RE News with Laura Matchett

RE Newsletter Term 1 Week 5

Gospel Reflection: Matthew 17:1-9

But Jesus came up and touched them. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘do not be afraid.’ And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus.

This week’s Gospel tells the story of the transfiguration; when Jesus took his closest friends up to the top of the mountain and stood with Moses and Elijah as he revealed Himself to be God’s son. These two figures from the Old Testament are significant as Moses, represents the law, and Elijah, the prophets. Together with Jesus, they represent God’s complete Word. Yet the three are not presented as equal in this story, in fact God rebukes Peter’s attempt to make them equal when he offers to build each of them tents (tabernacles) to honour them. God speaks from beyond the clouds, echoing the story of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist, and declares: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour.’ After this, Moses and Elijah disappear and the disciples are left alone with Jesus and their focus returns to Him and only to Him.  

It is this last moment of the story that we can connect to at this time in our Lenten journey. Lent is a call to return home; to return to our faith; to return to God. Just as the disciples' focus was drawn back to Jesus in the transfiguration, Lent is a time that we are invited to consider the things that are drawing our attention away from God, and from being the people of faith we would like to be. It is an opportunity for us to consider even simple acts of making a small sacrifice to give up a pleasure or a vice, or even to take something up that gives us the opportunity to come back to God.

Project Compassion

Thank you to families who have already generously donated to our Project Compassion fundraising campaign. Our students have been learning about where their money goes, and even small amounts of money (even 5 cents a week for each week of Lent) can help people and communities in need. Project Compassion will run until Easter (also the end of our school term), and we ask that you give what you can.

School Masses Term 1 2023

As a school, we regularly attend the Wednesday morning 9:30 am Mass at St John Vianney’s Church. The choir sings at this Mass and sometimes our students have a role in other parts of the celebration. Parents and friends of our school are welcome to join us alongside parishioners at this Mass. We have added an additional Mass this term to celebrate the feast day of our Parish (Our Lady of the Annunciation) with St Jude’s. This Mass will be held at St John Vianney’s Church on Friday 24th March at 10:30am.

The dates the school will be attending these Masses for Term 1 are:

Week 6: Wednesday 8th March

Week 8: Wednesday 22nd March

Week 8: Friday 24th March, 10:30am (Feast Day of Our Lady of the Annunciation)

Reconciliation 2023

Commitment Masses for candidates making their first Reconciliation this year will be held this weekend both at St John Vianney’s Church and St Jude’s Church. Please pray for our candidates as they take this step in their faith journey, and for their families who support them.

Sacraments 2023

Key dates for the Sacraments this year are listed below. Please note, we have received a date for the Sacrament of Confirmation from the Archbishop’s office; this will be celebrated on Wednesday 23rd August. All enquiries about Sacraments are best directed to the Parish via email: westoncreek@cg.org.au