Newsletter

First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Sunday, March 6, 2022

Gospel Reading

Luke 4:1-13

In the desert, Jesus is tempted by the devil.

Background on the Gospel Reading

In each of the three Synoptic Gospels, after his baptism, Jesus is reported to have spent forty days in the desert, fasting and praying. In Luke and in Matthew, the devil presents three temptations to Jesus. The devil tempts Jesus to use his power to appease his hunger, he offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will worship him, and he tempts Jesus to put God's promise of protection to the test. In each case, Jesus resists, citing words from Scripture to rebuke the devil's temptation.

Each temptation that Jesus faces offers insight into the spirituality we hope to develop as we keep the forty days of the Season of Lent. We can trust God to provide for our material needs. We worship God because God alone has dominion over us and our world. We can trust God to be faithful to his promises. Jesus' rejection of the devil's temptations shows that he will not put God to the test. Grounding himself on the Word and authority of Scripture, Jesus rebukes the devil by his confidence in God's protection and faithfulness.

This Gospel highlights for us one of the central themes of the Season of Lent. We are dependent upon God for all that we have and all that we are. Anything that leads us to reject this dependency or to distrust its sufficiency, is a temptation from the devil.

Luke ends his report of Jesus' temptation in the desert by noting that the devil departs for a time. The implication is that the devil will return. Jesus knows that he will be tempted again in the Garden of Gethsemane. The depth of Jesus' trust in God is shown most fully when Jesus rejects the temptation to turn away from the task God has given to him. Jesus' final rebuke of the devil is his sacrifice on the Cross.

Jesus' responses to the temptations of the devil teach us how we can respond to temptation. As we start our journey through Lent, this Sunday's Gospel calls us to adopt the same confidence that Jesus had in the face of temptation: God's word alone will suffice, God's promise of protection can be trusted, and God alone is God.

Well, firstly once again our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with those families that are unwell and having to self-isolate. We thank our wonderful community for continuing to support the school and its families during this challenging time.

As we have communicated, we have a significant amount of children that are positive throughout the whole school now. I haven't reported them daily as all classrooms are now affected. We are continuing to maintain our strong hygiene procedures and we are grateful for the families that are able to keep their children at home if they are unwell.

Currently, we are able to manage the school with classrooms doubling up because of staff shortages so please be patient as the NORMAL school day does not exist currently and we are making sure the children are happy, safe and getting as much learning as we can with the personnel we have.

Holiday Programme

We are still a long way from the end of term 1 and Easter falls in the holidays. With all that has been going on with the pandemic and the school needing to have some thorough cleaning taking place over the holidays, we have decided not to run a Holiday programme for these holidays. Our apologies for this but we will certainly be operating one next holidays.

Mrs Teresa Rush

Congratulations to Mrs Rush who has won the position of principal at St Josephs Waihi. We are very thankful for the contributions Mrs Rush has made to our St Marys community. We will let you know, how and when we will be able to properly thank her and wish her all the best in her new adventures.

Mrs Tania Yorke

Mrs Tania Yorke has now gone on study leave and we wish her all the best for the year of study ahead. We welcome Mrs Noeleen Kenny into that classroom for the remainder of the year.

Keeping safe on our skateboards and scooters

Skateboards and scooters have become a very important part of our children's playtimes lately. This is wonderful to see and we are allowing this to flourish. We do need to begin to put some safety measure in place. Children will now need to wear their helmets as we have had some accidents already. Thank-you in advance for making sure your child is safe. The skateboard sign is really for the weekend when we can't control what happens so we are allowing children to bring these items to utilize in a particular area that is coned. They must not be ridden into and around school, they are only to be used in the area where Gaga Ball is played.

COVID-19 symptoms

Symptoms can include one or more of the following:

a new or worsening cough
sneezing and runny nose
a fever
temporary loss of smell or altered sense of taste
sore throat
shortness of breath.

Less common symptoms may include:

diarrhoea
headache
muscle pain or body aches
nausea
vomiting
malaise — a general feeling of discomfort, illness or unease
chest pain
abdominal pain
joint pain
confusion or irritability.

