Mission Report – June 8, 2017

We are in a rich time in our Liturgical Year.

Last Sunday was Pentecost where we celebrate the living and ever-presence of God in our world.

The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world

and that which contains all things understands what is said (Wis 1:7)

This Sunday we celebrate the fundamental and essential mystery of the Trinity: That the One God is perfect love in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:

to God who is, who was, and who is to come (Apoc 1:8)

The following Sunday is the Body and Blood of Christ, where we are reminded that God’s love transforms all suffering into joy.

I am the living bread from heaven, says the Lord;

whoever eats this bread will live for ever. (Jn 6:51-52)

Our Touchstone of Gospel Spiritualty asks us to nurture and encourage the spiritual growth of each person through prayer, reflection, symbols, sacred stories, rituals and sacraments. – These weeks offer us privileged moments in all these expressions of liturgical life -“ moments in which we encounter the invitation to love without limit.

Our many liturgies at St Patrick’s College seek to deepen our friendship with Christ, and as our boys know deeply, our friendships transform us and compel us to service, joy, inclusion and justice. We do many things for the sake of our friendships that we may not have undertaken otherwise. Our hopes, dreams and endurance emerge out of and for the sake of our friendships. We are kind and generous to others for the sake of a mutual friend. Friendship with Christ is the gift of mutual friendship with all people, so that we may all be united with bonds of love that can never be broken.

Life-long friendships remain a great gift of St Patrick’s College. Most significant, our friendship with Christ, encountered and nurtured especially in liturgy, transforms all our knowing, choosing, acting and loving for the sake of perfect love -“ eternal friendship with God. Our friendships are an education in eternal life and our liturgical life teaches us to hold friendship as sacred.- –