Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,

This week we celebrated The feast of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was defined by Pope Pius XII in 1950. He declared that after her death, Mary was assumed into heaven, body and soul.

It was a response to the horrible human carnage of two world wars and the horrors of concentration camps. The church wanted to reaffirm the dignity of the human body and rekindle faith in the resurrection of the body. This feast affirms that our human bodies are not mere shells but created in God’s image and likeness.

The Church wanted to say something not only about the body of Mary, but about the body of each of us. The feast of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary shows God’s love for all of us and of God’s reverence for the body of those created in the divine image.  In Mary, human nature is glorified and God desires it to be glorified in every person.  It is for this reason that Jesus became human flesh and dwelt among us in our world.

The celebration of Mary's Assumption celebrates the bodily presence and dignity of every person in our school community. Even in our differences, our challenge is to be aware that every one of us is made in the image and likeness of God. Our care and respect for the bodily presence of each other in turn glorifies God.

This is why, as a school community, we place a great emphasis on the respectful relationships that the students have with each other and the adults who work with them. The Love of Learning value of empathy helps the children, and adults, understand how we can interact with one another. This is reinforced by the social norms of the playground. These are all highlighted in the PB4L section of the newsletter each week.

The Assumption of Mary helps us to remember the importance of recognising the dignity of each individual and perhaps Pope Pius XII knew that society would need this reminder each year.

As we journey through this week, together, with Jesus let’s work to recognise that our differences emphasise the presence of God among us.

Toni Sillis

Principal