Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,

It is great to be back at Good Samaritan ready to work through another term with staff, students and parents. At the end of last term I took some leave to travel to both China and North Korea (DPRK) with my husband. This was certainly an interesting trip and one that allowed me a renewed appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy in Australia.

One of these is our freedom to hold a faith and believe in an all forgiving God who sent His son to save us. On Easter Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend mass, said in Chinese, in Shanghai. What struck me throughout the mass was that the celebration was recognisable - I knew where the Liturgy of the Word finished and when the Liturgy of the Eucharist began. This partly helped to overcome the language barrier.

What fascinated me about this experience was that whilst the language was so totally foreign to me there was one word that was clearly recognisable: ALLELUIA! Here I was, thousands of miles from my home parish, in a country that is officially aetheist (although the Chinese people are quite religious following Buddhism, Chinese folklore, Taoism and Confucianism) at St Francis Catholic Cathedral built in 1716, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus with a people who also understood the importance of Alleluia. 

I was struck by the fact that christianity was introduced to China in the 8th Century Tang Dynasty and Catholicism was then expelled from the country following the World War II and the takeover of the Communist Party of China in 1949. Catholicism certainly has a complicated history in China, where it still rejects the authority of Rome and appoints its own Bishops. However, the faith of those in the congregation was contagious. Many had obviously not been fully initiated into the faith as they received a blessing rather than Communion but they clearly demonstrated a need to be there on Easter Sunday and to celebrate what Jesus did for all of us.

Alleluia - the Hebrew term of great joy that means Praise Yahweh! We don’t say Alleluia throughout Lent because it is that word that demonstrates our welcome of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. What we do need to remember is that the joy of Easter Sunday cannot be had without the darkness and suffering of Good Friday. The faithful of China have shown that their Good Fridays are followed by Easter Sunday. The fact that the religion was expelled from the country is evidence of that.

I wonder whether we think of those hard times in our lives as Good Fridays - those times of separation, death, hurt and disappointment. These are our Good Friday moments but the Alleluia is that these times are followed by an Easter Sunday - it is up to us to recognise them as such.

Theologian Richard Rohr writes: Great love and great suffering bring us back to God, and I believe this is how Jesus himself walked humanity back to God. It is not just a path of resurrection rewards but a path that includes death and woundedness.

Death and life are two sides of the same coin; you cannot have one without the other. Each time you surrender, each time you trust the dying, your faith is led to a deeper level and you discover a Larger Self underneath.

As we continue through this Easter season let us recognise the love and the suffering that bring us back to God.

Until next time, may we journey together with Jesus,

Toni Sillis  

Principal