The liturgical season of Advent commences on Sunday 3rd December.

Advent means “coming” – the coming of God among us; but the season of Advent is not merely a preparation to celebrate the historical birth of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem. This is important, as one aspect of the revelation of Jesus. 

Jesus is Emmanuel, meaning, God-with-us, in three ways; in the past, in the present and in the future. The Lord Jesus is with us now, but in another sense he is yet to come, in his fullness, as the God of power, truth, justice and peace for all people. He will come to judge our response, yet we look forward to his return in glory, the final manifestation of God’s covenant of love with his creation, with joy.

Our reflection and prayer during this season should be hopeful – concentrating more on the future than on the past, and on how we can make that future present now. For the Christian, thinking of the future involves not only hope but enthusiasm, looking forward eagerly to Christ’s return. It also means patience as we wait and watch. It implies readiness to change as needs be, preparing the way for the Lord, responding to his initiative of love.

Over the coming weeks, in the lead up to the most joy-filled moment of all, the birth of Jesus at Christmas, let us continue to look for and find moments of joy in our everyday lives. This inner joy comes from our love for God and the love of our neighbour.

When we find these moments of joy that can be as simple as a smile or a greeting, we spread and share this joy with others.

SACRAMENT OF FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

This coming weekend, on Sunday 26th November, we will celebrate with 40 young people in our parish Church, as they make the important sacrament of initiation - First Holy Communion. We celebrate this with special significance for our school and parish community as many of our students will take the next step in their Catholic faith initiation. This celebration of receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the very first time, brings many blessings to our community. It is also a sign of great hope that our 2000+year faith continues to be handed down from one generation to the next.

It is a great privilege to witness the love and support parents provide to their children on a daily basis, through the day-to-day life of our school.  This will be reinforced as parents will proudly present their children for the sacrament of Holy Communion on the weekend. At Baptism, many of the children would have been babies and would have been carried by their parents. Now a few years later, they are able to walk independently towards their next sacramental milestone. As parents, each time a child takes another step in their faith journey we are certainly proud, but we are also challenged to remember the enormous responsibility of our role as the first educators of the faith.

Just as we have a responsibility to nourish our children’s bodies through a healthy diet, so we must also nourish their faith by providing opportunities to practise the rituals and actions in the context of our parish community on a regular basis.

When Jesus celebrated his last supper with his disciples he asked them to “Do this in memory of me.” Regularly celebrating Mass within a community of faith and being nourished spiritually by the Eucharist is certainly the source and summit of our faith. But what else did Jesus mean when He said “Do this in memory of me?” Each weekend, we commit ourselves to remembering the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

Jesus gave the gift of Himself and we share in the gift of His body and blood through receiving the Eucharist. We continue to pray for the children who will receive the sacrament of Holy Communion over the coming weekend. We also pray for all children, that they may have the opportunity to continue to grow in their faith supported by their families, the parish and school community. We thank those members of our school and parish communities who have helped to prepare the students for this important next step on their journey of faith.

We particularly thank Mrs Samantha McGarrity, the Sacramental Coordinator for Our Lady Help of Christians Parish, who has supported the children in the preparation for this sacrament. We also are grateful to Miss Megan O’Sullivan, our Religious Education Coordinator and Miss Ainsley Northey who have facilitated the sacramental workshops for the students with support from the parish sacramental team. May God bless each of the candidates in a special way on the weekend.

Jane Webb 

P&F Meeting Monday 27 November 2023

Upcoming Events!