There and back again

Our correspondent today is Matt Risser:

Today began like most others; we began with prayer and breakfast then prepared for our long day awaiting us. Once every one of us Euro travelers geared up for our day we all hopped into our taxis and we left for Clonard Monastery once again. This morning was basically an extension of our service work that we did yesterday. At around eleven in the morning we met with the Clonard youth group and went through the local neighborhoods and gathered children for a morning prayer service that marked the end of the Clonard youth group’s outreach program.

After mustering all the children that we could we gathered into the church and began the prayer service. Lead by Fr. Michael, the prayer service was full of song and dance and got the children riled up during the service. It was obvious that the “wee” ones and the youth team were all enjoying the service. Fr. Michael included a puppet show in his service and used it to emphasize the importance of saying “Thank You.” He stated that those two works are the most important in the English language. The children who have grown up in a community torn by sectarianism learned this important lesson. I could see that they were very excited to be in the service where they learned alternatives to violence in the community. The service appropriately ended with the youth group, including ourselves, being thanked for the work that we did. After the service our group said its goodbyes to the Clonard youth team and departed.

We took a walk to City Center to pick up some things for Gina and a quick bite to eat for some. We had to be back at Queen’s at 4 pm we for our classes. With Ms. Duarte, we discussed the end of the book Reading in the Dark. We also prepared for our final exam with Mr. Bizga; which will cover Irish history, politics, conflict transformation, culture, and faith traditions. After class the night was ours, the men did laundry and talked to the Italian students at the student center, whilst the women went out and celebrated Fr. Michel’s birthday with the Clonard youth team. At the close to the night Kurt, Jacob, Connor and me watched the movie Once before heading to bed.