Yesterday was Community Day for the Ottawa Catholic School Board, during which was unveiled the new sign of unity in the faith shared by all elementary and secondary schools of one of our local Catholic boards, an iconic cross:
This symbol stresses the School Board's theme taken from St. Paul's declaration in Chapter 12 of First Corinthians, "We Are One Body in Christ", expressed by the Board as "WE ARE ONE as We Journey Together" (http://www.occdsb.on.ca/):
A symbol has been crafted to go with this new spiritual theme. This cross will be travelling through the Board community as a symbol of our unity in diversity. The cross will depict the stories of Pentecost, The Beatitudes and The Loaves and the Fishes. An archive of photos will be collected to journal the journey of this spiritual symbol.
As my absence overseas precluded my attending the Community Day, the artist who crafted the cross and representatives of the School Board came to the Diocesan Centre a couple of weeks ago for the blessing of the Cross and the taping of my message to the assembled teachers, directors and support staff of the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
Some of the images on the Cross represent the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus carried on by the Church and in our schools today.
One can see that the artist has linked the ministry of Jesus with life in Canada's Capital City today (in the background):
The Cross has icons on the front and on the back a place to place prayer intentions as well as drawers to enclose gifts from the sending to the receiving schools, etc.
May this symbol of our faith unite all in Catholic education with the ideals of Christ and his Church.
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Prayer for Catholic Education
O Holy Spirit, source of truth and grace for those entrusted with the Christian development of children; enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills, and fill our hearts with generosity so that our homes, our parishes and our schools may cooperate effectively with You, and with one another in the exalted mission of Catholic Education. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen. (--Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education, http://www.oapce.on.ca/).
I look and I look, I think and think, still no words worthy of this beauty.
ReplyDeleteJames and Pierrette
As the Faith Mentor for my school at St. Marguerite d'Youville School in Ottawa I was invited to sit around the table when the "seed" was planted to create this Unity Cross. When I saw the debut of the Unity Cross on the platform at our Christian Community Day I was so delighted I was tempted to run up and touch it! I strongly believe it will help to unite our school community and give us reason to gather and praise Almighty God. My congratulations to Geoff Guitard who took our thoughts and made them concrete! Beautiful job! Let us pray this will be the beginning of something great!
ReplyDeleteMartha Kelly
St. Marguerite d'Youville school