We have come to the end of a fulfilling and productive term. The new term brings; a Working Bee at the end of Week 1 (information attached); two open days including a Saturday morning and the four-week Catholic School enrolment period for 2023 (yes already!)

With this being Holy Week, a deeply significant time in our Church, I would to like to offer you some words of reflection for this time.

Christians attempt to comfort sufferers by touting the benefits of suffering. “Suffering builds character,” we say. “I don’t want character,” says the sufferer. “I want relief.” Then come the inevitable questions: “Why does God let bad things happen?” and “Where is God when it hurts?”

The care that parents give their children suggests answers to both questions. For example, suppose a seven-year-old girl is taking her first ride on a bicycle. Her father, running alongside her, sees that she is about to hit a rough spot on the road but restrains his impulse to reach out and steady the bike. The dad wants his little girl to learn how to ride with confidence, so he does not prevent her fall. When the bike bounces off the bump, the girl panics, tumbles to the pavement, and scrapes her elbow and knee. The dad scoops her up into his arms and comforts her. Then he carries her into the house, cleans and dresses her scratches, holds her on his lap, and tells her a favourite story.

God is like that dad. He lets us navigate our way, but he stays alongside us. He does not prevent bad things from happening because he wants us to learn to deal confidently with hardship. But when we suffer, God scoops us up and stays with us. He shares our pain, sustains us, and consoles us.

That’s the message of the cross, and signing ourselves opens us to hearing it. God’s only Son became a man in Christ. In his human nature, God himself suffered rejection, humiliation, ridicule, abandonment, buffetings, scourging, crucifixion, and death. He embraced suffering as a man so that he could comfort us in our suffering.

When we make the sign of the cross we invite the Lord to join us in our suffering. We touch our forehead and move down to our breast, telling the Lord with this gesture that we want him to bend down to us. Then we cross our shoulders in a movement that asks him to support us—to shoulder us—in our suffering.
From The Sign of the Cross by Bert Ghezzi.

I hope you all have a restful two and half weeks break from school routines. For those of you travelling, go safely and we look forward to seeing all those smiling faces on Wednesday 26 April.

I wish you and your families all the blessings of the Easter season.

Yours in partnership,