What Students Are Learning About

This week, students across the school learnt about the appearances of Jesus.  The Resurrection of Jesus is the most incredible and amazing thing that has ever happened! But Jesus still had a lot of work to do before he returned to his Father in Heaven.  He had to prepare the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit. There were still so many things the disciples had to learn. The disciples did not fully understand what had happened to Jesus. They did not know why Jesus had suffered and died.  The disciples needed to understand why he had risen from the dead.  They had to be ready for the big job ahead of them.  So, Jesus appeared to the disciples over a period of forty days. 

Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, 'This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.'- Luke 24:45-47

Catholic Life and Reflection

I was helping a new student choose a book to read from the class library, pointing out the many series that we have to offer.  The student surprised me by asking “Why do you have so many copies of those green books?” I replied: “They’re bibles”.  He curiously asked: “What is a bible?”  There are many answers to that question.  It is something that we teach students from the beginning of their Catholic education.  It is one of my most favourite topics to teach!

We teach your children that:

The Bible is a very old book, a very special book, a very sacred book. The Bible is the most important book in the world. It has many stories in it. The Bible is not just one book. It is a collection of 73 books!  The stories are about God and His people.  It is like God's family album in words instead of pictures.  These books have been put into two different sections. 

The books of the Old Testament were written before Jesus was born. They prepare us for Jesus. They are about God and His people.  There are many great stories in the Old Testament. We read about the things that happened to God's people. We learn about the journeys they made.

In the Old Testament we find out how people learnt about God. We discover that people loved God. And we also discover that people disobeyed God.  We read about how much God loved people. And we learn that God forgave people when they disobeyed Him.

We learn stories of the Jewish people, the Ancient Israelites whose stories appear in the Old Testament of the Bible, are stories that describe God's special relationship with them.  These were the stories that Jesus would have known because he was also a Jew.

The New Testament was written after Jesus died. It has many stories about Jesus. We learn what Jesus taught his friends. We read the stories Jesus told. And we discover how Jesus helped his friends.

In the New Testament we read that Jesus died on the cross for all people. That was God's way of showing how much He loves us.

Jesus came back to life. This is called the Resurrection. He went home to his Father in heaven. This is known as the Ascension. Because of these things we are friends with God again.

We learn what happened to Jesus' friends after he went home to his Father.

In the New Testament we read about how we can be good and holy.  As Christians we are called to care for and respect others and all of creation, to be faithful to God, to trust in God’s plans for us, and to be happy and live life to the full.

Rebecca Stevenson

Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)