This past Friday, Sept. 8, the Xavier College Preparatory class of 2018 arrived at Mount Claret for their first of two prayer days. Mount Claret is a retreat center that Xavier sends their upperclassmen, junior and seniors, to for all class retreats. It has been a long tradition at Xavier to include a day that is dedicated for students to come together and pray.

Friday was a particularly special prayer day. Sept. 8 marked the first prayer day as seniors, “the first of the last.” The idea behind prayer day is to bring the class together and to make sure everyone is supportive of one another. Prayer day consisted of seniors arriving at 8 o’clock and checking in. Father Kevin then taught the seniors a game in which they answered with “Agreed,” “Disagreed” or “I don’t really care.”

After the game was over, the seniors listened to Father Kevin. Then, the senior student council put on a skit for their class. The skit was hilarious and everyone enjoyed it. After the skit, there was a talk about discernment and the seniors talked with their friends about the decisions they were individually discerning.

After learning about the true meaning of discernment and talking with your friends, half of the class went into the chapel for a writing meditation while the other half stayed in the room listening to a Bible verse in silence. After both groups completed their writing meditation and the Bible verse in silence, all the students crammed into the Chapel and enjoyed a nice mass.

The main message for the seniors on Friday was discernment. Discernment is making a thoughtful decision, a decision that needs to involve the help of God. The message of discernment was a perfect message especially with everything that tha seniors are going through right now. College applications, sports, club events and work are all stressful aspects of senior year. Having time at prayer day to sit and think about a big decision or just think in silence is truly relaxing and incredibly helpful.

Everyone loved the first senior prayer day and look forward to the second one at the end of the year. Senior Hannah Hale said that the prayer day “was so relaxing and it was nice having quiet time to myself.”