With Sharee Thomas 

The idea of waiting and preparing for an important event is not new; there are many stories throughout the Bible that show people waiting. Moses waited forty days and nights before receiving the 10 commandments, The Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years, and Jesus himself spend 40 days and nights in the desert preparing himself to take on God’s work. 'Forty' is an important number in the Bible. Therefore it is no surprise that Lent lasts for forty days. This is an important number. It stands for a special time of preparation before meeting God.

Lent is the forty-day period of time when we prepare for the most important feast in the Catholic Church- Easter. We do this by renewing the promises made at Baptism. We reject sin. We repent. We proclaim our faith in God. We especially remember Jesus' teachings and his sufferings and death on the cross. We remember Jesus' great love for us in laying down his life for us. By his cross and resurrection Jesus has set us free from sin and death to live forever with God.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with the Easter Vigil on the night before Easter Sunday.

Next Wednesday, the 26th of February we will be celebrating Ash Wednesday Mass at 9:30am. The school office will be closed during Mass so all staff have the opportunity to celebrate the beginning of Lent. All families are invited to attend Mass and more than welcome to sit with their children as a family unit.

 SACRAMENTS

Thank you to all the families who attended the information evening for all three Sacraments (Reconciliation- Year 3, Eucharist - Year 4 and Confirmation - Year 6) on Tuesday evening in the SJV Church. 

This year the preparation for the Sacraments will be a little different with all children attending a compulsory retreat experience in order to help make their decision to receive the Sacrament. The retreat experience for Reconciliation and Eucharist starts at 9am and finishes at 11am next Thursday 27 Feb at St Jude's. The children will need to be dropped off at St Jude's to meet their class teachers from 8:30am and we will walk back to school at its conclusion. A separate note will be coming home tomorrow with further details. 

Then after the commitment masses on the 15th and 16th of March, father will hold 3 compulsory formation evenings for both adults and children. The dates of these evenings have been advertised in the newsletter since late last year and again early this year as well as appearing on our school calendar. 

Confirmation candidates will receive information early next term.

Students still need to be registered on QkR! which is now open. If you have any further queries about the Sacraments please do not hesitate to contact me or Father. 

Have a great week.