Principal's Update

This week we shared a very special liturgy together for Ash Wednesday and in celebration of the fifth anniversary of Kildare Ministries.  Each of the ten Kildare Ministries school communities will this week gather for this liturgy, which was prepared by the schools’ Faith and Mission Leaders and Andrea Grant, Kildare Ministries Mission Leader.

The fifth anniversary of Kildare Ministries falls in the Year of Hospitality, a value central to our mission to ‘build inclusive communities’.  During our liturgy, we reflected on those within our community who feel excluded, or feel trapped in isolation, leading to despair.  We listened to author Behrouz Boochani give his acceptance speech, having been awarded the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary prize for his book ‘No friend but the mountains’.  Behrouz wrote this book from Manus Island where he has been detained for six years.

Here is part of the reflection that followed: “Behrouz Boochani reminds us that we live in a world where not all people are valued.  His is a world of imprisonment for no crime, of unjust structures and daily tragedy, where people are robbed of their dignity and reduced to numbers.  Ash Wednesday reminds us that this is a world we all share.  We cannot pretend this is not part of our world.  It is our common humanity.  We are all made of the same dust.

“Today, the ashes join us in solidarity with the suffering and injustice rampant in the imperfect world we have created.  We take the time to consider our own part in it.  We enter Lent committing to undoing it, to repairing the world and restoring the love of God among us.  And so there is hope in the words of Ash Wednesday: ‘Remember that you are dust and unto dust you will return’.

Lent is about making sure that the people flourish.  Lent is about encouraging and giving fresh heart to those around us, strengthening the bonds of community, reminding everyone that no one resists evil alone, and recalling that we are already with God.  Now it is up to us to accept that gift, dedicate ourselves to that reality in gratitude and extend that gift to all in need.  The ashes make good fertiliser; it will help the seeds of the gospel take deeper root in us and bring forth the fruits, the harvest of justice, peace and generosity.”[1]

There are moments when all of us can feel isolated by loneliness, grief, fear or anxiety.  And there are many people in our world rendered isolated by unjust structures which rob them of their dignity.  It can feel hopeless, and yet Behrouz Boochani offers an inspiring story of hope found within great tragedy. 

In his refusal to allow his jailers to rob him of his greatest gift he has pointed the way to freedom – a freedom that encourages us all to use our minds, our imaginations, our intellects and our voices to shape a world where indeed all people are valued, where all creation is recognised as sacred and where hope, justice and courage are our hallmarks.  A world where people flourish.  A world where all are welcome at the table, for the fullness of who they are.

Reflection

God of our journey,

Be with us as we travel these weeks of Lent.

Turn to ash all that makes us selfish, bitter, negative, fearful, critical and apathetic towards you, to others or to life’s challenges.

Help us to remember this Ash Wednesday as a call to change and a chance to rekindle the fire of your love within us.

We ask this in name of the one whose dreams seemed reduced to ashes, but who rose in glory on Easter morning, Jesus, your only Son, our Lord and brother.

Amen

[1] adapted from Megan McKenna, Lent Daily Readings, pp. 14-15

Nicole Mangelsdorf

Principal