Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

In this week’s Gospel from Matthew (22:34-40) we hear Jesus making the statement that on two commandments hang the whole law. These two commandments are;

“you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the Greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: you must love your neighbour as yourself”.

When we live in a community, this idea of loving others may be difficult to practice. The idea however that the most important commandment is that we love God, makes this easier when we recognise that God lives within each of our neighbours. The statement is even clearer when we accept that God lives within us. Loving ourselves involves caring for the body that we have been given and treating ourselves with respect and compassion. It involves using our talents to their full potential and ensuring that we are open to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. If this is the approach we take with ourselves, it also needs to be the approach we take with our neighbours (love your neighbour as yourself). We should therefore, care for our neighbour, respect them and show them compassion. We should help them to use their talents and be open to the way that the spirit speaks to us to help them. Possibly our greatest challenge to make this happen is to find out not what we need to do, but for whom we need to do it. Over this week, I ask each member of our community to consider ‘who is your neighbour’ and how can you improve by loving them as you love yourself?

Currently our HSC students are in the middle of their examinations. The students have responded to the challenges of the exams well, but as you may be aware a number of schools have been disrupted by hoax bomb threats. Please be advised that NESA and Catholic Schools NSW have distributed clear guidelines regarding dealing with this should it occur at Mount Carmel. As a result of normal WHS requirements, we will be undergoing normal evacuation and lockdown drills at some stage before the end of the year. Please do not be alarmed if these occur. Parents would be fully notified should any serious concerns arise.

Today was World Teacher’s Day. On behalf of our community I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the teaching staff for their hard work and commitment to your children. We are fortunate to have very good people working with us. Thank you also to the parents who have taken the time to send a word of thanks. For those who may have forgotten, it is never too late.

Once again, an early reminder that our last Parents and Friend’s meeting for 2020 will be held via zoom on Tuesday November 10 (Week 5). The link will be included in upcoming newsletters.

Over the past few months, Bishop Brian has been celebrating Sunday Mass and livestreaming it. These Masses each Sunday and can be accessed here.

Mr Steve Lo Cascio