On Monday during Karakia we looked at the theme of prayer itself and took the words from St Paul in his letter to the Romans as the basis for our karakia, “ The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

We reflected on the idea that God’s grace is enough in prayer. We don’t always need to know what we want to say to God and, at times, we may not have the words that we can use. We can just listen in prayer and spend time with God. We also took St Paul’s words to heart, that the Holy Spirit can take over and share what is in our hearts with God. This is such a beautiful idea of the support we are given in prayer by God.

Youth Group

We had our first meeting for Term Three on Thursday 27 July. It was wonderful to gather together for fun and sharing once more and we were delighted that both Fr Matthew and Fr Tang could be present for at least some of the time. It is great when the young people interact in a fun, relaxed environment with them.

We considered the theme of the Treasure in the Field which is this coming Sunday’s gospel and had a really thoughtful discussion around the fact that we are God’s greatest treasure and the ways in which we can search for God and make God the greatest treasure of our lives too, how we each need to develop our own faith rather than just accepting what has been passed down to us from others. We also had lots of fun and shared fish and chips and brownies!

A new initiative!

We have been considering a new initiative which would be a form of outreach for families and to families. We would like to have a group of people, staff and whānau involved together in supporting families in need or at particular times of crisis, through cooking and delivering meals. We would love to have a group of approximately ten people who are available at times to cook meals for families at such times as:

A family member is admitted to hospital
A family is experiencing sickness - even winter ills
Injury to a family member
The loss of a job
The loss of a family member
Financial hardship for any reason

The idea would be that when it came to our attention that any of these situations or other needs were a reality for a family at any given time, we would be able to call on this group of people and ask for some meals. Staff of John Paul II would then deliver the meals to those families in their area on their way home from school. For information about need, we would link into St Vincent de Paul, the local parish and the Sisters of Mercy located in Cobden and, of course, if other members of the community knew of particular need they could contact us too.

We are looking to serve our community and really live our faith here at John Paul II. We also want to show the young people in our care that living our faith is about service of and love for others. This is one way in which we can work as a community to build stronger, Christ-centred relationships.

If you are interested in supporting this initiative, I would love to hear from you on: joanie.roberson@johnpaul.ac.nz or feel free to call the school office and let them know of your interest.

May God bless you all.

Midwinter Cultural Gathering from the St Patricks Parish Council