From the Rector
Greetings:
Today we sadly, or maybe happily for the students, say farewell to our 2021 Year 12 Cohort who officially finish their normal classroom attendance. Over the next couple of weeks, they will spend time in revision for their final exams with their results opening new pathways for their chosen careers or university placements. This was not the normal graduation experience of previous years but a graduation under COVID regulations. None the less it was a day for them to remember. I take this opportunity to publicly thank all our 2021 Graduates, especially our College Leaders (pictured above) for their support, leadership, and initiatives during a difficult year. I pray
that they will achieve every success and fulfil their dreams. It would be remiss of me not to thank and acknowledge all the teachers and staff who have contributed to your son’s education during his time at Mazenod. The College is also indebted to you, the parents, for choosing Mazenod College for a Catholic Education for your son and entrusting him to the Oblates, teachers, and staff who have assisted him through a holistic approach to his personal development enabling him to reach his potential, especially as a man of faith.
October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was celebrated on October 7. According to Catholic tradition, the rosary was instituted by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself. In the 13th century, she is said to have appeared to St. Dominic (founder of the Dominicans), giving him a rosary. The main function of the rosary beads is to count prayers, the prayers that are counted on rosary beads are collectively known as the rosary. The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The Pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valour of the soldiers who fought there. In the Middle Ages, it was prayed in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout laypersons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 "Our Fathers" counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or "corona." The 150 "Hail Marys" were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by a young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the decades into a history of our salvation by naming them the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries. In 2002 Pope John Paul II said that it is fitting that a new set of five be added, termed the Luminous Mysteries.
The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer that draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centred on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption. In this month of October, let us pray, at least one decade of the Rosary each day and be drawn closer to Jesus and Mary.
As October is the month of the Rosary, I thought it was appropriate to launch our De Mazenod initiative of “Moments of Grace’. Following our De Mazenod Family Gathering on August 7 this year it was decided that on the 15th (or close to this date for our newsletter) of each month until August 15, 2022, the De Mazenod Family of the Australian Oblate Province would celebrate ‘Moments of Grace’. ‘Moments of Grace’ is in response to the 200th anniversary in 2022 when on August 15, 1822, Feast
of Assumption of Mary, when blessing a statue of the Blessed Mary, Fr Eugene de Mazenod had an encounter, an affirmation, a ‘smile’, a moment of grace that confirmed his journey of founding a new religious congregation. This statue would become known as the Oblate Madonna. On these days, or close to it, I will share ways in which we can grow - in Grace, in Community, in Love.
This month the De Mazenod Family has videoed different people reciting a ‘Hail Mary’ to complete a decade of the rosary. If you are interested in praying along with these people, please go the website via this link:
https://demazenodfamily.com.au/moments-of-grace/
This week I recommence the ‘Rector’s Reflection’ with Part 8 of the series ‘The Spirit and Vision of Bishop Eugene de Mazenod are planted in Australia’.
Links for Mazenod Daily Mass for Parents and friends (outside the Mazenod College community) are below.
For staff and students at Mazenod College, the Daily Mass Links are available via the MazCom homepage.
Monday 18 October
Tuesday 19 October
Wednesday 20 October
Thursday 21 October
Friday 22 October
Have a Smile!
A Policeman pulls over a speeding car. The driver lowers her window.
Policeman: “Name, please?"
Woman: “Freda.
”Policeman: “Surname?”
Woman: “Gonow.”
Policeman: “So you are Freda Gonow.”
Woman: “Yes! Thanks very much”, and takes off!
Yours in Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate,
Fr Harry Dyer OMI
Rector