Mission and Identity 

• Holy Week
• Chapel Mass - Feast of St Joseph
• Project Compassion - Final Week

Holy Week

Holy Week is our most sacred time of the year. Beginning with Palm Sunday this week, we as a faith community slow down and re-engage with the greatest love story ever told. We will mark Holy Week with the Stations of the Cross on Holy Thursday in Week 9. Parents are most welcome to join us in the College gym as we offer the Stations of the Cross Liturgy with Years 7 - 8 in Period 2, Years 9 - 10 in Period 4 and Years 11 - 12 in Period 5. The Junior School will complete their liturgy at Oxford Falls.

Below is a poignant reflection on Holy Week from the ‘Transforming Centre’ written by Ruth Haley Barton:

“Holy Week - a week when we are invited to practice the most basic and most sacred rhythm of the spiritual life: the rhythm of death, burial, and resurrection. The Paschal mystery. It is not a rhythm that any of us would willingly choose or even know how to choose; it is usually thrust upon us. Even Jesus admitted to having mixed feelings about the inevitability of it all. Now my soul is troubled.  And what should I say - 'Father, save me from this hour?'  No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. (John 12:27)

“Really?” we might say.  “We’ve come all this way, done all this work, become this good, just to die?”  The answer to those young elders and to us is yes, always yes. But it is not something we surrender to easily; it is something we need to practice.  As Richard Rohr writes, “We all find endless disguises and excuses to avoid letting go of what really needs to die for our own spiritual growth…It is always our beloved passing self that has to be let go of.  Jesus surely had a dozen good reasons why he should not have to die so young, so unsuccessful at that point, and the Son of God besides! It is always ‘we”—in our youth, in our beauty, in our power and over-protectedness—that must be handed over.  It is really about ‘passing over’ to the next level of faith and life.  And that never happens without some kind of ‘dying to the previous levels.’”[i]

Handing Ourselves Over

Holy Week is a way to practice the most holy and sacred rhythm of our faith - death, burial and resurrection.  Let us enter into Jesus’ passion by “handing ourselves over” to the events of this week - Mary’s costly act of preparation for Jesus’ burial, Jesus’ final teaching regarding the cost of discipleship, the tenderness of the Last Supper, the pain of betrayal, Jesus handing himself over to his enemies in the garden of Gethsemane, the arduous journey to the cross, the despair of Holy Saturday, the joy of resurrection Sunday. As we prepare for Holy Week, let us ask Jesus what area of our lives at this time needs to be transformed through the rhythm of death, burial and resurrection. Let us ask him to be our teacher on the way… from death to burial to resurrection life.”

Chapel Mass - Feast of St Joseph

On Tuesday we celebrated the Feast of St Joseph, Husband of Mary, at our morning Chapel Mass. It was a full house as St Pius X College and Mercy College joined as brothers and sisters in faith to celebrate the Eucharist. Thank you to Fr Joey for celebrating our Mass.

The Feast of St Joseph provides an opportunity to contemplate why God chose Joseph as a husband for Mary and an earthly father for Jesus. From all sides, Joseph appeared to be just “a common man” of his day and age. No flash. No dazzle. Nobody out of the ordinary. Yet this is the typical person God chooses for extraordinary things. A quiet, behind-the-scenes man being called on by God for a most sacred privilege. Little did he know, his service would impact all of creation for eternity. 

Joseph’s willingness to generously respond to God’s call was drawn from the well of his trust in God’s guidance and promises. Joseph patiently waited for the unveiling of God’s plan as he obediently fulfilled being the husband to Mary and foster father of Jesus. He provided the fullness of the simple life...ensuring a prayerful, nurturing, and safe home for them to dwell in. Joseph tirelessly worked alongside Jesus apprenticing Him in carpentry skills. More importantly, he would unselfishly serve by imparting his heart to Jesus by demonstrating his core values of compassion, acceptance, understanding, and perseverance.

Youth Mass - St Pius X and Mercy Catholic College

This Sunday we will celebrate our second Youth Mass for the year at 5:30 pm at Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood. This celebration is followed by pizza and pasta in the forecourt so that students and young people from St Pius X, Mercy and beyond can celebrate food, faith and friendship. This Mass is particularly special as it is Palm Sunday and will commence Holy Week.

Final Week: Assistance Needed - Project Compassion Lenten Appeal

Week 9 marks the final week of Project Compassion fundraising efforts to support the work of Caritas. 

Parents and families are invited to donate via the link below. These donations enable critical relief projects to go ahead that are operated by Caritas that provide education, water and emergency healthcare to the most vulnerable people globally, and here in Australia.

https://schools.projectcompassion.org.au/o/st-pius-x-college-chatswood

‘Tap and Go’ facilities are available on the verandah on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Cash donations are collected Monday through to Thursday next week. Please assist the College to meet a significant target as we seek to remain true to the vision of Edmund Rice and reach those who are most vulnerable on the margins of society. 

Students are also welcome to donate or purchase through the Compassion Cake Stall on Tuesday morning.

Mr Daniel Petrie - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity