Welcome back to Term 3.

This weekend’s Gospel is the story of the loaves and the fishes (John 6: 1-15). In this story, Jesus preaches to the crowd and then ensures all are fed. The traditional message is that under the miraculous power of Jesus, 5000 people are fed with 5 loaves and two fish. Galilee at the time (as it does now), had people from many different backgrounds and beliefs. The fact that 5000 people were able to sit quietly together and listen to Jesus and share a meal was as miraculous then as it would be today. The message of Jesus was simple; love others as yourself. Treat others as you would like to be treated. The message is carried on through the charisms that our college is built on and should be a focus of our relationships with those around us.

Today we celebrated the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast Day with Mass and a small celebration during recess. Whilst this feast is not our major event for feast days (that is Champagnat Day), it is important and symbolises much of what we aim for as a community. Both the Carmelite and Marist charisms focus on recognising and knowing Jesus through a connection to Mary His mother. St Marcellin said that we get ‘To Jesus through Mary’ and St Teresa of Avila said that “Prayer is nothing other than friendship with God, taking time frequently to be alone with him:” St Teresa of Avila lived prayer rather than said prayers. Prayer is something that occurs 24/7.

After the Mass, I spoke briefly to the students about some of the values we aim for at Mount Carmel and some of the thoughts from the two themes above. In our interactions with those around us, we need to respect the dignity of each person and imitate the life that Mary would have lived. In this way we show dignity to all and help make the world a better place.

Earlier this week, we said farewell to two of our demountable buildings that served as temporary laboratories. Whilst this is not a major change to the College, it was quite a symbolic day as it recognised the start of the end of our current building program. We hope to have the front of the College completed in the next month along with the return of our A block and lower J block. This has been delayed by the rain a few weeks ago but we hope that these delays will not continue. I will keep you informed as buildings begin to come online.

Ite in Veritate