Welcome to Sabbath Week. 

……and on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done,

 and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

Genesis 2:2

I hope that you can all take some time this week to spend with your families.

Sacrament of First Reconciliation

Please continue to pray for the students and their families as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. 

Reconciliation Retreat 

Students in Year 3 and any other students enrolled in the Sacrament of First Reconciliation will be attending a Retreat Day on Friday 24th March at Holy Trinity School. Please complete the online Consent Form via Compass. Thank you to the families who have already completed the form. Please email veronica.hall@cg.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.

Project Compassion

Project Compassion runs during the season of Lent. Students are invited to donate to Caritas through Project Compassion. All classrooms have Project Compassion boxes in their classrooms. Classes are raising money to buy virtual chickens. For every $5 raised a chicken will be added to their farm. All money raised will go to Caritas. Thank you for your support.

How does Caritas help? Let's meet Laxmi:

Laxmi lives with her mother and siblings in Jajarkot, one of the least developed districts in the remote Karnali province, with almost half of the population living below the poverty line.

Tragedy struck when Laxmi was 10-years-old. Her father, who worked hard to pay for his children’s education, passed away. Laxmi was devastated.

Before her father’s passing, Laxmi joined a child's club at her school that was run with the support of Caritas Nepal, through the Nepal Livelihoods and Resilience Program. Child's clubs support students to develop their speaking, writing and leadership skills through extracurricular activities. 

Thanks to the support of her club, Laxmi was encouraged to resume her education. She became an active member of her child's club, where she developed the skills and confidence to become a leader, advocating for clean water taps at her school. 

Sunday Gospel: John 9:1-41, Fourth Sunday of Lent  – Year A

The blind man went off and washed himself and came away with his sight restored.

Our Lord, by the power of his word alone, could have healed the dis-ease of this man, blind since birth. Yet, he made a paste with spittle and put it over the eyes of the blind man. Just as God would have moistened the dust of the earth to shape the first human being, for the blind man, it was as though he had been created anew.

God rarely works by telepathy but has a preferred way of working through the elements of creation, especially in the Sacraments. So, with the Anointing of the Sick, pressing olive oil onto the forehead and hands of the sick or dying symbolises the Holy Spirit entering the very pores of the sick person, relieving that person of undue anxiety and giving strength for the next stage of life.

This sacrament is a formal ritual of healing by the Church. But there are a million informal ways, such as putting one’s arm around someone who is lonely or unwell, which are sacramental to the world.

We could pause for a moment that we might go into the world like the man healed by Jesus, eyes wide open to see where we might exercise the healing power of the Lord of the Gospel (adapted from Michael Tate).

Blessings for the week ahead,

Veronica Hall

Religious Education Coordinator