✝️Faith and Mission
The First Love
From: In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Fr Henri Nouwen
Unconditional and unlimited love is what the evangelist John calls God's first love. “Let us love,” he says, “because God loved us first.” (1 John 4:18). The love that often leaves us doubtful, frustrated, angry and resentful is the second love, that is to say, the affirmation, affection, sympathy, encouragement and support that we receive from our parents, teachers, spouses and friends. We all know how limited, broken and very fragile that love is. Behind the many expressions of this second love there is always the chance of rejection, withdrawal, punishment, blackmail, violence and even hatred…. The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows. Jesus' heart is the incarnation of the shadow-free first love of God.
"But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love…" - Psalm 33: 18
MAMI Christmas Appeal
𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿?
𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀
In the true spirit of Christmas, your gift can be a gift to those less fortunate - a gift of love. A meaningful gift for someone special this Christmas is a MAMI Christmas card: a gift that keeps on giving for the entire year and beyond.
The concept is simple, make a recommended tax deductible donation to one of our programs and you will receive a Christmas Gift Card, which explains that you have purchased a gift card in place of a gift, and give it to a loved one.
Rosies Immersion – Day 1
The Rosies Immersion to South-East Queensland is currently underway. Thursday was our first day on the ground and the boys spent the morning with Fr Josh Nash OMI undertaking the training for Rosies volunteers. They learned about how this valuable Oblate Outreach was established and the protocols that volunteers abide by while on Outreach.
Late that afternoon the group attended their first Outreach to Queens Park in Ipswich. After helping to set up the Rosies van in the park, they were soon busy serving cold and hot drinks, as well as some sweet treats to the visitors. It wasn’t long before the local children had the Mazenod boys playing touch as well as an enthusiastic game of ring-a-ring-a-rosy. Overall, the group reported that they had a wonderful evening.
Year 8 Galilee Retreat
The Year 8s had a wonderful and successful Galilee Retreat on Monday and Tuesday of the final week of the school year. On Monday the temperature got up to a windy 39 degrees, luckily we were at Leighton Beach, where we were able to get some relief from the heat. Staff and students soldiered on and made the most of the day. Tuesday on the other hand was a beautiful day with perfect beach conditions.
We spent the day imagining that we were following in the footsteps of Christ as he journeys around Lake Galilee. We walked around the lake (Leighton Beach) stopping at Capernaum, Bethsaida, Tiberias and Gennesaret, and we will spent time pondering our own experiences of being called and loved unconditionally by God; of trusting in God when we've experienced the storms in our lives; and of exploring ways that we can serve God by serving others.
Thank you to Fr Michael for saying Mass for the boys in a beautiful but sometimes challenging location. Thank you also to Mrs Voight, Ms Otway-Melvin and Fr Michael for being our very capable presenters on the Retreat. They were also assisted by various other staff who supervised, supervised the swimming and ran the small group discussions.
Christmas Mass Times
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church, Lesmurdie
24th December Christmas Eve Mass at 6:00pm and 9:30pm.
25th December Christmas Day Mass at 8:00am and 9:30am.
Our Lady of Grace Church, Pickering Brook
Christmas Eve at 8:00pm & Christmas Day at 8:00am.
Damian Wallis
Director of Faith and Mission