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As students progress through the grades at IHMS, they eventually reach a point where they’re independent enough to use a bible on their own for scripture reading and research. That point of independence is reached by grade 4 when they receive their own personal bible, the “Good New Bible” during the school’s October Liturgy. |
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Grade 4’s experienced a sense of community |
For some of the grade 4’s, this is their first personal bible. For many others, however, it isn’t. Students attending catechism classes often receive a similar bible a month earlier in September. But the October Liturgy is special because the grade 4’s experience a sense of community with their classmates and with the rest of the school by receiving their bibles together as a class.
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| This is similar to the sense of community that the grade 2 students experience after receiving their first communion as a class in June, even though by that time most of the grade 2’s have already received Holy Communion in their respective parishes a week or two earlier. |  |
Receiving the “Good News Bible” is a milestone event for the grade 4’s. It’s a requirement for their religious program, and is used by the students throughout their stay at IHMS. For many students, it’s their first personal bible, so in addition to being a useful tool for religion classes, it also carries a lot of sentimental value. When they finally leave IHMS at the end of grade 8, the graduates take their bibles with them.
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Most people would probably agree that the Bible can sometimes be difficult and complicated to read and understand. For younger and inexperienced readers, this is even more of an issue. To solve this problem, a simpler, modern translation called “The Good News Bible” was created for this purpose. |
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| The grade 4’s were presented with their “Good News Bible” on Friday, October 26th during the school’s monthly Divine Liturgy at Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral (photo below). It was an important day for the grade 4’s – they had practised and anticipated this day for a long time. | 
A page inside the GNB |
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| Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral |
Mrs. Wdowiak and the grade 4’s spent a lot of time preparing for the October Liturgy. First of all, they made a list of intention topics for each class from grade 1-8. Each homeroom teacher then chose and wrote an intention based on the topic selected (this is typical for all monthly Liturgies). Also, a student from the class responsible for the Liturgy usually reads the Epistle, but in this case the entire grade 4 class recited the Epistle together from memory. At the end of the Liturgy, everyone sang the lyrics to the song “Good News”.
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| The grade 4 class reciting the Epistle from memory |
The presentation of the bibles took place after the Epistle. First of all, Msgr. Michael Buyachok blessed all the bibles. Next, Mr. Picklyk, the school principal, called the students individually to come forward to receive their bibles – “the Good News of Jesus Christ”. Finally, a preselected grade 4 student read the special intention about the class receiving the Good News Bibles.
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| A few of the grade 4 students at the altar receiving their Good News Bible |
Since the presentation of the bibles is such an important milestone event in the lives of the grade 4’s, there were a lot of parents and grandparents present at the Liturgy. Every bible was personalized with an individually created bookplate on the inside listing the student’s name and date of presentation.
The grade 4 students enjoyed preparing for the special occasion, and at the end of Liturgy, the entire class posed in front of the altar to have their photo taken with their “Good News Bibles”.
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| The grade 4 class posing at the altar before receiving their Bibles |