The program aims to create ‘active streets’, because well populated streets help to make motorists more aware of our school environment and encourages them to slow down.

You may have seen the Active Streets logos around schools. They highlight walking and riding paths to school that have minimal road crossings and will be provided near our school as part of the program.

Active travel is a fun, safe and healthy way to get to school and is encouraged within our school community.

Special wishes to those children who will celebrate their birthday this week:

Henry M, 5/6Y, Josephine B, 5/6S, Joel H, 5/6H.

We hope you have a great day!!

Congratulations to the following students who achieved a Harmony Award in Week 9.  Awards will be handed out to students next Friday 24 June 9am in the hall.

Well done!!   

Parish Sacramental Program 2022

Sacrament of Confirmation (for eligible year 6 students) will be celebrated on 13 September 2022 in St Michael’s Church and 14 September 2022 in St Monica’s Church.

Registrations will open on 27 June 2022 via the parish Qkr! App (NOT the school app).

Important – If your child is eligible to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation – please talk to your child and consider the following:

• Saint’s Name for Confirmation; and
• Sponsor’s Name.

These are two of the requirements on the registration form.

Sacrament of Reconciliation (for eligible year 3 students) will be celebrated in term 4, 2022.

Registrations will open on 19 September 2022 via the parish Qkr! app.

For further Information regarding the Sacramental Program – please contact the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or check the parish website for further updates at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

Religious Education

Kindergarten have been exploring the concept of choices this term. They have learned about Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and investigated the choices made by each character in the story. The discussions have been very rich and demonstrate the children’s growing understanding of the importance of good choices. Below are some of the children’s retellings of the parable. You may wish to watch the video of the Good Samaritan and talk with your children about it. It is interesting to learn why some of the people made the choices they made.

Good Samaritan video: https://youtu.be/osfQg4yKtq8

Religious Life of St Michael’s

First Communion

Congratulations to our students who participated in celebrating their First Holy Communion in our parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help last weekend. Our students all received this special sacrament in our own church of St Michael on Sunday morning or evening. Many students commented on how excited they were to have this special day. Extra thanks to Miss Frogley and Miss Lewis for their superb preparation of the children.

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – Friday June 24 2022

A look at scripture and tradition can take us back to the feast of the sacred heart of Jesus and give our devotion new life.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is not nearly as popular today as a couple of generations ago, when almost every Catholic at least knew about the nine first Fridays and the image adorned nearly every Catholic household, church and organisation.

Seen as a relic of the past, an outdated way of being Catholic, to some the first Fridays carry a whiff of superstition and the family enthronement ceremony is virtually unheard of. The image itself can be off-putting to modern tastes, either too gruesome, or overly sentimentalised.

But a look at scripture and tradition can take us back to the heart of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and give our devotion new life.

Basis in Scripture

There are many references to the Sacred Heart in scripture. Jesus himself said, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). God promised that he would remove “from your body your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). Finally, Jesus’ heart was opened on the cross by a spear, causing blood and water to pour from his side, an event seen as the birth of the Church (John 19:34).

Where we find Jesus, we also find Mary. Her own heart was pierced as though by a sword (Luke 2:35). Pope John Paul II formalised the long-held connection between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with a new devotion to the Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

AS THE STORY GOES…

Did you know that this devotion can be traced back to the Last Supper, when Jesus allowed John to rest his head upon his chest?

In 14th century St Gertrude had a similar grace. Jesus appeared to her on the feast day of St John the Evangelist and allowed her to rest her head near the wound in his side. She later asked St John why he never mentioned in his Gospel anything about the wonder and delight of hearing God’s human heartbeat.

St John replied that it was because it would be reserved until a time when men’s love for God had grown cold and in need of rekindling.

In the 1600s through the visions of another mystic, St Margaret Mary Alacoque, devotion to the Sacred Heart became formalised and the feast day extended to the whole Church by Pope Pius IX in 1856. As the century drew to a close Pope Leo XII had the whole of humanity solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Jesus had said to St Mary Margaret, a visitation nun, “Behold the Heart that has so loved men . . . instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of humankind) only ingratitude ”. He asked that a feast of reparation be held on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.

Other practices were part of the package too: Mass attendance at nine consecutive first Fridays of each month, and a Holy Hour on Thursdays in honour of Jesus’ agony in the garden at Gethsemane.

There was also St Margaret Mary’s individual act of consecration and the consecration of families to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, also known as the enthronement of the Sacred Heart.

These formal devotions flourished through the first half of last century.

Renewal and Modern Devotion

Pope Benedict XVI has called for a renewal of devotion to the Sacred Heart, reflecting that “from the infinite horizon of his love God desired to enter into the limits of history and the human condition, he took on a body and a heart; thus we can contemplate and meet the infinite in the finite, the mystery of the invisible and ineffable human heart of Jesus, the Nazarene”.

Closely related is the Divine Mercy devotion – different expressions at different times of the same reality of God’s mercy and love.

Contemporary religious artist Miriam A. Kilmer, who has drawn her own version of the famous image says that her devotion to the Sacred Heart does not take the traditional forms but consists of “simple spontaneous acts of trust and love, and through my art”. “In times of doubt and suffering, and as I recall the great pain and trouble in the world around me, I remember the sufferings of the Heart of Jesus, and place my trust in his love,” she wrote.

Take it to Heart

Consider making your own Church’s devotion to the heart of Jesus. Search for a modern imagining of Jesus’ heart, or anything representative of God’s love for you. Place it in your retreat space (favourite window, corner, room), light candles, speak from your heart to him. Perhaps make some special Sacred Heart craft.

Craft ideas - https://www.catholicicing.com/sacred-heart-art-project-for-catholic-kids/

Congratulations

Well done to Mahli (3/4L) and Josiah (5/6Y) who competed at the ACT Cross Country Championships last week. Outstanding efforts from both our students with Josiah placing 11^th and Mahli placing 3^rd. Wonderful  results for you both!

Thank you

Thank you to the parent volunteers who assisted us with our athletics carnival last week. We appreciate your time and could not have run our carnival without your support. Thanks also to the teachers and students for your enthusiasm and spirited competition that ensured the day was lots of fun!

Athletics Carnival Ribbon Presentation

The ribbons for our athletics carnival will be presented next Wednesday 29th June at morning assembly at 9am in the Hall. We warmly invite parents to join us.

Belconnen Region Athletics Team Selection

Next week notes will come home via Compass to all families with students who have been selected in our school team to compete at the Belconnen Region Athletics Carnival. The Belconnen Region Carnival will be held at the AIS on Thursday 18^th August (Week 5, Term 3).

Library News

Save the Date – St Michael’s Book Fair

We are very excited to be able to host our Scholastic Book Fair this year. We can’t wait to welcome you back to the library after the last few years of restrictions and not being able to have our annual fair. The fair will be open from 2^nd - 5^th of August (Week 3, Term 3).

Overdue Books

We ask that you please return any overdue books to school prior to the school holidays.