Good luck as you teach your students and children well in faith and wisdom.  It is truly the most important curriculum we have.

Opening Remarks:

Our first quarter of school has ended.  And lots of activities had wrapped up.  We have our procedures in place. Sports seasons have ended. As has our holidays in Saint Frances Day, the Eve of all Saints Day, All Saints Day, and many other activities and events. Many things are going on in our school community right now.  They are beginning:

The Book Fair, Honk!, the Returning Thanks Breakfast, Grandparents Day, Basketball Season, World History Day, Thanksgiving Day.  And any, many other events. So, somethings have ended and some things have started.

Everything has a beginning and everything has an end. This is true with everything except God. God always was, is now and will always be.

Everything will eventually wear out. Our buildings will crumble.  Our big ships will rust away, our bodies will die.  All things material will pass a way.  But God will not pass away.

Reflection

In today’s Gospel, people were commenting on how extensively the Temple of Jerusalem was adorned with riches.  Can’t you hear them talking right now?  “Oh, aren’t those jewels wonderful! Isn’t that room adorned with all that gold, magnificent!”  And they were really going on about.  And in response, Jesus said there will be a day when there will not be left one stone upon another in this temple.

And that brought about a conversation about the end of the world.  So, today we’ll talk about the end of the world, what lasts and what does not, and what we can do it.

Gospel Lk 21:5-19

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here–the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

“Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.  You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.  By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

In this gospel, here are some point to discuss with your children and students. Remember to ask “open ended” questions in age appropriate ways (critical thinking) in addition to your own family beliefs (solidifying beliefs).  If you would like assistance in any way, just call.

1.  Nothing on earth is permanent.  (Word Wall: Impermanence) Can you name some great monuments or people that are around anymore? People are not permanent.  We are born and we will die.  That is the cycle of life. Treat people with great love and know that one day they will have to leave you or you will have to leave them.

2.  A whole lot of people will predict the end of the world.  Don’t pay any attention to them.  Can you name some times when people predicted the end of the world? Live your life like the world will end tomorrow. Live your life by doing the “next right thing.”

3.  There will be wars and destruction before the world passes away.  Ever since Cain and Abel, humans have been at war each other.  Jesus came that we have life, peace and joy and have it in abundance. He has shown us the way to peace. What are you doing to be peacemakers?  How can you be a better peacemaker?

4.  Many people will be persecuted because of being my follower and believing in me. The martyrs are great saints. What is one Christian martyr that you are particularly impressed with?  Just like the martyrs, our character is not defined in the easy times.  It is defined in the difficult times.  These difficult times help us grow.  When they come: Stop, Pray, Reflect, Study and then….Act. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

5.  Have faith and perseverance. Christ has assured you that he will protect you. Remember Jesus said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”  Study, Pray, Reflect and Act courageously upon Jesus’ words.

In the great cycle of life, everything has a beginning and everything has an end.  Just like our school year, the end of one phase is simply the beginning of the next.  Whether or not you are physically living on this earth, know that your soul is knitted to God in a fabric that can never be worn out and will last forever and it has no end.  Your soul is a spark from God that eternally rests in God’s love. You are God’s child.

In closing, let’s praise and thank God for His great gift of life to us.  Let’s pray for others and ourselves every day that we may be aware of God’s will for our lives and then have the courage and commitment to live it….despite what may happen tomorrow or a year from.  Cycles, event, building and people will come and go, but God’s love of you will never disappear.

Good luck in teaching your children and students some of the rich lessons in the Gospel reading.

Love and prayers,

Steve

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Becoming Holy, Refusing to Fear!

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

We first want to welcome our wonderful friend, Monsieur Jean Luis, director of the Maison Fortune Orphanage who is with us today.   How wonderful to have our friend and inspirational leader with us here today!

Here is my can of food that I will contribute to feeding the poor in our city and would ask you to remember to do the same every Wednesday. It is not much but when we pulled together and each do our part it can be very much.  Just like the loaves and the fishes, when they were all gathered up at the end, there were 12 baskets filled with what remained. We give these cans of food to the Catholic Worker, a Catholic social justice organization that is run here in Norfolk by Martin Baggerly’s parents. The little sprouts also give their vegetables to the Catholic Worker as well.  The Baggerly’s help feed the poor of our city.  They are inspirations to us all.

By the way, they Catholic worker needs an automobile.  Please send the word out and pray that they receive one.  They are doing great work and they need a car to fulfill that work well.

