Reflection: We’re living in unprecedented times where our ‘normal way of life’ has been completely and utterly disrupted. You might be finding it hard to process and express what you’re thinking and feeling. So our prayer for today is based on phrase from Psalm 46,‘Be still and Know that I am God’ It is often difficult to be still and to get away from the noise and activity that is part and parcel of the world we live in, particularly during the pandemic. But silence and solitude are necessary practices in an individual’s spiritual journey so that we can come to know God.

The first Christian hermits went off into the desert, as Jesus had done, in search of God. As the prophet Elijah discovered in his cave on the mountain, God is not in the wind or the earthquake or in the fire but in the silence of the gentle breeze.

The psalmist also says ‘God is the still small voice within.’ So often our lives as so noisy we can’t hear that voice. 

“Being still” is not simply sitting in a quiet room or away from audible noise. It speaks of us reducing to silence all those forms of noise, thoughts, distractions, and clutter that could prevent us from hearing that still small voice. 

The Psalmist goes on to say, “and know that I am God”. The definition of the word “know” really brings depth to what is being said here. We should take the time to be still and reduce to silence everything that distracts us from knowing Him. It is also important to know that in your stillness and silence, God is there to walk with you and support you.

PRAYER

God of stillness and quiet, 

you are the still point in our fast-paced, frantic world. 

Help us to stop; 

to rest a while in you; 

to experience your presence and to bask in your love. 

Help us to know You and recognise that in the stillness you are always with us. 

We ask this in Jesus' name. 

Amen. 

Term One's integrating Focus' role model, Veena Sahajwalla, is an excellent example of Catholic Social Teaching of Care for our Common Home. 

NSWSTATE RECIPIENTAUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR2022

The students have spent time in the first week of school learning about Veena Sahajwalla, and the valuable contributions she has made to our environrment. 

She is a materials scientist, engineer and inventor, who pioneers research into waste – turning it into a new generation of green materials and products. She does this as the Founding Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology at the University of New South Wales.

Veena is most well known for her invention of Polymer Injection Technology, or ‘Green Steel’. In 2018, she launched the first of many MICROfactories.

She leads two national research and industrial transformation hubs, the ARC Microrecycling Research Hub and the National Environmental Science Program Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub. Veena collaborates with leading universities and institutions, plus industry and community groups, to develop and apply new recycling science into real-world environmental and economic benefits. She’s been instrumental in raising the profile of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in Australia, enhancing public understanding of its importance. The students have “I look at hard rubbish and I think ‘How can you throw that out?’”