Education in Faith

The Gift of Grandparents 

On Monday August 20th Galilee celebrated  ‘Grandparents' Day’ – a practice that is enjoyed and appreciated by both students and their grandparents. It is a simple and powerful way to affirm and encourage family life and the transmission of faith through the generations. Grandparents are a valuable and vital resource in our communities. They provide children with a stability and sense of generational continuity. Many grandparents are also significant carers in the lives of their grandchildren and a number of them are the primary carer.

Nowhere is their presence more important than in passing on the faith. This is most obvious at special faith events such as First Communion. More often, this witness is expressed through small family rituals such as grace before meals, the reading of bible stories, celebrating patron saint feast days and offering to pray for their special concerns. 

Both Prep B and Prep E students and teachers did a wonderful job helping us celebrate at Mass. Thank you to all the grandparents and Fr. Hugh who came to join us in Mass and for singing ‘You are my Sunshine’! 

(adapted from https://www.catholic.org.au/)

Feast Of the Assumption

On Wednesday 15 August, we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption. The Gospel of the day highlighted Mary's faith. Mary's faith enabled her to recognise the work of God in her people's history and in her own life. Her openness to God allowed God to work through her so that salvation might come to all. In Mary, the true meaning of love is clearly shown – love always leads to God. This is what St. John wrote: “No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us…God is love, and whoever remains in love, remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:12,16). Mary is a model and symbol of the Church. Though Mary was born poor and ‘lowly’, as she describes herself in the Magnificat, she believes God is doing great things in her life and in the lives of all the poor: It is ‘God who brings down the mighty from their thrones; exalts the lowly; fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty.’ Mary believes in salvation. When a person is genuinely poor and struggling, it is hope in God that sustains daily life. Hope in God is what makes life bearable. Hope in the saving power of God fires the faith of the poor and sustains their dreams for the future. May we be like Mary, open and cooperative in God's plan of salvation.

“Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me joy in seeking you more closely. Increase my faith in all your promises, my hope in the joys of heaven, and my love for you.” Amen.