Prayer

Prayer - Be Bold and Do Good

Heavenly Father, You who filled your apostles with the Holy Spirit to teach others about you with boldness.

Look upon us in our school; give us the same Spirit, so that each of us may be a force for good in the world.

Lord Jesus, expand our hearts through friendship with You, guide our study, relationships, and activities as duties done with goodwill. Instil in us courage and perseverance through difficulties to always show respect, tolerance and love for everyone.

Holy Spirit, Pour Your gifts on us and our families, unite us in our determination to be bold and do good. May our lives bear witness to Your love. Make us Spirit-filled witnesses, open to Your prompting, making our school a place of bold mission and generous kindness.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Our Catholic Identity: What Catholics do and why we do it!

This week the Church moved into the Liturgical season known as Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration of what is known as the Triduum or sacred three days - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday, the celebration of the Resurrection.

Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day is the day before Ash Wednesday, it's a time for spiritual preparation, confession (shriving), and feasting on foods like eggs, butter, and sugar (often in pancakes) to use them up before the Lenten fast begins. Traditionally, our students make and sell pancakes for CARITAS on this day.

Lent:

is observed by Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans and Methodists.
is a period of 40 days, reflecting the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying.
is “penitential” in nature; relating to the practice of acknowledging sins, seeking forgiveness, and making reparation or amends to God.
features a sombre atmosphere symbolised by the colour purple and the dropping of joyful acclamations from the Mass, such as the Glory to God and the Alleluia.
Observance of Lent is expressed through (i) prayer, (ii) fasting (eating little or less) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, includes abstaining from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent & (iii) alms giving (acts of charity)
Popular acts of penance today include giving up dessert, chocolate, lollies, soft drinks, alcohol, ‘junk food’; ideally the money saved is donated to charities such CARITAS.

Mission and Liturgy:

To date this year we have experienced two wonderful Eucharistic celebrations. The first was the Tamworth Catholic Schools Staff Mass on Tuesday 27th January at St Nicholas’ Church. In his homily Father Chris reminded us of the importance of our witness and modelling of Gospel values for the members of our school and broader communities. On Wednesday 11th February we gathered as a Catholic school community of just over 1,000 to celebrate the Mass of the Holy Spirit to mark the beginning of the school year and to pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and blessings throughout the year ahead. The Mass was concelebrated Father Damien Locke (Parish Priest at Manilla), Father Chris Onuekwusi (Parish Priest of St Nicholas’ Parish) and Deacon Allem, new to the St Nicholas’ parish. During this Mass we officially launched our Gospel theme for 2026, “Be Bold and Do Good.” In his homily Father Damien spoke about why we need to have courage to do good, and that is because the goodness Christ calls us to do is counter cultural, it goes beyond simple kindness to friends and members of our families and school, to include our “enemies … and those who hate [us], … those who curse and … abuse [us]” (Luke 6:27-38).

In addition, eight of our staff attended the first of four twilight retreats on Thursday 5th February, run by the ACS Retreat team entitled “Walking Together - Awakening.”

As a Catholic community, we now look forward to Shrove Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the Liturgical season of Lent in preparation for the celebration of Easter.

Cate Allen

Leader of Learning - Religion

callen@arm.catholic.edu.au