St James Religious Dimension
Religious Education / Parish News
WELLBEING
St James feast is today. We had a lovely celebration of the Mass with Fr Ian. Children decorated the hall with their fish as a symbol of Jesus making St James a fisher of men and we are the fish. The year 6’s led the reading and prayers very well.
The gospel was on the request St James’ mother gave to Jesus to place her sons one on his left and the right in his kingdom. Jesus’ response was “you do not know what you are asking”.
It shows the Mother of St James didn’t know she was really asking her children to suffer as Jesus would suffer, to bring about his Gospel. Perhaps she was hoping for power and authority for her sons to control the kingdom of God and assure their family had a place in the kingdom of God. But Jesus was clear, his kingdom is not about ruling over people or making your authority felt as Caesar and the Romans do. Rather his kingdom is about service. Those who serve are the ones who sit next to Jesus in his kingdom.
But service is often undervalued in the world, because it means you have to work.
At St James we value service and it is encouraged at all times to all students. Mrs McNamara does great work in making sure there are community leaders and they are serving everyone at St James.
We want our children to be great leaders, and that means great servants of the community. The opposite is leaders that serve themselves and we see examples of that in our community and in the news, and it is not good for us.
According to the legend, Mother Mary appeared to James while he was feeling disheartened by the lack of success in his missionary efforts in Spain. She appeared on a pillar and encouraged him to continue his work of evangelisation, assuring him that the people would eventually be converted. Mother Mary also instructed James to build a church in her honour at the site of her apparition.
This apparition is considered one of the earliest Marian apparitions and holds significant importance in Spanish Catholic tradition. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain, stands as a major pilgrimage site commemorating this event.
St James did pay the ultimate price and drank from the cup that Jesus had to drink from. James returned to Jerusalem at the request of Mother Mary to give his final testimony. Legend has it, he was asked to renounce Jesus, he refused, so he was either stoned to death or thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem by the religious leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees in 62AD. These religious leaders were still trying to take power back from Jesus, they knew they were losing to Jesus, people were choosing Jesus over them. These religious leaders didn’t recognise the coming of the kingdom and they didn’t learn to serve. Sadly 8 years later in 70AD, Jerusalem was completely destroyed, not a stone stood standing as Jesus prophesied. They had not accepted the message of Jesus and paid the ultimate price.
Today St James' place of burial is a world renowned place of pilgrimage. Many walk over 260-1000km to his grave at Santiago de Compostela, it is called Camino de Santiago (the Way of Saint James). There is no such shrine for those who didn’t serve Jesus. It shows that St James is still alive today leading people along the way Jesus showed him. Let us continue to show our kids this path, the path of greatness in service.
Kind regards
Corey Payton
School Chaplain
St James Mini Vinnies
As part of our Social Justice initiatives at St James, we continue to challenge our students to SEE!, THINK!, DO! and REFLECT! on the change they can make in our world.
Please keep an eye out for all the amazing ways the students at St James are fundraising and bringing awareness to issues within our school, community and beyond!
St James Feast Day
Today we celebrated the Feast day of our patron saint, St James the Great. We began our day with Mass led by Fr Ian and the Year 6 students followed by a shared lunch. In the afternoon the students entertained us with the annual St James Got Talent show.
First Communion Reflection Evening
A very BIG thank you to all the families that attended our reflection evening in preparation for the students making their First Communion. It was a wonderful opportunity for families to reflect and build upon their understanding of the sacrament and share their wonderings with each other.
UPDATE OF INFORMATION
If your child has been Baptised since their enrolment can you please provide a copy of the certificate to the office so our records can be updated.
SECONDARY ENROLMENTS
If there are any parents that require dates or a letter confirming sacraments, please email eherbert@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au and I will be able to provide that information for you.
Important Dates
TERM 3
Tuesday 6th August - Confirmation Reflection Evening @ 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Friday 9th August - Eucharist Reflection Day
Wednesday 14th August - Eucharist Mass, St Joan of Arc @ 7pm
TERM 4
Monday 14th October - Confirmation Reflection Day (Change of date)
Monday 14th October - Gen Bryant whole school incursion
Sunday 20th October - Confirmation Mass, St Joan of Arc @ 1pm
Friday 1st November - Grandparents Day/ All Saints ParaLiturgy @ 11:30am lead by Year 3
Monday 11th November - Remembrance Day Paraliturgy @ 3:15pm lead by Prep
Parishes of St Finbar's, St Joan of Arc & St James
To access the weekly Parish Bulletin please go to the website
https:// www.melbcatholic.org/s/brightoneast
Emma Herbert
Deputy Principal - RE Leader