“
We are living in complicated times....”
The alarm went off this morning. Twice! The radio came on and those were the first words I heard. To begin, it is usually a struggle to get up and unlock the Church for “Midnight Mass” on any given day. The temptation to turn over and fall back to sleep was greater than usual.
So what do we do when we want to turn back over? Faith...We look to our faith! The theme from our
Praise for Parents
gathering on Monday raced into my mind. We find faith & hope or on some days it finds us through God's grace.
On Monday, we took a deep dive into the question "what defines our faith," and many of us realized that when we encounter the “Valleys” of our lives, aka struggles, we arrive at a fork in the road where we must chose to look up or to look down. When we look up, we find our strength and perseverance and we really learn what we are made of. These "valleys," where we are challenged to find faith, often determine the course and direction of our lives and we are transformed in those moments.
Taking a deeper dive, we then asked, "where do we find our faith?" Overwhelmingly, we agreed that faith is found in the love and friendship we find in one another. Many also said they derive faith from the purest love they receive on a daily basis--- their children. For me personally, as your school chaplain, I find faith in seeing a loving and wonderful staff nurturing the STCS children in the light of God.
When we concluded our hour together, I had an epiphany...this is how the magic happens at St Theresa! We are a community built on putting God, children and friendship at the forefront of our lives. In the "Valleys," we gain strength from one another by showing up and stepping up and being present for one another. In these moments, we are transforming our lives together as a community built on faith. In our "Valleys," we stand together because we know that we "rise by lifting others."
Ok, I get it! I get it! The desire to roll over, as strong as it was, weakened. The priestly component of what we offer at our school needed to do his part; to get up and add to helping all of us to do what each of us does-Build. To continue building up our community and school for OUR children, for each other and for our future...I look to all of you and I find my faith in you!
We rise by lifting each other! Thank you and have a great week!
~Father JC
