Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan

This week we celebrate Grandparent’s Day. This is always a wonderful opportunity for the children to share their school life with those very special people in their lives - their grandparents and the other great wisdom figures who influence them.

In welcoming our visitors on Friday I began to reflect on what St Benedict says about welcoming people. In Chapter 3 of his rule Benedict writes:

Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say:

’I came as a guest and you received me’ RSB Ch 3

I was lucky enough to have a grandparent live well into my adulthood. He was an incredible influence on my life and I do attribute much of what I have achieved to him. His wisdom and experience counted. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan theologian, writes about welcoming wisdom figures into the community in order to give counsel or advice. He goes on to say that to ignore this counsel is then to proceed into life with risk.

Last Friday was International Teachers’ Day. At morning assembly I asked a few of the children what was something that they wanted to share about their teacher. One Year 6 student said that his teacher gave them work they didn’t like now but he knew it ‘would be good for us in the long run’.

This, I think, is an example of the way in which our children listen for those wisdom moments. St Benedict knows about the value of experience but, even more so, he knows about the presence and power of God. He knows that in all of us there is a spark of the divine. The purpose of the older people in our lives, our grandparents and other great people, is not so much to know the Truth of God but rather to recognise it when they hear it.

We can recognise this when they speak a truth, share their perspective on a situation, ask questions and open their hearts with honesty and trust. We need to listen carefully so that the decisions we make, and the actions we take, are informed. We can come to peace with them in our hearts.

I look forward to meeting with many grandparents and great people on Friday and I leave you with this reflection:

Bless our grandparents and the great people  in our lives.

Thank you for all they have done for us

For giving us our parents and for their wisdom and love

Keep them strong in mind and body

so that they will be with us for many years to come.

As we journey together with Jesus,

Toni Sillis

Principal