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Prayer nurtures spirituality by allowing people to express their needs, desires and gratefulness to a greater power or other being. Prayer allows them to feel relieved that they have confessed or expressed their appreciation. Prayer allows me to express what I am feeling and to come to terms and accept how I am feeling about things that happen and my life in general. This prayer reflects my spiritually because it asks for God’s assistance to give so fully of myself and to help me to understand the needs of others. This prayer also thanks God for looking after me throughout my life. This reflects my spirituality as I strive to help others and give fully of myself and my time. This also reflects how I would like to be more understanding towards others and be more capable to put myself in others’ positions before I judge them.

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Scripture nurtures spirituality by expressing values and morals through story in a literary form, allowing people to repetitively read and refer back to.

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Bible. (n.d.). [Photograph]. n.p. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. http://quest.eb.com/search/bible/1/300_1171670/Bible

Oxford Dictionaries. (2017). Spiritual. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/spiritual

Prayer flags. (n.d.). [Photograph]. n.p. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica . http://quest.eb.com/search/prayer/1/132_1282647/Prayer-flags

Sanders, S. A. A. (n.d.). The Story Teller. [Artwork]. n.p. Retrieved from SAASYart. http://www.saasyart.com/

Schneider, K. H. (2017, January 5). You Raise Me Up. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joEuh5TbVEY

Watts, J. (2016). A Prayer - for the Broken Hearted. Retrieved from https://pushingjesus.wordpress.com/

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The Mt Alvernia opening mass is a prime example of a Catholic Christian Eucharistic Liturgy. A Eucharistic Liturgy is a Christian sacrament which commemorates the Last Supper with the key focus of consecrating bread and wine, surrounded by many other important elements. These elements are the introductory rites, liturgy of the word, liturgy of the Eucharist and the concluding rites. Within the introductory rites there is acknowledgment of country, priests greeting, lighting candles, praying in silence, sprinkling of water, penitential act, and opening prayer. Liturgy of the word includes a scripture reading, psalm reading, gospel acclamation, gospel reading, homily, profession of faith, prayers of the faithful. Liturgy of the Eucharist includes the presentation of the gifts, preparation of gifts, invitation to prayer, Eucharistic prayer, Sanctus, memorial acclamation, sign of peace, rite of peace, fraction rite and communication and reflection and prayer. The concluding rites include final blessing and dismissal.

Many symbols were used throughout Eucharistic Liturgy. Symbols can have many different meanings to different people but in Christianity they mean the same thing. In the acknowledgment of country, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island candle was lit symbolising recognition and respect for the land. The school candle was also lit which symbolised the presence of God, because God is known as the light. The congregation was sprinkled with water. The Priest walked through the aisles sprinkling water onto the congregation. Water is a symbol of purity. The Gospel reading symbolises the way the Jesus told stories. To continue the story telling, the Gospel is followed by the homily where the Priest links the Gospel reading to life in their community and present world. The presentation of the gifts symbolises Christ’s soul moving through the congregation towards the front, down the aisle. The preparation of the gifts symbolises how Jesus gave his life to save us from our sins and to sustain us. The bread represents Christ’s body and the wine represents his blood, both of which he gave up for us. The sign of peace represents unity within the congregation by everyone shaking hands. Communion represents connecting with Christ and using his body to sustain and to save us. The final blessing and dismissal symbolises the congregation being sent off to spread the good news of God.

Overall Catholic Christian Eucharistic Liturgy nurtures my spirituality by giving me something to believe in and giving my life focus. It allows me to believe in the life of Christ and that he gave his life to save us. It gives me something to live by. God gave us the 10 commandments and I try my best to live by them in my day to day life. In this way Catholic Christian Eucharistic Liturgy nurtures my spirituality.

