'"The kingdom of God is in your midst.' It is not spectacular," said Pope Francis. "It grows in silence, in hiding, through witness, prayer, and the attraction of the Spirit." Good words to remember when we go along in our days seemingly uneventfully. Most of the time we don't know how we have touched someone's life as we simply go about our day, but know that, even though our activities may not be spectacular, we are building the kingdom of God nonetheless.
Our 7th grader, in telling us how to quietly witness, gives us a pointed way that pulls on Saint Teresa of Calcutta who said many times, it's not what we do that matters most, but that we do it with great love. Read to the end the 7th grade essay as she will tell us how to do these quiet, unspectacular things with great love.
Radical Community Care
by Raven
Two ways I think that we can do Radical Community is we can have a huge canned food drive. A canned food drive would give the opportunity for kids to actually bring canned food versus giving it in the buckets in church. Also, we could make food and, we, as a school community, could serve the homeless people and bless them.
Two weeks ago, with Thanksgiving break coming up, the 7th graders watched a video on how the turkey got its name as well as the variety of names given to our native bird around the world. For their faith reflection gratitude was the focus and it was not surprising that their reflections leaned heavily toward being thankful for their families. They also were thankful for: "I can pray with others."; I'm thankful for going to mass each week."; "I am thankful for God - he gave me life."; "I'm thankful for the gift of prayer. It helps me calm down when I'm anxious."; "I'm thankful that I can play my guitar in mass for God."
To learn some of those other names turkeys are called around the world and why, watch the short video 7th grade watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR0nT0GrpZ4
It's not too late to bring in blank Christmas cards for the Office of Restorative Justice at the diocese. Cards will be given to prisoners to send to their families. Both brand new boxed sets of cards or individual cards are greatly appreciated. Cards are also needed in Spanish. All cards must be plain cards - no glitter, pop-ups, ribbons, musical cards, or other items that can be removed. Deadline is Monday, Dec 3rd. Please bring cards to Mrs. Alhadef.
Thank you
Mrs. Alhadef
Campus Minister