Newsletter 17: 23 November 2021

Dear Colleagues,

For many in schools, the “wait” for the holidays this year is more acute than ever following the exhaustive efforts of teachers, students, and families amidst the many disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during 2021. Waiting for the holidays and the school year to end, waiting for exam results, waiting for Christmas.

This coming Sunday the holy Season of Advent commences. It is a time of waiting. The well known Australian Jesuit, Father Tom O’Donovan SJ, a leader and teacher of renown for over 50 years, and always attuned to the rhythm of school life, explained Advent in this way.

The Season of Advent is all about waiting, the waiting for the Coming of our Saviour. This waiting is not only a matter of Faith. Faith leads to trust, to having confidence in God, that he is our loving Father, that he’s concerned for each individual. He knows us. Everything lies open to his eyes. He knows us intimately, thoroughly. Because of that, we can have the utmost confidence that he will look after us, his loving providence will always be there. We need to be, and must always be, people of deep Faith, with an unfailing trust and confidence in a God who loves us and who will always look after us. That is the great message of the Season of Advent: we are people who are waiting, and we will always be waiting. There is always something for us to wait for, until that day when all our hopes, all our longing, all through our lives, is ultimately fulfilled.1

May the coming final weeks of the term be filled with many moments of great satisfaction with the work you have done for our students throughout this most challenging year. As we enter this Advent period, let us pray that our words and actions as Marist educators, reflect our Faith and trust and confidence in our loving God.

1. In the Footsteps of Christ Homilies of Father Tom O’Donovan SJ (2006)