Dear Parents and Friends of Good Samaritan,

Last weekend our Year 6 students participated in Confirmation. Throughout the past weeks the students have prepared for this most important sacrament. The preparation of the children has been pivotal in ensuring that the children develop some understanding of the Baptismal promise that they have made to their faith.

Confirmation is the acceptance of Jesus’ call to us to be living evidence of Christ in our world today. This is not an easy task for an eleven or twelve year old. In fact, there are many adults who would find it difficult to make such a commitment to their faith. This is the very reason why we, as adults, need to support, nurture and guide the children in understanding the commitment that they have made.

Our teachers and our Parish have done tremendous work with the Confirmation candidates of 2019, but it does not stop there. The preparation and formal occasion of the sacrament are only the beginning. As parents what can we do to continue to guide and nurture the living witness of Jesus within our children?

On the weekend we prayed that God would send the Holy Spirit to be helper and guide of the children giving them the Spirit of Wisdom and

Understanding, the Spirit of Right Judgement and Courage, the Spirit of Knowledge and Reverence and the Spirit of Wonder and Awe.

How does this play out in the daily lives of the children?

How can we continue to help them recognise and understand the gifts

of the Spirit? Perhaps we need to recognise them in our own lives first. 

Our faith commitment is not always an easy journey but one filled with obstacles. These obstacles are necessary for us, as Catholics, to maintain hope. Confirmation, for our children, is one of the anchors of their lives. It is where they are asked to be stewards of the gifts – keeping faith and hope alive in their hearts.

Recognition of the gifts comes when that niggling ‘Spirit’ calls us to help another in need, to reach out and assist the elderly person struggling with groceries in the shopping centre or the tired young mother who just can’t manage to collapse the pram as her children cry for her in the back seat of the car. It is also when we think we should be spending more time as a family and we actually make the time to do so. The Holy Spirit is ‘at our side and on our side’ through each day. When we show compassion, generosity and goodness we are living the Good News – our Good News. And we are seeking the endless hope that our Saviour lays before us.

As a parent of a young adult, I believe I continue to ask myself the questions: What am I doing to show my daughter the gifts of the Spirit? How am I helping her to recognise them in her own life? And, how is she able to recognise that there is endless hope for her in the Spirit of Our Lord?

What questions do you need to ask yourself that will help your children recognise the work of the Spirit in their lives?

Mrs Toni Sillis

Principal