iServi News | 30 March 2018 | Term 1, Week 9
Easter
Easter is a very important time in the life of the Catholic Church where Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Easter marks the conclusion of Holy Week, the end of Lent and the last day of the Easter Triduum made up of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Jesus’ resurrection marks the triumph of good over evil, sin and death and is a time that we celebrate new life.
Each year Pope Francis takes the opportunity at Easter to deliver a key message to everyone. This year he expressed the hope that “in our daily encounters with those who beg for our assistance, we would see such requests as coming from God himself,” he said. “When we give alms, we share in God’s providential care for each of his children.”
In encouraging us to look out the needs of others Pope Francis is asking us to serve. As you know, this is a very important Servite Charism and an integral part of life at our College. We always encourage our community members to give of their time, skills and abilities to support those around them. In sacrificing some of our own comforts in support of the needs of others less fortunate than ourselves, we care for them but also grow ourselves in our own understanding of managing through difficult times. It also helps us to better appreciate the many gifts and opportunities that each of us experiences in our daily lives.
The Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB Archbishop of Perth meanwhile speaks of the Easter gift of peace. His message this year asks us to consider what we can make of this gift:
“Two thoughts come to my mind. The first is one which comes to us from St Teresa of Avila. ‘Christ has no body now but yours’, she writes, ‘no, hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world’. What St Teresa is reminding us is that one of the ways in which the Lord has chosen to be present in the world is in and through us. If the gift of peace, the Lord’s peace, does not seem to be very evident in our families, and our communities, and our society, perhaps it is at least partly because we are not open to the Lord’s wish to offer that gift to others through us.”
“The second thought is this. The gift of the Lord’s peace is exactly that: a gift. The Lord offers it to us, but if our eyes or ears are closed to him we will not even realize it is being offered, or what kind of gift it really is. The Lord does say, after all, that the peace he offers is not like the peace the world promises – it is something deeper, and truer, and profoundly life-giving.”
These important messages from two key Church leaders are very much worth reflecting and acting upon over the Easter period.
Open Day
We are very excited at our upcoming College Open Day scheduled for Friday 6 April from 9.30am to 11.00am. The day is a celebration of our College community and epitomises our Servite value of hospitality where we open up our doors and welcome the wider community into our school. Attendees will have the opportunity to see a flourishing school in action and also to hear of the exciting happenings from our College Leadership team. The Day also includes a tour of the campus courtesy of our student leaders and the opportunity to share in some light refreshments afterwards.
We are very proud of the rich and contemporary educational experiences on offer at our school, which are firmly embedded in a wonderfully supportive and caring Catholic community environment. We very much look forward to sharing our story with our visitors next Friday.
We would ask that current families please remind prospective families and friends of the upcoming Open Day to ensure that they do not miss out on the experience.
We wish all families and friends of Servite a blessed and safe Easter break.
Mr Jeff Allen
Principal