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Morning Prayer for our Year 12s

Last Wednesday, we had a new initiative at the College where one of our Year 8 RE Class prepared Wednesday Morning Prayer especially for our Year 12s and their parents. Held in the OLSH Centre, our Year 12 students and parents turned out in great numbers and we also had a number of Year 8 parents join us which was a delight.

The Year 8s wrote this beautiful prayer for the occasion:

Loving God,
help our Year 12s remember the lessons they’ve learned,
help them find happiness in the opportunities ahead,
and help them know that you’re always with them.
Amen

and also designed beautiful bookmarks to give out to each of the Year 12 students. Congratulations to Mr Avis’ Year 8 RE class for their prayerful and respectful leadership of our prayer.

A New Saint in the Church – St. Peter To Rot

Last Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrated the canonization of martyr Peter To Rot, Papua new Guinea’s first saint. Peter holds a special place in the Chevalier family as he was a lay catechist formed in the faith by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

In Peter To Rot, “we contemplate the strength of a faith lived from the heart, the courage of love that does not yield to fear, and the radiant witness of a lay missionary who shows us that holiness grows in the ordinary fidelity of daily life.” (Fr. Mario Abzalon Alvarado Tovar, MSC)

God of all peoples and nations,
You are the source of holiness and the reward of all who remain faithful unto death.
We thank You for the life, witness and martyrdom of Saint Peter To Rot,
a devoted husband, father, catechist, and a fearless defender of the Christian Catholic faith.
May his witness inspire catechists, families, and all the lay faithful to embrace their vocation with courage and joy.
Amen.

To read more about Peter’s story, please go to Vatican News: https://www.vaticannews.va/en.html


Year 8 Retreat Day

A day of faith, friendship and fun! Facilitated by Gen Bryant and her team, there Year 8s had a wonderful day, having opportunities for prayer, music, dance, small group conversations and testimonies. Please read their reflections below:

"The retreat served as a good break from everyday routine and helped to reflect on our faith using music and other fun activities. We sung, danced, meditated, explored new aspects of ourselves and the people around us, learning about Gen, Liz, Tim, Julian, Zoe and Antonia's (the guest presenters) stories of music and faith. It was truly memorable and attributed to our self awareness and growth, teaching us how to be kind to ourselves and those around us and balance positivity with reality. We really enjoyed our retreat, especially the donuts and hope to do something similar soon." - Emilia, Isabella and Maya, 8C

"On the 14th of October, we met Gen Bryant and her team, who introduced themselves and told their meaningful stories about how they grew as a person. We played many games where we would compete in fun challenges and win small prizes, as well as singing and dancing to many songs. They also helped us with mindful activities where we met new people and reflected on our actions." - Laura 8C

We Are OLSH! 2025 Issoudun Pilgrimage

This is a wonderful story of the heart!

In the last school break, sixteen members of the OLSH community flew to Europe together to participate in our We are OLSH! 2025 Issoudun Pilgrimage to celebrate 150 years of the foundation of the OLSH Sisters. We represented a microcosm of our OLSH family – current and past staff members, OLSH friends and family members, a Chaplain and an OLSH Sister!

Together, we made the journey to Issoudun, situated in the heart of France - the birthplace of Fr. Jules Chevalier and his dream for our world. We spent 6 days there, walking in the footsteps of the early OLSH and MSC, visiting Richelieu where Jules was born and Bourges where he was ordained. The pilgrimage was underpinned by a program of daily presentations that covered the beginnings and growth of the OLSH Sisters charism. The focus on the influence of the life and vision of Jules Chevalier and Mother Marie Louise Hartzer assisted all participants to come to a greater understanding of what it means to make the Sacred Heart of Jesus everywhere loved.

We soaked up the beauty and spirit of Issoudun before making the 8 hour trip to Wissembourg in Alsace, the birthplace of Mother Marie Louise Hartzer. There, we visited her school, her family home and her parish. We walked the streets, listened to her story and met the local priest and parishioners as we let her story seep into our hearts.

We shared morning prayer and evening eucharist each day and our hearts were nourished by the sharing of faith, friendship and fun together. Towards the end of the pilgrimage, we took time to reflect on our OLSH story and the vital part we each play in being OLSH today!

As we journeyed together, roaming our OLSH heartland, God’s spirit was tangible! We are definitely OLSH!

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

Hagenau, underneath the window of Marie Louise Hartzers’ grandparents’ brewery

Footnote: All participants paid their own way for this pilgrimage. We are grateful to the OLSH Sisters for the opportunity to honour their 150th anniversary milestone in this way.

GOSPEL Lk 18:9-14
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
R. Glory to you, O Lord.
The publican returned to his home justified; the Pharisee did not. Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else. ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Pondering our Attitudes

Today’s Gospel presents us with a mirror to help us reflect on the way we regard others. It is especially pertinent when we feel assured that our religious attitude and approach to our Faith and God is correct. It is even possible that out of this attitude we can regard others, especially those from other faith traditions, as uninformed or perhaps targets of divine condemnation.

Jesus offers Luke’s audience an opportunity to reflect on similar attitudes. It takes the form of a parable focused on two people: a person of religious scrupulosity and a public sinner. The first is called a ‘Pharisee’, an identification that requires nuanced historical understanding. For Luke writing in the mid-80s of the first century in the period after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Pharisees enabled Judaism to survive and grow. They represented its leadership. To followers of Jesus at that same period they represented those who were critical of the Jesus-movement and didn’t join in. In the time of Jesus, in the 30s, the situation was very different. They were very attuned to Jesus’ mission and, like him, concerned about authentic Jewish faith and Torah practice.

In the story in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus compares a ‘Pharisee’ (in this later historical understanding) to a tax- collector judged a sinner, collaborating in Rome’s oppressive taxation system. This ‘sinner’ recognises his need for God’s mercy; the Lukan Pharisee, self-assured about his religious credentials, arrogant and without any need for God, is self- focused. These parable characters invite us to ponder our attitude to God and others.

Fr Michael Trainor

Gospel reading from The Jerusalem Bible, Copyright © 1966 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. and Gospel Reflection, © St Pauls Publications 2025, are published with permission of St Paul's Publications. Strathfield NSW. All rights reserved.

Ms Megan Donohue
Deputy Principal Faith and Mission