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Summary
- A short prayer for a new school year can be said by students, parents and teachers together on the first morning.
- Student prayers cover the first day, a new school, hard subjects, tests, the temptation to cheat, unkindness from others and leaving home for college.
- Parents’ prayers cover the first morning and a child who struggles; teachers’ prayers cover the start of the year and a difficult class; two one-line prayers open and close a school day.
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer prays “Bless all who teach and all who learn”; the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers prints a prayer before study traditionally attributed to Thomas Aquinas, whom Leo XIII named patron of Catholic schools in 1880.
- Daniel and his friends were trained three years in “the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:4–5), and Jesus at twelve sat among the teachers in the temple (Luke 2:46–47).
- A child who is bullied needs the school told; a child who talks of self-harm needs help the same day (988 in the US, Samaritans 116 123 in the UK and Ireland).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Joshua 1:9; Psalm 121:8; Proverbs 1:7; 13:20; Isaiah 54:13; Daniel 1:4–5, 17, 20; Luke 2:42, 46–47, 52; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Colossians 3:23; James 1:5). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Prayers, “For Schools, Colleges, and Universities,” p. 42. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Occasional Prayers, “A Prayer before Study or Instructions,” pp. 171–172. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- Kennedy, Daniel. “St. Thomas Aquinas.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
- “Creator ineffabilis.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creator_ineffabilis
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- Samaritans. “Contact a Samaritan.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
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