Dear Families,

We are in the process of finalizing the calendar for the next school year. I wanted to inform all of you some important dates before the official calendar is given out in May.

The school auction is just a week away and we are so excited to have the auction live and in person at the Westin this year. Auction Chair, Laura Bonner and her auction committee have been working hard in preparing for our fun event to help raise money for our school. If you have not signed up for the auction, we would love to have you join us and sign up NOW at the following link: Auction Sign Up . Thank you for your support of our school, faculty, staff, students, and families. We look forward to seeing you on April 9th. If you have any questions about the auction, please contact Laura Bonner at auction@stlouiseschool.org

I began with the best of intentions, but I am not sure what I'm doing or what I want to be doing. Can my Lent be 'rescued"? Can a six-week journey be completed in the remaining next two-to-three weeks - waiting for my heart to be open? Of course, the answer is “yes.” It doesn't take long for God, when we are ready. 

The first step to beginning again has already begun, if I have the desire for something real during Lent. A therapist once said that "we get better when we get tired of not being better." This isn't the same as "guilt." Feeling guilty for not doing much about Lent won't get us very far. What we need is a real desire - a real sense of expectation that God has something for me to hear, to learn, to change, and I want to be ready to listen. This desire can co-exist with fear, with resistance, with bad habits that have been obstacles in the past. God doesn't need much of an opening to begin to free us and show us a transforming love.

Now I can turn to the Lord, with some real, concrete desires. Now I can practice waking up each morning and naming a desire - while I'm putting on my slippers, or taking a shower, or getting dressed: "Lord, it feels so good to be honest with myself before you. Let me know your presence today. Help me face the challenges that will be there today. Give me some more freedom to make different choices, and act on the graces you are giving me, to refrain from escaping, but rather to give myself to loving, as you have loved me." Imagine all the different prayers like that - one minute long - that would shape our day! With these desires to let God's grace transform me, then I can pause before going to bed each night, and look back through the day to thank God for the places I felt God's presence and help.

If we have a plan, we are more likely to follow it. That plan can have the following elements, which will give real purpose in vitality to our Lenten experience.

God is offering us more than we can ask or imagine.

      

 We have wonderful volunteers at St. Louise School, and each June we honor 3 of them with the Volunteer Extraordinaire Awards. I am asking both you and the faculty to nominate volunteers to be considered for this award. Nominees should have a history of dedicated, positive volunteering for the St. Louise School community. Past recipients of the award (who are still current school parents) include: Rebecca Nightingale, Joni Hoffman, and Ingrid Flaat. Do you have a fellow parent(s) to nominate? If so, please send your nomination to Mr. Fuerte, along with an explanation of why the person deserves to be considered. Thanks for your help!

Blessings for the Lenten Season!

Mike Fuerte