Lake Cargelligo Collaborative RE Planning

Last week, Mrs Harveyson, Mrs King, Mrs Best and myself travelled to Lake Cargelligo to meet with staff at St Francis Xavier Primary School, as well as Lee Herden (Principal Catholic Identity Officer CECG). The purpose of our visit was to develop our Term 4 RE units of work, as well as the Scope and Sequence that will be used to guide teachers in their teaching in 2024. This continues the work we started earlier in the year. Overall, this was a great opportunity for us to share our knowledge and expertise with our fellow colleagues.

Request for Year Six Graduation Mass Photos

It is that time of year where we put a call out to all Year Six parents to submit school related photos of your child from throughout their schooling. We are looking for approximately 12-14 photos in total. Among those photos, or in addition to, we would also like you to provide us with a photo of your child in Kindergarten and Year Six, to contribute to a display at the Graduation Mass. We require all photos by Monday the 27^th of November. Feel free to email them directly to me or save them to a USB. Thank you for your time and assistance!

Class Mass Dates

Please note in your diaries the following Mass dates:

• Year 2/3/4 Class Mass – 20^th November

(now a Liturgy of the Word due to priest unavailability)

• Year 6 Graduation Mass – 13^th December

We welcome everyone to attend these very special events at St Joseph’s Church.

School Christmas Food Drive - Grenfell Food Hall

With the festive season drawing closer, and in the spirit of Christmas, we are asking all families to provide generous support to provide hope for many locals who face an uncertain Christmas. The aim is to bring relief to those who need it most through a food drive.

Below is a list of the categories/ items we will be collecting on a weekly basis to donate. For all items, please check that the expiry dates extend into 2024. Thank you for your kindness.

 At the conclusion of the food drive, all donated items will be delivered to our local Food Hall.

If you have any questions, please let us know. We thank you in advance for your support!

Sunday Gospel Reflection (November 12)

Gospel             Matthew 25:1-13

Is your lamp ‘trimmed’ and filled with oil? When the bridesmaids trimmed the wick of their lamps it was to ensure that the flame would be clear and bright, for an untrimmed wick is dim and sometimes smoky. Can those we teach and lead clearly discern in the witness of our lives the light of Christ? What do we need to ‘trim’ to ensure Christ’s light, the light of our faith, burns more clearly and brightly, lighting and warming the lives of others?

Are you running on oil fumes? Mary Coloe, in LiturgyHelp.com writes, “...the Gospel asks me to consider my own resources and what I am doing to ensure that these do not run out, as some of the companions ran out of oil.” What resources my faith? The oil for her lamp, she explains, includes daily personal quiet time with God, joining with others for prayer, being part of a local worshipping community, reading spiritual books, taking time for a retreat or a short course on some aspect of faith. She reflects that this all requires some effort and determination and the daily discipline of making time.

Loving God,

as the day and the hour is unknown,

help us to keep the light of your presence alive for others,

warming and inviting them into a relationship with you.

Amen

Source: Formed in Prayer, CSYMI

Prayer For Remembrance Day

November 11 marks Remembrance Day, which falls on a Saturday this year. The following prayer is in dedication of this important day:

God of peace and love, on this 11th day of the 11th month we once again gather to remember. We remember that in Jesus of Nazareth you have called us to be people of peace saying, “Blessed are the peacemakers” and reminding us that we are to love our neighbour and our enemy as we love ourselves.

But we also acknowledge that there are times when we as a global community fail to live out those words, times when young men and women hear the call to don the uniforms of their country and serve under their flag.

Today we give thanks for all who have chosen to serve their country. We give thanks for their bravery, their commitment, and their love. But we know that when armies meet on the field there are always some who don’t come home. And so we pause in the memory of those who went and did not return to mothers and wives and children left behind.

God, we pray too for those who returned from battle forever changed by what they had seen.  For those who bore, and still bear, wounds of body and soul. In particular we remember those from within this community who have died since the last time we gathered in this way.

And now, God of love, as we have remembered and honoured, we prepare to go back into our everyday lives. May the remembering we have done here today reawaken and strengthen our commitment to work for peace, true peace. Help us to remember that peace will never truly come from a gun barrel but from the depths of our hearts. Help us remember our calling to be peacemakers at home and abroad, in the big things and in the small. And may we never forget the cost that has already been paid.

God of peace that surpasses all understanding, we pray our remembrances and our hopes in the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace, who taught his friends to pray by saying together:

Our Father, who art in heaven…

Yours in Faith,

Danielle McFarlane

Religious Education Coordinator

Parish News

Sunday 8 am

St Joseph’s Church, Grenfell

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

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