Veritas - From the APRIM

Veritas – From the APRIM

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a period of time in which Christians prepare for the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time for Christians to closely examine their own lives and strive to be more like Christ, who burdened the sins of humanity on His shoulders out of love for us, His children. Like Christ, during Lent we make sacrifices to remind us of His sacrifice. This was God sacrificing His son and Himself, and that extent of sacrifice is the ultimate. Like Christ, we strive to be perfect, so we are then able to be responsible for ourselves, to a point that we can also be responsible for others, just as Jesus was for all of humanity. This is our Lenten aim.

It is also a time for repentance, because we are subject to human frailty. As eight of our Year 3s begin their preparation for the sacrament of Reconciliation, I am again reminded of the three critical components of this Sacrament: sorrow, forgiveness and love. It is a Sacrament of Healing. We are all broken, and this Sacrament puts us back together and together with God. It is not a one-way street (and no relationship is). We must seek this salvation too – we must want to be saved. It is not that God is not searching for us – all of us – it is that we sometimes ignore His call. In doing so, we reject God’s love, at least in part. This is not to say that it is only through the Sacrament of Reconciliation that we can return to this state of grace. We can seek this grace any and every time we have sinned by praying for forgiveness and actively seeking to undo our wrong and endeavouring to not repeat this sin. However, the ritual act of entering a confessional, discussing your faults in confidence with a priest (acting as a representative of the community and of Christ as per his ordination), and being absolved, is intensely rich. It is therapeutic too, both spiritually and psychologically. The former is most profoundly experienced through the knowledge that God’s infinite humbling love is capable of healing the most damaging of self-inflicted wounds. It renews.

The symbol of ashes is a significant one in that it resembles an aspect of life. The ashes come from the palms used for Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly like an earthly king. Later that week, he endured the ultimate humiliation and suffering, then death. He then rose as a triumphant universal king. The palms and the ashes are symbolic of the extremes of our own human experience – the ecstasy of admiration and the humbling shame of being despised. The ashes remind us of our humility and our humanity, that we are earthly and hence subject to suffering. As a beginning of Lent, it sets the scene for humility. Of course, Christians know that the story ends with triumph over death, but we cannot have that triumph without the right effort in life first, regardless of its adversities and our own human frailty. Lent focusses us on this, and we should have the Sacrament of Reconciliation at this time if we only go once per year. It is a privilege that forms a part of what Catholics believe is the right effort.

Caritas Just Leaders Day

Caritas is Australia’s leading Catholic charity and one of the largest in the world. It focusses on setting up struggling communities with locally-led sustainable solutions to their problems. It applies Catholic Social Teachings to help communities. This way, a small help results in a community being able to fend for itself, which is best for the pride and self-worth of the community. The following link demonstrates one of the initiatives that money raised through Project Compassion supported:

On Monday, four of our House Captains, Fearghas Rae, Jordan Papic, Damon Doody and Jonathon Neate, attended Just Leaders Day which helped them to learn more about Catholic Social Teachings and some of the systemic injustices present in the world. The students found the experiences and activities engaging and it helped them see the value in their efforts to raise funds for Caritas.

Project Compassion Coin Line Competition

To add a little fun to our efforts to raise funds for Caritas, our House Captains will be encouraging students to donate coins toward their class Project Compassion box for competition purposes. At the end of Lent and at the start of Term 2, the Houses will compete to see which House can create the longest line with the coins they have collected. Please support your son in this worth cause.

A sad loss: Fr Denis Edwards RIP

Many who have pursued post-graduate studies in Theology or Religious Education would have encountered the wonderful and inspirational Fr Denis Edwards. Many, many more would have read his books. Fr Denis was a published theologian of international acclaim. His interests in the natural world as God’s gift led him to write extensively on ecological conversion. He was a theologian with a solid grounding in the sciences, and this made him a leader in dialogue between the sciences and religious. His contributions will be a reference for many in the decades and centuries to come.

Please pray to God in thanks for the wonderful gift to humanity of Fr Denis. Please also pray for the repose of his soul and that his family and friends are comforted in the knowledge that Fr Denis will rest peacefully in God’s loving embrace.

Mr Matthew Crisanti

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND MISSION