens on the first Friday evening of the first week of school, St Joseph’s Cathedral was filled with students and parents who came together to pray for the new school year.
In this new initiative by the Sarawak Catholic Teachers’ Guild, over 300 gathered to offer the new academic year to the Lord and to pray for the Lord’s grace in the important tasks of teaching and learning.
In his homily, Fr Stanley Goh, SJ shared how the start of the race can bring with it much nervous energy, which can be good if it spurs us on but bad if it distracts us. How we start the race is important as we maintain a balance between over-exertion at the start or complacency later.
We need to trust God and be confident in God’s promises. We are confident when we know how God is with us through the good and bad, trusting in his grace amidst all the challenges we face along the way. We rely not just on God but on the community that’s around us, a community that supports and inspires us in this journey with God.
It was encouraging to see so many students, teachers and their families come to pray for the new school year. Dedicating the year to God is indeed a worthy means of starting the teaching and learning process for the year and it is hoped that with this initiative, we will be able to pray better and respond to God more faithfully in all that we do in school.
