The world proposes selfishness as the path to happiness. God proposes generosity as the patrh to happiness. I know many selfish people, but I don’t know any who have a deep and lasting happiness. Selfish people always seem restless and discontented.

The happiness we experience through selfishness is fleeting because it is dependent on external circumstances. But I also know some very generous people and their happiness is not dependent on things going their way or on getting what they want; their happiness is rooted in the life of God.

This happiness, this joy springs up from something that is taking place within them. We are all invited to that life and that happiness, and generosity is the path that leads there.

All the great figures that emerge in the Gospels are generous. Sure, you have the widow’s mite, an obvious act of generosity. But in every great Gospel figure you find generosity.

Generosity is at the heart of the Christian life, just as it is at the heart of the Gospel.

Here we stumble upon the great divide between the way of life today’s culture proposes and the life God invites us to live. Consider some of the differences:

God invites us to a life of gratitude while the world fosters discontent. God proposes trust; the world arouses fear. God promotes giving; the world promotes getting. God invites us to cooperate with his providence while the world rallies behind self-determinism.

The world encourages entitlement when in reality everything is a gift from God. God invites us to look out for our neighbour; the world tells us to look out for ourselves. God operates from abundance; the world from a place of scarcity. God created us out of generosity to live generous lives; the world encourages us to live a small, selfish life.

Generosity begins with gratitude. The world draws us into a conversation about all that we don’t have, but God invites us into a conversation about all that we do have.

What makes you truly happy? What do you instil in your children in their pursuit of happiness?

Covid-19

For all information and updates from the diocese, please go to: www.dow.catholic.edu.au/covid19

 

Students presenting with flu-like symptoms

Parents are reminded that students who are unwell must be kept at home. If your child is Covid tested, please let us know that this is occurring and then we must sight the results of the Covid test before the student can return to school. Further details regarding this can be found via the link above.

 

Access Restrictions

Current guidelines continue with very limited access to the school site for parents. Unfortunately this means that regular events at St Therese are having to be cancelled or modified. This impacts how we celebrate Masses, Book Week, Night of the Notables (Yr 5), Graduation (Yr 6), Kinder Orientation and Assemblies. Further details will be sent out as these events get closer.

 

Late Arrival

Parents are reminded that the morning bell goes at 8.50am. All students arriving after the gate is closed will be marked as a late arrival.

 

Identifying Items of Clothing & Lunchboxes / Containers

Currently, we have about 12 school jackets in lost property that cannot be identified. Every term, dozens of containers or even whole lunchboxes are thrown away because no one ‘owns’ them. Please ensure everything that you child may put down has a name clearly marked so that we can return items to their rightful owners.

Talking about online content

It’s a good idea to explain to your child that the internet has all sorts of content and that some of it isn’t for children.

You could explain that there are parental controls, safe browsing settings and internet filters set up on most devices to help protect children from inappropriate content. But these are not a guarantee and your child could still come across inappropriate content.

So it’s also a good idea to encourage your child to talk to you if he sees something that worries him. For example, you might say, ‘Sometimes people put horrible things on the internet. Some of it’s made up and some of it’s real. If you see anything that upsets you or makes you feel uncomfortable, let me know’.

If you name things to look out for, it can help your child identify unsuitable material by herself. For example, ‘If you see a site with scary or rude pictures, swearing or angry words, let me know. It’s not a good site for you to look at’.

You could also explain that not all information on the internet is true or helpful – for example, some news is made up. Encouraging your child to question things he finds on the internet helps him develop the ability to tell whether a website has good-quality information. This is part of digital and media literacy.