Let's pray for our teens and our children, that their minds and hearts might slowly turn from the rhythms of summer to that strong cadence of skills that bring about the joy and good of learning: to listen (with attentive mind and perceptive heart); to think, to ponder; to analyze the data; to question; to read and read and read (seeing the written word as a doorway and as a time machine); to write, creatively, critically, passionately; to study with fervor; to practice daily the beauty of mathematics and language, music and the arts.
Though the weather and our A/C thermostats say differently, the "Fall" season is upon us, and all that begins with the academic year begins now. This is a shock to the system, a shock that involves all of us.
Though the summer air remains hazy and heavy and the days, sticky and hot, school days are here again! It's summer all over the place, but the children and teens of our parish family are back to school this week. Watch the insanity of manufacturers, as they try and sell "Fall clothes" in the South... in August! Watch the insanity in ourselves, as we try and make this month of August "the Fall."Let's pray for our teens and our children, that their minds and hearts might slowly turn from the rhythms of summer to that strong cadence of skills that bring about the joy and good of learning: to listen (with attentive mind and perceptive heart); to think, to ponder; to analyze the data; to question; to read and read and read (seeing the written word as a doorway and as a time machine); to write, creatively, critically, passionately; to study with fervor; to practice daily the beauty of mathematics and language, music and the arts.
Though the weather and our A/C thermostats say differently, the "Fall" season is upon us, and all that begins with the academic year begins now. This is a shock to the system, a shock that involves all of us.
All of us? How so, you might say. I've been out of school for years... this back to school talk doesn't concern me! But it does... and here's how.
We are called to the school of the Lord. In the "yes" of our baptism... seen in our attendance at Mass today... we each proclaim I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He is The Teacher, and shows us the Way... to life, to love. We are the students, learning from the Lord a new kind of living, a new way of being human. We are called to a life-time of learning... about who we are... about who the Lord God is. The spiritual renewal we are being called to... this renewal is the beckoning of the Lord Jesus... to begin again, to seek first the Kingdom... to enter the school of the Lord... a disciplined life of following Jesus of Nazareth.
And what are our tasks for this school? What are the subjects? Pray and work, study and fellowship and service. We are being called to do great things in the smallest acts of love, to become the flowering of God's presence for the stranger, the fruit of God's love for the neighbor, the freedom of God's joy, in the blessing of mercy. In this school of the Lord, we are called to stay connected to the Vine of all life (the Lord), to experience salvation in that connection (as living branches of the living Vine) and to become His instruments, as we bear the fruit of faithfulness (John 15.5). This the Lord promises, in and through the Spirit... present in the Church... present in our hearts.
Please join me in this new beginning... in the school of the Lord... to seek the spiritual renewal of our parish: by opening our hearts in prayer; by reading the Word of God daily; by regular celebration of the Sacraments of the Lord's Presence and mercy; by the corporal and spiritual works of the Lord. Let us begin again... this Fall.
AMDG
Msgr. David Talley
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