Religious Life of the School

October is World Mission Month, a month dedicated to the life-giving work of missionaries around the world.

This year, we walk hand-in-hand with the Church of Ethiopia and the local communities towards providing life-changing opportunities to those most in need.

Pope Francis, in his 2022 World Mission Sunday message, invites everyone to answer the call to be missionary, sharing that "Mission is carried out together, not individually...".

You may like to explore the terrific resources Catholic Mission has put together as a family at this link

Prayer and Worship

Pope’s prayer intentions- For The Challenges Facing Humanity and the Mission of the Church

Let all be one! May we all be one!

Good Father, we want to do our part and

live the words that your son Jesus spoke to you.

We wish to live out fully the mission we

received at Baptism.

We dream of being a Church in a communion of love that is

collaborative and missionary,

committed to the challenges of the world

in which everyone can feel at home and can participate.

We dream of being a Church that listens to the renewing

of your Holy Spirit,

a Church of closeness, compassion

and tenderness, that does not separate from life

but takes charge of the fragilities and poverty of our time.

Help us to be a different Church open to your newness

in which we all walk together.

Amen.

Celebrating Liturgy and Sacraments

Sacraments

Last Term during the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation Year 6 students were learning about the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. During this learning the students were asked to reflect on these fruits. I would like to share an exemplary reflection with you written by student Diego Lacar.

Knowledge:

The Gift of knowledge may seem like it means that you know a lot, but the gift of knowledge is really doing something good with that knowledge. For example, what's the point of knowing a lot if you’re not going to do anything with that knowledge. You could think of this as what’s the point of having a lot of money if you can’t spend it. It’s the same as knowledge, you could share your knowledge with others and help them thrive and improve. Sharing your knowledge could be as easy as giving someone advice on something that they’re struggling on, and helping them figure out the problem. Then they may help others with problems and the result of that would be amazing knowing that you were the cause of helping many people. In (2 Chronicles 1:10) it says “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead these people, for who is able to govern these great people of yours?”  In this scripture he doesn’t want knowledge because he wants to be the smartest person in the world but because he wants to teach and lead with that gift. He wants to put out his gift and share his knowledge with others.

Counsel:

The Gift of counsel is knowing wrong from right. Knowing wrong from right is crucial because we need to make the right decision so we don’t get in trouble, or others don’t get in trouble. If your friends are doing the wrong thing you should leave the situation and tell someone. By doing this you prevent 1. Yourself from getting injured, 2. You are not getting in trouble and 3. Your friends won’t get in trouble. The gift of counsel can be learnt from a young age, we all learn what’s good and what’s bad at a young age but The Holy Spirit can strengthen it. In (Isaiah 7:15) it says “He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,” which is basically saying he will be rewarded for choosing right over wrong.

Kindness:

Kindness is one of the fruits of the spirit. Kindness is something that we could all consider more. Kindness is when you are kind and nice to your neighbours. Kindness is something that makes one feel good about themselves. You could compliment someone or help them do something, doing these things could potentially make their day, or make them feel happy. Kindness is a very strong thing, for example someone could be having a really bad day or they might not feel well, but your little bit of kindness could make someone feel a lot better. Another example of how powerful kindness is is when you are kind to someone then they feel good and they share it with others and then they feel happy and so on. Your little bit of kindness can influence a great amount of people, and change their day. In (Genesis 24:27) it says ‘May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels to’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”’ This shows how grateful people are for kindness. This person who was asking for water received what he had asked for and is now so grateful that he is asking God to reward her.

Gentleness:

Gentleness is another fruit of the spirit and is a very important fruit. Gentleness is being considerate, thoughtful, protective and gentle with others. I like to think of it as being all these things with your younger siblings or cousins. You would do anything to protect them, and you’re always thoughtful of them. Gentleness is another fruit that we can learn at a young age, although we learn it at a young age this fruit gets strengthened because of the Holy Spirit. We need gentleness because we want to protect others. Being considerate could be a few things, for example you need to be considerate of someone's allergies so you don’t hurt them. This is a great example of gentleness because it shows that we need to be thoughtful of others. In (1Peter 3:15) it says ‘But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,’ this is indicating that we should do things with gentleness and respect. Respect comes up and also relates to being thoughtful and considerate. 

By Diego Lacar

Social Action & Justice

The Wellbeing Team Leaders are working on a "Move for Mission" lunchtime Disco on Thursday 27th October. There will be one offered Break 1 for Junior Primary and one offered Break 2 for Upper Primary. It will be a gold coin donation entry with more information over the coming weeks.

Evangelisation and Faith Formation

Faith Formation

Last week St Joseph’s Parish began its annual Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) journey this October.

If you are curious about God or the Catholic Church, were baptised as a child but did not receive Eucharist or Confirmation, visit the parish one Sunday and speak to Fr Paul.

If you have questions about the RCIA process, please email Father Paul at Paul_Nulley@hotmail.com

Melanie Stratford

Religious Education Coordinator

melanie.stratford@cg.catholic.edu.au 

PRE-SALE LAUNCH

Pre-purchase tokens, raffle tickets, colour run entry and St Joseph’s Primary School 2022 wine by Lake George Winery on Qkr before the fete and save! For more details see the flyer that was sent home today.

START YOUR BIDS!

Our silent auction is now live! Go to https://airauctioneer.com/sjo and start bidding!

Our silent auction features an exciting range of 24 items to bid on, including:

• Learn to sing from the Principal Artist of Opera Australia
• Group tennis coaching with the childhood coach of Aussie champ, Nick Kyrios
• Anti-wrinkle packages from ‘Natural Look Clinic’ - Canberra’s most popular, new botox clinic
• Kids explorer packs!

Plus – corporate head-shot sessions, NextGen gym passes and much more!

Check out the full list of silent auction items and start bidding!

DONATIONS

Don’t forget to send in donations for raffle prizes by next Friday 21 October.

We will be holding another uniform-free day next Wednesday 19 October to source donations for lucky dip prizes. More information will be sent on Friday.

We also seeking donations of preloved clothes (limit 2 per family), books, puzzles, and board games.