Prayer and Liturgy
This year has witnessed a vast array of opportunities for our entire College community to participate in faith experiences. These opportunities began with our traditional Inaugural Mass. Instead of our usual journey to St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne, this year saw the celebration of our Inaugural Mass in the Provence Centre at Mazenod. During this Mass, we welcomed our students, staff and families as we shared in the joy of installing Fr Harry Dyer as our College Rector. We also congratulated and welcomed our College Captain, Vice-Captains, Prefects and Junior School Captains during this Mass. Our Inaugural Mass gave us the opportunity to invoke Almighty God’s blessings upon our new academic year. Our traditional Mission Action Day Liturgy occurred on Holy Thursday. During this Liturgy, we participated in journeying with Jesus Christ through the Stations of the Cross. These Stations were narrated from the perspective of our Blessed Virgin Mary. Each of the Stations of the Cross was explained by one of our female members of staff, who provided us with Mother Mary’s poignant reflections on her Son’s suffering. Throughout these reflections, our students enacted the “Via Dolorosa” of Jesus’ “Passion and Death”. We celebrated our founder, St Eugene de Mazenod, with our traditional Founder’s Day Mass. This year, our Mass was celebrated on St Eugene’s actual feast day, the 21st of May. During this Mass, we gave thanks and praise to God for St Eugene de Mazenod and for the gift of the
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Oblates of Mary Immaculate in our lives. During June, we had devotions in honour of the Feast of the “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus”. These devotions included the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers of praise and of reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The brief interlude we had between lockdowns provided us with a delayed, yet, moving enrolment of some of our students with the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This enrolment was preceded the previous week by a lunch gathering in which students learned about Our Lady’s request for people to wear the Scapular. For the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Fr Harry blessed the icons of the Virgin Mary that are venerated by each of our year levels. These images of the Blessed Virgin Mary remind us of our Lady’s help, protection and love for us all. Of course, our parents were acknowledged with Masses held in honour of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day this year. During these Masses, we prayed for our mothers and fathers, who are both living and deceased. We also acknowledged and prayed for those women and men who mentor and are significant persons in our lives. In addition, whether in person, or online, we have participated in the celebration of the Holy Mass each morning this year. I sincerely thank the Oblates of Mary Immaculate for the profound and immense gifts of our Masses, Sacraments, prayers, and for their pastoral witness and ministry to us all. Tina Giacco Liturgy and Prayer Coordinator
