August 20 2020

From the APRIM

Dear Families

Last night during prayer at the School Board meeting, I shared some thoughts from the De La Salle brothers of Great Britain’s ‘prayingeachday’ website. They wrote about the book ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by Frank Baum. The story centres around four characters who are all looking for something that they believe they don’t have: the lion who has no courage, the scarecrow who has no brain, the tinman who doesn’t have a heart and Dorothy who thinks that she can’t change anything in her life. They all believe that the Wizard of Oz will be able to give them all that they need. You all know how the story finishes, the Wizard helps them to see that those gifts that they so desperately wanted, were there all along.

When Dorothy returns to Kansas (from where she had been taken by a tornado) she says to her aunt: “Oh, Aunt Em, I’ve been to many strange and marvellous places, looking for something that was right here all along… right in my own back yard!”

During the Confirmation workshops, we talk about the gifts that our candidates will receive at Confirmation: wisdom, knowledge, understanding, right judgement, courage, reverence, wonder and awe. God has a plan for each of them, known only to God and may not be revealed to them until they are much older.

My father loved the Lord and was a faithful servant right up until his death eleven years ago. He was an accountant but at the age of sixty-one lost his job. He managed to do some tax work here and there but no longer had a regular income. From an era where the ‘man-of-the-house’ provided for his family, this caused a tremendous decline in his feelings of self-worth. What was he to do now? He decided to become a volunteer at Flinders Medical Centre, visiting patients who had requested a visit from the chaplain’s team. Over time his visits became centred on those admitted to hospital for palliative care. He read the Bible to them, listened to them and prayed with them. God had revealed to him a special gift that God had planned especially for him, to bring peace and comfort to the dying.

As we pray for our Confirmation candidates – Alanah, Blane Caitlyn, Cameron, Carex, Charlie, Chloe, Ciara, Elijah, Harry, Jenae, Josh, Lewis, Liam, Matthew, Millie, Phillip and Sakura, let us remember that God has a plan for each of them and us, truly unique, tailored to the strengths and abilities that we already have.

God our Father, in saying
that you have written our names
on the palm of your hands,
you are telling us that each person
is unique and special to you.
We pray that individuals
may discover in themselves
the treasures you have given them,
and develop and put to good use
the qualities
they hold in trust from you.
I pray and commit myself today
to promote goodness and happiness,
by treating others
with respect and care and understanding.
May others treat me today, Father,
in the same way as I treat them,
and so may we all
bring out the best in one another
and grow in the way
we look at ourselves and others.
Amen.