Make sure you keep up to date by checking out our school app and website as they will have all the latest information. We will also be sharing information and learning through HERO and Seesaw.

No Hat No Play!

All children will need their hats to be outside. No Hat No Play. Children are asked to keep sunscreen in their bag and apply it when necessary during the day. We ask for your help and support with these requests. We also have sunscreen available in the classrooms and at 3 stations throughout the school during break times.

Positive parenting during COVID-19

To support mental health, resilience and emotional wellbeing for our tamariki and rangatahi, the Ministry of Health has partnered with Whāraurau to offer parents, whānau and caregivers free online versions of the Triple P: Positive Parenting Programme across the country.

Find out more about Triple P and register for programmes.

There are three free Triple P online programmes available to help positively support children to reduce anxiety, build emotional resilience and life skills and cope with challenges:

Fear-Less Triple P Online – for parents and caregivers of children and teenagers (aged six to 14 years) who have significant anxiety
Triple P Online – for parents with toddlers to 12-year-olds
Teen Triple P Online – for parents with ‘tweens’ or teenagers aged 10 to 16 years.

These programmes will also provide whānau a toolkit that equips them to stay calm, guides behaviour positively and encourages children’s learning.

Ash Wednesday

We marked the beginning of Lent, last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday with a special liturgy which all classes shared together online.

Mrs Broadmore has shared this Liturgy with you on Hero and we do hope you will take the time to watch it with your children.

Following the Liturgy in their classrooms all students came to the chapel and received their sprinkling of ashes. The ashes they received were made from last year’s blessed palms and were blessed at the 8am Mass and brought back to school for our students.

Your children are to be congratulated for their reverence and respect when receiving their ashes.

When classes came to the chapel each class also bought the Lenten promises they made and agreed to do during Lent.

We have encouraged students to make a commitment during Lent that will involve “doing a little good” each day, some positive action for others.

We ask you to talk to your child about their Lenten promise and encourage them with their efforts.

Caritas Lenten Programme

The theme of this year’s Caritas Programme is “Called to be Peace Makers". Very poignant at this time given the situation between Ukraine and Russia.

Pope Francis has asked that we all pray earnestly for peace and a peaceful resolution to the very worrying and distressing situation unfolding there.

I include for you the prayer that we prayed at Masses this last weekend.

Holy and Gracious God

We pray for the people of Ukraine,

For their country and leader.

We pray for those who are afraid;

That your everlasting arms

Hold them in this time of great fear.

We pray for all those who

Have the power over life and death;

That they will choose for all people life,

And life in all its fullness.

We pray for those who choose war, that they will remember

That you will direct your people to turn our swords into

Ploughshares and seek for peace.

We pray for leaders on the world stage;

That they are inspired by the wisdom and courage of Christ.

Above all, Lord,

Today we pray for peace in Ukraine, and we ask this in the name of your blessed Son.

Lord have mercy.

Amen.

St Patrick and St Joseph Days

Next week we celebrate the feast days of two of our very well known Saints in the Catholic Church - Saint Patrick on the 17th March and St Joseph (Patron of our Cluny Sisters) on the 19th.

Historically we have always joined with our Cluny Sisters and celebrated Mass together in St Mary’s Church on St Joseph’s Day.

This year because of Covid restrictions each class will join an online Mass in their classrooms and this will also be shared on Hero for you.

We give thanks for the lives and inspiration of these two great Saints and hope you can celebrate them well with your family.

We pray and give thanks for our Cluny Sisters on their special feast day, that the Lord will bless them abundantly, protect them and keep them safe always. God Bless our Cluny Sisters.

How God made people

Tika have been learning about how God made people and that he made us to be unique and tapu. We have been celebrating our bodies and our uniqueness by making tinana out of things we found in nature. We had to remember to include all the parts of our body - our head, body, legs, arm and our faces. We are feeling very proud of our beautiful creations.

See our creations below.