Over the last few weeks, our Year 13 students have been preparing themselves for the wrench of leaving Sacred Heart. This week, they have a final attempt to demonstrate their learning as they focus on the exam season – NCEA is in full swing. No matter the outcome of these exams, they measure only one aspect of those students who have graced our classrooms and corridors with their gifts, talents and dedication to their learning. No doubt they will reap the rewards of their perseverance and tenacity, not only with quality exam results but also with effective learning habits that will support their future, beyond the school gates.
Our Thanksgiving Mass and Poroporoaki recognises the gifts we all bring to our community, our authentic self, and our community will never be the same again. Nevertheless, as our Pounamu ritual reminds us, ‘once a part of Sacred Heart, always a part of Sacred Heart’. Their wairua is always a presence – Mauri Ora!
Our message to all who leave us at the end of this year is: ‘be and do’ as Euphrasie Barbier ‘was and did’ – build community, seek out times in your day to be contemplative and make the world a better place. As these waahine toa make their own way in the world, may they be awake to their Whakapono, Tuumanako me Tika – Faith, Hope and Justice – and be that part of the Sacred Heart that shapes the world – me aro ki te hā o Hineahuone!
Over the last few weeks, our Year 13 students have been preparing themselves for the wrench of leaving Sacred Heart. This week, they have a final attempt to demonstrate their learning as they focus on the exam season – NCEA is in full swing. No matter the outcome of these exams, they measure only one aspect of those students who have graced our classrooms and corridors with their gifts, talents and dedication to their learning. No doubt they will reap the rewards of their perseverance and tenacity, not only with quality exam results but also with effective learning habits that will support their future, beyond the school gates.
Our Thanksgiving Mass and Poroporoaki recognises the gifts we all bring to our community, our authentic self, and our community will never be the same again. Nevertheless, as our Pounamu ritual reminds us, ‘once a part of Sacred Heart, always a part of Sacred Heart’. Their wairua is always a presence – Mauri Ora!
Our message to all who leave us at the end of this year is: ‘be and do’ as Euphrasie Barbier ‘was and did’ – build community, seek out times in your day to be contemplative and make the world a better place. As these waahine toa make their own way in the world, may they be awake to their Whakapono, Tuumanako me Tika – Faith, Hope and Justice – and be that part of the Sacred Heart that shapes the world – me aro ki te hā o Hineahuone!
Speaking of those who leave us, the Church also ensures that the faithful departed are never forgotten. November is the month of the year that the Church dedicates to remembering those we know and love and those unknown to us, for whom we also pray: ‘The dead are not distant or absent. They are alongside us ... they slip out of visible form into invisible presence. But because we cannot see them does not mean that they are not there. The dead cannot reverse the journey ... they continue to be near us. When we enter the eternal world and come to see our lives on earth in full view, we may be surprised at the immense assistance and support with which our departed loved ones have accompanied every moment of our lives ... secret angels guiding and sheltering the unfolding of our destiny’ – from ‘Divine Beauty’, John O’Donohue, a wonderful companion for this contemplative time of year – Holy Souls month.
For all those we have loved and lost from this world into the next, may they be at peace in the arms of Christ – kia noho maarie ia ki te poho o te Karaiti.
Kia pai te wiki – have a great week.