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Dear Christ the King Catholic School Community,
As we approach October we sense and realize the transformation in our seasons and lives. Autumn is a time for reflection, change, and renewal. As Catholic Christians in the month of October, we honor and show gratitude to Mary our Holy Mother for her protection and grace in the praying of the Most Holy Rosary.
The feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary is celebrated each year on October 7th and in Latin comes from the word rosarium or “crown of roses”. Pope Pius V first introduced this feast day and Saint Dominic was given the Rosary as a form of prayer. Church history reveals that the Rosary originally mirrored in numeration the 150 Psalms and included the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer with beads known as the crown and eventually shifted to exchanging 150 (Hail Marys) in place of the (Our Fathers).
My grandfather and great-grandmother recited the rosary daily and really modeled the unspoken aspects of faith while growing up. Sadly, as a child, my fourth-grade teacher Ms. Daly eventually died of a long-term illness. That year, I would often pray for Ms. Daly at the side chapel at Saint Joseph’s Church in Pinole, California. Also, I prayed for her well-being and recovery while attending weekly confession at Saint Callistus Church in El Sobrante, California.
It was at Saint Callistus church where I would stop at the statue of Mary and pray to her quietly. The beautiful/loving/peaceful statue of Mary in the back of Saint Callistus Church exists today and resides in my heart always. It is there where I became a Marian follower for life, and I have never let go of her hand, compassionate heart, and spirit that is full of grace.
I would like to share with you Mary’s most recent message on September 25, 2023, as given through Marija one of the six children that she first appeared to:
Dear children! I am calling you to strong prayer. Modernism wants to enter into your thoughts and steal from you the joy of prayer and of meeting with Jesus. That is why, my dear little children, renew prayer in your families, so that my motherly heart may be joyful as in the first days, when I had chosen you, and day and night prayer resounded -- and Heaven was not silent but abundantly bestowed peace and blessing on this place of grace. Thank you for having responded to my call.
May we always embrace Mary’s loving arms, beautiful light, and graceful place in God’s holy and eternal plan. As we celebrate the Holy Rosary, we look forward to Wednesday’s Blessing of the Animals at 11:30 a.m. in honor of Saint Francis. Further, this month's liturgical feast days are St. Thérèse, Guardian Angels, St. Faustina, St. Bruno, Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Callistus I, St. Teresa of Jesus, St. Hedwig and St. Margaret Mary, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Isaac Jogues, St. John de Brébeuf and Companions, St. Paul of the Cross, St. John Paul II, St. Anthony Mary Claret and Saints Simon and Jude.
Let’s close with an amazing quote from Saint Therese of Lisieux whose feast day begins our month of October, “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest things right and doing it all for love.”
Abundant blessings as we experience conferences this Thursday and Friday as planned,
Mr. Silveira Ed.D.
Principal
Christ the King Catholic School
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