Advent Festival 2025

This Christmas, Lord, come to the manger of my heart.
Fill me with your presence, from the very start.
As I prepare for the holidays, and gifts to be given,
Remind me of the gift You gave, when you sent Your Son from Heaven.

St. Vincent De Paul is again providing help to those in need at Christmas and are grateful for our donations and assistance.

During the last two weeks of the term, we will run several activities to support our Advent fundraising. 

• Monday 24th Nov. - Cake stall (Hartzer)
• Tuesday 25th Nov. - Sausage sizzle (Sweeney)
• Tuesday 2nd Dec. - Potato twists and lollie bags (Xavier)
• Thursday 4th Dec. - Ice creams (Chevalier)
• Student leaders: Raffle
• Staff raffle

Our Moorabbin Vinnies community have shared this message with us:

This year, we are again seeking cash donations from the wonderful OLSH College Bentleigh community. We do understand that some parents might also be finding it difficult, so we do not expect everyone to donate. We look forward to attending your end of year Mass and would be happy to say of few words of thanks.

GOSPEL Lk 21:5-19
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
R. Glory to you, O Lord.

When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, Jesus said, ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.’ And they put to him this question: ‘Master’, they said ‘when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that this is about to take place?’

Take care not to be deceived’, he said ‘because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he”, and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened, for this is something that must happen but the end is not so soon.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines here and there; there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. 

‘But before all this happens, men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’

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

God's protective promise

Last Sunday we commemorated the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. The Gospel then was from John with Jesus cleansing the Temple and its precincts, restoring it as the rightful abode of God’s presence and holiness. Today’s Gospel, continuing our liturgical journey with Luke, touches again on the theme of the Temple. But this time, Jesus anticipates its destruction and then springboards Gospel listeners into a sermon on the endtime. The Gospel theme prepares us for the final Sundays of the year before the new liturgical year, Year A and Matthew’s Gospel, commences in two weeks’ time with the beginning of Advent. '

Today’s Gospel is complex and often misunderstood. It requires careful explanation. Our selection comes from Luke’s ‘apocalyptic’ chapter. Here the evangelist draws on Mk 13 but reshapes it in the light of the audience’s experience and memory of Jerusalem’s destruction by Rome in 70 CE. This experience is retrojected on to Jesus’ teaching seeming to prophesy its destruction. In Jesus’ day the Temple was still standing; by the time Luke writes, Jerusalem and its Temple are already destroyed. 

Luke’s apocalyptic teaching acknowledges the struggle of Jesus’ faithful followers living generations after Jesus public ministry, assuring them of God’s comforting presence, warning them not to be carried away by messianic pretenders, and encouraging their patient endurance in all that unfolds. The last words of the Gospel contain the essence of God’s protective promise: ‘…not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’ We, too, lean into these words amid our struggles today.

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