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Father,
Allow me to serve others with a joyful heart;
Never keeping score;
Always giving;
Never expecting to receive.
Allow me to give of myself,
To give of my talents and of my goods,
To give of my time and of my energy,
To give of my heart and of my soul.
Help me understand the needs of others,
Never criticising,
Never demeaning,
Never scolding,
Never condemning.
You have been so gracious to me,
Always Loving,
Always forgiving,
Always restoring;
Never gloating over my defeats,
Even when I have been so wrong.
Father, keep a condemning spirit
Far from my heart and further from my lips.
Allow me to serve others as You serve,
With gentleness, compassion, and tenderness,
Never diminishing the worth of another,
Choosing to extend mercy to the broken-hearted,
Like You have repeatedly shown it to me,
Amen.

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One spiritual practice that I believe strongly represents my spirituality is reflection. Reflection is important to my spirituality because it is only when we take time out of our busy live that we fully appreciate the privileged lives we are living. When we get the chance to reflect on experiences, tasks and opportunities we have, we get a chance to understand why we are doing these things and what you learnt or got out of it. I believe that this links to my spirituality because I never want to stop having new experiences and learning new things and reflection helps me to continue that.

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Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Luke 21:1-4 is meaningful to me because it reflects how I enjoy helping people, how I strive to be more like the ‘poor widow’. To give more fully and wilfully of not only myself, but also my time so that others can live a life that is as fortunate and privileged as mine. I find spirituality in this passage because I believe that everyone should have the same opportunities in life. I would like to help others to have an equal opportunity to live a life better than what they had. Whether they can from a life with family situations, a mental or physical handicap, without the utilities for basic health and wellbeing or aren’t financially capable to support themselves and/or their families.

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You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

I find the scripture passage, Exodus 23:10-11 meaningful because it reflects my appreciation and respect for the environment. Particularly where it states that you are to let the land ‘rest and lie fallow’. Letting the land recover gives back to the land and the environment. It also benefits the needy because they may make use of the land in this year, growing their own food. This also reflects my spirituality because

I enjoy and get pleasure from helping others and volunteering my time to worthy causes. For these reasons I find Exodus 23:10-11 meaningful and related to my spirituality.

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I would personally define spirituality as an individual pathway or practice that involves developing one’s personal beliefs, finding meaning, connecting and finding purpose.  It is focused on the spirit and soul rather than a particular physical or material thing. Spirituality can be practiced by praying, connecting with nature, art, ritual and adapting your lives. Globally, spirituality is the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017)

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Music helps nurture one’s spirituality by calming and relaxing a person so that they can connect with the lyrics and find meaning within the piece of music. This cover of You Raise Me Up by Jai McDowall and KHS represents my spirituality because it reflects how people have helped and supported me throughout my life and how I am striving to do this for others when they need supported throughout their lives. I strive to do this for my family, friends and even those I don’t know, because people are brought together through helping others. This song also connects me with the lyrics, to relax and to focus on whatever I’ m about to do or am taking a break from. It helps me to take a break from my busy life and to wind down. The flowing and complex piano introduction sets the mood for the song. This song also evokes emotion through dramatic changes in dynamic, going from loud to soft. The change in key produces a highly unique and uplifting feeling within the song being. Therefore You Raise Me Up nurtures my spirituality by helping me to stop, relax and reflect on my life, the people around me who have helped me throughout my life and how I hope to do this for others.

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YOU RAISE ME UP - Josh Groban | Jai McDowall & KHS COVER

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Art and creativity help to nurture a person’s spirituality by allowing a person to express their values, attitudes and beliefs.  Art and creativity can express or symbolise many different meanings to different people. This artwork strongly inspires my spiritual journey because I believe that it depicts how humans impact and rely on the environment, ecosystems and others. This is depicted through the way the face is intertwined with the environment. It portrays the way that humans rely on the environment to survive. The left hand side is more vibrant and lively. The colours are cooler. This then moves to the face. On the right side, the environment is duller and less vibrant. This can symbolise how a person has taken from the environment without giving back and thus has negatively affected the environment. The environment is affected by this as the world is intertwined, reflecting my spirituality. This artwork causes me to consider the way that my actions affect my surrounding. Not just the environment but also the people because some actions cause anger and others can cause joy. Therefore this artwork causes me to consider the effects that my actions have on others and my surroundings. , They all have an influence or impact on something, whether they are positive or negative.