R.E. News

Religious Education News - Week 8 Term 4

Religious Education Dates for 2025

Whole School Mass/Events

• Thursday 11th December   - Year 6 Graduation at 6pm 
• Monday 15th December - End of School Mass at 9.30am 

Advent

Week 1 of Advent is coming up and each year level is creating a display in the office foyer to represent each week.

Foundation is Week 1 - Hope

The word ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’. When we light the candles on the wreath, it symbolises the coming of light (Jesus) into the world. 

Candle 1 (violet): represents hope

Candle 2 (violet): represents peace 

Candle 3 (rose): represents joy

Candle 4 (violet): represents love 

The central white candle is lit on Christmas Day and represents Christ.

This Advent we will learn, act and pray for a more just and fair world – a world full of hope, peace, joy, and love. 

• What do you know about Advent?
• What are some things that you look forward to?
• How do you prepare for them?
• Why does Jesus tell his followers to "stay awake"?
• How can we be ready to welcome Christ in our friendships, homes, school and world?

God, 

you give us hope.

 As we light this candle

in your name,

we ask you to help us

share hope with family and friends

 this Advent.

Amen

Gospel Reflection by Dianne Bergant CSA

We may be accustomed to think of Advent as the time when we prepare for the coming of God, but the readings also train our attention on our own journey to God. We see this most clearly on this first Sunday with readings that tell us the identity of the pilgrims, the destination toward which they travel, and the way of life that is required of them on their journey. As the Vatican Council has proclaimed: We are a pilgrim people.

Both the reading from Isaiah and the psalm response speak of the pilgrimage to the mountain of the Lord, the place where God can be found. Although the psalm speaks about Jerusalem and refers to the temple there, the broader theological significance of the mountain, the city and the temple is one and the same. They represent the presence of God in our midst, and this presence is the goal of our striving. There are clear directions about how we are to live while we are on this pilgrimage to God. In Isaiah we learn that we must put away our instruments of violence and hatred, our swords and our spears. Lest we pick them up again, we are told to convert them into life-producing implements, into ploughs and pruning hooks. Paul exhorts us to put away our deeds of darkness and self-indulgence and to clothe ourselves instead in the deeds of Jesus Christ. Matthew points out the need for alertness, attentiveness, a disposition that is open to a change of heart.

                                                                 The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have given us

in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity enkindled

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos

in the sure expectation

of a new heaven and a new earth,

when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,

your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed,

be glory and praise for ever.

Amen