I would also like to thank Mr. Jim O’Brien for giving me and the school a wonderful copy of his sister’s new CD called “Saints and Sinners.”  Very much appropriate for our celebration today as we talk about “All Saints Day.”   Mr. O’Brien is a wonderful friend and benefactor of St. Patrick Catholic School and we deeply appreciate his support.

Today’s Gospel is actually the Gospel not for the upcoming Sunday, but the Gospel for Monday, All Saints Day which is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Catholic Church.  A Holy Day of Obligation means that Catholics are expected to go to Mass on that day.

By the way, we are all aware that the Celtic Council is sponsoring a wonderful door decorating celebration in recognition of all the saints who have gone before us and who are living with us… those heroes who have been or are exemplary in following Jesus.  Of those Saints we have many that the Church has proclaimed as “patrons” of special causes.  And most of your classroom and office doors are decorated in celebration of those patron saints.  Let us celebrate them and all saints recognized or not who are showing us how to live holy lives as Christians. Thank you Celtic Council for your leadership.

Let us stand up and listen to the Gospel for “All Saints Day.”

Gospel

The Gospel is on Jesus and his first discourse and it is called The Sermon on the Mount. No doubt he said a lot more than what is in the Gospel concerning the Sermon on the Mount, but this is what has been captured for history.  There are eight “beatitudes” that Jesus offered the crowd and us in the sermon.  It still speaks to us as clearly as it did when Jesus uttered them for the first time.

Good, holy people have been living Jesus’ beatitudes since that time and we have many wonderful examples of them. Let’s go over a few. We have much to learn from them and how to be holy.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:

1.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

St. Francis of Assisi

2.  Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Mary, mother of Jesus

3.  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

4.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed Mother Teresa

5.  Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Saint Cecilia

6.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Bishop Oscar Romeo, Mahatma Ghandi

7.  Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

St. Maximilian Kobe

8.  Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

St. Stephen, first martyr.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

You are called to be holy.  Being holy means being courageous.  It means being “countercultural.”  To do things that other people will not do because they are afraid that society will think poorly of them or will reject them.  Being holy, means being a saint and being a saint means this being courageous.

It means standing up for life and protecting life.  Whether that means protecting the rights of the unborn. Whether that means protecting the rights of the old and aging.  Whether that means protecting the rights of people not to be ravaged by war.  This is part of what it means to be peacemakers!  That’s what it means to be a saint.

Being saints means to take a stand and expose injustice in whatever form we find it.  That may mean taking a stand politically on unfair tax laws or it may mean standing up for someone who is teasing another.

Being a saint means feeding the poor, taking up for those who need your support.  Whether they are in your classroom, on your ball team or your fellow brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Being a saint means sharing what you have. Whether that is cans of food, money, toys and clothes you don’t need or even giving your hair that another person needs more than you do.

Being a saint means to respect differences and even celebrate them. Differences in the color of our skin, differences in our country of birth or the culture we have dissented from, differences in the way we speak, differences in the gifts we bring, and differences in how much we have.  Being a saint means knowing that we have these things for a short period of time only before we have to give them back.

So being a saint means following the beatitudes!  Let’s call them the “BE ATTITUDES!”  That means, we choose our attitude!  We choose to BE holy, to BE courageous, to BE of service, to BE a child of God and a follower of Christ.

We choose it every day, every minute every second. We choose to make someone’s day.  We choose to have a good attitude. We choose to give our classmates the benefit of the doubt. We choose to keep a smile on our face and joy in our heart.  We choose to be a light. We choose not to criticize, blame or complain.  We choose to be good problem solvers and seek always a win-win solution.

Points to Ponder:

1.  Read the Sermon on the Mount with your children. Ask them how they might follow the beatitudes.

2.  Speak to your children clearly your stance/belief against racism and other “isms”.  Explain to your children WHY these are wrong.

3.  Help your children in refusing to be afraid in the face of injustice.

4.   Use the school’s belief in your own home of not criticizing, blaming or complaining (CBCing).  Instead tell them how to be good problem solvers in addressing things that they see as issues.  Remember CBCing does nothing to help the issues. Determining and acting on what “I can do about it” teaches children to (as M.Ghandi) taught “be the change you want in the world!”

5.  Plan with your children how they can be better nonviolent peacemakers in the world.  Start with little things like not watching violent television or using violent video games.

6.  Explore with your children ways that your family and/or classroom can better live the beatitudes!

I hope this provides you some thoughts in working together to build up confident, compassionate, productive and, yes, holy young men and women!  Good luck and God bless you and your wonderful families.

