Education in Faith

Sacramental News and Dates

Please note the following dates could change due to Covid -19 restrictions.

Sacrament Levy

There is a $15 Sacrament Levy to cover the cost for:

•  a guest speaker to conduct a Parent and Child Workshop for each Sacrament.
• professionally made stoles. 
• a candle for children receiving reconciliation.
• children receiving First Eucharist and Confirmation to travel to St. Kevin’s Church for Reconciliation, Eucharist practice, and reflection day by bus.

This levy needs to be paid in full to the school in an envelope clearly indicating your child’s name, Home Group and name of Sacrament being received before or on the day of your Family Workshop Session.

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

In this week’s Gospel, we hear Jesus teaching his listeners that some values in God's Kingdom will be the opposite of what they are in our earthly society. Those with no power or material possessions, but who trust completely in God will be first in the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, people who value the luxuries of this world will be last in the Kingdom.

Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount. He begins strongly with the Beatitudes. These are composed of some blessings and curses. These teachings show Jesus as the Lord of reversals. However, lest we misunderstand them, the Beatitudes are not just about the rich or the poor, happy or sad, hungry or satisfied. It is beyond our status in life but more of our status before God. Jesus was careful to note that whatever we are experiencing, if it is because of our faith and love of the Lord, we are blessed.

The world mainly refers to the rich, powerful, famous, and the like as the ones blessed. While those on the other side are regarded as cursed. However, what if those riches, power, or fame are attained immorally, illegally, or unworthily? 

Before God’s eyes, they are not blessings at all. Anything against God’s commands is never a blessing. In the same way, the poor, hungry, the oppressed, and the like are not automatic curses. They may be blessings if they were attained in faithfulness to God. Relationship with God, not our worldly status, determines blessedness. Blessed is being always in the grace and favour of God.

Blessedness is necessary. The Beatitudes are our ways to heaven. They are steps to salvation. Thus, it is important to see them not as a judgment on status but an encouragement and inspiration to a committed and faithful relationship with God.

The Beatitudes offers a contrast to many of the messages we hear in our society today. If we were to accept uncritically the “get ahead” messages of our culture, we would think that happiness means being successful, having money and having many possessions. In this way, we are not unlike the people who heard Jesus teach on the day that he taught the Beatitudes. They too associated happiness with possessions and success. The report of the Beatitudes in Luke's Gospel, however, takes things one-step further. Not only will we not find happiness through the “get ahead” messages of the world, but also relying upon these messages will cause us harm. The warnings spoken are particularly challenging because they suggest that our way of life must change if we are to gain the lasting happiness of eternal life in the blessedness of the Kingdom of God.

Similarly, we all are challenged by these beatitudes to trust completely in God. When we trust and serve God, we know clearly from this reading that God will take care of us in the Kingdom.

This week as a family, read the Beatitudes carefully. Suggest ways to our families of people who might be "poor" not relating to economic class. What ways can people be hungry and still have enough food to eat? What kind of sorrow would we experience without God in our lives? With a broader understanding of these terms, as a family create and illustrate what the beatitudes mean for you and your family today. 

Discussion Starters

• Why are the Beatitudes surprising and challenging? 
• What, then, is the measure of success in the Kingdom of God? 
• This week’s reading calls me to simplify my life and change the notion of what society values. 
• Today, I will take one step toward the Kingdom by ...
• One way in which I am poor is ...
• I find true happiness in ...

God Bless

Rozeta Ambrose

rambrose@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au