I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I was growing up I used to ask a lot of questions. I don’t remember doing it, but my mother tells me I did and she’s right most of the time. I stopped asking so many questions at some point, so she must have been right about the answers she gave me too… most of the time. Some of the trickiest questions kids ask their parents have to do with God. Where is God? What is God like? Who made God? I love substitute teaching for grade school religion classes here at All Souls. They are genuinely curious about God, about the Catholic faith, about how the liturgy works, about the sacraments. It’s refreshing for a Catholic Priest to know that there are some people who want to learn about the faith. It’s also refreshing because when you have to answer a child’s question about God you have to keep it simple – and God Himself is simple, so if you can keep it simple, you will benefit from what you tell them. Life is like that: as we grow up, as we experience more things, as we are regularly confronted with considering more details and a bigger picture, as we are faced with people who think or respond in different ways, we become increasingly aware of the complexity of existence.
Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Do we still seek wisdom? After all the time we spent in school, after all the lectures and explanations we’ve heard about every possible subject – after the extra time and energy we put into learning about the subjects we actually care about – what’s left? We read all the controversial things about which everyone has an opinion – but is it better to know more or to know less? On the one hand, we can only be happy if we know certain things – specifically, good things. Knowing is an unavoidable part of being human – it is something we start doing before we’re even born. On the other hand, knowing other things can make happiness impossible – at least seemingly. We receive a formal education at school about different subjects: math, science, language, philosophy, art. Life experience also causes us to know more. At a given point, for most people, we accumulate an amount of knowledge in different areas that we deem sufficient. Curiosity wanes in general, though we may still maintain interest in a few select areas, such as wine, sports, technology, history, art, religion, etc.
Saint Matthias, apostle
Senior Induction Mass at Mullen High School
Let us Remember…
Dear Friends in Christ and fellow Mustangs,
Today we gather for an important purpose. We recognize and confer on our Junior class the title and role of Seniors. This is an important event for our community, this is a rite of passage, and this is a call to greatness. As LaSallian seniors, your community expects something from you. I remember at the beginning of the year – this very strange and challenging year – when we spoke with the different grade levels during orientation about how we could live out our core principles. The freshmen were fairly quiet as most hadn’t even heard about the core principles before. The sophomores were able to name the core principles with a little prompting, and the juniors – you – had them clearly in mind. When we split into groups to get creative feedback and ideas about how we could continue to have: a concern for the poor, an inclusive community, quality education, respect for all persons, and faith in the presence of God, I was moved by the response and attitude of our graduating seniors. They didn’t just have good ideas. You could tell by the sound of their voices and the look in their eyes that they wanted the year to go well and they were willing to work to make that happen. They were not passive observers, they were not victims of circumstance, they were ready to take the bull by the horns and fulfill the leadership role that we needed from seniors.