Reflection by Cathleen Giordano
Senior at Fontbonne Hall Academy, Bay Ridge
Parishioner of St. Bernadette’s parish, Dyker Heights
In honor of Holy Week, Fontbonne Hall Academy held its first overnight stay at school with a small group of students expressly for a time of Eucharistic Adoration and to do works of charity.
The students began to arrive at five o’clock and settled themselves in, laying out their resting areas or blow-up mattresses…even commandeering the floor in our principal, Sister Dolores’ office (which she so generously gave up).
By six o’clock, the girls as well as many faculty members enjoyed a potluck dinner together. The dinner reflected our own diversity: homemade Italian lasagna, a crockpot full of pulled pork, arepas from one of our Latina classmates and the “required” homemade cupcakes for dessert.
By 8 p.m., we gathered in the chapel. We had a beautiful prayer service to remind us of all the blessings Christ has given us. It is very easy to forget about the blessings we are given. Similarly, it can sometimes be difficult to let go of our troubles. In this prayer service, girls were reminded to hold onto good memories and that the Lord Jesus is always with us to celebrate them. In the same way, Jesus is also with us during hardships. Sometimes when we are living through difficulties, we forget that the Lord is with us and is willing to help bear our cross.
After the prayer service, we were blessed enough to be given the opportunity to sit with our Lord in adoration. After an hour of silent adoration as a full group, the girls broke up into pairs and shared stories while doing crafts for charities and for the following day’s prayer service.
One of the projects we adopted was to make about 50 crepe-paper flowers to donate to St. Thomas More parish in Breezy Point for their Easter Vigil Mass.
Other crafts included putting together a scrapbook for our spiritual sisters at Cabrini High School in New Orleans to thank them for all of their generous donations to the families of Fontbonne who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
Throughout the remainder of the night, the students took shifts in chapel, each spending an hour or more with the Lord in silent prayer and meditation. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed for several hours. This prayerful experience had by the girls was one that helped prepare us all for Easter and for getting into a spirit of giving, gratitude and hope. It’s by far one of the most memorable spiritual encounters I was able to have during my senior year at Fontbonne. Now that I am moving on to study at Manhattan College, I know that the lessons I learned that night about Jesus always being by my side will be something I can carry with me through all the trials and tribulations that lie ahead.
