Today is All Saints Day, the first of a two-day celebration of the saints and all who have died. Some saints are well known to us like St Brigid, St Patrick or St Francis. Many of us may have chosen saints names for our Confirmation. Others are lesser known. Living saints are those who live their lives fully ensuring that their interactions with others and our world is the best it can be. We recognized these people in our prayer this morning.
As we commence November we also remember and give thanks for the lives of all our family and friends who are no longer walking this Earth with us. We thank Mrs Kiernan for preparing this prayer for us this morning:
God of All,
We give you thanks for all the saints who ever worshipped you
Whether in the bush or cathedrals,
Weathered wooden churches or crumbling cement meeting houses
Where your name was lifted and adored.
We give you thanks for hands lifted in praise:
Manicured hands and hands stained with grease or soil,
Strong hands and those gnarled with age
Holy hands
Used as wave offerings across the land.
We thank you for hardworking Saints;
Whether hard-hatted or steel-booted,
Head ragged or aproned,
Blue-collared or three-piece-suited
They left their mark on the earth for you, for us, for our children to come.
Thank you, God, for the tremendous sacrifices made by those who have gone before us.
Bless the memories of your saints.
May we learn how to walk wisely from their examples of faith, dedication, worship, and love. Amen.
Adapted from a prayer by Safiyah Fosua
With exams well underway for our VCE students, the past week has taken on a different rhythm. There is a sense of an in between time, courses are not yet finished for our Year 7-11 students yet the finish line is within a month. We are welcoming our 2025 Year 7 students and families to various transition events. Planning for 2025 is taking shape and yet there is still much to be completed for this year.
Quietly behind the scenes, our leadership and extended leadership team have been drawing the threads together for our new strategic plan 2025-2028 informed by the community consultation facilitated by Tatu, staffing for 2025 has almost been completed and our renewed graduate attributes inspired by the Living Justice Living Peace Charter are being finalised. This is exciting work that will position us well to start 2025.
So the long weekend pause has come at a time that will bring energy for what is yet to be done in a year where ‘promise, purpose and possibility’ have been our mantra. The ‘big work’ mentioned above will bear the fruits of the intention of our theme this year. Monday’s pupil free day is taken for the time in lieu that our staff give to all the activities that they support for our students outside of College hours. We trust that all will take the pause as a time to reenergise before we look towards the final weeks of the year and the myriad of events that celebrate the learning and achievements of our students.
Stay safe and enjoy the blessings of the long weekend.
Luci
