Principal's Report

 Stay Awake

The prayer for the First Sunday of Advent this coming Sunday, 29 November 2020, summons the faithful to a spirit of expectation, a confident hope that Christ born long ago at Bethlehem will come again at the end of time. As we journey through Advent, watchfulness prepares us for that Second Coming. We are reminded that when we welcome Christ into each and every moment of our present lives his Second Coming can only come as the triumphant fulfilment of our every hope.

Advent invites us to abandon the past, to begin a journey into God’s future: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.”

Advent, therefore, must begin with a prayerful listening. Are we satisfied with our lives as they are or, do we long for a fullness of life that is yet to come? During Advent we are invited to welcome the Lord, who can transform broken hopes and heal forgotten hurts, bringing peace to sinful lives. If we are to embrace this hope, we must heed the urgency of Christ’s call in the Gospel: “Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.”

The four weeks of Advent also allow us time to ponder how Jesus came into this world in such a stunningly humble way. As we contemplate His birth in a bed of straw in a messy stable, perhaps, we see our own life as being a little messy too. Our life is often distracted, self-centred and sometimes leaves us wishing we were better people. But if we can slow down and refocus our attention, we might realise that God is there, waiting to love us even though we have so many unfulfilled good intentions and so many unfulfilled desires about our spirituality.

Especially so in this COVID-19 year ‘like no other’, how will we reflect and prepare for the spiritual side of Christmas over the next few weeks? 

Nearly there

We know that the end of the school year is rapidly approaching when we celebrate the Year 12 Graduation Mass and Dinner. Next week we congratulate the 2020 Year 12 group on how well they finished their time at St. Joseph’s; we have received the highest of praise from the VCE exam supervisors about the diligent way in which they committed themselves to doing their very best in those exams.

We will celebrate the way that they have approached their studies, the way they have participated in College life and the way that they have carried themselves as young adults throughout 2020 certainly a year like no other.

This 2020 group of Year 12 students has shown themselves to be outstandingly resilient, flexible, and adaptable in coping with the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presented this year. Congratulations to each and every one of them on his/her achievements in 2020.

We thank them for genuinely making a positive contribution to the story that is St. Joseph’s College, Echuca, and we wish them all the very best for the future.

Of course, we encourage students at all year levels to finish 2020 well.  It has been a tumultuous year. We can all hold our heads high as we stay strong together right up to the last day.

Thank you and God bless.

Michael Delaney

Principal.