St Brigid's Catholic Parish Primary School Gwynneville eNewsletter

From the Religious Education Coordinator's Desk

RE SHOWCASE

Year 5’s reflection on the Magnificat

Jude from Year 1 reflecting on how he can show his love for God by the way he treats others

THE SEASON OF CREATION

Each year from September to October the Christian community celebrates the Season of Creation by praying and acting together to protect our common home. During this time Catholics unite with others in the global family to pray and protect every creature in God’s beautifully complex web of creation. The theme of this year’s Season of Creation celebration is “A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God”

The Season of Creation begins on September 1st, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which we celebrate today. This annual day, established by Pope Francis in 2015, is an opportunity to pray, reflect and act to care for God’s creation. All of us, both those who most contribute to climate change and those whom it most affects, pray today for better stewardship of the Earth.

Pope Francis in his announcement for the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation said,

"The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvellous works that have been entrusted to our care, invoking God’s help for the protection of creation and God’s mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live."

And so we pray ...

That the global Church and other faith communities respond with love and action to the signs of the times expressed in the cry of nature that has been wounded by humankind’s selfishness, carelessness and recklessness. We pray to our Creator

That we more fully appreciate our Earth, upon whom we walk and who supports us and nurtures life in all its forms. We think of the minerals, the fungi, and bacteria that give life to soil, bodies and systems. We pray we can learn to walk on Earth with more respect. We pray to our Creator

In the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, hear our cries of compassion, and heal our world and all creatures. Inspire our hearts with a holy imagination, to rise, freed from the demands to produce and consume to imagine a just, sustainable way of living, where all have enough, and all may be restored. We pray to our Creator

That we think of the whole human family whose livelihood and well-being depends on the well- being of the Earth. We lift up the men, women and children who are displaced from their homes. We pray to our Creator.

That we turn our minds to the sacred waters of the world, the great oceans, aquifers, lakes, rivers and streams, the life that lives in the waters and all animals that crawl, walk, swim and fly. We give thanks for those that provide food for us, that sustain cycles in their work and living and provide companionship and beauty. We pray to our Creator.

During this Season of Creation, grant us the courage and will to truly care for the oikos – the earth community. Inspire us with creativity to re-imagine the way we live as a global community and share what we have been given. We pray to our Creator.

We make all our prayers through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.

All: Amen

REFLECTIONS

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

22 August 2021

The decisions called for in today's readings are life decisions. The people at the time of Joshua had to decide which god they would worship. The disciples of Jesus had to decide if he was the one who would fulfil their messianic expectations. We have life decisions to make as well. How will we choose?

The choices we make determine the character of our union with God. God called us out of the slavery of sin and protected us throughout the journey of our lives. Jesus walked with us through the challenges of life and performed wonders for us. Why should we look elsewhere? Because we face new challenges. The new demands placed on us may be so great, or the commitment required of us may be so demanding that we feel that we can no longer walk with him. The church may be changing in ways we do not appreciate, or it may not be changing in the ways we believe it should, and so we may feel that we can walk with him no longer.

If we decide to commit ourselves, we will enter into a union with God that is deeper than anything we have previously known. However, this union will be based on faith. We may understand no more than we did in the past, things may be no more to our liking. But, ‘to whom shall we go?’ Jesus is God's holy one; he has the words of eternal life.

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

29 August 2021

The overarching theme of the readings for this Sunday is ‘words spoken in truth’. On one level, the laws are the words of the covenant. They are part of the contract that was drawn up between God and the people. They are words of truth, because they are the reliable revelation of God and because they genuinely reflect righteous living. The biblical covenant laws are truly humane. Obedience to the words of the covenant leads to life and blessings, while disobedience results in the opposite.

Our religious customs always carry some profound religious meaning, but we may not know or care what it is – and yet we perform them. Do people know or care why we stand or sit or kneel during liturgy? Do people have a ‘church’ wedding because it is a religious event, or because ‘that's the way we have always done it”? Religious practices do not always flow from a deep religious conviction. But once we realise our need for God, these practices become genuine expressions of religious sentiment.

When the word of God has taken root in us, everything becomes a religious practice. This word can come to us through the teachings of our faith, through the example of good people around us, through the wonder and mystery of creation. When it does take hold of us, our inner eye is opened, our hearts are softened, and we turn instinctively to God like a flower turns to the sun. When we are brought to birth in this way, covenant law becomes sacred, religious practices are cherished, and we are filled with the power that saves.