St. Brigid’s Day 1st February
Prayer Service for the Infant Classes -Third
Photo Credit: Lawrence OP via Compfight
Good morning & welcome.
We are all here today in the school hall with new friends
and old friends and our kind teachers and helpers.
We know that Jesus is our friend too and so we sing our first song;
Hymn: Jesus is my Friend
Yes Jesus is our friend.
He has lots of friends.
Saints are very special friends of Jesus indeed.
Do you know any saints?
Lots of us are called after holy people in the bible
like Sarah or Hannah or Rebecca, Aaron, Stephen, Daniel.
Lots of people are called after saints like
Patrick, Kevin, James, and Elizabeth, Bernadette and Brigid.
Now it is not every year
that we have a little girl
called Brigid in the school,
but this year we are in luck
and have a girl in 1st Class called Brigid.
Does anyone have a friend
or a Mum or an Auntie or Granny called Brigid?
And of course our school is called St. Brigid’s.
A new month started today – what month is it?
Yes it is the 1st day of February.
The day many people say is the first day of Spring.
And it is St.Brigid’s Day!
So let us sing ‘We’ll sing a song to Brigid!’
Now we will say the Sign of the Cross
in the three ways we know how
(In the name of the Father…
As Gaeilge: ‘In ainm an Athar agus
an Mhic agus an Spioraid Naoimh, Amen’
and finally;
‘God came down from heaven to earth,
to remind us to love people
on this side and this side
and not to forget ourselves. Amen.’ )
Candle Prayer;
‘Chase away the darkness.
Fill the world with light,
be a little candle flame
and shine out bright’.
Why do we light a candle?
To remind us that God our Father in Heaven
is always with us.
Song; This Little Light of Mine
Now it is time to say GOOD MORNING
to God our Father in Heaven.
‘Father in Heaven, you love me,
You are with me night and day
I want to love you always,
in all I do and say.
I’ll try to please you Father,
Please help me during the day
Amen’.
I’ll try to please you Father.
That is not easy.
But if we are truly sorry in our hearts,
then God our Father in Heaven will always forgive us.
So let’s say SORRY to God
‘O my God I thank you for loving me.
I am sorry for all my sins,
for not loving others and not loving you.
Help me to live like Jesus and not sin again.
Amen.’
Yes today we are celebrating St. Brigid’s Day.
She loved the poor, the sick and the old.
Because it is St. Brigid’s Day
Sister says there is to be no homework
for good children to celebrate 🙂
Now I know some of your teachers
have been talking to you about St. Brigid.
What do you know about St. Brigid?
Legend has it that when Brigid was born,
angels sang in the sky over the place she was born.
St. Brigid – father was a pagan chief.
He didn’t believe in God.
Brigid’s mother was a servant
who knew about God and believed in God.
Brigid was born near Faughart,
a village a few miles north of Dundalk.
Brigid was minded by a foster mother
because her mother worked
in Connaught, far away from where Brigid lived
When Brigid was about your age,
she helped her foster mother around the house.
Any free time she had was spent in the nearby forest
with the wild animals living there.
Just like Saint Francis of Assisi,
she was very fond of animals.
Legends tell us she tamed a wild boar (pig)
and she loved nature and the beautiful world
God has made for us to live in:
‘We’ll Sing a Song to Brigid’ on Audioboo
She was very kind to the poor people
that called to the door
and was always giving away her father’s things.
When she was about twelve,
Brigid was waiting outside
the King of Leinster’s fort
for her Dad when she met a poor man.
He was covered in rags and mud.
What do you think St. Brigid did?
Yes she just had to help him.
There was nothing else in the chariot,
so she took her Dad’s sword
and gave it to the poor man.
How do you think her Dad felt about that?
He was furious.
Luckily the King of Leinster was there
and he believed in God like Brigid did
and understood why Brigid had done what she had done,
so the King gave her Dad an even better sword
and told her Dad to forgive her.
St. Brigid was told she couldn’t visit
her Mum in Connaught,
so do you know what she did?
Yes that’s right!
She visited her Mum in Connaught!
Her Mum had a job looking after
the druid’s cows at the druid’s farm.
‘We’ll Sing a Song to Brigid’ on Audioboo
St Brigid worked with her Mum helping her,
making cheese and butter.
And guess what happened
when poor people called to the door?
Yes, you are right,
she gave away food at the door.
How do you think the Druid felt about that?
Well a very surprising thing happened.
No matter how much food Brigid gave away
there always seemed to be more food there.
The Druid realised that
there was something special about Brigid,
so he tried to give her all his cows.
She said she didn’t want that.
What do you think she wanted.
Yes for her Mum to come home with her!
Brigid believed in God, Our Father in Heaven.
She saw God in everyone and in everything.
She saw God everywhere.
So this story has a happy ending.
Brigid’s family was back together again.
Now we are going to say a special prayer
to keep us and our families safe:
Repeat after me!
St. Brigid’s Blessing
‘May no fire, no flame burn us.
May no lake, no sea drown us
May no sword, no spear wound us.
May no king, no chief insult us.
May all the birds sing for us
May all the cattle low for us
May all the insects buzz for us
May the angels of God always protect us.’
And we are going to sing a song to Brigid, one last time!
‘We’ll Sing a Song to Brigid’ on Audioboo