Mission Update – Term 4 Week 2
This week we have been celebrating Arts Week in the College. It is one of my favourite weeks, with so many shows and celebrations occurring, and it brings back many memories of my own time in school when I used to take part in the choir and the concert band.
The Music Collective and Dance Showcase, to which I always bring my daughter, especially reminds me of just how much unseen dedication sits behind these great moments of joy and beauty. I am sure many students have been rehearsing since the beginning of the year, with countless hours of practice, for a performance that may only last a few minutes. Our younger students in the audience might find themselves wondering, ‘Why go to all that effort?’ Why indeed. I think these moments capture something that is very Marist – our love of work. In the Marist tradition, love of work means giving our best effort in what we do, not for recognition or reward, but because our hard work is an act of love, service, and faithfulness. It is the perfect way to give glory to God by using our gifts to be our best.
For some reason, as I was watching the Music Collective in particular, I was struck by the thought of prayer. Just like rehearsing a piece of music, prayer often takes patience and persistence. It can feel repetitive and even unproductive at times…almost as if nothing is happening or we are standing still in our development. But every time we show up in prayer, just as every time a student practices their part, something within us is strengthened. Our relationship with God grows quietly, like skill grows through practice.
I think the Arts and prayer have a lot in common. They both have the capacity to shape the heart, they both take many forms, and they both have a way of revealing beauty that already exists, but that we sometimes miss. They also take discipline and love, and are both most beautiful when they become less about the performance, and more about the person we are becoming through them.
So, as we celebrate the creative gifts of our students this week, perhaps we can also be inspired to approach our own prayer lives with the same steady dedication, trusting that even the smallest moments of effort can create something beautiful in time.
Mr Stuart McClorey
DIRECTOR OF MISSION & CATHOLIC IDENTITY