Yesterday 1 November we celebrated All Saints' Day with a very moving and uplifting Mass under the windy COLA, followed by a picnic lunch and had some time for open classrooms . We also took the time as a parish school community to recognise those wonderful Grandparents, and other special people in our lives, who share with their loved ones the gift of love and support.

The purpose behind celebrating Grandparents day on this special feast day is so that we all can be reminded of the fact that we can see the ‘saintly’ attributes in the face of those we interact with each and every day. The term 'Saint' can apply to each of us as we strive and stumble to imitate Jesus Christ in our lives. Fr Peter Tien, during his homily, reminded us all of how blessed we are to have wonderful grandparents and other special people who provide the example of sainthood through their qualities of generosity, kindness and unconditional love.

The gospel reading was the famous scripture passage, ‘The Beatitudes’. During this passage Jesus uses that lovely phrase, ‘Blessed are they …’ which is sometimes translated to ‘Happy are they …’. After Mass I reflected on how “Happy are we …’ to have so many people who give so generously to the life of St Anthony’s and the sense of community that was observed throughout the day. As I looked out onto the playground and saw children, parents and grandparents having a picnic lunch and enjoying the company of each other, it brought a smile to my face and reminded all of us of the true sense of what it means to belong to the wonderful catholic community called St Anthony’s.