Alleluia! – The Becket (20th-24th April)

Join Tom from the Briars with live guests and prayer every Monday morning at 9:30am, to help us stay connected and start our week in a positive way. If you miss the live stream you can still catch up on NDCYS Live YouTube channel. Hit subscribe and set a reminder for every Monday! We’ll see you there 🙂

Let us start our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Eastertide is a time of great joy, happiness and praise. By saying our word of the week this week ‘Alleluia!’ we are offering thanks and praise to God.

The song below ‘O Come to the altar’ is a really beautiful and powerful song. The first half of the song is great to listen to and sing during Lent because it reflects on us coming to Jesus with our sins and sorrows, knowing that Jesus will be there with open arms. The second half of the song is brilliant to listen to after Easter Sunday because its sings ‘Oh what a savior, Isn’t He wonderful? Sing Hallelujah, Christ is risen!’

We invite you to listen to this song in it’s entirety and reflect on the journey you took throughout Lent with Jesus and be joyful that there is a happy ending…Christ has risen!

If you are interested in learning this song, below is a really good tutorial that breaks the whole song down for you. Enjoy it and sing loud and proud- Easter is a time of joy and celebration! 🙂

Resurrection Light- CAFOD Prayer

Risen Christ, when darkness overwhelms us
may your dawn beckon.

When fear paralyses us
may your touch release us.

When grief torments us
may your peace enfold us.

When memories haunt us
may your presence heal us.

When justice fails us
may your anger ignite us.

When apathy stagnates us
may your challenge renew us.

When courage leaves us
may your spirit inspire us.

When despair grips us
may your hope restore us.

And when death threatens us
may your resurrection light lead us.

Amen.

Annabel Shilson-Thomas/CAFOD

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Let us start our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

This season of Easter-tide is all about celebrating the Resurrection and celebrating all of the things that God has given us. God was willing to give His only Son to us and He suffered a painful death to free us from sin.

There is a lot to be grateful for when we know that we are cared for and loved so deeply!

In these difficult times it can be easy to focus on the things that are going wrong, so this morning spend some time reflecting on the things that you are grateful for in your own life.

What brings you joy that you are thankful?

Are there things that you take for granted?

Do the important people in your life know that they are appreciated?

How often do you take the time to stop and thank someone for their time and effort towards you?

It is scientifically proven that saying thank you and showing gratitude makes you happier. Everyone of us has something to be grateful for! Write down somewhere, five things that you are grateful for…if some of these things are people make sure that you thank them! You can do this in person if you live with that person or you could send them a nice message telling them why you are thankful for them.

Use the comments box below to give a shout out to the people that you are grateful for and want to say thank you to. Make this an opportunity to thank and give praise to God just as St Paul describes:

I thank my God for you every time I think of you

Philippians 1:3

Have some time in quiet prayer talking to God. Offer up all things you wrote down or thought of that are thankful for in prayer.

You are the resurrection- CAFOD Prayer

How wonderful, Lord Jesus, you came back
You suffered death but conquered it
You laid in the tomb but on the third day
You rose again
O joyful day, Lord Jesus, when you returned
You are the resurrection, our hope and our life
O glorious and victorious Redeemer
Help us not to be afraid of death
For we must pass through it to see you face to face
And on the last day we will rise again
For you said so
Let us rejoice and praise you
Our Blessed and triumphant Lord
On this happy, joyful feast.

Amen.

Diana Ng-Sutherland/CAFOD

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Let us start our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Every Wednesday The Briars Youth Service are leading us through a series called ‘Making sense of it all’.

During this uncertain time, it can be easy to get worked up and anxious about what is happening in the world. This is completely natural. Now we have just entered the season of Easter which is all about being joyful and giving praise and thanks to the Lord- how can we marry these two emotions together?

Watch the video below and think about how we can find joy in these difficult circumstances?

As Christians, as how can we be the joy and hope in other people’s lives who are struggling and can’t find joy?

Although our routines and where we spend our time are very different, we are still the same people and we have the same needs to keep connected with one another, to love and look after one another.

Just because we aren’t in Church doesn’t mean that we cannot be the Church in our homes and just because we aren’t in school, doesn’t mean that we cannot carry The Becket Way into everything we do in our homes.

Think about how you can bring joy to someones life today or for the rest of the week. This doesn’t have to be something enormous, sometimes the small acts of kindness can bring about the most joy.

Lord Jesus,

when you walked with us on earth

you spread your healing power.

We place in your loving care

all who are affected by Coronavirus.

Keep us strong in faith, hope and love.

Bring relief to our sick,

console our bereaved,

protect those who care for us.

We lift our prayer to you Lord,

and trust in your infinite mercy,

as we wait for the daybreak.

Amen.

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Let us start our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Every week Issie (Lay chaplain at Trinity and Catherine McAuley Hub) is going to teach us a new song!

Let us pray…

Risen Lord,
shed your light on those who live in the shadow of death
and warm the hearts of those who have lost hope,
that they who daily bear the cross of hunger
may find your Promised Land,
and move from slavery to freedom.
As we proclaim your Easter song
help us to die to greed and rise to justice,
to abandon apathy and take up action,
that rich and poor together may travel the road to freedom,
and be restored to your resurrection life.

Amen.

Annabel Shilson-Thomas/CAFOD

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Happy Friday everyone! We have a few video resources we’d like to make you aware of before we start our Friday prayer, so keep scrolling!

If you haven’t seen it already (or even if you have!), have a watch of the below video from our Becket staff. We wish you all a very Happy Easter and we miss you lots. We hope this will bring some joy to your Friday and that it will remind you that we are all in this together and we are still part of the Becket community!

Let us start our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

As always we take time to listen to Sunday’s Gospel reading…

We end our prayer with the Sign of the Cross.

Every Friday evening at 6pm, Naomi from The Briars hosts the Friday Night Live show with guests, games, reflection and prayer. You can join us live at 6pm or watch previous episodes on demand on NDCYS YouTube Channel. We hope to see you there at 6pm!