● Thanks to the following families for providing a special Lunar New Year luncheon for our students on Jan. 31st.
The Le family (Alan Le - Senior)
The Dang family (Daniel Dang - Sophomore)
The Hand family (Francis Hand - Junior)
The Vu family (Matthew Vu - Sophomore)
The Tran family (Luan Tran - Freshman)
The Tran family (Jonathan Tran - Sophomore)
The Nguyen-Tran family (Kevin Nguyen-Tran - Freshman)
The Truong family (Louis Truong - Sophomore)
● Thanks to the very many families who helped promote the school these past several months. Our Entrance Exam this past weekend was a huge success—a total of 34 applicants! Thanks to those parents, teachers and coaches who spoke at the Open House.
Financial Aid Applications Due: Please begin submitting your financial aid renewals for the 2012-2013 school year. Applications must be received by PSAS prior to February 1, 2012. The application may be found on our school webpage in the Admissions section or by opening the following link: http://stmichaelsprep.org/images/stories/Admissions/psas_financial_aid_application.pdf
Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 4, Section 6
SECTION 6: CONDUCT GRADES
Conduct grades are given each quarter. The formula used to calculate a conduct grade is the following: Room Grade - Demerit Deduction + V.I.P points.
Room Grade: The Room Grade is the average of the “Room Check” grade and the “Room Job” grade. Each dorm room is inspected daily for order and cleanliness, and the room is then given a weekly “Room Check” grade. Each room is also given a weekly “Room Job” grade based upon the thoroughness of completing an assigned evening cleaning job (e.g. vacuuming the dorm hallway). Each occupant in a given room receives the same Room Grade.
Demerit Deduction: Conduct Demerits and Detentions are described in section 7 below. With regard to the conduct grade, the Dean will determine the exact deduction to be made for demerits received by a student in a given quarter. Factors considered include the number, gravity and frequency of the demerits.
V.I.P. Points: (V.I.P.=Virtue Incentive Program). For charitable deeds done for fellow students and for the school, students may be nominated to receive VIP points. The nomination may be made by teachers, administrators, or student leaders. The determination of how many VIP points to be awarded will be determined by the Dean of Students. VIP points do not take the place of “school service hours,” i.e. ordinary labor that each student is expected to contribute each quarter to projects like school thank you notes, home athletic events, Open House events, etc.
A student’s conduct grade, as his academic grades, is available online by means of the school’s internet-based grading program.
This Week’s Photos: Soccer
Birthdays This Week: Feb. 3rd: Jonathan Unterman
Sports This Week:
Parents, game cancellations due to rainy weather will be posted on our school calendar.
Tuesday, Jan. 31st: Soccer vs. SVCS @ STM; 3:00 p.m.
Basketball @ Eastside Christian; 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 2nd: Soccer vs. Fairmont Prep @ STM; 3:00 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4th: Soccer vs. Avalon @ STM; Double match; 12:00 p.m.
Homily of the Week by Fr. Victor Szczurek, O. Praem.
Among other things, Fr. Victor is the Assistant Headmaster and teaches Latin and Greek.
Sts. Titus and Timothy—“Holy Madness”
Although this last passage from St. Mark is not, perhaps, the smoothest place to end a reading of the Gospel—And they thought that He was out of His mind—nevertheless it can provide us with some material for meditation—after all, it is the revealed Word of God.
C. S. Lewis once said concerning our Lord, "You must make your choice. Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." Christ’s teachings, deeds, life and death were far from ordinary, you might say far from normal. And the reactions of those who knew Him attest to this: either they accused Him of being crazy and having a demon, or they confessed Him as their Lord and God, but no one from His day seems to have mistaken Him for just some normal nice guy. St. Bede commenting on this passage of the Gospel said: "Since they could not take in the depths of wisdom, which they heard, they thought that He was speaking in a senseless way." There is no middle ground open, either one bows before the supreme wisdom and power of God, or one rejects it as total madness. But don’t look for some sort of lukewarm teaching on the lips of our Lord.
When St. Peter and the Apostles, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, stood up on that first Pentecost and boldly taught the sublime truths of our Faith, some accused them of being drunk because of the abnormality of their behavior and their doctrine. Some accused them of
drunkenness, but others, 3,000 says Sacred Scripture, were converted tothe Faith that day. And thus began the history of the Church, who’s teaching is not of this world, and whose greatest members are often termed psychotic by the world but saints by God. We have become a spectacle to the world, writes the Apostle...We are fools for Christ’s sake (1Cor 4:10). Think of “God’s Jester,” St. Francis, divesting himself in the open air of Assisi in order to teach the world the fleetingness of riches; or St. Ignatius of Antioch witnessing to the truth of the Resurrection by looking forward to being ground up in the mouths of lions; or St. Joan of Arc, who, like her Divine Master was accused of having a demon. The world may call them insane; yet we know that it was charity that urged them on and that their behavior was a result not of madness, but of holiness. Their actions were not approved as normal; but that’s because they were testifying to a doctrine far beyond the limits of this world.
The people in today’s Gospel can certainly be reprimanded for thinking our Lord crazy; but at least we can be sure that His teaching came across loud and clear. It is this boldness in preaching and living out the Christian Faith that St. Paul tried to encourage in the Bishops Sts. Timothy and Titus, whose feast we celebrate today: God did not give us a spirit of timidity, St. Paul teaches them, do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord. The Apostle was not instructing them to call attention to themselves by performing extravagant feats, but rather, to present unflinchingly to the world the fullness of the Faith, with all its other-worldly, politically incorrect, abnormal teachings. May Sts. Timothy and Titus obtain for us the grace to live and proclaim boldly our Catholic Faith, “in season and out of season.”
In publishing this homily, we hope to share a portion of the spiritual treasure by which the students are enriched every day. However, this homily may not be reproduced by the parents or friends of St. Michael’s without written permission of the author.
Prayer Requests
● Mrs. Gretchen Augustyn, who suffers from severe back injuries.
● The paternal grandfather of sophomore Andrew Bonello who is hospitalized with a broken hip.
● Mrs. Marge DeClue, past parent-league president, who has declining health.
● Mr. Glenn Emanuel, a member of the Norbertine Lay Order, who has a serious heart condition.
● Jodie Meschuk, wife of Coach Aaron Meschuk, who is expecting.
● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.
Pray for the repose of the soul of Patrick Wynne, great uncle of Stephen Deaton
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