Christian Meditation

Helen Bramanathan (CE) visited our school last week to introduce students and staff to the practice of Christian Meditation. This offers opportunities to students for silence and stillness. Christian Meditation gives us an understanding of what it means to know ‘God within’. Research has shown that stillness and silence help create a space where children are open to the presence of God. This:

• Helps to strengthen children’s relationship with God.
• Offers a sense of personal agency in spirituality which can renew faith (Anne Graham, Australia 2020).

Offering Christian Meditation not only helps us continue to develop our connection to Jesus and prayer but, in the process, can also support mental health including the reduction of stress and anxiety (Anne Graham, Australia 2020). Below is some further information about Christian Meditation sourced from ‘The World Community for Christian Meditation’. 

Christian Meditation in Schools

Meditation is a universal spiritual wisdom. It is a practice found at the core of all the great religious traditions. In Christianity, this contemplative dimension of faith and prayer is rooted in the Gospel teaching of Jesus and the Christian mystical tradition. Over the past 40 years, there has been renewed interest in Christian meditation, largely led by The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM). Schools in approximately 30 countries have now introduced the practice. 

Benefits

Scientific research shows that practicing meditation offers many potential benefits to children. These include clinical improvement in mental and physical health as well as strengthening emotional and behavioural regulation, stress management, and concentration.

While effect sizes vary, particularly for interventions offered universally in schools, there is now consistent evidence across studies that meditation in schools…

If you would like to know how Christian Meditation works in our school, please get in touch.

Sunday Gospel Reflection (August 20)

Gospel             Matthew 15:21-28

This is one of those passages in the Gospels that we can struggle to find the deeper meaning of. Given our understanding of Jesus’ mission to the whole world, Jesus may seem cold or even callous in the way he speaks to the Canaanite woman. In the Gospel, Jesus’ primary purpose is to proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom to the Jews as Israel had been chosen by God as a vehicle for the salvation of the world. The Canaanite woman becomes a powerful model of faith. His own people deny Jesus but he is recognised by someone who is treated as an outsider. She longs for the mercy of God and knows she can receive it through Jesus. She is persistent. She is tenacious in pursuing Jesus, and in articulating her longing for God’s love and mercy, she receives it. She finds faith even in adversity. How can we witness to this faith, persistence, and longing for God and so share it with others?

Dear Lord,

Help us to be like the Canaanite woman in our pursuit of a relationship with you.

Help us to find ways to continually reach for you, even in adversity,

so that we too may know your love.

Amen. 

Source: Formed in Prayer, CSYMI

Year 2/3/4 Father’s Day Class Mass

Grandparents Day

Student Prayer of the Week

Sacramental Program

St Joseph’s Parish will be offering the Sacrament of Confirmation to eligible candidates. To be eligible to prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation, candidates must be in Year 5 or above and must have already received the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion. 

The meetings for the Confirmation candidates will take place during Terms 3 and 4. The dates are as follows: 

• Wednesday 6^th September – Preparation Meeting at 6pm
• Wednesday 20^th September – Preparation Meeting at 6pm
• Wednesday 18^th October – Preparation Meeting at 6pm
• Sunday 22^nd October – Confirmation Mass at 8am 

The preparation meetings will be held on each of the above dates in the St Joseph’s School Library. A Catholic parent (or caregiver) of each candidate must attend each of the meetings.

If you are interested in enrolling your child/ren please contact me (if you have not already done so) at the school on 6343 1514 or via email: danielle.mcfarlane@cg.catholic.edu.au

 Furthermore, if you know of anyone else interested in further information, who may not have access to this newsletter or the Parish bulletin, please encourage them to contact me also.

Yours in Faith,

Danielle McFarlane

Religious Education Coordinator

Parish News

Sunday 8 am Mass

St Joseph’s Church, Grenfell

Please note that a Mass will be held on the second and fourth Sundays each month. There is a Celebration of the Word with Holy Communion, not a Mass, on the first and third Sundays of each month. Everyone is welcome to attend!

The Parish would love to welcome more children to be involved in Mass on weekends. There are many opportunities for involvement, including doing the readings. If your child can participate in any way, please let me know.

If you wish to visit St Joseph’s Church, it is open daily from 10.00am – 4.00pm and following Mass on Sundays.