Education in Faith

2020 CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Next week Mini Vinnies will deliver Home group hampers. Students will receive a note that they will bring home and will tell them what item to bring for the Home group hamper. These hamper items will be distributed to families who are less fortunate than us.

Our Christmas trees will also be up in the hallway and LS3 with tags to buy presents for those children who may otherwise not get one. Students are not to take Christmas tags for presents unless they have a note written by their parents in their diary.

Mini Vinnies will then be at the trees every afternoon at 3.00pm to see the note and help you child pick a tag in their house colour.

Don’t forget students will be given house points for bringing hamper items and Christmas presents!! This will go towards the SFS Community Spirit Award.

The points so far for each of the houses after collecting groceries and money for Caritas in Term 1 and 2 are:

1st – PATRICK 332

2nd – MACKILLOP 322

3rd – BOSCO 231

4th – TERESA 225

As you can see, anybody could still win the SFS Community Spirit Award!!

Good luck to all the Houses and thank you for your generosity.

Giuliana and SFS Mini Vinnies

Advent

First Sunday of Advent - Year B

This week we begin the season of Advent, which marks the start of a new liturgical year for the Church. This year’s first Sunday of Advent, we begin Cycle B of the Lectionary, which focuses our attention on the Gospel of Mark.

This week and next week, our readings from Mark’s Gospel present two important Advent themes: the Lord’s return at the end of time and John the Baptist’s preparation for Jesus.

The Gospel is from the end of Mark’s Gospel, the chapter that immediately precedes Mark’s account of Jesus’ Passion.

Having been questioned repeatedly by the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus is now questioned by his disciples—Peter, James, John, and Andrew—who want details about his prediction of the destruction of the Temple. Jesus answers with many warnings about the difficulties that the disciples will face.

This passage comes at the conclusion of Jesus’ warnings to his disciples. He emphasizes the need for watchfulness. The Son of Man will come without warning; only the Father knows the exact hour. The disciples must not be caught unprepared when this time comes.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that Advent is about more than our preparation for the Church’s celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas.

The word Advent comes from Latin adventus meaning “coming” or “arrival.” Advent is also about preparing ourselves for Christ’s return in glory at the end of time. Like the disciples and the faithful in Mark’s community, we must also stay alert and watchful. Our faithfulness to God, through the good times as well as the difficult times, shows us to be ready for the coming of the Son of Man. We focus on the Lord Jesus’ second coming.

Time to ponder: Waiting in Joyful Hope…….

At Mass, after praying the Lord’s Prayer, we hear “. . . as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” This prayer reminds us that during Advent, we wait in joy, in hope, and in anticipation for the wonderful event we are about to experience—the feast of Christmas, the coming of Christ into our lives in new ways, the return of Christ in glory at the end of time.

As the Church, we wait during Advent and look forward to celebrating the fact that God loves us so much that he sent his Son into the world to save us. This waiting is far from empty; rather, it is full of the hope that God promises us as we prepare for Christ in the feast of Christmas.

Sacramental News

2020 Confirmation Candidates

remember to pay your Sacramental levy ($15) by Tuesday 1st December.
return completed banner to your child’s teacher by Tuesday 1st December.
Students meet Fr. Dong on Friday (11/12).

Rozeta Ambrose REL- Sacraments

rambrose@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au