Every year girls in Lower I receive their First Holy Communion in their parishes. To mark this most important event in their lives at St Augustine’s Priory we also hold a celebratory Mass each year to mark the occasion. This year was no exception and on Wednesday 7th June, Lower I celebrated their First Holy Communion in the presence of their families and the rest of the Junior School. The girls who had recently received their First Holy Communion came dressed in their beautiful white dresses and their classmates joined in arrayed in their best or national clothes.
Lower I had organised the Mass and all participated with joy as Mass was celebrated by Fr Thomas from Ealing Abbey. The girls learned that we turn to each other and say ‘Peace be with you’ in Mass to remind us that every single person is a human being. In their First Holy Communion Mass, instead of saying “Peace be with you”, they all turned to one another and said, “God says you are lovely”.
Lower I wore beautiful flower headbands made from tissue paper and sang Sing Hosanna as their entrance Hymn. Alice Mackay and Beatriz Navarro Suarez welcomed the pupils, staff and parents followed by a reading from St Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians by Ilona Piesakowska and Lara Ward. The girls wrote wonderful Bidding Prayers, and sang This is My Body during the Offertory.
Father Thomas asked the girls about the best present they had ever given their parents. Handmade cards, a big hug, a pair of socks “because my dad loves socks” were some of the replies. Father Thomas told the girls, “even if, when you are older, you buy your Mum a diamond tiara or your Dad a holiday to the Caribbean, they will still tell you that the best gift you ever gave them was a handmade card”. He compared this to receiving Communion, saying that even though it may only be a small piece of bread worth much less than a penny, when you eat it God gives you the present of Himself. When you receive Communion, Father Thomas told the girls, say ‘Amen’ and in your head say ‘I love you Jesus, my God” – and if you don’t feel like saying that then say, ‘I know that you love me’.
The First Holy Communion Mass ended with the hymn Here I am, Lord followed by the Lower I Anthem I will sing a song of love. The girls, their parents and teachers spilled out into the sunny meadow for refreshments and a celebratory play. Congratulations Lower I, and thank you to Mrs Van Der Merwe and Father Thomas for a wonderful morning.
