This week let us also include in our prayers….. 

• Those local families who must travel away for medical help…. 
• Those who are alone, unemployed, suffering and dying as a result of COVID-19…. 
• Those in our First Nations communities who work tirelessly to Close the Gap… 

May these prayers and all those we hold in our hearts, be felt by those who need them most.  

Sunday’s Gospel- 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Please find shared in this week’s newsletter: the Sunday prayer at home which has some wonderful resources to unpack this week’s readings in a family friendly way.   

This week’s gospel reading records Simon Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”.  In response Jesus affirms and commissions Peter: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church”.  As we’ll hear next Sunday, in the passage that follows on directly from this exchange, the gospel writer Matthew counterbalances the image of foundation stone with that of stumbling block. The focus is on Peter’s faith, his courage, his foundational role in the Church, and the assurance that the Church will never finally fail.  Exactly what is meant by the power to bind and loose remains a matter for discussion within and across the Christian traditions.  The gospel ends with one of Jesus’ calls to silence lest his Messiahship be misunderstood. Reading Reflections 

Religious Education Review Day 

This week I am travelling to Cairns to participate and engage in a Religious Education Review Day. This agenda for day is to review the BCE Religion Curriculum in our own school context and this day gives us the opportunity to reflect on the content, assessment items and resourcing of the Religion Curriculum from Prep to Year 10 to see if there are areas of improvement.  

May St Joseph smile on you,  

Meg Newell 

APRE/CST