Prayer

Offering the wisdom of two of my favorite spiritual writers, Anne Lamott and Mary Oliver, today's chapel was all about prayer. The "please and thank you" prayers described by Lamott and the "paying attention" prayers as told by Oliver. After a discussion of the simplicity of these approaches, we talked about the return of student-led prayers on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesdays will be an occasion to call each girl by name throughout the year as we recognize birthdays, and Thursdays will provide a space to lift up the concerns of our community.
If you're reading this blog from "outside" the community, please remember that the school prayer asks for blessings for all our alumnae and patrons everyday!

St. Mary's Community Fund

For the first of several Community Fund Chapels, we welcomed Ms. Angela White of Agape Ministries.  Angela thanked the St. Mary's students and supporters for the grant Agape received last year, and she explained to the MS and US audience some of the work made possible by the gift.  Telling us the story of one woman and her children who came to Agape, Angela revealed the multi-layered work that is done by their organization: pre-natal care, residential treatment, life-skills training, child care and child assessment. 
Her commitment to this meaningful work shone through her words, and her gratitude to St. Mary's was sincere.  Ms. White left us with a challenge to remember those whom it would be easy to forget and an invitation to work even more closely with Agape in the future.