Dear Families,

Lent – A time for Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving

Last week, I touched upon praying and the importance of prayer, especially during a time of need. Fasting, along with prayer, and almsgiving, are the three spiritual disciplines of Lent and all work together as we prepare for the joys of the Easter season. Fasting adds an important piece to prayer life. Fasting is also about detachment – separating yourself form something that you have become overly attached to. For me, it’s my daily run to Starbucks and my indulgence of sweets. I think I have been attached to coffee for a very long time. I have reduced my trips to Starbucks and started having coffee at school during this Lenten season. It’s a way of reclaiming your spiritual strength and regaining some balance in your life. Practicing some denial of our wants and needs in small ways can help us grow in self-discipline and the ability to put off momentary comfort for a larger, more important goal. What have you been overly attached to? For your children, have they been overly attached to their phone or their devices? As we continue with Lent, let’s take the time to separate ourselves from something we are overly attached to and really think about our faith and commitment to God. 

SLE of the Month – February (Class Updates)

• A St. Louise student is a community member who honors the gifts of others and values the dignity of each person. 

In second grade, students started a fun Kindness Bingo Challenge. The goal of the bingo is to promote students’ awareness of intentionally reaching out and helping or showing kindness to not only their classmates, but other schoolmates at St. Louise, teammates, and family members. Examples include: thanking someone for something nice they did; teaching a classmate something new; and inviting someone new to sit with and play with them. 

In Mrs. Green’s library classes, the students learned about genre, biographies, and where they are in the library. Fourth and Fifth grade students practiced looking up biographies in Destiny, and on the shelves. Students learned that biographies help them learn about the gifts and accomplishments of others. Students in fourth grade participated in an activity called Black History Month Scoot. This is where they worked with partners to find 30 different mini-biographical cards posted in the library and match them to the correct name on their worksheets. The students learned about individuals that they might not have known before. 

Volunteers and donations needed for Taco Tuesday during Standing for Haiti Week

St. Louise School is looking for volunteers to help with our Taco Tuesday fundraiser for Standing with Haiti on Tuesday, March 21st, 2023. Please help us out by donating items or helping. If you can help out, please sign up HERE. 

Annual Fund

Thank you to all the families who have already made their commitment to the Annual Fund! As of yesterday, March 8th we are at 25% of our school families. As you know, we work very hard to keep our tuition as accessible as possible for our community, yet we need to compensate our teachers for all their hard work providing the excellent education we have come to expect. The Annual Fund is one of our fundraisers that helps achieve that goal. Keep an eye on the “Pot of Gold” bulletin board in the school lobby to see it fill up every day with the generous donations of our families!

If you haven’t had a chance to make your Annual Fund donation, send in your check today or click here to contribute now.

Have a Blessed 3-Day Weekend,

Mr. Mike Fuerte

Principal

Announcements

Fundraisers

Parish

Dear Friends at St. Louise,

As you know, at Sunday Mass we listen to a three-year cycle of readings. Over the period of three years, we hear from a portion of every book in the Bible. This year we are listening to the Gospel of Matthew, next year we will hear from Mark, and in 2025 we will turn to Luke. There are weeks in each year when we also hear from John’s Gospel.

This year, we will hear from the Gospel of John today and on the next two Sundays of Lent. These particular passages are always read every year at those Masses at which we celebrate the scrutinies, which are rites for the Elect in preparation for baptism at the Easter Vigil. These Gospel passages are meant to “scrutinize” or uncover how God’s healing is working in our broken world and with our broken hearts.

Since for these three Sundays we will hear from the Gospel of John, the fourth Gospel, we need to be aware that John’s Gospel is written so that people may come to believe. We see the amazing works of God described in the first three Gospels (the Synoptic Gospels) now shaped by John the Evangelist into signs that lead people to believe in Jesus as the true Son of God.

• The story of the Samaritan women at the well is a masterful story of how Jesus gently, and yet with real purpose, exposes the woman’s sin and leads her to believe in him – because he “thirsts” for her to “drink” of the faith he is offering. And she drinks so deep that she in turn evangelizes the people of her village! (Jn 4:5‑42)
• In the story of the healing of the man born blind, Jesus does something that no‑one has ever done before. Witnessing this also leads people to believe. (Jn 9:1‑41)The raising of Lazarus from the tomb, after he had been buried for four days, is a powerful sign that also leads people to believe in Jesus as the resurrection and the life. (Jn 11:3‑7, 17, 20‑27)

How do we experience Jesus offering us a “drink” of deeper faith in him? How do we experience Jesus helping us to see with eyes of faith? How is Jesus calling us out of the tomb of sin and death?

If can you do nothing else for Lent, at least spend time praying over even one of these three Gospel passages. Try to imagine yourself as the Samaritan woman, or the man blind from birth, or Lazarus in the tomb. Allow the Lord to speak to you as he spoke to them. We all thirst to have our sins forgiven – we all long to have our eyes opened, so that we who have been blinded by Original Sin may see with new vision – we all long to come out of the tombs that keep us powerless to free ourselves from what binds us.

May the Lenten season lead us all to deeper faith!

Fr. Gary Zender

“The holy example of Jesus Christ who, while upon earth, honored St. Joseph so highly and was obedient to Him during His life, should be sufficient to inflame thee hearts of all with devotion to this saint.”

– St. Alphonsus Liguori

Pre-K celebrating 100 days in school, the old fashion way!😊

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess! The day was filled with lots of Dr. Suess activities. We read stories, made rhyming pairs, and counted to 100 by 10’s using our Dr. Suess hat cut outs. We also graphed goldfish crackers based off of the book, One, Fish, Two, Fish. We even looked at Dr. Suess’ website and made The Cat in the Hat artwork.

Our 4th graders wrote Leprechaun Stories they collaborated with their first grade buddies.

What a cute picture of the first game ever in the history of St. Louise for the 3rd grade boys! 

Congratulations to JC & Anais Fawcett! Happy 25th anniversary.

4A Person of Faith presentations. Students devoted a month to studying a Christian who could serve as a role model for how they should live their lives. They then had to dress like that individual and tell the class about them using notes. They were very capable and professional.

Widodo Karli Family

Morris/Herber Family

Antezana Garvizu Family



Coles Family