Whole-School Mass: Advent and the Feast of St Mary

Last Friday afternoon, the children and staff of St Mary's celebrated the beginning of Advent with a whole-school mass.  At this mass, we also celebrated our Patron Saint,  St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

Advent is a time of preparation in the Church's year, which we represent with the colour purple.  In Advent, look out for purple Prayer Areas and Special Areas in classrooms around school!

It is also a time of waiting in joyful hope for the coming of Jesus, the promised one, at Christmas.  Advent is a time to get ready by making space for God in our busy lives.  Imagine that you were waiting to welcome a new baby into your home, and all the preparations you would have to make so that you were ready. 

This Advent, try to take a moment each day to think about how you can prepare your lives to welcome the baby Jesus, the Messiah, at Christmas.

We celebrate Mary, the mother of Jesus, because she said "Yes" to God.  On the way to becoming Jesus' mum, she had a long and difficult journey, but even in her most difficult moments she still had faith.  Mary herself was born without sin so that she could bring the Son of God into the world.  When Jesus was born, her job didn't stop - like any mum she would have been woken by her baby in the middle of the night, would have chased him around as a toddler and would have protected and nurtured him when he was primary school age.

This Advent, we also remember Mary our mother, and all of our mums and all the things they do for us.  Let's try and make time to help our mums and dads out with our families' preparations for Christmas this year.