by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ (http://rcsocialjusticett.org) & Director, CREDI
CCSJ is proud to announce the winners of the 2014 Respect for Life Week Essay Competition. Jovelle Rosario, Standard 4 pupil of St Joseph’s Girls’ RC Primary, St Joseph, is the winner in the Under-14 category and Jiselle Singh, of St Francis of Assisi parish, Erin, is the winner in the 14-19 years age group. The essay topic was “How can young people foster Gospel values in society?”
Today, we share Jovelle’s essay with readers:
“As a young person, my parents and grandparents always talk to me about good values, giving respect to elders around me. I go to church on Sundays or sometimes on Saturday nights to give praise to the Lord. In the church, I join the short bible study for children where I get to learn about Jesus Christ and the Holy Family.
Being around people who believe in God and practise God’s will in their daily lives shows me how to love, believe in God, hope for a better life, live with the truth and not lies, believe that prayer is the strongest tool to fight any obstacles in life like sickness, sadness, needs – physically and emotionally.
Among Gospel values which I believe are important in helping young people like myself is to realise and fully understand our Christian potential. It is very important to know that [in] fostering values in children that the school and classroom processes and practices need to express and model these values and be an example to others in the school, no matter what their religious beliefs are.
LOVE – I believe that I am loved by God and created in His image. He calls me in His life and invites me to respond in love. A Christ-like love accepts and respects the talent and uniqueness of each person.
FAITH – I believe that Faith is a trusting relationship with God. It helps me to accept and to do his will in the world. I have confidence in God that he will be there by my side through tough challenges and that he will help me overcome it.
HOPE – I believe that Hope is a sharing in the new life of the Risen Christ now and in eternal life. I can spread Hope by telling the whole community that God is always there and that everything happens for a reason.
TRUTH – I believe that Truth is founded in its fullness in Christ and we reflect truth by imitating his trust in our lives, words and actions. I can spread Truth by avoiding lies in my school community and telling them that Truth will come out anyway.
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JOY – I believe that Joy is an experience of God’s love given to me at every moment in my life. I am so glad that God sacrificed his life just to save us from sin. I am full of Joy because I know that God is beside me.
PRAYER – I believe that Prayer is an expression of God’s relationship with me and my response to him is openness and trust. I say prayers to thank God for his guidance and instructions.
MISSION – I believe that Mission is to witness to the life of Christ, who showed me what true service to others mean. To show true service in my class community, I help my friends with subjects that they don’t understand.
JUSTICE – I believe that Justice is an awareness of inequalities around me and a conscious choice to strive for what is right. I can show justice in my class community by avoiding bad behaviour and telling my classmates what is right and wrong.
PEACE – I believe that Peace is living in harmony with my family and friends. It develops an inner freedom and desire for reconciliation with God. I keep peace by following rules, staying out of trouble and encourage other children to do the right thing.
MERCY – I believe that Mercy is shown through our acts and words of compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing. I receive Mercy from my parents because they forgive for all the things that I did wrong.
COMMUNITY – I believe Community is people sharing common interest and beliefs.
Growing up with good values instilled in me by my elders made me a good citizen. I will share these Gospel values with all my friends that I would be meeting in the future. I need to develop good character/behaviour in order to gain respect and trust from those around me. When I gain trust and respect from other people, including my parents, I will gain a sense of pride in my abilities that will boost my self-confidence.
My parents show me by example. They encourage me by emphasising my right attitudes, words and actions. They communicate with me with their words and actions. When they don’t do what they said, they give me mixed messages. They don’t tell me where they stand in the issue, they tell me that everything that they say to me is to help me because they have gone through their childhood and know the consequences that will happen and they don’t want me to make the same mistakes like they did.”
