WORD OF THE WEEK
BY the time you are reading this article, one of the most important weeks in the life of many of our young people will have passed, a week in which probably all of us have passed on at least one occasion in our lives.
The occasion being that time when youngsters, having started school at the age of four, are suddenly at the end of Year Six and it is time to take the academic, sporting or social accolades; to say thank you and farewell as they leave the primary school.
Similarly, as they begin a new life in secondary school, in another six years or so will repeat the process, and then probably go on to further repeat the process as they move on to apprenticeships or higher education.
In a way, it is not unlike the life of the caterpillar, becoming a chrysalis then a beautiful butterfly – except that through our phases of education we get to repeat it more than once.
At the end of each stage we get to look back on the time we began that phase of the journey, how we have grown in knowledge, character, as human beings and give thanks to all those who have used their skills and acquired knowledge to help us in that development to adulthood.
We may not fully realise it when we are young, but it is hoped that as we
grow in years we grow to recognise God’s presence in all that we do, and as we say our farewells along our journey may we be mindful of the Gaelic Blessing:
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, May the rains fall softly upon your fields. Until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand. Amen.