RE News - Haley Stonham
October – the Month of the Rosary
Tomorrow is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This is why October is a special month dedicated to praying the rosary.
Did you know…
That this feast day has also been known as the feast of ‘Our Lady of Victory’. This was because in the 16th century, there was a great victory in Europe against a Turkish invasion. The Pope at the time, Pope Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was invoked on the day of the battle through the Rosary. The feast day was extended to the universal Church in 1716.
St Teresa of Calcutta, or Mother Teresa carried the rosary in her hand always. She often said that is was like holding Mary’s hand. Mary invites us to pray in trust as she takes our prayers to her son, Jesus. The purpose of the rosary is to help us meditate on the great mysteries of God. The main focus is on Jesus – His birth, death and resurrection. We sense that Jesus and Mary are with us in the joys and sorrows of life.
I have attached a guide to praying the Rosary and will make available a slide deck that you might like to use as a family. This week, for staff prayer, we have focused on the Joyful Mysteries.
Our Lady of the Rosary – Pray for us!
Sacrament of Reconciliation
This term our Year 3 candidates will be preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In this sacrament we hear and respond to God’s call to conversion. God’s grace and mercy brings about in us a change of heart. This means that we know that the choice or choices we have made were not the right ones and we can say sorry. But this apology needs to be one of conversion – we can’t just say sorry and make the same choice again! We need to show that we are sorry through our actions and our words – we show that we can make better choices!
But reconciliation is also about being able to forgive when someone has done something to us. This means not holding on to the hurt, frustration or anger. If we hold these feelings in our heart for too long – this is called ‘holding a grudge’. It doesn’t make us feel good either.
Jesus uses the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32), to teach us about renewing our hearts through asking for forgiveness and forgiving others. As a family you might like to watch this clip of the Prodigal Son and talk about times when you have had to say sorry and times when you have forgiven others.
How did it make you feel?