(Prayer offered on the Public Address system for the entire La Salle Academy educational community on Friday morning, 4 December 2015)

Good morning, La Salle.

Let us remember we are in the holy presence of a loving God.

Senior year is filled with an abundant amount of excitement, enjoyment, and obstacles.
My Senior year has been consumed by school work, college decisions, and football.
One of my brightest highlights this year has been Christian Service.

Every Wednesday during the first quarter, Jake, Avien, Mike, and I would make the ride to Tides up 95 north to Pawtucket. There we played basketball with kids like us who at a first glance could be seen as “bad kids.” Some of them have been convicted of crimes and some have been thrown out of their schools. However, I was excited to meet them. A Senior, I know that it could have been easily one of us in that car changing places with the kids at Tides.

Their mission statement is: “The mission of Tides Family Services, a Lasallian agency committed to service the poor, is to provide high risk youth with comprehensive and preventative services that foster personal growth and stability to better connect them with their families and in their communities”. Some of the students take their high school classes there because of expulsion or they have a better chance to thrive at Tides, so I got to tell them about my high school experience which really helped me appreciate the gift of my years here at La Salle. The students we met did chores and took care of the center because they knew that they needed to appreciate what they had, which helped me to appreciate the things my mom gives me and what I work for. There is also counseling services for those that need it and help for kids who needed transportation to and from activities. Those “bad kids” at Tides were the ones that taught me how to play ping pong, introduced me to all types of music and have allowed me to almost recite the lines of “The Dark Knight” which is their favorite movie.

I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to have spent my Christian Service days at Tides Family Services in Pawtucket.

Let us pray,
Lord allow us as people to approach every situation in life with open arms. Let us not judge those who are less fortunate than we. And let us ultimately be able to fulfill our call to help those in need.

St John Baptist de La Salle…Pray for us
Live Jesus in our hearts… Forever

Elijah McLean–Class of 2016