Religious Education News
A very warm welcome to Term 4. I hope you were able to enjoy some relaxing family time together over the break and stay dry! We must be due for a run of good weather soon. I was fortunate to spend the break in Hawaii and missed all the rain.
Gospel Reflection
Being Honest with myself and with God
In the Gospel reading this Sunday, Jesus tells the parable of the proud Pharisee who prayed from his self-importance and the tax collector who prayed humbly. In contrasting the prayer of the Pharisee with the prayer of the tax collector, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in humility before God. Jesus again surprises his listeners by showing the tax collector as the example of faith, rather than the Pharisee. In this parable, Jesus offers the humility of the tax collector as a model for the prayer of a disciple. The parable reminds us that when we pray, we must remember our need for God in our lives. If we are too full of ourselves, there is too little room for God's grace to work in us.
As we continue our journey through this Year of Mercy, we can draw great strength from this humble and honest tax collector. His recognition that he is a sinner is not a sign of weakness but a sign of faith and confidence in God who loves and forgives him. There is no fear or guilt in him. He comes before God freely in confidence as he presents himself to God in humility. He knows in faith that he will be received warmly and forgiven. Today we are asked to come before God with this attitude. We are asked to come to God in prayer in humility. We are invited to come before God without fear while being honest with ourselves and being honest with God. As Thomas Merton reminds us, ‘pride makes us artificial, humility makes us real.
On Saturday night, many of the staff came together to celebrate the very inspiring career of Mr Jeff Prow. Jeff has recently retired after a commendable 43 years of teaching service. We know he is much loved by both his students and colleagues alike, and it was wonderful to recognise and celebrate such an amazing career. We heard from past students of Mr Prow’s, including some from his Year 5 class back in the early 1980’s in Cobar. By far the highlight of the night was the surprise guest - Mr Prow’s first ever principal from 1979 at St John’s in Cobar. The words of these past colleagues and students were testament to the inspiring educator Mr Prow was. We wish him all the very best as he enjoys his days of retirement.
Mission Week
Mission Week is coming up and will be taking place in Week 5. We will celebrate together with a Whole School Mass on Thursday 10 November and following Mass there will be stalls and activities held at school run by the students. We very much look forward to welcoming families and parishioners back to our Mission Week Fundraiser this year. In classes, students are beginning to look at the mission of God and what we can do in our own way to help those less fortunate. We are learning about those in other countries and the different ways they live, as well as different places in Australia.
Carols by Candlelight
St Mary’s Choir will be performing at Carols by Candlelight on Sunday 18 December at Riverside Park in Moruya. We will begin to practice for the Carols at school in Week 3, Wednesday 26 October. We would love to have as many students as possible join us for this very special community event.
Wish for Peace
“Encourage one another;
Build one another up.
Be at peace among yourselves…
Always seek to do good to one another…
Rejoice always,
Pray constantly,
Give thanks in all circumstances;
For this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.”
Mrs Jess Afflick
Religious Education Coordinator