Look beyond

The Gospels are filled with stories of transformative encounters with Jesus, just as our own experience of the love of God changes us and renews hope. This transformation urges us to ‘look beyond’ to see the world and each other differently.

The 2025 Marist Schools Australia spiritual theme is Pilgrims of Hope: Look Beyond, which reflects the Pope’s message for this Jubilee year. Pilgrims of Hope is a theme about a journey with and toward a God of love.

The lower image of the 2025 theme artwork is from Kannagi Nagar, India. It is a diverse population with many suffering from the effects of displacement and unemployment because they live in a neighbourhood with a tainted reputation. A series of murals was commissioned to change perceptions about Kannagi Nagar and positively affect the image of the neighbourhood and the city’s collective imagination.

The mural of two children drenched in sunlight was painted as a way to humanise those living there and capture the core spirit of the urban landscape, characterised by the life of its young people. In the smiling faces of the mural, the young people and residents began to see themselves differently. In viewing themselves in a new light, it also led to a transformation in the way the community saw itself: full of life, with hope and a future.

Fr Emil reminded staff at the Opening Mass that Catholic Educators help students to Look Beyond themselves and to be open to God. When we look beyond ourselves and move outside our comfort zone, we become those seeds that Jesus says fall on fertile soil and produce a harvest (Mark 4:26-34).

Nathan Ahearne
Assistant Head of School - Mission and Identity