Mission News

Prayers

We pray for all our students as they undertake exams during these last two weeks of term. May God’s spirit be with them to guide them and grant them strength, focus and calm to overcome challenges and achieve success. With Father’s Day on Sunday, we pray too with gratitude and love for the fathers and father-figures in our community. Amen.

Community Mass

We will celebrate Mass on Monday 1st Break, Wednesday 8:00am and Friday 1st break. Please note that due to the exam block, Foley House will not have their dedicated House Mass on Wednesday as planned. The regular Community Mass will go ahead on Wednesday, however, and all are most welcome. 

Gospel and reflection

Gospel – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary time Year C - Luke 14:25-33 (JB)

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. 'If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

'And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, "Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish." Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.'

In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks in strong, even harsh terms to express the commitment involved in following him. Yet when we re-read the passage, we might discern it is not about ‘hating’ our loved ones or our life, but about honestly addressing what it is that prevents us from flourishing, from living the life God calls us to every day. We know full well that what we own or possess can often seem to ‘own’ or ‘possess’ us. This is true not merely for our material possessions, but even our beliefs and behaviours; the fragile identities we so carefully construct for ourselves. Meanwhile, the example of the man attempting to build a tower without a budget, or the king heading to war with half as many men as his opponent, illustrates how a lack of thought and preparation for the task ahead can set us up for failure (and even ridicule). We are being called to be honest AND realistic.

Time and again we are reminded that the way of Jesus means having the strength to carry our cross, and to support others also. To walk this path we must let go of what binds and burdens us and stops us being free. Our Year 10s, during their recent retreat, had the opportunity to explore this concept through a binding and unbinding ritual. Courageous students spoke of the experiences, feelings, behaviours and attitudes that ‘bound’ them, and tying cloths on the wooden cross, brought this burden to God. The ‘unbinding’, expressed in word and the action of untying the cloths from the cross by others willing students, expressed freedom and healing, and a willingness to live in God’s light and be ‘Christ’ to others. 

And so, in the spirit of love and letting go of what binds or possesses us, we offer the Serenity Prayer:

+ God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Mary our good mother – pray for us

St Marcellin Champagnat – pray for us

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop – pray for us

And may we always remember – to pray for one another

Amen.+

The binding/unbinding ritual during the Year 10 retreat.

Marist Brothers Community Visit

Last week, a small group of Year 8 students from Ridley House began our newest MATES initiative – visiting the Marist Brothers who live in community here at Ashgrove! These remarkable elderly brothers have spent their lives in educational ministry throughout Marist schools, and it is quite special to have them live alongside us and to have our students connect with them. Br Daniel Hollamby FMS passed on the observations of the brothers that the students were friendly, polite and respectful. All in all, delightful guests! We look forward to having our next group of Year 8s visit the Marist brothers next week.

Season of Creation

Throughout September until the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi on October 4th, the Catholic Church celebrates the Season of Creation. With a sense of awe, gratitude and hope, we recognise the beauty, fragility and resilience of life on this planet we are so privileged to call home. Everything is connected, as Pope Francis made clear in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, and we are called to embrace an integral ecology. For September, Pope Leo’s prayer intention is focused on our relationship with all creation. Through their reflection, action and advocacy in the Environment Group and Green Thumbs (Primary), our students grow their relationship with creation in tangible ways. During their Monday Game Changers meeting, our Year 7/8 students reflected on ecological belonging and gratitude, and took time to quietly pay attention their surroundings. May this Season of Creation for all of us be a time to deepen our commitment to protect and care for our earth.

Game Changers Retreat

At the end of August, our Year 7/8 Game Changers had an opportunity to connect with other Marist schools at the Marist Youth Ministry led Game Changers retreat and forum. It was a fun and reflective day, inviting the students to mingle with new people and connect through prayer and games. In one activity, the students came up with a poster idea – their motto? “Be a Buddy not a Bully”!

Social Justice Statement – 2025/26

We encourage our Marist families to engage with the 2025/26 Social Justice Statement from the Australian Catholic Bishops’ called “Signs of Hope on the Edge: Serving Homeless People with Mental Ill Health”.

Australia is facing a deepening crisis. Over 273,000 people sought help from homelessness services last year, many also struggling with mental illness. Services are overstretched and many people are left without care, shelter, or hope. Many who are homeless also live with serious mental health challenges. Services are overwhelmed, and too many people are left without the help they desperately need.

This year’s Social Justice Statement calls us to follow the example of Jesus, who always noticed, listened to, and cared for those on the edge of society. Just as Jesus healed the blind man Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46–52), we are called to see and respond to the needs of our sisters and brothers living in hardship.

At our St Vincent de Paul Sleepout back in June, our Marist students learned that even in our surrounding suburbs, there are many people who are vulnerable to homelessness, and struggle to meet the rising costs of rent, groceries, petrol and bills. Certainly, unexpected and unplanned only add to the mental stress and difficulty. The work of St Vincent de Paul and other charitable organisations can often be life-saving, not just for financial and practical reasons, but it means human dignity and decency is not forgotten.

Sony Foundation Camp 

Our 2025 Sony Foundation Camp really is just around the corner now! Our wonderful student volunteers will be gathering this coming Sunday 14 September for a training day (9:00am – 1:00pm) to learn all about the roles they’ll be taking on as well as learning more about our campers and their needs. We are so thankful for and proud of the Year 11 Marist and Mt Alvernia college students who are volunteering their own holiday time to ensure our young campers have an incredible three days. Three days which will provide the loving and committed families and carers of the campers some invaluable respite.

Thank you to our families for their generous donations so far. Please refer to the Sony Camp page in the newsletter on how you can help! 

We will be updating our social media stories over the camp so make sure you follow along for all the fun.

Stationery Aid

The end of term is always a good opportunity to sort out and donate any unwanted (good condition) stationery! The yellow bins will be outside the Mission Office for dropping off. To find out more and to check the list for what can be donated, please visit: https://stationeryaid.org/ 

Please note due to the majority of the school being on exam block or away at camp, Stationery Aid will resume on Friday mornings in Term 4 in Room 801.

Thank you for your support of Stationery Aid this term!

Treadlightly

Do you have old sports or school shoes lying around the house? Donations of unwanted shoes can be dropped into the blue bin outside the Mission Office. These shoes will be delivered to our local Rebel store where they’ll be collected by Treadlightly, an organisation that recycles them to be turned into new products. To find out more about Treadlightly, visit their website: Tread Lightly – Together we can step into a better future​.