Dear Parents/Carers

I am currently privileged to be attending the Catholic Leaders’ Day and Retreat Wednesday, 3 March to Friday, 5 March in Bowral. Special thanks to Damien Webb who is capably leading the school in my absence. I include some Lenten food for thought below.

I hope families enjoy the long weekend and travel safely if you are planning a weekend away.

Many Blessings,

Judy Egan

Taking stock of our lives
Once upon a time, an ancient story tells us, the master had a visitor who came to inquire about Zen. But instead of listening, the visitor kept talking about his own concerns and giving his own thoughts. After a while, the master served tea. He poured tea into his visitor’s cup until it was full and then he kept on pouring.
 
Finally, the visitor could not bear it any longer, “Don’t you see that my cup is full?” he said. “It’s not possible to get anymore in.”
 
“Just so,” the master said, stopping at last. “And like this cup, you are filled with your own ideas. How can you expect me to give you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
 
Lent is the process of emptying our cups. Lent is a time for trimming the soul and scraping the sludge off a life turned slipshod. Lent is about taking stock of time, even religious time. Lent is about exercising the control that enables us to say no to ourselves so that when life turns hard of its own accord, we have the spiritual stamina to say yes to its twists and turns with faith and with hope.

from The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century (Crossroad) by Joan Chittister