Pupils in a Jesuit school are growing to be intentional in the way they live and use the resources of the earth, guided by conscience; and prophetic in the example they set to others.

Jesuit schools help their pupils grow by being communities which are intentional in their way of proceeding to build-up quality of life; and which are prophetic in the way they offer an alternative vision of education and the human person, rooted in the gospel.

An intentional person is someone who lives deliberately; someone who builds up their own worldview and then tries to live by it.  To live intentionally is to march to the beat of a different drummer.

The busy-ness of life can sometimes feel overwhelming.  It is no different for young people:  demands made by schoolwork and examinations, the many activities to which their parents ferry them, peer pressure and social media, and just growing up and finding their place in an increasingly complex and fractured world.  Of course there is excitement and often fulfilment in all this.  But the pressure to conform and go along with what everyone else thinks and says and does is immense.  The effect is to lose control – a feeling that this whirl of activity is not allowing me to be me.
Living intentionally is not about stepping away from the world but is rather about trying to achieve a balance where you know what is important for you and what you want to spend your time and energies doing.  Living intentionally can only happen if one is attentive to one’s experience, noticing the influences which drive us along and discerning which are good and which not so good, guided by conscience.  It means living ethically, with a set of values.

Jesus Christ was a person who lived intentionally and is a model of a good human life. (CJE n.61)  His words, actions and example reflect his values.

Intentional living is about the choices I make and the ethical code I live by.  But this can have a positive impact on others if I share it.

Being prophetic is about being seen to do good and about speaking out for what is right.  Good news is only good news if it is announced. 

Being prophetic isn’t about telling the future; it is about living out God’s future for me today.

However much the values of the world, the assumptions and prejudices of those around us, seem to be unassailable, Christ calls us in a different direction to a life characterized by compassion, faith, hope and, above all, love.  Trying to live in an intentional and prophetic way is what ultimately makes us human.

The Man Who Built a Tower
Luke 14:25, 28-30 (GNB)

Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, “If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. If you don't, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you. ‘You began to build but can't finish the job!’ they will say."

The King Going to Battle
Luke 14: 25, 31-32 (GNB)

Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, “If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. If he isn't, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off."

Light on the Lampstand
Matthew 5:1-2, 14a-16 (GNB)

Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them: "You are like light for the whole world. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven."

The City on a Hill
Matthew 5:1-2, 14 (GNB)

Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them: "You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid."

Prepare the Way of the Lord
Isaiah 40:3-5, 21-22, 28-29, 30 (NRSV)

A voice cries out:‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in.

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

JPP tagcloud image

Tagcloud greyed-out with intentional and prophetic highlighted in yellow.

Tagcloud intentional & prophetic (png)

Staff briefing paper

This briefing paper aims to be a quick introduction to the virtues and the thinking and theology behind them. It designed to be distributed at the start of the half-term or left in people's mailboxes.

Intentional & Prophetic briefing paper (pdf)

PowerPoint Animation

A PowerPoint animation in which the JPP tree/tagcloud reduces to the virtue pair Intentional & Prophetic. This resouce could be the first slide in an assembly. If these animations are used regualrly, pupils get used to focusing on a pair of virtues.

Intentional & Prophetic animation (ppt)

Posters

These posters are intended to draw attention to the JPP pair of virtues in focus this half-term.

All of these posters could be put up around the school for the half-term or new posters could be added each week.

These posters can be printed off at A3 or A4 size.

Intentional 1: What does intentional mean?
Intentional 2: Different drummer
Intentional 3: No wrong turnings
Intentional 4: I choose to live intentionally
Intentional 5: Repeating good choices
Intentional 6: Every increased possession

Prophetic 1: What does prophetic mean?
Prophetic 2: Christ has no hands but yours
Prophetic 3: Start where you stand

An Examen on Intentional & Prophetic

A simple examen based on the JPP virtue pair Intentional & Prophetic by St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst.

Intentional & Prophetic Examen

Quotations

"We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide how to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon kow what we were sent to do."

Heni Nouwen (1932-66)
Dutch priest, theologian and writer

"Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness."

John Ruskin (1819-1900)
English art critic and writer

"The Lord gives each of us a vocation, a challenge to discover the talents and abilities we possess and to put them at the service of others"

Pope Francis