Week 6 2025
This past week we welcomed a new PE teacher to St Gregory’s, Mr Angus Sutherland. Angus is teaching across both campuses and joins our other specialist teachers, Miss Sharon Robinson, Music Macquoid Street, Mrs Maddy Chalker, Music Lowe Street and Amy McAlister, Creative Arts. We are fortunate to have been able to secure such dedicated and passionate teachers to provide quality lessons for our students in these areas of the curriculum.
This year we have introduced grade level prayer celebrations and thus far Year 5 and Year 2 have held their grade prayer celebrations in the St Gregory’s church. Thank you to all the parents who were able to join us for these celebrations. The other grades have their prayer celebrations coming up as the term continues. We warmly welcome family members to join the children at these celebrations throughout this term and the remainder of the year.
Years 5 and 3 students will commence the 2025 NAPLAN assessments from Wednesday this week. I wish them well and encourage all students to try do their very best. It is super important that they also know that they do not need to be worrying about the suit of assessments.
This fortnight let us further contemplate the first reflection on what it means to ‘journey together in hope’ from his holiness Pope Francis from his 2025 Lenten message.
‘First of all, to journey. The Jubilee motto, “Pilgrims of Hope”, evokes the lengthy journey of the people of Israel to the Promised Land, as recounted in the Book of Exodus. This arduous path from slavery to freedom was willed and guided by the Lord, who loves his people and remains ever faithful to them. It is hard to think of the biblical exodus without also thinking of those of our brothers and sisters who in our own day are fleeing situations of misery and violence in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones. A first call to conversion thus comes from the realization that all of us are pilgrims in this life; each of us is invited to stop and ask how our lives reflect this fact. Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone? Am I seeking ways to leave behind the occasions of sin and situations that degrade my dignity? It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father. This would be a good “examination of conscience” for all of us wayfarers.’
Sisters and brothers, thanks to God’s love in Jesus Christ, we are sustained in the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”. It moves the Church to pray for “everyone to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4) and to look forward to her being united with Christ, her bridegroom, in the glory of heaven.
This was the prayer of Saint Teresa of Avila:
“Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what certain, and turns a very short time into a long one” (The Exclamations of the Soul to God, 15:3).
May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, intercede for us and accompany us on our Lenten journey. Rome, Saint John Lateran, 6 February 2025 Memorial of St Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs. FRANCIS
(07/03/2025, 13:25 Lent 2025: Let us journey together in hope | Francis https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/lent/documents/20250206-messaggio-quaresima2025.html 1/4 travellers)
Please join with me in praying for our Pope Francis as he continues to recover from illness in hospital. We also pray for all those who are unwell or suffering in any way that they may all feel God’s healing presence and comforting peace.
Amen
Have a blessed fortnight.