|
Quick Facts:
-
Italian Dinner: Order Tix by Sunday. We need Volunteers!
- FCE going home today. Important information needs your attention including approaching Auction Procurement deadline.
- NO ELC OR EDC FRIDAY 11/8 OR MONDAY 11/11. NO SCHOOL.
Dear Families,
This week, I was asked to write my Spiritual Autobiography for one of my Notre Dame classes. I will admit, being that vulnerable, sharing my relationship with my faith, and God, with three of my professors, one of whom is a priest, was difficult. As I reflected, I thought about the many ways that our children show their vulnerability all the time, their upsets when things don’t go their way, crying if they’re injured, or sad, or frustrated, asking for help when not understanding a concept, raising their hands and risking that they might not have the right answer, or working to make friends when they’re new, or “own it” if they’re wrong. As adults, we don’t show our vulnerability as often or as easily, because let’s face it, being vulnerable is scary. Will we be judged? Or will people be curious? Will we be ridiculed or welcomed? Will we be supported or left standing alone? Being vulnerable is to take risks.
To me, vulnerability is hard if we just default to-- we are in this alone. But when we have hope in God, we can see God in the goodness of one another, and we can focus on our blessings and reasons to give thanks, more than we focus on the challenges or things that divide us. Jesus was vulnerable and it wasn’t a weakness. It was a strength. It allowed us to know that God is with us through it all. It helped people connect and to know that He was real. In my life, I have found that when I have been willing to share of myself, not only do I find reasons to be humbled, but I also find reasons to not be afraid. In fact, sometimes in the “owning” of what frightens me, it is there that I find peace. As a kid, I admittedly misunderstood the final part of the closing prayer and blessing at Mass, and assumed “thanks be to God” was all about everyone being in agreement with the squirmy kid (me) that “hurray, we get to go home!”. When I was finally old enough to understand why we say it, I learned that I was in fact, very incorrect. My vulnerability in sharing my misunderstanding with my mom actually became a cornerstone in my life, and an opportunity to realize that when I am unsure, when I am vulnerable, when I am happy, celebrating, confused or frightened (and everything in between) I find peace when I count my blessings, not my hardships. I find God because I am willing to not walk alone. I find peace in God’s grace, comfort in knowing that His plan is greater than mine (even when it doesn’t make sense), and that I am not alone, in good times or in trying times. It helps me to live like St. Francis tells us, and be an “instrument of peace” and a beacon for others. It is in our vulnerability that we find one another, and it is in our humility that we find we are never alone. I was certainly proud of our kids this week, your children, from the Veterans Day Assembly to the All Saints Day Mass, and everything in between, for their vulnerability, their leadership, their respect, compassion and love. Today, I give thanks for all that I am grateful for, because that is where I find God.
| 
