Religious Education

First Sunday in Advent

Last Sunday commenced the Season of Advent in the Church calendar.  Fr Vince, in his homily, provided us with an easy way to apply ourselves during this time of preparation using the letters in the word ADVENT:  

A - adhere to God's Word and pray for strength

D - devote our hearts and minds to the Lord

V -  vigilantly keep watch over our loved ones, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit

E -  enter into the loving embrace of Jesus, turning our backs on evil ways

N - not being tempted by sin, trying our best to follow Jesus' teachings

T - thanksgiving as the year comes to an end, we call to mind the many reasons we have to be thankful.

Weekend Mass Times

Saturday  5pm (Quirindi)                6:30pm (Werris Creek)

Sunday     8am (Willow Tree)         9:30am (Quirindi)

Christmas Mass Schedule 2021

Christmas Eve Mass 

Friday 24th December

6pm       - St Brigid's Quirindi

7:30pm - St Thomas More Werris Creek

Christmas Day Mass

Saturday 25th December

8am - Immaculate Heart of Mary Willow Tree

9:30am - St Brigid's Quirindi

6:30pm - St Thomas More Werris Creek (Vigil Mass for Sunday)

Sunday 26th December

9:30am - St Brigid's Quirindi

No Mass at Willow Tree on this Sunday

A reminder that all attendees at Mass should be wearing a face mask inside the Church, socially distance and check in using the QR Code at the entrance.  

The Spirit of Community at St Joseph's Primary School

With current restrictions, we have not been able to meet with our friends at Eloura, prompting us to think outside the square.  Last Friday, Year 6 students and I decorated chocolate, orange & poppyseed, and vanilla cupcakes for the residents at our local nursing home.  These were received with much thanks and emotion from the lovely ladies and their carers on Friday afternoon.  A special thanks to the students in Stage 2 who designed and made beautiful Christmas cards to accompany to afternoon tea treats.

Prayer Reflection 

The Second Sunday in Advent - PEACE

In our Christian understanding we believe in life everlasting. We believe in the hope offered by the Resurrection. We believe in something visionary, lit by the energy of the Holy Spirit, a homecoming to God at the end of our days. We are a people of peace and hope. We need to share our light, be it small and flickering, with others. 

Good relationships are founded on generosity, finding and encouraging the best in others, preferring the positive over the negative. There must be a healthy dose of reality and a fine seasoning of laughter, rich drizzlings of compassion and a good supply of empathy, as well as the daily bread of the wise balance needed to know when to say or do something and when to refrain from saying or doing.

1 Peter 4:8 notes, Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. We human beings are flawed and failing, and we let each other down. This is not always through a huge betrayal, but sometimes through the small, accumulated hurts or resentments or grievances which grow and fester. We need to cleanse ourselves of these before they ruin something that has been good. We need to talk it out, forgive, change, look anew at our habitual actions and attitudes and see if we can reorient them to that rightness in the relationship which enables respect and reciprocity.

We need to continue to build each other up so our relationships in our community are strengthened. As Oscar Romero reminds us:

We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development.

Let us be encouraged that the good relationships we are building now in faith and life will shelter and nurture those who come after.

God bless,

Mrs Wendy Rheinberger

Religious Education Coordinator