Religious Education news

PRAYER FOR THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

Father in heaven,
all creation rightly, gives you praise,
For all life and all Holiness
comes from you.
In the plan of your wisdom,
she who bore Christ was raised body and soul in glory,
 to be with him in heaven.
May we follow her example
in reflecting your Holiness
and join in her hymn
of endless love, and praise.
We ask this through, Christ, our Lord
Amen

The Assumption of Mary

On 15 August, we celebrated the assumption of Mary. The day marks our belief that when Mary died both her body and soul were taken to Heaven. 

As a young woman, Mary made decisions to honour God by participating with God and doing her part in demonstrating love, the goodness of humanity and the importance humanity plays in God’s mission. In her humanity, Mary led others to recognise God’s holiness and she shows us that our humanity is sacramental. 

Perhaps Mary was taken body and soul, as Jesus was, to again remind us that being human is very good, so good that God chose humanity for God’s self to visibly enter our world. Every grade will acknowledge the Assumption of Mary with a class or grade Liturgy.

St Mary of the Cross Mackillop

During the liturgy on Tuesday, the students heard about her life. Mary was the eldest of eight children. Mary helped her mother look after her younger brothers and sisters. When she was 16, Mary got a job in a bookstore to help support her family. When she was 18, she went to live in South Australia with her aunt and uncle. She looked after her cousins and taught them. Mary wanted to be a nun.

Along with Father Julian Tenison-Woods (the parish priest at Penola) she opened a free school for poor children. Mary’s brother turned an old stable into a school room. Not all of them were from poor families. More than 50 children began attending Mary Mackillop’s school. Mary Mackillop wore black clothing and dedicated herself to God by becoming a nun. The children who went to Mary’s school were welcomed and treated equally. It didn’t matter if they came from a wealthy family or a poor family. Mary and her helpers showed kindness to everyone and helped many poor and sick people.

The Bishop of Adelaide did not understand the work that Mary was doing. He excommunicated her, ordering her to leave the Catholic church. She was welcomed back five months later. Mary Mackillop founded the Sisters of St Joseph. The sisters established many schools. Mary died in 1905. She became Australia’s first saint in 2010.

A saying that is commonly attributed to Mary Mackillop is to never see a need without doing something about it. As we ask her to pray for us, we ask that we may be guided to also see a need and do something about it for the better of others.

Sacramental Program of First Communion

In the sacrament of Holy Communion, we remember what Jesus did for us in his life, death and resurrection. We remember particularly the Last Supper, that final meal Jesus shared with his disciples. At that meal, Jesus gave us the Eucharist so that we could remember him in a special way. When we receive Communion, we believe that we receive the person of Jesus into our very beings. We become one with him, and we become one with each other. As a community, we become ‘the body of Christ’

 We pray for our students who have receive the Sacrament of First Communion during the last few weeks or will be receiving the sacrament very soon.

Tina Nicotina
Religious Education Coordinator P-6
Acting Co-Assistant to the Head of Primary Campus P-4 and Year 3 teacher