'The God Who Speaks' 

The Year of the Word 2020-2021

Celebrating, living and sharing God's word

30th September 2019- Feast of St Jerome

http://www.cbcew.org.uk/home/events/the-god-who-speaks/

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales designated 2020 as 'The God Who Speaks': A Year of the Word to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Verbum Domini - Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation on ‘The Word of the Lord’, and the 1600th anniversary of death of St Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin.

Therefore, 2020 will be a year of celebrating, living and sharing God's word, through a range of events, activities and resources, available across the Diocese of Westminster.

Examples of Celebrations at St Edmund's School

We had a special whole school assembly to launch the Year of the Word.  Following the launch, as a school, we are following Matthew's Gospel as we make our journey with God who Speaks.

The children took part in a wonderful competition to celebrate the Year of the Word. This competition focused on the Old Testament. The Infants had to draw a picture of their favourite Old Testament story and the Juniors had to create a presentation on their favourite Old Testament character. Here are just some of our amazing entries.

The Year 5 children produced a group prayer that was shared with the whole school community and then combined with the school prayers from our local Richmond Catholic primary schools - a beautiful shared prayer bringing our school communities together.

Let Our Hearts Be Open

Let our hearts be open
Our hearts are an open door
So we can receive Jesus
Your son, into our lives.

Let our minds be open
Our minds are an open book
So you can guide us to understanding,
And guard us when we’re weak.

Let our hands be open
Our hands are an open home
So we can be humble and caring
To the poor and the hungry.

Let our eyes be open
Our eyes are an open window
So we can know you are always by our side
And be saints in training.

Let our ears be open
Our ears are an open rose
So we can listen to your words,
The deep well that never runs dry.

Let our bodies be open
Our bodies are an open flame
So when you shine your light on the Word,
We can see how to live in peace.
Amen

The Pope asked that we come together to pray. St Edmund's prepared a special inset and prayer bag for every child in our school and local catholic schools to help them pray the rosary (over 1,600 little bags!).  The nicest thing of all is that the children got to take them home to continue their prayer life and devotion to Mary.