OLHC Education in Faith News    

Christian Meditation

The students at Our Lady Help of Christians have begun to include the practice of Christian Meditation as part of their morning prayer routines.  This allows our students the opportunity to be still and engage in a moment of prayer and reflection before they begin the school day. 

 

Some of the benefits of meditation include: growing in love, self control, increases self knowledge and self acceptance, learning to be, learning to live in the present moment, becoming more centred, learning to abandon desire and practice contentment and encouraging compassionate engagement with others. 

Some of the physical benefits of Christian Meditation include: lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body, helps to decrease the symptoms of anxiety and depression, reduces blood pressure, enhances human well-being, leads to a healthier immune system and helps people pay attention and concentrate.

 

According to the World Community for Christian Meditation. Meditation is not something new in the Christian experience. Rather it is central to Christian experience and deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. However, many Christians have lost touch with their own tradition of prayer. We no longer benefit as we should from the wisdom and experienced counsel of the great teachers of prayer. All those teachers have agreed that in prayer, it is not we ourselves who are taking the initiative. We are not talking to God. We are listening to the Word of God within us. We are not looking for God. It is God who has found us.

 

St Paul wrote that, ‘we do not know even how to pray, but the Spirit prays within us’. What this means in the language of our own day is that before we can pray, we first have to learn to become still, to become attentive. Only then can we enter into loving awareness of the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within our heart.

 Meditation is also known as contemplative prayer or prayer of the heart. It is the prayer of silence and listening, the place where direct contact with the Christ within can occur, once the never ceasing activity of the mind has been stilled.

 

Should you wish to extend the practice of Christian Meditation from school to the practice at home with your child, especially during periods of lockdown.  Here are ways Parents can help...  

 

Parents can support their child’s practice of meditation at home in a number of ways:

  • Consider having your child develop a quiet sacred space in their room or in their house
  •  Consider including a bible and other spiritual reading resources suitable for their age
  •  Consider giving your child an icon or spiritual symbol, cross, rosary beads.
  •  Encourage stillness and silence as often as possible
  • Reinforce the idea that prayer, stillness and silence are all natural
  • Build times of silence and stillness into the life of your child every day
  • Learn to meditate yourself
  • Meditate with your child as often as you can or when they ask

More information can be found to support you on the World Community for Christian Meditation website.https://wccm.org/meditate/what-is-meditation/

 

Or feel free to watch this 8 minute video to help you get started with your child at home: 

How to do Christian Meditation? https://youtu.be/RvFneqPA8U8

 

The all important aim in Christian meditation is to allow God’s mysterious and silent presence within us to become more and more not only a reality but the reality which gives meaning, shape and purpose to everything we do, to everything we are….  John Main OSB.

Take care!

 

Kathy Toomey

(Education in Faith Leader/School Counsellor)

 

 

 

 

COLLECTION FOR ST. VINCENT DE PAUL

~ Winter Appeal ~ 

 

We will be collecting donations every day up until Friday 4th June

 

 

 

Sacramental Program 2021

 

Preparation for the Sacraments of Initiation is celebrated within a partnership of the family, Parish and school. At Our Lady Help of Christians and St Francis Xavier Parishes, including Holy Trinity School, sacraments are parent initiated, school supported and Parish based. 

 

St Francis Xavier, Holy Trinity and Our Lady Help of Christians schools are very conscious of their responsibility to support parents in all areas of faith development, with a special program being taught during sacramental preparation time. The three schools will be working together in partnership and sharing the responsibility of the sacramental program along with our Parish. Therefore, each school will take turns in hosting Parent Faith Formation Evenings, in a Covid safe manner, for the Sacramental Program in 2021. 

 

Today the Church offers these celebrations but they are not compulsory. The celebration of the sacraments is a faith highlight in anyone's life. We believe your participation as parents is crucial for the development of your child's faith, thus if you would like your child to receive any of the sacraments (Reconciliation, Eucharist or Confirmation) it therefore follows that your participation is compulsory in the parent faith formation nights. 

 

The following dates are important for families involved in the sacramental program for 2021:

Sacrament of Eucharist 

Students can celebrate the Sacrament of First Eucharist by booking into any of the 3 Masses offered at OLHC Church or SFX Church over any weekend from Saturday 5th June (Term 2-Week 7) up until Sunday 20th September (Term 3-Week 9). 

 

Mass times are as follows

Saturday night Mass, 6pm at SFX Church, Sunday morning Masses, 8:30am at SFX Church, 10:00am at OLHC Church. The booking process will be discussed at the Eucharist Parent Faith Formation Evening in May.  (Please note First Eucharist will no longer be celebrated in Year 4.  This is a permanent change). 

 

Year 6 - Sacrament of Confirmation 

 

Confirmation Parent Faith Formation Evenings: will take place over two nights. Parents will book in to attend on one of the nights.

  • Tuesday 3rd August at SFX Church at 7pm
  • Wednesday 4th August at OLHC Church at 7pm

Sacrament of Confirmation 

  • Confirmation Rehearsal at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Thursday 21st October (School Excursion).
  • Sunday 24th October. Mass to commence at 2:30pm. Children receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Patrick’s Cathedral, 1 Cathedral Pl, East Melbourne. Student Candidates from Holy Trinity, Eltham North, St Francis Xavier, Montmorency and Our Lady Help of Christians, Eltham

 

Sacrament of Confirmation for Year 6 students from 2020, to be anointed the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Fr Michael envisages for children to be invited back to their Parishes over a number of the weekend Masses following Easter up until the weekend of Pentecost Sunday (23rd May 2021). However, more information will follow.

 

Should you have any serious concerns regarding this process, please contact Fr Michael at the Parish office on 9435 2178, otherwise questions will be answered at the Faith Formation Evenings. 

 

We look forward to working with and supporting you as you lead your child more fully into their faith journey in our parish community. 

 

Warm regards,

 

The Educational Leadership Team

Michael F. Sierakowski 

Moderator

Terry Kean

Pastor in Solidum

Kathy Toomey 

Education in Faith Leader

   

Vince Bumpstead

HT Principal

Therese Stewart               

OLHC Acting Principal 

Philip Cachia

SFX Principal