Faith Reflection & RE News

OPENING SCHOOL MASS

On Friday 9th February @ 9:00 we will be holding our Opening of the School Year Mass. All families are invited to attend. 

During the Mass we have the Clapping in Ceremony  for our Foundation students, and new staff / students to the St John Vianney community. The parish and school community has a tradition of giving a round of applause to welcome the students to our community as they enter the church. I encourage families with new students to attend as well. I know everyone will give them a large cheer as they start their time at SJV. 

During the Mass, we will also have the commissioning of our student leaders. While the captains were announced last year, their badges will be presented to them at this time. 

All Year 6 students are school leaders and will be presented before the parish. They will be asked to make a commitment to be good leaders for our school then be given a blessing.  

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Faith Reflection 

In this week’s Gospel, we hear of a time when Jesus was at the temple teaching. Dramatically, someone who is possessed by a demon cries out, which Jesus then promptly expels. The people surrounding are astonished, saying, “Here is a teaching that is new… and with authority behind it.”

It gives us a glimpse into Jesus as a teacher. He would often go to the synagogue to preach and debate with the Jewish leaders of his time (famously once without his parents’ knowing). For the people listening to Jesus, his teaching would have run contrary to many things they had heard previously. Indeed, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, many laws, such as eating kosher, would be overturned, and a totally new concept of God as a father emerged.

But I want to focus today on the phrase ‘and with authority behind it.’ The actual event isn’t explored in any great depth – we don’t know who the possessed person was nor any real further explanation about what the demon’s word meant. In fact, we don’t even know what Jesus was saying before he was interrupted. The writer instead places the focus on the authority that Jesus has when teaching. Through this miracle, it presents Jesus as someone who is on ‘the frontline’ – he is actively doing what he is talking about, and the effects are there for all to see. Looking at this from the flip side, Jesus isn’t just bluffing or talking about something to which he has had little experience.

There is a key message for us as we begin another school year. Children, much like the people in the synagogue, also have a certain skepticism and are looking for people with authority to teach them. To have authority, like Jesus, we must lead by example. For us to teach students about good manners or to be effective learners, we must ourselves show that these are things that we practice.

This week, teachers and parents alike are called to guide the children at SJV through sharing our lived experiences. It might include talking to a nervous student about times we ourselves are nervous, showing a little extra empathy with others if something doesn’t go the way we would have liked, or trying our best to keep our minds open to new ideas that may not seem the strongest at first.

Oh Lord, as we work together to build your empire, 

let us be the light that leads the world to you. 

God, teach us to be good role models to the people around us, 

so that when they see you and your love within us, 

they would want to know you more and more.

St John Vianney, 

Pray for us