The end of an era - the beginning of life.

On April 2, we end the third quarter. Grades are due on Friday. For the Seniors here at PC, it means that there is less than two months remaining - you hope :o) - in your high school careers. It's the end of an era. You and those you have gone to school withfor the past four, eight, or twelve years are all going to be moving on to new and exciting parts of your lives. In many ways, life is just beginning for you.

It is really weird. As I was thinking about what to write for this post, I received an email about the planning of my 30 year grammar school reunion. Now I know I am getting old - 30 years. But I began to think back, remembering the friendships, the feuds, those that to this day I still consider family. Thirty years ago, I don't think I ever even thought about where I would be in 30 years. But the friends I made in eighth grade, the friends I made in the next four years in high school, then the friends I made in college - though I have not seen many of them for a long time - all helped to make me who I am today. It's because of them and many of my teachers that I am in a classroom at PC today. And I need to thank them for helping to make me to be who I am right now. In a sense, they were "co-creators" with God. By helping to shape and form my life choices, they let God speak through them. They are a part of my life forever.

In Isaiah 64:7 we read: "Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands." God, the artist - the master potter, used my friends to make me who I am. He does the same with each of us. But we need to remember, sometimes we like what has been created, sometimes we do not. But it is our choice who we let influence us. As you journey out of high school and into college and beyond, into the real world and real life do yourself a couple of favors:

1. THANK YOUR FRIENDS that you have now. Thank them for helping you to be the best you that you can be. Thank them for being "co-creators" with God.
2. SAY I'M SORRY to those friends you have hurt or lost because of argrument, fights, disagreements, stupidity, selfishness. Let them know that you will always be greatful for them and always love them - simply for who they are or were in your life.
3. CHOOSE YOUR FUTURE FRIENDS WISELY. Remember they will be just as important to you as your current friends are.
4. THANK GOD, THE POTTER, for creating you and your friends. He made us to be in relationship - to have friends.
5. POST YOUR COMMENTS...

A homework assignment for the homeless - Features

A homework assignment for the homeless - Features

A MOMENT OF SILENCE

It's Thursday morning - just at the end of homeroom. It's still quiet in my classroom. It's rare that we get a chance for quiet. I know in my own life, quiet-time is a choice I have to make. It is very often in the quiet that I meet and encounter God in new and exciting ways.

If you are looking to experience God in the quietside of life, try the BETHANY RETREAT on April 3 and 4th. See me... your religion teacher... or Miss B for a permission slip.

Lent 2009 - Beginning in the Middle

Today is Monday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent. It's cold and a bit windy, but the weather seems to desire to become more Spring-like as we head further into the week. Well, for the first time this Lent I actually got to school on time for daily morning Mass. It's never too late to turn around and begin anew. I have wanted to go Mass, but either traffic, late-nights, or total laziness have kept me from changing my heart and experiencing God's love for me every morning during the first few weeks of Lent. My prayer for everyone for the next couple weeks, as we journey toward the most sacred time in our Church year - Holy Week, is that we wake up each and every day to experience God's love and life in our lives.

As the psalmist proclaims in this morning's Responsorial Psalm (Ps. 30:2,4,5-6,11-12a,13b):

I will extol you, O LORD,

for you drew me clear

and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;

you preserved me from among

those going down into the pit.

Sing praise to the LORD,

you his faithful ones,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in,

but with the dawn, rejoicing.

"Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;O LORD, be my helper."

You changed my mourning into dancing;

O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

Looking for music to enhance your journey through Lent, try Spirit and Song on Demand (http://www.spiritandsong.com/musicondemand) from Oregon Catholic Press (http://www.ocp.org/). It's a great place to help you to turn around and begin again.

Faith and Media - Finding Christ in Popular Culture

Well this is it. I am actually creating my first blog - thanks to my Faith and Media students. I figured it was about time that I use the same technology that I require them to use in class. I adapted the class this year taking it beyond the mediums of music, movies, and television to include Ipods, the Web, Blogging and Pod-Casting (both audio and video). A real challenge for me to learn as I hit my mid forties. But I caught the bug to become more media savvy or literate in graduate school last semester at Seton Hall. The course just got me thinking. How can faith reflect what we find in contemporary media today? And that's where I begin today...

How can I (and my students) use contemporary media to help us find Christ in the popular culture of today?

There are four sites that I am encouraging my students to look at and explore over the next couple of days: Jesus Goes to Disney Word (http://jesusindisney.blogspot.com/) by Fr. Austin Murphy - a priest/campus ministry from the Archdiocese of Baltimore); Catholic Youth Ministry Blog (http://www.dscottmiller.com/) by Scott Miller - Office of Youth Ministry from the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Cardinal Seán's Blog (http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/) by Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap, Cardinal-Archbishop of Boston; and Theology of the Body Taught at the Street Level in Six Lessons (http://tobonthestreet.blogspot.com/) by Father Samuel Medley.

Look over these sites. See what they have to say about faith, social justice, the dignity of life, the dignity of the human person, media literacy and how your can relate to them. And tomorrow in class we will take it from there.