Faith and Formation
Faith and Formation
Holy Communion
Last weekend at Mass both Saturday and Sunday as part of the St Luke’s Faith Community approximately 30 students celebrated their first Holy Communion. Together we say:
Lord Jesus Christ, bless the children who have received Holy Communion for the first time.
May this be the step toward a life-long love of the Eucharist.
Give them a hunger for this sacred food so that they turn to you for comfort, guidance, and wisdom as they grow into full discipleship.
May their hands, extended in anticipation of your body and blood, inspire all of us to cherish this sacred Sacrament.
St Luke Pray for Us
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Liturgy
A new faith formation initiative that we have implemented this term with Stage 4 & Stage 5 students is St Luke’s LIFTED. This aims to be a series of ‘unique and dynamic’ sessions which encourages young people to engage with their faith. St Luke’s Lifted is an extension of the CYP’s (Catholic Youth Parramatta) LIFTED and also strives to ‘draw upon and mirror the most positive ingredients of contemporary, popular culture that young people are currently living in.’ These sessions will challenge our young people to learn more about, ‘renew, celebrate and deepen’ their faith.
Social Outreach
Vinnies is off to a great start with many dedicated students who are committed to bettering our environment by assisting our peers here at school. Students have identified many needs around our school that they believe are our first priorities. Our first job has been to write names on and sort belongings in our lost and found tubs. We are incredibly proud and grateful for the generous Spirit they have been blessed with!
School of Foundations
Early Stage One
Early Stage one celebrated their Liturgy this week. Their theme was based on their driving question ‘How I appreciate others?’
Stage One
Students in Stage 1 revisited their knows and need to know. Students reflected on what they have learnt through the term and moved the questions that were answered over to the knows.
Stage 2
In Stage 2, students explored some of the Faith communities they belong to. They explored ways they are involved in the faith community and some of the benefits.
School of Leadership
Stage 4 RE:
We just finished the Student Led Conference. This was a great opportunity to empower students and help them become aware of their latent leadership skills. Beautiful encounters and meaningful dialogues happened during these sessions.
There were students who used examples from Religious Education (RE) for more than a Pillar. Here are some heart warming quotes from our Year 7 students.
“It took me a step closer to being like Jesus…”
“The highlight of the term was the time when I shared my sacramental moment in class…”
“While sharing my ‘Examen’ with my peers, I was immersed in God’s Presence…”
“The 8 Ways of Knowing helped me to know more about the ways of the school…”.
It is a joy to see our students flourish.
Recently, students in Year 7 unpacked the Scripture passage, ‘The Good Samaritan’. They identified from their lives the ‘Levite’ or ‘Priest’ moments and explored strategies to change these into the ‘Good Samaritan’ moments.
Here’s a sample from the Application Sense of the Parable.
“The Good Samaritan was about how we should always put others before ourselves and not judge a book by its cover, love your enemies and help others no matter what the circumstances are. There have been moments in my life where I have acted like the Samaritan, the Levite and the priest but this parable has taught me to be more like the Good Samaritan. This parable teaches us many lessons which we can transfer to our actual lives.
For example, love your enemies. Even if there is someone you don’t like, maybe at school, think that you don’t fully know them. This will help you think that there is more to the person than what’s on the outside. If that person is in need, it’s important to help them like how the Samaritan did. It’s also important to not judge a book by its cover. It’s important to get to know the person and not judge them because of their looks, race and background. It has taught me to know the person before judging them and no matter what their race, culture or looks are, you must help them when in need. No matter what circumstance, you must help them.”
Students in Year 8 are exploring the concept of human liberation. They unpacked the Scripture passage, “Jesus and the Rich Man”. Some samples from the Spiritual Sense of the passage are listed below:
“There are many religious messages that are within this passage, such as “money doesn’t buy happiness” and “love your neighbour as you love yourself”. The main message that Jesus is trying to reach out to us is that we should let go of our possessions/attachments rather than holding them back. Even though we obey the 10 commandments we have to let go of our possessions we cherish the most. Even though it can be difficult, sometimes holding to our possessions can create a barrier between us and the Kingdom of God. ‘Preferential Option For The Poor’ is the CST that will guide us to use the resources that we gain from letting go of your prized possessions.”
“This passage tells me to always keep God in mind. We can have our hobbies, passions, etc, but they shouldn’t become more important than God Himself, and when He asks us to step away from that, we should be able to with ease. The Young Rich Man utilised his attachments for the wrong reason. He has used them to help himself, for his selfish desires. With so much money, he could have donated or shared it with the poor, even before Jesus had asked him to. But even after, he did not. I can be an advocate of Human Liberation by letting go of my attachments, and following God’s teachings. An example of this as an adolescent would be technology. I can shorten the constant hours I spend in it everyday, and invest my time in something else instead.”
School of Entrepreneurs
Year 11 Retreat
In week 8 on Tuesday June 14 the Year 11 Cohort went To Benedict XVI Retreat Centre. This time together was time for students to reflect on their journey so far and to hopefully renew themselves, ready for the next 15 months on their HSC journey. Time was spent as a group and individually to focus on the Spirit in their lives. Following please find a refection from Feba.
Feba Abby : The experience at the Benedict XVI Retreat Centre for me as Yr 11 student found it extremely beneficial to reflect and process what has been happening over the last six months of my senior years. It was great time for me and my friends to actually have open conversations that didn’t revolve around the questions of “when is the assignment due” “how much have done for your essay”. I loved how the spiritual experience of the retreat itself because it gave me break to actually focus on myself and come in terms with my thoughts about who I am and what I want to achieve by the end of next year. Being able to reconnect with God through various activities made the experience more meaningful. For me having a day to journal, paint, listen in a new environment made me less stressed and as a matter of fact made more free from the daily rush of school, assignments and life in general. It made me sit down and think about what I wanted to do and actually make goals that are going to improve my overall sense of wellbeing. The overall experience definitely allowed me to grow closer with my classmates and help to find the balance that I desperately needed.
