May our children come to know you,

the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith, hope, and love,

so they may know peace, truth, and goodness.

May their ears hear your voice.

May their eyes see your presence in all things.

Amen

In the Gospel for this weekend, we read the report of the return of the Twelve, who were sent by Jesus to preach repentance, heal the sick, and drive out demons. When the Twelve return to Jesus, he invites them to come away from the crowds and rest. But the crowds will not give them peace. As the Twelve have shared in Jesus’ ministry, they now appear to share in his popularity. The crowds continue to approach them, and Mark reports that the disciples don’t even have time to eat. In an effort to get away, Jesus and his disciples board a boat in hopes of finding a deserted place. But the crowds notice this and arrive ahead of them. The crowds are so persistent that Jesus and his disciples cannot find a place to be alone. Mark’s Gospel tells us that Jesus is moved with pity and begins to teach the crowds.

Our Gospel for today stops here, but Mark’s report of the unyielding demands of the crowd continues in the verses that follow. If we were to continue reading from Mark’s Gospel, we would hear Jesus instruct his disciples to feed the crowd in the familiar miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The work of Jesus and his disciples appears to be a round-the-clock job. In the next few weeks, we will hear the story of Jesus’ feeding of the multitude, but our Lectionary will turn to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John to report and reflect on this story.

In today’s Gospel, we hear the Twelve referred to as “apostles.” The word apostle is a Greek word meaning “one who is sent.” Jesus chose twelve men from among his disciples whom he sent to share in his ministry of preaching and healing. The first report of this is found in the third chapter of Mark’s Gospel, where the Twelve are also called apostles and the names of this select group are listed.

We who are Jesus’ disciples today have also been sent to share the Gospel with others. Perhaps our commitment to following Jesus as his disciple leaves us feeling tired and overwhelmed. In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus affirm the importance of times of rest and renewal. Jesus wanted his disciples to come away and spend time alone with him. This is what we seek and find in our life of prayer and in our celebration of the Eucharist.

https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/liturgical-year/sunday-connection/

Wonderings:

“First Communion,” Francis said, “is, above all, a celebration. We celebrate Jesus, who wants to remain always by our side.” - Pope Francis

2025 enrolments

We look forward to welcoming all new 2025 Foundation students next year but don’t forget to enrol first. If you’re wishing to enrol your child next year, enrolling early really supports our school wide planning for the best possible start for our young people. The more info we have about 2025, the better planned we can be. If you have new neighbours with kids, make sure you encourage them to join our school!

Year 4/5/6

This week we have started our Debating Unit. We have been focusing on writing as though we are the First Speaker. A First Speaker needs an Introduction, a definition and interpretation, an introduction of their speakers, their arguments, reasons and evidence, a summary of their case and a conclusion. Our first topic was “After school detention at St Marys.” Half of our class was Affirmative (agreeing with the topic.) and half of the class was Negative (disagreeing with the topic.) We haven’t had our first debate yet as we are still learning how to debate, but everyone is very excited.

By Frankie

Year 2/3

NEWSLETTER WEEK 1

Students in Year 2/3 have had a great start to the term. This term we will be focussing on Earth and Space Sciences for Inquiry and we have already began to activate our prior knowledge to help us learn more about this topic.

For Writing, we will be learning about procedural texts which will be inspired by cooking and experiments.

Students have been enjoying reading sessions with Mrs Voce, focussing on the author Mem Fox.

Outside playtime has brought some students back into the sandpit where they have been working on fairy gardens and other imaginative play.

We are looking forward to all the great learning this term!

Year 2/3 have celebrated their learning of information reports during writing sessions by publishing a report on an animal of their choice.

It is wonderful to see everyone back at school. There have been lots of holiday adventures and stories to share.

Over the coming weeks our class will be having a Book Week focus on books that have been shortlisted for 2024 Book of the Year Awards.

This week we have been enjoying ‘Concrete Garden’ by Bob Graham. We created our own concrete garden at school.

Upcoming Events:

Don't forget to mark your calendars for the upcoming events on the Calendar.

As always, we encourage parents and guardians to stay updated with school news and events by regularly checking Seesaw and following us on social media.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support and involvement in our vibrant school community!

Warm regards,

John

St Mary's School, Castlemaine

Respect, Resilience, Responsibility

TERM 3, WEEK 1 · 22 Jul 2024

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