Peace is a Gift that Keeps Giving

Mercy Light: Believing

Christmas. What images and feelings do this word conjure up for you? Street pageants in the city and suburbs, and crowded stores brimming with brightly dressed Santas? Fairy lights glowing like fireflies in front windows and gardens? Insomniac children, wide-eyed with anticipation on the great night, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of Santa, stealthily going about his business of filling oversized stockings? The counter-tops lined with cards and tinsel, the decorated tree in the corner of the room? And, of course, the sounds of Christmas: endless replays of traditional songs, and carols? All of these things signify a special time in our busy year where, if we don’t exactly stop, many people at least pause, to celebrate and express the message: “Peace on earth for all people!”

We are all aware that our world needs peace. Each year, the Liturgy Committee, led by Faith and Mission Coordinator, Ms Elizabeth Boylan, identifies a liturgical theme for the St Aloysius College community to celebrate. This year’s theme, ‘Called to Peace’, is an invitation to pray that the peace of Christ will live in our hearts, that we will respond to God’s call to be instruments of God’s peace and that we will receive the blessing of God’s peace.

The thread of peace was woven through Masses and liturgies throughout 2024, culminating in a beautiful Advent Liturgy on the final day of the school year, marking its closure. Ms Boylan explains the importance of Christianity’s Advent wreath ritual, and the lighting of the wreath’s candles in weeks preceding Christmas.

“This week, we light the first of the four Advent candles to celebrate the beginning of a new liturgical year. The light of the candles reminds us that Jesus comes into the darkness of our lives to bring newness, life and hope. The first Advent candle represents hope. Hope is about believing in the possible despite evidence to the contrary. In the midst of adversity, we cling to hope.”

Across three decades as a teacher at St Aloysius College, Ms Boylan has gifted hope to many students, particularly through sharing her love of literature as an English teacher, and, of course during her time overseeing aspects of Religious Education. Reflecting on the vision of Mercy Foundress, Catherine McAuley, Ms Boylan says, “We see turmoil in our world which is crying out for peace where there is war, injustice and civil unrest. Catherine McAuley said that, ‘We should be like shining lamps to all around us.’ Advent offers us the space to reach out in solidarity and compassion with all those who are suffering due to war, famine, homelessness, displacement of persons and degradation of the earth. To be sources of hope for others and to sow seeds of Mercy in our world.”

From Ms Boylan’s leadership of an Amnesty International Group in the early 2000s, to her advocacy for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, volunteering with students during previous mission trips to Argentina – there’s no stone of Mercy unturned by Ms Boylan. Next year, she will enjoy a new beginning, stepping down from her role as Faith and Mission Coordinator, while continuing to be of service to the community through many projects and groups to which she belongs outside of SAC.

Looking back on her time at SAC, immersed in this Mercy spirit, Ms Boylan says, “I am grateful to have had the good fortune to have spent 30 years of my career in a Mercy school. Teaching English and Religious Education has afforded me the opportunity to engage young people in learning about a whole range of social justice issues and supporting their social justice initiatives. Young people feel passionate about structural injustices in society and have the capacity to be strong advocates for the most vulnerable. The Sisters of Mercy are such wonderful role models for all of us. From the Sisters’ example we learn that the most important thing we can do is listen to the most vulnerable, walk alongside them and give voice to their experience until they can speak for themselves. When the voiceless can speak for themselves, then we know that the dignity of which they have been stripped has been returned to them.”

Ms Boylan has organised countless donation drives for Catherine House and Sister Janet Mead’s Adelaide Day Centre over the years. Speaking to the spirit of Advent and Christmas cheer, Ms Boylan says that, “supporting our Mercy works is one of the ways in which the St Aloysius College community is a source of hope. Many donations have been left in the school foyer this week to fill some of the 2500 Christmas hampers which will be delivered by the Adelaide Day Centre to families in need all over Adelaide. At St Aloysius College we have been doing this successfully and must continue to do so, as it is the way in which faith and life are integrated for many young people today.”

With the lighting of the first Advent candle to close 2024 as a community, we honour the completion of a year, and look with anticipation to new beginnings, however these manifest in the lives of students, families and staff. In coming weeks, as people brave the queues in shopping centres amid decorations of tinsel and festive jingles, we pray that in the spirit of Christmas, members of our community pause to consider those locally and worldwide who may not have a place of peace, or who do not feel peace within themselves, and we pray for all hearts to be open to giving and receiving the gift of peace. We wish everyone a safe, happy and blessed Christmas and New Year.

Ms Maddie Kelly
Marketing & Communications Team