I hope you had a joyful Easter that included time for rest and relaxation with your loved ones.  

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It's a glorious reminder of God's transformative love.  The Easter story is a "re" story about the renewal of faith, hope, love, and promise.  As I was thinking about the meaning of Easter in the life of our school, the prefix "re" took on additional meaning - refresh, restore, reframe, rebound, refocus - all powerful words that express different parts of our journey at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School.  At this time of the school year, Easter break provides time to recharge our batteries, reframe our goals for the remainder of the school year, and reflect on the future, whether that means registering for the 2018/2019 school year or making plans to start a new journey in high school.

I recently received a wonderful blessing that helped me refocus my efforts and my attitude.  On the morning of Good Friday, several members of the faculty and staff attended the Santa Clara de Asis Good Friday Prayer Breakfast.  I look forward to the event because past speakers have impacted me in meaningful ways - they cause me to reflect and they nourish my soul.  The guest speaker this year was Dr. Henry Oster. Dr. Oster's story began when he was 15 years old, a point in his life when Heinz Adolf Oster officially ceased to exist.  He was designated B-7648 as a part of the forced labor pool of the Birkenau, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald concentration/death camps. His family was gassed and incinerated. Liberated in April, 1945 by the U.S. 3rd Army, Henry Oster became part of a few Jews who survived Nazi incarceration.  After immigrating to the U.S., Dr. Oster completed high school, graduated from UCLA, and became a professor of Optometry. Arriving by boat in 1946, he described America as not just a new place, but a new life.

Listening to Dr. Oster, I was overwhelmed with emotion.  His description of the concentration camps was both horrifying and inspiring.  His humility and thankfulness for being alive today was a powerful reminder of the fragility of life. Although saddened by the detailed description of the Nazi concentration camps, I was inspired by Dr. Oster's story about overcoming seemingly impossible challenges in life, about rising from the depths of despair to the promise of a new day, about recovering our sense of wholeness, and our sacred worth at any given moment.   

My takeaways from Dr. Oster:  Life is precious - don't sweat the small stuff.  Life is challenging - overcome challenges with a positive attitude, hard work, and perseverance.  Life is difficult - a sense of humor really helps. You may encounter bad people in life - do not waste your energy being angry or hating.  Do not let anger or hate control you. Life is what you make it - be hopeful.

Tom Waszak

Principal