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Dear Families,
We have all transitioned to a new reality. Our catechists have worked overtime to switch from in-person classes to being online with digital delivery. I want to thank them profusely for taking up the challenge and drawing upon their dedication to your kids to think through new methods and learn new skills and software.
Today or tomorrow, you should get a plan for your child in each grade. There will be four at-home lessons to conclude our year.
Thank you in advance for helping these lessons to go forward and be successful.
As we live through these times, we begin to realize that are all in this together. If you are not going out to work, I'm sure it might feel confining.
 About five years ago, I had the chance to do a 30-day retreat in Rome, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. On my retreat, I left the apartment every day to go pray in a different church in Rome, I had to shop for groceries, I took the bus and tram, I went to mass, of course, and I met with my director for an hour. Compared to this experience, I was a social butterfly!
One of the things I learned in my retreat was that I really can't write the script for my life. Yet, in every step, God is with us and sustaining us.
In that light, I'd like to
share this word of encouragement with you from Cardinal Cupich, about looking for the hidden graces of this time:
The grace of knowing our fragility. You hear it said that young people take risks, sometimes really awful risks because they feel invulnerable. Well, it's not just young people who feel invulnerable. Even those of us who can count many years in our lives march into each day feeling in control and ready to master whatever we will face. Our sense of mastery over life is an illusion. We are fragile and vulnerable and not in control, even if we are not conscious of that. The grace of knowing our fragility in the time of the virus puts us in touch with a necessary trust and surrender into the hands of the God who made us, who has faithfully walked with us and who one day will call us home.
Our parish lives will continue from afar for the time being. You can watch the masses at both St. Emily and St. Thomas Becket online.
Here is the link to our previous email with suggestions for how to view mass at home and also praying for forgiveness when we cannot go to confession.
Magnifikid, a subscription publication, has made their materials available online for free during this time. Check it out. It is a wonderful way to involve your child in the Sunday mass readings and prayers.
The daily Scripture readings at mass can be
found here.
This
nighttime prayer
might be a good resource to settle your child into bed with assurance and to allay anxiety.
Please also keep in mind that both parishes (any parish) pay salaries and bills with the funds you donate. (And fundraisers have been cancelled for the immediate future.)
Please keep up your parish donations, if you are able, even if we cannot gather for mass.
You can donate electronically to
St. Emily here
and to
St. Thomas Becket here.
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