With love and prayers,

Steve Hammond

13 October 2010

The Gospel today and the one upcoming this Sunday indicates that Jesus had a sense of humor.  In this parable that he told his disciples, he spoke of a woman that nagged a corrupt judge into granting her request.  Jesus is telling us that if a corrupt judge listened to this woman’s nags and begrudgedly granted them; surely God, who loves us unconditionally, will listen to our prayers and answer us. Jesus is encouraging his disciples to pray and to ask God to assist them.

There’s much to be learned and much to teach children and students from this passage. The first is, Jesus had a sense of humor.

Lk 18:1-8

Gospel

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’

For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’”

The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?

I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Chapel Reflection

As we break into this Gospel, keep in mind that Jesus’ encouragement for us to pray is intimately linked to “The Life of Spirit.”

The Life of Spirit: Spiritual Growth

Students of Saint Patrick Catholic School will develop a personal spirituality based on prayer, faith tradition, relationship with community and living their faith in the world through service.

About ten years ago, I was helping a school board build a high school in California and a lady came to me and said, “How do I pray?”  I was touched by her sincerity.  She had been brought up in another faith tradition and she was struggling in her prayer life. Today we’re going to talk about prayer, what it is and how you can pray better.

This Gospel of Jesus where he tells us a cute parable of a judge who doesn’t really care for God or people but finally gives a lady what she wants because she nags him half to death.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” I guess.

There is lot of lessons to learn from this funny story from Jesus.  Remember, Jesus’ stories never stop giving because Jesus is God, God is love and love gives by its very nature.  God gives unselfishly by God’s own nature.

Jesus’ major theme in this story is asking God in prayer what you want.  Jesus is saying ASK for goodness sake.  ASK God to help you with what you want and need.

It reminds us of another saying of Jesus in Matt. 7: 7-11. “Ask and you shall receive; Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened for you.”

But there is one caution I would offer you right off the bat and many people fall into this trap.  Pray is more than just asking. Don’t fall into that trap.

In the Catholic Church, we have such lovely prayers to recite, memorize and pray.  And you learn these prayers in your time here:  The Apostle’s Creed, The Nicean Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Hail Mary, The Glory Be and others.  I hope you learn and memorize many prayers.

But I also hope you simply pray from your heart as often as you can.  Give your life to God in prayer. Prayer is Communing with God.  Remember that God is always speaking to you. So, if there’s no conversation, tell me: who’s not listening? And who’s not speaking?

So, what about prayer?

Our School Prayer:  Can anyone recite it?

Prayer is Praising God!  What can we praise God for?

Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon: Saint Francis

Prayer is Thanking God! What can we thank God for?

How do we thank God in our school?

Prayer is Serving God!  How do/can we serve God?

Prayer is Meditating with and in God!  Being quiet and listen!

Prayer is Living a holy life and offering it to God!

And, yes, prayer is Asking God to help us and others.

When you ask God for something:  KNOW WHAT YOU WANT and remember the JOY principle when you do ask.  It is OK to ask God to help you meet your needs but be sure what you are asking is something worthy of God.

Use our four problem-solving questions to help you determine a something you want to ask God assist you with.

1. Reflect upon what you want.
2. Reflect on what am you doing to get it.
3. Is it working?
4. Get a plan to get it!

Remember God helps those who help themselves.

And be careful what you pray for!  You might get it!

Reflection for parents and teachers:

Here are some suggestions that you might find useful in your own prayer life and in teaching your students and children to pray.

1. Encourage your children and students to reflect upon what they want out of their prayer life and if what they are doing in their current prayer life is what they want. That may result in them making a plan to pray a little more. Remember, that plan may take years to come to fruition. As teachers, you are planting seeds and often teachers will never see the harvest.  So be patient and encourage children to reflect.  Be verbal in what YOU believe and model it.  Pray with your child and students every day.  One day they will be glad you did.

1. There are many forms of prayer. At school we teach children to memorize, standard prayers as well as extemporaneous prayers.

