A Great Week

My son, forget not my teaching, keep in mind my commands; Proverbs 3:1

Today begins the crazy, fun, joyful week known as Catholic Schools Week!  Catholic schools across the country will be celebrating the gift and the blessing of Christ centered education.  I am so thankful for the chance to teach in a Catholic School.  It’s absolutely a gift to be able to incorporate Christ into every conversation and activity that makes up my day.  Some worry about the right time, or the right opportunity to mention Jesus or faith and I realize I often take for granted that I can talk about it all day AND get paid for it.  

This year is far from normal and not much is familiar or predictable so I think that’s why Catholic Schools Week is so exciting this year…we know how to laugh, we know how to celebrate and who doesn’t love a week full of activities and dress up days!  It’s a break in the strange and a return visit to light-hearted and silly.  We aren’t playing candy bar bingo in the parish hall tonight with a full house of families eating hot dogs and winning giant Snickers bars but tomorrow we’ll play for smaller candy bars via zoom in our classrooms.  We won’t hold the annual Dodge Ball Tournament but we will play different games together.  We will  have Adoration in the gym instead of the cozy chapel and we’ll have a Bible Themed Carnival one classroom at a time. As I was buying supplies for carnival and the Lost Sheep game which involves getting the lost sheep (mini marshmallows) back in the pen with a straw, a lady approached me in the check out lane laughing wondering what on earth I was doing with 20 bags of marshmallows in my cart.  When I explained she laughed and said God Bless all of you and I hope you have the best week ever…the kids have earned it.  She was absolutely right about that! As we head into a week of fun,  I didn’t want to be the only one enjoying some laughs today so I thought I’d share a few Catholic School Student comments.  Some are from my students, some are borrowed from other teachers but all of them demonstrate the joy of the child.  

• If the Apostles were such good guys, why did they go around chopping things up? I had to point out that it was the ACTS of the Apostles not the AXE of the apostles.

** I’m sorry honey, the song Silent Night does not contain the words “Round Blonde Virgin”

• No, the Deacon said “Go forth and preach the Gospel!” Not, “Go forth and preach the gossip!”

**The Psalm response states, “The Lord is kind and merciful.” Not, “The Lord is kind of merciful.”

**Hosanna in the highest is correct; Lasagna in the highest is not.

**The Holy Ghost is not a cousin to Caspar even if they are both friendly.

**I understand there was no room at the inn but hotels. com wouldn’t have been a thing 2,000 years ago…no honey, it wasn’t because the wifi wasn’t strong enough.

**No, I wasn’t there the night Jesus was born, that was a few years before my time.

When every day includes faith and kids its’ a winning combination!  I want to thank all those who support Catholic Education.  There are so many who sacrifice time, energy and money to make the work we do possible so please know that you will be included in our prayers of thanksgiving this week.

A Seed To Plant:  Take some time this week to pray for all children in schools everywhere!
Blessings on your day!