Come to the Water & Quench the Thirst
Welcome back. We are entering into another exciting year. Last year, we celebrated the Centennial. We did it many times and in many different ways. There was a great party in November, the launch of the Centennial Campaign, a special celebration mass early in the year with the Archbishop and the Dominican nuns who started the school, the beginning of a planning process for the future, and a year-end Centennial Open House mass with the Archbishop and the planting of a time capsule (which will be opened in 50 years) at the foot of the flagpole. Long time, and much loved former Principal Kris Brown, was here for that ceremony. We actually achieved a great deal and we should all be proud of that.
But this year is just as important. You see this is the beginning of the next 100 years. We celebrated the accomplishments of the past, but we are now laying the foundations for a new future. And, as always, we continue to prepare the young minds, bodies, and souls that you have placed in our care: to be ready for that future; to become servant leaders in that future; and to build a world that is much more equitable, peaceful, and spirit filled than the one into which they have been born. I believe that the generation seated before me successfully met that challenge, as did the generation from whence you came. But alas, the world has become much larger in terms of our perception of it. And because of increased knowledge and the immediate communication technology offers us, we know more about other people and other beliefs. The challenges and conflicts we face as a planet are becoming more serious because of the awesome power many hold in their hands. And the unresolved results of those challenges and disputes threaten our very existence as a species.
Our children are becoming aware of these realities at much too early of an age. Technology and the speed of transportation brings all of the horrors of life around the world to us with a speed that has not been known before. The underbelly of man’s inhumanity to man is more readily seen than it was in the past.
The challenges our youth will face in their future may be more intense and complicated. And we have to realize that raw intelligence alone does not hold the answers. It is true that as part of our planning at Holy Rosary, we brought in a new Math program last year. We are introducing a new Language Arts program this year, and we will be bringing on a new Science program next year with the intent to announce ourselves as a STEM school. We are also updating our national testing with a more challenging test that is more in line with today’s expectations. These additions bring more rigor and offer a greater richness in an already excellent program. They are all aligning us with the new Common Core standards. Our introduction of iPads in Grade 3 and eventually expanding that program beyond allows us to both enrich the academic materials we offer and to diversify when needed to the different levels of progression students have. I am, at times, not sure that we are all aware of how much we, how much you or have done within one short year and how much we will continue to do. All of this is directed at increasing the intellectual growth of our children.
But as I implied earlier, intelligence alone does not hold the answers. That intelligence must be intimately and integrally infused with wisdom. And the roots of wisdom are born in the soul.
Compassion, integrity, mercy, forgiveness and generosity are rooted deep in that spiritual part of us. And those roots must be watered constantly. The youth of today must have a bank of knowledge to be successful in the world of tomorrow and they must know how to find the answers that are not immediately accessible to them. There is simply too much for them to know everything. But they must also have the wisdom to correctly apply what they know. Everything is no longer simply right or wrong, black or white. And that is where a school like Holy Rosary can really provide an additional, an immense advantage in helping a child become the type of adult the world needs: the type of adult our loving creator God intends for them to be. The type of adult that has positions and beliefs, who knows where they stand on issues and why! We must, however, all work at this together because way too many people in our evolving world can find themselves rudderless in the stormy seas of life in this day and age. What good does it do if a child is an A+ student and a fantastic athlete and popular if they are also a bully? What good does it do if we do not pay attention to and heed that which our children thirst for in life and we only give them what we think they should thirst for? What good does it do if we are not able to listen to and hear what our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, our spouse, any member of our household really need, to quench their thirst for a more fulfilling life because we want them to only drink from the cup we offer? And possibly that cup for them is the “poisoned Kool Aid”.
We may be starving their souls rather than nourishing them.
There may be a reason that many of our youth are attracted to some of the popular movies and TV series like Supernatural, Dominion, God is Dead that portray a God that is absent or has left the scene. They do not see or talk about or challenge themselves with the true reality of that God. We do here at Holy Rosary.
I share with you as I shared with the staff and the students: I am not waiting for the Second Coming. I am waiting for the Great Awakening, I am waiting for each of us to realize that God is alive within each of us. Right here, right now! We are his hands, his feet, his words, his energy in the here and now. As the Nazarene carpenter said over 2000 years ago: “Wherever two or more of you are gathered together in my name, I am there in your midst.”
All we have to do is connect each to the other and carry on his holy mission. The world will rock to its very core if we do…no…when we do! That is what we teach here at Holy Rosary. That is what we talk about. That is what we act on. That is one of the additional ingredients our children, your children, have as they go out into life. It empowers. It strengthens. It gives meaning.
Help us. Be in communion with us. Speak well of us, and the world will be a better place, not just for this generation, but for future generations.
When we step to the other side of the void we will not be asked our net worth.
When we step to the other side of the void we will not be asked how many goals we scored, baskets we sunk, races we won or home runs we scored.
When we step to the other side of the void we will not be asked how many people we were in charge of.
No, we will be asked if we used the talents God gave us to their fullest for the sake of others, to make the world a better place. And if we do, we will be joyful people, we will be happy people, we will be people who others want to be in relation with. We will not be the disgruntled walking dead. And that is an extra that we teach here at Holy Rosary School and at every Catholic School.
And you know what? That counts for something. When you consider eternity, it probably counts for everything.
So I thank you for being here. I thank you for your support in this sacred mission, this Holy Quest. I thank you for all you have done, and I thank you for all you are about to do. Let us continue in this adventure. Together.
Thank you and
God bless you all.