Prayer and Pizza Day 13th March 2010 
On Saturday 13th March six young women responded to the invitation to:
“Come and See where God is calling you.”
The young women, who were between the ages of 16 and 25 years, came from Birmingham, Coventry and Southam. Some of them were studying for A Levels or GCSEs; one was a student at university, one a trainee accountant, another teaching assistant and another a school chaplain.
The theme of the day was “Prayer” and “Pizza”. The aim was to share some of our Prayer experiences with the young women and to engage them in a variety of different ways of praying.
The day began in the Chapel with a power point presentation for our Morning Prayer. The words and the images combined to make it a very fitting start.
“I will make this day my prayer.”
Following the welcome, each person was invited to say a few words about herself to the group.
An introduction to prayer was given through a power point presentation. It was titled,” What is prayer?” Some of the content was about:
Discovering the God inside me
We bring ourselves and our experiences to prayer and we let God do the rest.
Prayer is a gift
We also shared with the group, some quotations from the Gospels and St Paul’s Letters about prayer.
A Guided Meditation with music followed. The passage was from St Luke’s Gospel, the Call of the First Apostles.
“Push out into the deep”
Throughout the meditation, some searching questions were asked.
What are the deep waters for you?
Will you leave your old ways behind and follow me?
Will you join with me in my life and work?
The young women were given some time for reflection and were asked to think about their own experiences of prayer, thinking how they would describe prayer, what was the first prayer they learned and what is their preferred way of praying?
They were invited to link up with two other people and share their responses.
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Lunch was welcomed with much enthusiasm and appreciation. The meal was beautifully presented. There was much conversation around the table and a lively atmosphere.
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The next part of the day began with the showing of a few excerpts from Sr Kate Ryan’s Final Profession Ceremony. Quite an interest was expressed by the young women to see this.
We then moved into our prayer session for the afternoon.
The session began with an introduction about Taizé Prayer.
The presentation outlined some of the main facts about the origins of Taizé Prayer.
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The Taizé Community
The Mission of Taizé
Taizé prayer style
The importance of silence.
Sacred song
The young people and Taizé
Peace and Reconciliation.
We then led into our Taizé Prayer time. The focal point was arranged in the form of a Cross which was decorated with night lights.
There was a reflection on the quotation from Brother Roger.
“Is there enough silence to hear the voice of God in the world?”
During the prayer time there was music from Taizé, time for quiet and intercessory prayer. Two of the young women were invited to light a candle at the corners of the Cross; the candles represented the four corners of the world. There was a real sense of God’s presence with us during the prayer.
The final part of the day was sharing our Stories and Questions.
The young women were most interested in listening to Sr Kate tell her story.
Many questions followed, they were varied and at times challenging.
To end the day we finished with a power point presentation called,
“The Climb”
The farewells were said and the Sisters were thanked by all for a very helpful, inspiring and enjoyable day.
May God continue to bless all those who journey with us on these days of “Come and See”.
