Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

The following prayer has also been referred to as “The mystery of the Romero Prayer” or “Faith in the Future” prayer. A google search will afford you more details around the origin of the prayer but for the purpose of this article, the prayer inspires us as a staff at the prep: It resonates with our preparatory as we guide each boy to Know Himself, Be Himself and make his contribution.

The prayer is a reminder to us as staff as to our vocation and our role as purveyors of hope for the future. It reminds us of expectations placed on us while offering us comfourt that we are not in the business of “perfection” and that our work is never done.

The prayer affirms that we are not alone. The “We” can be representative of staff, parents, boys and our community, and when our collective efforts seems finished, we can be humbled as we welcome the “opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest”.

Previous articles have informed parents of our values based education or we have written around Help! – 2016. As our journey continues, our boys will be guided past academics, sporting and cultural expectations with the aim of a boy being able to take an honest look at himself as he learns to Know Himself, Be Himself and make his contribution. This self-realisation will in turn make of them Prophets of the future not their own.

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

This is what we are about:

We plant seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything

and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something,

and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,

an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,

but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders,

ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

~ Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero ~