Mission News

Prayers

Dear Lord, we pray that you support all students undergoing NAPLAN testing this week, their families, and their teachers. We pray that they may achieve their best and stay positive in what can be a stressful period. We also pray for all the boys participating in the AIC swimming Championship on Tuesday. May they have strength and courage, persevering until the very end. We thank you God, for the staff members that have supported both our NAPLAN students and our swimmers in their preparation, including the extra hours put in and the early morning wakeups!

Community Mass

All are welcome to attend Mass in the Chapel this Wednesday at 8am & Break 1B on Friday. This Wednesday we celebrate with our Harold house students and warmly invite all Harold students, parents and carers to attend. 

Thanks to our newest members of the College, our year 5 students for the respectful and reverent way they participated in last Wednesday’s welcoming mass & our sports teams for their attendance at last week’s Break 1B eucharistic celebration.  

Year 5 Mass 

Friday Break 1B Mass 

Sunday’s Gospel & Reflection

3rd Sunday in Lent – John 4: 1-42 The Woman at the Well 

This Sunday we stop with Jesus at the well in Samaria and listen to him ask the woman for a drink. Puzzled she questions him – Jews avoided Samaritans, and men did not openly address foreign woman. Jesus offers her “living water” a symbol of eternal life, that will ‘satisfy her forever’. He reveals his knowledge of her five different husbands, and the questionable state she’s now in. Dazzled - she calls him a prophet and asks where those who seek eternal life should worship. He declares that the worship of the True God is not tied to place or shrine - but is found in “Spirit and in Truth” – in word and deed. She recognises something – and Jesus is revealed as the Messiah. She leaves her old water jar, rushes to town and starts sharing her joy. Many Samaritans convert – both from her witness, and from their own personal encounter. 

This is not a simple story. We see a woman with a complicated past being described as the first missionary but what else is happening? In the ancient world wells were symbolic of meeting places. Here Jesus encounters the breadth of humanity, a foreigner and woman (his saving power has no limits). Water is the Spirit, the woman’s thirst is our eternal yearning for the divine. She comes at midday, a time the well was avoided, symbolising Jesus’ openness to everyone especially those in the periphery. And her five dead husbands, which according to Augustine, symbolises the five Samaritan deities she no longer needs.

The Woman, in astonishment, moves from calling him Sir – Jew – Prophet – Messiah, revealing that conversion, for everyone, is a process. Jesus is revealed as Truth, and according to John, it is in this gradual encounter with Truth that true conversion starts. And if it is True Conversion, we, like the woman, and St. Marcellin will likewise rush to share the Good News with others.  

Clean up Australia Day Event – Sunday 15 March 

This Sunday the 15th of March, we are hosting Stuartholme School for a clean-up of Enoggera Creek and Dorrington Park from 9 – 11am. This is a Clean Up Australia Day event and will end with a BBQ. Any student in Years 7 – 12  interested in attending will need to RSVP using this link - Clean Up Australia Day with Stuartholme School – Fill in form.

Marist Mothers Retreat 

Marist Mothers are invited to a gentle, reflective retreat facilitated by Br Neville Solomon fms and Clare Locke (Campus Minister).

To register, visit: https://events.humanitix.com/2026-marist-college-ashgrove-mothers-retreat

 International Women’s Day – Birthing Kits 

Last Thursday, we were honoured to welcome representatives from Zonta whose partnership with Birthing Kit Foundation Australia gave our Year 12s the opportunity to assemble birthing kits. After watching an instructional video, students worked cooperatively together to fold pack 600 kits! 

Each kit contained a large plastic sheet, gloves, gauze, scalpel, string and soap—items all critical to safer birthing for mothers and infants. Students were themselves wearing gloves to ensure all the kits were hygienically packed. It was a valuable lesson in understanding how outcomes for mothers and babies so begins and ends with safe and hygienic resources.

We’d once again like to thank our wonderful students, staff and families who donated towards the birthing kits, making this initiative possible. A special thanks goes out to Mrs Maddie Henry – Head of Foley House and all the Foley student leaders for driving this initiative. 

Stationery Aid 

A reminder that Stationery Aid sorting sessions now take place weekly on Wednesdays during Break 1 in Room 801 (behind the chapel) – Students from any age group are encouraged to attend. 

Youth Minister, Lachlan Vink will meet any primary students looking to volunteer at the start of Break 1 on Wednesday at the Podium. Make sure you bring your lunch box! 

To find out more about the wonderful things Stationery Aid are doing, visit their website -https://stationeryaid.org/ 

MATES 

Please note our MATES email address has changed. Please send all MATES enquiries to mcamates@marash.qld.edu.au.