1. In standard memorized prayer, start with the standard prayers:

1. i.    The Apostle’s Creed
2. ii.    The Lord’s Prayer
3. iii.    The Hail Mary
4. iv.    The Glory Be
5. Other standard prayers you may wish to consider:
   1. i.    The Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope, Love
   2. ii.    The Road Ahead by St. Ignatius Loyola
   3. iii.    The Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon by St. Francis of Assisi
   4. iv. Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, Saint Francis Prayer
   5. v.    Visit: http://www.yenra.com/catholic/prayers/

1. Teach children to pray from the heart. Here’s a very fluid form you can model:
2. Praise and glorify God.
3. Thank God for the blessings in life: Name them.
4. Ask God
   1. i.    to follow Christ’s Will.
   2. ii.     to assist others.
   3. iii.    for personal requests.
   4. Close your prayer in the name of Jesus.

1. Here is a wonderful website for you by the Jesuit Media Initiative!  It will guide you on a ten minute prayer/reflection/discernment for the day.  I love this site and use it often.

http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/

I hope you enjoy and find helpful this podcast and this written commentary.

Blessings and gratitude,

Steve

Wednesday,  29 September 2010

Chapel Reflection

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

Hello teachers and parents:

On most chapel days I will post a blog and a podcast on the school website.  The blog will give the basic text of the chapel reflection and the podcast will provide you the actual reflection. In order to teach our students powerful, common messages together, I would ask your help to reinforce the chapel reflections in your classroom and in your homes.  Everyone will do this a little different, depending on what speaks to you and what your child seems to need at the moment.  But when we can come together for the good of the children and “speak with one voice” to them, it creates a powerful voice that will be meaningful in their lives.  The chapel reflections are always organized around the Gospel reading for the next Sunday.

Some people have not had the opportunity to work with children around scripture.  That is perfectly okay.  Today is a great time to start.  Pedagogically, (big word which means teaching and learning), remember that the question is your most powerful tool as a teacher. When you question, it places upon the student the opportunity to think critically and deeply (age-appropriate, of course) and this is at the core of what we do in the learning process at Saint Patrick Catholic School.

———————————————-

Good morning to everyone young and old and welcome to the first chapel of the year.  You know, this time of year is all about “laying tracks” for us to ride on for the rest of the year.  When you think about it, every big freight train runs on steel tracks.  And as powerful as the train is without the tracks, it simply cannot run.  It  cannot go anywhere.  Isn’t that funny (isn’t that ironic)… something as big and powerful as a train can only sit there and do nothing without tracks to run on.

The tracks that we “run on” as a school are the procedures that we come to understand and practice.  Do you know what a procedure is? A procedure is something we do in order that we can be safer or faster or smoother. Procedures are extremely important for all great teams whether they are schools or athletic teams or business teams or military teams.  Procedures help us “make it happen” and “get it done.”  Can you think of some procedures that you have been learning and will be practicing during the first month of school?  Can you think of procedures that you use in your athletic teams?

We also have procedures in chapel so this is a good time to talk about what chapel is designed for and what we do inside a chapel.  Let’s go over some of the important things about a chapel. Here are 12 important things about chapel that will help you understand better and participate more.

1.)  First, the whole school community is welcome at chapel.  Yep, that’s right.  All students, all teachers and staff, all parents and all friends.  The only group that we do not have in chapel is the four-year-old students and that’s because they’re just a little bit too young to sit for 45 minutes or so.  But kindergartners do a great job and we’re already proud of you kindergartners!

2.)  We have chapel every other week.  In the intervening weeks we have something much more important than chapel and that is Mass or Eucharist. This is very special and we will talk about that soon as well.  But right now we are focusing on chapel.

3.)  Our chapel is a school-wide prayer where we all come together to be happy and give thanks to God, to ask God’s forgiveness, and to study Jesus’ words (of Love and Truth) so that we may live a holier, intelligent and happier life, to learn about the Catholic faith and to pray for others who need our prayers.

You see, prayer is just the name we give to communicating with God.  Some people think prayers are only words, but we know here prayers can be many other things that show God that we are listening to and living “the way, the truth and the life”  (Jesus is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”).

4.)  Greetings from a student leader to begin the opening (Processional) Song:

I would like to introduce you to our liturgical choir leader and cantor, Mrs. Rickie Jean Lynch.  Mrs. Lynch teaches in the middle school and has led youth choirs for many years.  And to the choir!  You can be in the choir starting in the 4^th grade if you like and the choir practices on Mondays .  I would also like to introduce you to Mr. Chris Kypros.  If you do not know Mr. Kypros, you will soon. He teaches all students the joy of music and choral performance.  He is a fun person!

5.)  Student led opening prayer, our school prayer and The Pledge Of Allegiance. In this part of chapel, we recognized that students are the purpose for why we are here and whenever we get the chance to give students leadership roles and activities, we do so.  It is one way to “Identify, Nurture and Celebrate” the gifts of each and every student. You will become very familiar with our school prayer and other prayers that we will memorize.

