Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan, 

As we continue to live through this period of the pandemic, I have read many articles and listened to some great suggestions about how important it is to take a break, to let our bodies recharge and allow our minds to slow down. This is just as important for our children. They need opportunities to stop, to play and to be mindful. Many parents will continue to work through the next two weeks but the slowing down of the children’s school routine may just allow for a window of opportunity for you to also experience a ‘retreat’ of sorts.

A recent article by the American Benedictan nun, Joan Chittister, spoke about how the soul learns to always return to the cave of the heart, where the excesses of life do not distract from the significance of life. This requires the cultivation of a reflective soul and a disciplined mind that goes regularly into “retreat”—into that space where we look, first of all, at what we set out to be, and then look consciously at what we are now doing to get there.

Retreat time is the practice of making personal time for the kind of spiritual time that is beyond the routine of what we do each day or each week.

Part of our spiritual journey, St Benedict implies, must be spent remembering what we say are our intentions in life, in the light of what we can clearly see are becoming the patterns and actions of our lives. In fact, what we’re called to do is to pray more thoughtfully, to read more intensely, to feel more keenly in order to strengthen ourselves as we regather our energy for the next part of the year.

Retreat times remind us that it is easy to become slack in concern for the mundane, the daily, and the unglamorous in the face of a world so enticingly exciting.

Retreat times remind us always to make the space to begin—again—and in the midst of the demands of work and family, of money-making worries and the stressors of social systems, to fix the eye of the heart on the really important things of life.

We must establish regular times that are set aside for us to take another look, a new kind of look, at ourselves.

A retreat of the heart, mind and body is not for our sake alone but for the sake of those who depend on us - our children, our husband, wife or partner, our families and our work colleagues. My wish for you during this break is that you have time to do this for yourself.

Thank you for your support of all we have worked on and achieved at Good Samaritan in Term 3.  It is very much appreciated.

As we journey together, with Jesus,

Toni Sillis

Principal