Thank you from the Daughters of our Lady of the Sacred Heart

In recognition of the ongoing efforts of the OLSH College Bentleigh community in raising much needed funds for the OLSH missions overseas, Sister Philippa Murphy, Provincial Leader of the OLSH Sisters has presented us with this beautiful certificate.

Thank you to all for your generous support and generous support and compassionate care of those in need throughout 2025.

Advent appeal

Thank you to parents, caregivers, students and staff for your generous support of our Advent Festival! Across the days, we raised $3342.45 which will go directly to our local St Vincent De Paul conferences who provide much needed food, clothing and gifts to those in need this Christmas. A special mention also goes to our VM students who ran a recess Christmas stall and raised and additional $511. Thank you one and all!

Advent Mass

Last Friday, we came together as a school community for our College Advent Mass, celebrated by Fr Martin Tanti. We lit the first candle in our Advent wreath for the first week of Advent. We sang, prayed and celebrated this special Advent time of waiting for Jesus. Our liturgical singers and band were brilliant as they led us through our eucharistic celebration with such a spirit of anticipation and joy!

At communion, we received Jesus so as to become Jesus for our world this Advent season. We heard from Sarah Miller (Youth Coordinator SVDP) and Herbert Portanier (local St Vincent De Paul member) who thanked us for our generous, ongoing support of St Vincent De Paul society throughout 2025. Sarah also took the opportunity to thank our Vocational Major (VM) students who held a stationery drive earlier in the year for St. Vincent De Paul.

Thank you to our Faith and Mission Captains who led us so prayerfully though our final Mass for 2025.

Wishing Christmas blessings and peace to all.

Ms Megan Donohue
Deputy Principal Faith and Mission

Our Year 11 Faith and Mission Captain, Sophia, spoke at our recent Advent Mass about Advent and how we might bring Jesus' love into the lives of others. Here is her speech.

"Thank you to all who have contributed to our Advent Appeal, your generosity and compassion have truly uplifted those in need. I also want to acknowledge the remarkable work St Vincent de Paul continues to offer within our wider community.

Advent is a season of spiritual preparation for the celebration of Christ’s birth. It calls us to refocus our hearts, give back to those in need, and ground ourselves in what truly matters. Advent is a time of waiting, waiting for Jesus, who loved us so deeply that He chose to walk among us. As we journey through this season, may we remember that this hopeful waiting lies at the very heart of Advent.

I also recognise that faith looks different for each of us. Here at OLSH, it is our individuality, our unique stories, questions, and beliefs that enriches our community.

In my own life, I have often surrendered to expectations of who I thought I needed to be. I shaped myself to fit into ideas imposed upon me. But my faith and relationship with God have rewritten that narrative.

In my relationship with Jesus, I am no longer confined by external noise. Instead, I am free to grow, to question, to learn, and to be wholly myself.

Romans 8:38–39 tells us: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.” This scripture reveals the permanence and certainty of God’s love, a love that does not waver with our successes or failures. It simply endures.

Jesus is the reason we are who we are as a school community. With all our differences, we are united by a shared heart for love, for social justice, and for genuine care for one another. The love and compassion of Jesus, at the very centre of OLSH, transcend the boundaries our differences and unite us in purpose.

Our world stands in deep need of this light. As we reflect today, I invite you to pause and consider how you might bring Jesus’ love into the lives of others this Advent."

Rite of Christian Initiation of Children (RCIC) & Teen Sacramental Program

Holy Trinity Parish (St Peter’s, East Bentleigh; St Paul’s, Bentleigh; St Catherine’s, Moorabbin) are about to commence our Rite of Christian Initiation of Children (RCIC) & Teen Sacramental Program on 7 December, 2025.

This program is available to any child between the ages of 12 – 17 years old, who is seeking one or more of the following sacrament(s): Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation.

The program will be delivered in St Paul’s Pastoral Centre, Bentleigh. Please intact Irna Kostic: outreachhtp@cam.org.au if you would like to find out more. Program dates and more information are available here. 

This week's Gospel

GOSPEL Lk 11:2-11
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
R. Glory to you, O Lord.

Are you the one who is to come, or must we wait for someone else? 

John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?’ Jesus answered, ‘Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.’ 

As the messengers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way before you. I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.’

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

The One who is to come

Today’s Gospel focus continues with John the Baptist, introduced to us last Sunday. From prison he sends his followers to Jesus to find out if he is the ‘one who is to come or have we to wait for someone else?’ This question picks up an early memory that some thought John might have been the Messiah. Jesus explicates his Messianic credentials to John’s enquirers: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead raised to life. In other words, Jesus affirms that he is the one who brings restoration, community and healing. Jesus’ self-identification further affirms the blessedness of those who remain faithful to him. 

In the biblical world, ‘faith’ was another way of affirming fidelity and commitment to another. This leads Jesus to attest, in this spirit of fidelity and commitment, John’s prophetic mission of desert ascetism and preparation for the coming of the Messiah. As we come into these final days before Christmas, our role becomes like John: we align ourselves in fidelity and faith to the one who is to be born, who will bring healing and hope to our world that struggles to know this. 

But we also hear Jesus’ affirming words – the final sentence in today’s Gospel passage addressed to us. Despite John’s greatness as the one who prepares for the coming of Jesus, ‘yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he’. The Gospel’s audience, including us, are affirmed. We have unique status in the eyes of God. This divine promise accompanies us in the days ahead.

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.