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Dear Parents,
This past Saturday was another highly spirited one in our gym as seven of our basketball teams played their games there (thank you, coaches and assistants, for your hard work with our athletes!) While I thoroughly enjoy watching sports games (in case you don't know, I am very competitive - field hockey and track were my sports), one non-athletic aspect that I love about the games is the presence of families - parents, siblings, grandparents, and even aunts and uncles cheering enthusiastically for our young people and enjoying each other's company.
Not infrequently, families mean babies - infants and toddlers who are also super fun to watch. Among the spectators this past Saturday was a newborn - I think I spent as much time watching this beautiful little one as I did the game...
Many of us can relate to the experience of being captivated by an infant. Yes, we love babies because they are cute, adorable, charming. I think we fall in love with babies because they so readily accept our love - babies respond to even the tiniest gestures of love and attention.
Not surprisingly, when God chose to become human, He did not choose to skip the years of infancy which are largely "unproductive." In fact, it may well be that Christ's infancy is as powerful a period as His years of ministry - His infancy speaks a message which touches our deep need to love and to be loved, a need to which Pope Francis alluded in his Christmas homily two years ago:
On this holy night, while we contemplate the Infant Jesus just born and placed in a manger, we are invited to reflect. How do we welcome the tenderness of God? Do I allow myself to be taken up by God, to be embraced by him...When we realize that God is in love with our smallness, that he made himself small in order to better encounter us, we cannot help but open our hearts to him, and beseech him, "Lord, help me to be like you, give me the grace of tenderness in the most difficult circumstances of life, give me the grace of closeness in the face of every need."
Here at the "big school", we do not have newborns, but we have many equally precious children of our Heavenly Father. Every day, even on these "high-energy" days before the Christmas holiday, our teachers love being at school with your children. (I am being perfectly honest! Just yesterday, during my midyear interviews with our teachers, one of them shared with me: "You know, sometimes I get stressed out, and then I get into the classroom and I am with the children, and then I remember why I am here, and life is good.") Those who choose to serve within the field of education are really a very special group of people. Over the past month, two retired teachers who are parishioners at St. Catherine's reached out to me to offer their services - both are recently retired and want nothing more than to work with children within a school setting again. I would venture to say that in very few professions do retirees clamor to return to their work place to volunteer soon (or any time) after they retire.
As we approach the great feast of the birth of the Son of God, I invite you to take some time to thank God for blessing us with a school-parish family which treasures every "little one" of God. I also appeal for your continued support, in very specific ways: one, by contributing to our Annual Fund; two, by writing a posting a review of our school on one or more of the popular school review sites; and, three, by spreading the good news about our school among your neighbors and colleagues. Specific information on how to help with these initiatives is included in this Siena Scribe.
Please know of my gratitude for your support.
With continued prayers for a grace-filled Advent for your families,
Sister Mary Jacinta, O.P.
Principal
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