Education In Faith
Reflecting On Holy Week
Holy Week, which culminates in the celebration of the Easter Vigil, is the most sacred time in the Catholic Church’s liturgical year. During this week Catholics across the world reflect on the last week of Jesus’ life on earth, and His resurrection.
Holy week begins with Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem. During the celebration of Palm Sunday there is a procession and blessing of palms. These palms will be saved and burnt for the following years’ Ash Wednesday.
The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass on Holy Thursday. At the Mass of the Lord’s supper we commemorate the Last supper. In many Church services the priest will re-create the scene of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples during the Holy Thursday Mass.
On Good Friday the church will engage in solemn prayer to remember Jesus last day on earth and his crucifixion on the cross. In many Church’s the stations will be dramatized, or parishioners will walk to various stations with the Church and reflect on the event through prayer.
Holy Saturday is a vigil. During Holy Saturday the Church and altar are left bare. No Mass is celebrated. Following the solemn Vigil that evening, usually held at midnight, Mass will be celebrated to recognise Christ’s resurrection. It is on this night that many people who have prepared for Baptism and confirmation in the Catholic Church will receive their Sacraments.
The Easter season lasts for fifty days.
As we enter into this Holy season we pray;
God of the resurrection
As grapes pressed and
crushed ferment into rich wine
So bless and transform us
In our ordinariness
To people alive with joy.
Amen
(Blessing prayer taken from Act, Love, Walk: Praying in the Josephite Spirit. Available at the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre, East Melbourne.)
Inter-faith Seder Meal
Earlier this week I was most privileged to attend, with our ministry student leadership team and staff, a model Seder Passover meal held by the National Jewish Women’s Association. The event brought together woman of many faiths to engage with this beautiful ritual and festival in the Jewish tradition. Our student leaders enjoyed tasting and learning about the food and the stories that make up this beautiful feast.
Overall it has been a busy term for our ministry team. We are grateful for our time shared in prayer, action and fellowship.
We wish everyone a very blessed and Holy Easter as we celebrate the hope, peace and joy that is experienced in the Risen Christ.
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Year 7 Belonging Day
Belonging Day is a special retreat that is offered to Year 7 students. For the students’ first Religious Education unit here at the College, the students explore what is means to belong. At MSJ having an understanding of the Josephite Charism and history is at the core of what it means to belong to our College, to a community of young woman living out the good news of the Gospel, by following in Mary MacKillop’s footsteps.
During their Belonging Day, the Year 7 students journeyed into the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre at East Melbourne. It is here that the students visited the museum established to remember and educate the people about Mary MacKillop and the Josephite history in Melbourne where Mary MacKillop herself was born in Fitzroy. Following their visit to the museum the students embarked on the Mary MacKillop walk around Melbourne. It is here that they truly came to know the person of Mary, and the Josephite story here in Melbourne. If you would like to visit the heritage centre and embark on the walk in the city yourself please view the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre website or visit on one of their weekend open days.
Stations Of The Cross
One of the most sacred liturgies celebrated at Mount St. Joseph is that of Stations of the Cross. This year we had an ensemble of over 70 students, including performers, script writers, back stage crew and performers, who put together a beautiful and moving liturgy.
The stations of the Cross are a 14 step devotion that commemorates Christ’s last day on earth. During Holy week we reflect on, and, pray over these stations and scriptures and are reminded of Christ’s suffering for us.
In our Liturgy students re-enacted the traditional stations of the cross and reflected on the scripture narrative of Christ's passion. Following the traditional reflection the students reinterpreted the story for a contemporary audience reflecting on a number of core issues in society today including the treatment of refugees, homelessness, cyber bullying, relationships with parents and others and self esteem issues.
The liturgy challenged our students to respond to the Stations story through their actions and stand up to Christian values promoting love, hope, compassion and justice in everything that they do.
Danielle Fairthorne
Director of Catholic Identity