Lent and Easter Triduum

Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture, serve by giving alms, and practice self-control through fasting. 

The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum, which lasts from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Taken from a Latin root that means "three days," it is a period of time that traces the final days of Jesus' life, his death, and his resurrection. It marks the end of the Lenten season and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.

The liturgical services during the Triduum are the Mass of the Lord's Supper (Holy Thursday), Good Friday of the Lord's Passion, and Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord.

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday marks the Last Supper, the meeting Jesus had with his disciples when He instituted the Eucharist. He showed them what it means to serve by washing their feet.

Good Friday

Good Friday is marked with fasting and prayer to remember Jesus' suffering and death on the cross. The Good Friday liturgy involves the reading of Jesus' passion and death from the Gospel of John as well as an opportunity to pray with and venerate a cross - the instrument of Jesus' death and our salvation and Holy Communion. At the conclusion, the priest and people depart silently, and the altar cloth is removed, leaving the altar bare. Good Friday is the only day of the year on which no Masses are offered.

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is meant to be a quiet day, a day to remember the empty space that was present for Jesus' disciples after his death and before his resurrection. They did not expect the resurrection and were left in a place of grief.

On Holy Saturday night, the Easter Vigil is celebrated. It is one of the longest Catholic liturgies, involving several readings from scripture tracing God's care for humanity, the baptism and reception of new members of the Church, the celebration of the Eucharist, and many joy-filled songs. That night, Jesus rose from the dead, and it is that great victory over sin and death.

Easter Sunday

Easter Day, which immediately follows Holy Week and begins with the Easter Vigil, is the great feast day of the Christian liturgical year. On this day, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated. It is the first day of the new season, which runs from Easter Day to Pentecost Sunday. The Resurrection of Christ on Easter Day is the main reason why we keep every Sunday as the primary day of religious observance.

Our Year Six students will present the Resurrection on Tuesday morning straight after our morning lines at 8.30 am in our School Hall.

Project Compassion

Together, we can make a difference!
Your generosity can help break the cycle of poverty and inequality, promote justice, uphold dignity, and build a better future for all. There are many examples of the lasting changes being made for people living in some of the world's most vulnerable and low-income regions. Examples are the Learning Alternative System, where young people in the Philippines are able to return to a safe and flexible education program that enables them to secure employment; installing water tanks and clean water to improve the health and living conditions of people in isolated areas in Samoa, and installing toilets with septic tanks to improve the health of rural communities. 

On Wednesday, the St Matthew's School Community concluded our Lenten Fundraising efforts with a 'Crazy Hair Day'. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser by assisting your children with their hair and donating to Project Compassion. The school raised $587.

Congratulations! 

Belconnen District Swimming

Congratulations to Ethan, Xander, Caitlin, George, Isaac and Flynn, who participated in Tuesday's Belconnen District Swimming Carnival. Mr Hargraves reported that the students tried their best and showed great sportspersonship. 

My Body My Life

Our Year 6 students participated thoughtfully in Tuesday's My Body My Life workshops.

My Body My Life is the Archdiocesan program approved by Catholic Education for Stage 3 Puberty and Personal Development education.

The program involves parents in this important aspect of their children’s journey by providing online units for parents and children to work through together at home.

The online parent program is followed by a visit from a team from the Archdiocese of Canberra Goulburn. The team works with the students in small groups and provides opportunities for the students to ask further questions and clarify concepts and information.

Valanga Khoza

On Monday, Valanga Khoza, a storyteller and musician from Limpopo Province in South Africa, presented our students with an engaging and lively performance.

The two performances for our Kindergarten to Year 3 classes and Year 4 to Year 6 classes included singing, drumming, dancing, traditional South African instruments, and stories about growing up in South Africa.

Our students thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Kids Lit Quiz

This year, students from St Matthew's will participate in the Kid Lit Quiz for the first time.

Kid Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10-13. Quizzes are held in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the USA. The winning team from each heat competes in a National Final. National champions compete in the World Final, which will be held in Canberra this year.

The quiz was founded by Wayne Mills, a New Zealand quizmaster who reads enough books to write several thousand questions each year.

Teams of four students are asked to answer 100 questions on children’s literature, divided into 10 categories.

This year, we are entering two teams: a Year 5 team (Riley, Phoebe, Dhrriti, and Kora) and a Year 6 team (Daelin, Liam O, Yasmin, and Georgia). We’ll compete against other ACT teams at Merici on Thursday, April 4.

As Canberra is hosting the World Finals, a raffle will be held to help raise funds to cover the costs. The cost will be $2 a ticket or 3 for $5. It will include one prize of a book pack drawn on the 4th of April and a major prize valued over $500, including a Kobo Clara 2E plus sleep cover, a three-month Kobo Read and Listen option, a Bluetooth Speaker Wonderboom3 and a book bundle, as well as other great prizes that will be drawn at our National Final. Tickets purchased at the heat will go into both draws.

If you are interested in purchasing any tickets, please contact our Teacher Librarian Sally Judd sally.judd@cg.catholic.edu.au 

I would like to thank Sally for organising St Matthew's teams to be part of this event.

In truth and love,

Mrs Sarah Lowe

Principal

Congratulations Elsie!

We are proud of you Elsie!

Open Day Information

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