Faith and Mission
It is unimaginable how we find ourselves caught up in a time where COVID-19 has crept into our lives uninvited and impacted so many millions of people around the world.
But as Christians, times like these call for us to turn to each other, to stay connected and, most importantly, to remember to look for Christ and see him in the face of everyone we encounter, to remember him daily in our work, and all those men and women who sacrifice so much to do their work in the “front lines” every day.
As Lasallians, we take our steadfast lead from our Founder, St John Baptist de La Salle and like him, we too turn to and trust in Jesus our Lord for guidance. We stand together, we pray together, we support each other and we keep in contact.
Pope Francis recently said, “it is together that we will come out of this situation, moving together with hope”. At De La Salle College, we are a community grounded in the Christian virtue of hope and in our Lasallian Core Principles, and we have already started, despite isolation, to endure while moving forward together, remaining connected and, more than anything, keeping the Lasallian spirit alive through our daily contact with staff, students and families.
ANZAC Day
ANZAC Day is traditionally a time to gather to remember those Australians and New Zealanders who served and fell in WW1 amidst the valleys and ridges of Gallipoli, on the terraced hills of Palestine, in France, Belgium, Samoa and the Cocos Islands.
Since then, it is also the day on which we remember all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in war and on operational service, on the sands of the North African desert, amidst the mountains and olive groves of Greece, Crete and Syria, in the skies over Europe, in Singapore, in the jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands, in Korea and Vietnam, East Timor and more recently in Afghanistan.
However, this year the day will be rather modest in its exclusion of traditional marches, gatherings and celebrations, but no reason why we should not stop and pause to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, of those who died and those who returned from war wounded in body and spirit.
We remember Lord, all those who suffered as prisoners of war, and those who died in captivity. Our servicemen and women have left us a proud heritage. May we and our successors prove worthy of their sacrifice. We remember them this day and dedicate ourselves to the cause of justice, freedom and peace, and for the wisdom and strength to build a better world.
In the Gospel of St John it reads:
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ‘I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another”. (John 15:9–17)
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
The Ode
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning.
We will remember them.
Lest we forget.
St John Baptist de La Salle – Pray for us
Live Jesus in our hearts – Forever
Rana Brogan
Deputy Principal – Faith and Mission