Principal's Newsletter
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Ask, and it will be given to you.
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘Say this when you pray:
“Father, may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come;
give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test.”’
He also said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.
‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,
This week the Gospel tells us that Jesus demonstrated how God wants us to persistently come to Him. He's not annoyed when we knock on His door in the middle of the night, He expects it! And, Jesus, as God, gives us more than we ask for when we do approach Him. It made me think of the many times we are all interrupted in our busy days and how we react to these interruptions. Whatever line of work we are in, whether it be caring for children at home, in a court of law, in a classroom, in an office, on a construction site; do we stop and think that the person asking is in more need than us? Sometimes we react in a way that shows our frustration at being disturbed and then later we stop and think, was I too quick to judge, was I too harsh in my response? And what if our job is there to field these kinds of questions all the time? Does their request take precedence over my role and what I need to do? Forgiveness and empathy go a long way in these situations. I think we all need to stop and think about how we react to each other in our everyday interactions. Is there ever a day we don’t have something weighing heavily on our minds. I am guessing not. Do we have the right to take it out on others who have nothing to do with that situation? Definitely not!
I think one of the highlights of this passage is that it confirms that our greatest gift is the Holy Spirit. When we ask for strength, Jesus doesn't just give us strength. He gives us the Holy Spirit who is omnipotent. When we ask for peace, he gives us the spirit of peace.
Welcome back to a new school term! I hope that this newsletter finds your families less weary than the end of term 2 and I sincerely hope you have had an opportunity to spend some quality time with your family.
Term 3 is a relatively short one, only being 9 weeks long. There is, however, many things happening. This term we will celebrate the dads in our community with our Father’s Day gathering, we will enjoy Book Week dress up day, our beloved Footy hot food and dress up day (GO BLUES-on hang on, we have no chance!), and our year 6 students participate in the Inter-school sports.
We also have our Foundation students celebrating their 100 Days of Prep! A wonderful milestone.
I look forward to another fantastic term of learning and fun!
Thank you and God Bless,
Meg
School Closure Day and Pupil Free Day this term
Thursday August 21st is School Closure Day where the staff of St Patrick’s will be visited by Dr Elio Capra and we will be talking about Spirituality.
On Friday the 22nd August is a Pupil Free Day. Please note the students are NOT required to come to school on the Thursday 21st or the Friday 22nd. School will resume on Monday 25th August. Thank you.