6.)  Welcome, opening blessing and request for forgiveness: Any time a group comes together, the leader of that group welcomes everyone,  makes any special announcements and since chapel is about prayer, the leader will offer a blessing to get things started. Afterwards, we ask forgiveness in the prayer “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.” This is simply a prayer where we take the opportunity to ask and receive forgiveness for our sins in preparation for our chapel celebration.

7.)  The First Reading of the Gospel: The Gospel is the stories that four people wrote down about Jesus’  birth, life, death and resurrection. The four writers are called evangelist and they are: St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John.  Much of the Gospels have to do with stories Jesus told called parables or other things he said to people.  The Gospel reading that we use will always be the one which will be read the next Sunday.  So, the one we read here  today will be proclaimed at Mass and many other church services this coming Sunday.  We do this so that you can be greatly prepared for the reading in your church on Sunday.

I know that many of you have the opportunity to go to church on Sunday.  I also know that many of you don’t have that opportunity, yet.  I want you to know that that’s okay.  God loves you right where you are and when you get the opportunity to go to Mass or church on Sunday you will and that’s fine.

8.) Reflection on the Gospel: after the first reading of the Gospel, the leader will offer some insights into the Gospel and we usually have a great discussion about it as a community.  Mr. David Main will post our reflection as a podcast on our website where parents, teachers and other friends and you can listen to it.  You,  parents and teachers are encouraged to listen to it and continue the discussion throughout the week. Also, I will usually post chapel notes as a blog on our website for you, parents and teachers to use.  This is one way that our entire community is teaching and learning the same things together. When we all learn together, there is a special bonding and( force alive in our community.

9.)  The Second Reading of the Gospel:  After reflecting upon the Gospel for the first time, you will always hear something a little different than the second time you hear it.  That is because Scripture always keeps giving us insight.  The Word of God always keeps giving. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be God’s Word.

10.) The Prayer of the Faithful and Sung Response: This is a special time where we pray for others in our community.  We pray for those we love, for the church, for our national leadership, for peace and justice in the world. We do this together and our response is oftentimes sung.  Mrs. Anderson will usually lead us in the Prayer of the Faithful.  We call it the Prayer of the Faithful, because as a people faithful to Jesus, we understand and know the power of prayer and give our requests (petition) to God knowing that God will answer our prayer in the best way for us.

11.)  Announcements: oftentimes, we will take this time to celebrate special moments or make announcements for the good of the school.

12.) Closing (Recessional) Song: We wrap it up with a song to get on with our day and proceed in an organized and respectful way out of our prayer space.

Well, that is what chapel is all about.  A joyous time to come together and pray, learn, and remind ourselves that central to what we are about in this Catholic school is understanding and living the Gospel of Jesus.  This is something that we as a community teach our children with one voice.

Please know that it must be spoken to be believed.  So many times we think children will just absorb beliefs … without us actually speaking them.  This is patently false.  There is power in the spoken word and the spoken word brings things and beliefs into reality.

I encourage you, teachers and parents, to join with me to teach our students and children to live these Gospel lessons.  We are a team! Together we will make a difference!  Neither you nor I will be perfect in teaching them nor will anyone else.  The children will not be perfect in learning them.  So, let us just allow God’s grace to flow through us and we will teach our children happily and with confidence.  Or as we often say to the children: Do your best; let God do the rest!  Good luck!

Here are some questions that you might use with your children, but, better yet, make up your own. Of course these questions that need to be asked on age appropriate levels for children, but you get the idea.  Play around with the questions and attempt to keep them open ended questions.  Remember open-ended questions promote discussion and critical thinking!

1.)  What is Chapel all about?  What do you do in Chapel?

2.)  Why do you listen to the Gospel twice?

3.)  What was the Gospel about?

4.)  Why does Chapel study the Gospel that will be proclaimed in the following Sunday?

5.)  What are the Gospels?  Who wrote the Gospels?

6.) What are the stories that Jesus told called?

7.)  What did you learn from the Gospel today (or on Wednesday)?

8.)  What attracted you in the Gospel today?  What did not attract you in the Gospel reading?

9.)  What do you think Jesus was feeling in the Gospel?  What was the evangelist feeling when he witnessed Jesus and the Gospel?

10.) What was the major theme of this Gospel reading?

Blessings,

Steve Hammond