A good start

Here’s a very positive observation by the ever-astute Mark Twain: “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.” So, any wrinkles that have appeared on our faces over the past few weeks are due to the large amount of smiling and the abundance of laughter with which our school year has started. It has been a wonderful time watching friends re-unite, Year 12 students gain much from their retreat, Year 7 students experience a successful camp, and classes are settling quickly into a learning routine.

Lent and the Academic Year

Next week, Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten journey. Ashes on our foreheads mark us as Christians, as followers of Christ, as the people who carry His message in the actions of our lives, actions that give those with whom we make contact, an insight into Christian behaviour and an insight into Christ.

Our students have just begun their academic year journey. They wear the School’s uniform and identify themselves as members of this Catholic School called St. Joseph’s College, Echuca. They carry the school’s Brigidine Catholic message in the actions of their lives and give those with whom they make contact an insight into St. Joseph’s College’s behaviour expectations, its values and its ethos.

In a similar way, we can begin our Lenten journey in a very positive manner by receiving the ashes on Ash Wednesday as a means to reassert the presence of Christ within our lives and not allow the ashes to be simply an outward symbol with no inner significance. We can enter into the spirit of Lent and focus on an area of our life that needs rebuilding. We can monitor our usual behaviours to check if they are negative or positive expressions of our calling to be a Christian. We can celebrate our Christian mysteries on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Resurrection. We can emerge on Easter Sunday as Easter people with the Spirit alive and active within us.

Of course, we can also choose to simply skip along through Lent, turn up for each day of it but give it no recognition. We can ignore our opportunity to advance our sense of who we are thus neglecting the opportunity on offer to become more compassionate, more tolerant, more courageous, more forgiving, more loving, more of everything that Christ was as He lived the final few weeks of His life.

Our students also have a choice. They can begin, and continue, their new school year in a very positive manner by being prepared with books and materials and wearing their uniform in a manner that indicates total identification with their school. They can participate as fully as possible in the everyday life of the school, including its sporting and cultural activities, and focus on behaving in a responsible, cooperative manner. They can celebrate fellowship with other students by respecting their rights and feelings, whilst following instructions and rules that enable the ordinary conduct of the school. At the end of the year, they can emerge as the beneficiaries of having done their best at all times and having participated enthusiastically in the life of the school.

Or they could simply doodle and dawdle their way through the school year, turn up each day but make little effort at self-improvement. They can refuse any responsibility for their learning, homework and assignments and close their mind to encouragement and motivation. They can neglect opportunities to develop self-esteem, to advance academic skills, to broaden social interactions, to cultivate and absorb Christian values, to be fully alive in the school community.

Might I suggest spending the Lenten preparation period reflecting on how the way that we go about our work impacts on those around us.

As staff members;

Do we make sure that we do not cause our colleagues or students undue stress?

Do we make sure that we are consistent in our expectations of self, others and students?

Do we act with Strength and Kindliness in the Gospel tradition?

As students;

Do we behave in a way that allows teachers to teach and students to learn?

Do we respect all other people and treat them accordingly?

Do we wear our uniform correctly, submit our work on time, arrive to class on time with the required materials and mindset so that staff members do not waste valuable teaching time getting class started/organised?

Do we respect our environment by making sure that it is clean and tidy?

Do we show Respect, Commitment and Gratitude on a daily basis?

What choice will you be encouraging your student to make? I know which choices I am committing to and encouraging staff members to commit to.

God bless.

Michael Delaney

Principal

St Joseph's College, Echuca

Issue 2 · 19 Feb 2020

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