May 27, 2012

General Announcements:

● Remember that the Commencement Exercises are on Monday, May 28, at 7 PM.  Invitations are not required and all guests are welcome.  All students must be present.

● June 1^st is the last day of school.  At 9:30 AM the “Bucket Brigade” begins:  all parents picking up their sons are asked to arrive early and pitch in to help the students clean the school before leaving.  We hope to have all the cleaning finished by noon (depending on how well everyone pitches in).  The school’s administrators will be overseeing this process.

Next School Year:

Mark your calendars now:  The first day of school for the 2012-2013 academic year is August 20.  All students must arrive by 7:00 PM on Sunday, August 19.  There will be a parent meeting in the school dining hall at 7:15 PM.

Special thanks to: the generosity of those who helped with the Graduation Reception.

St. Michael’s Summer Camp “Where all boys have fun!” Registration is now underway for boys aged 7-12 at: www.stmichaelsabbey.com

This Week’s Photos: Spring Choir Concert; Baccalaureate Reception

Homily of the Week by Fr. Ambrose Criste, O. Praem.

Among other things, Fr. Ambrose is the abbey’s Novice Master.

“I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.  In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Peace and courage.  As we get very close to the end of this academic year, peace and courage are most likely not among the primary dispositions that would characterize the students here in this church this morning, whether those students be high school students or seminarians.  Final exams and papers, and immanent graduation tend to incline students more toward anxiety and apprehension, along with a great deal of excitement, rather than peace and courage.  So here at the beginning of one of the last weeks of school, we might just let Our Lord's very consoling words sink right down there into our anxious hearts and bring us the peace and courage that will strengthen us for the academic trials immediately ahead.  And that encouragement and consolation is not just for the students among us, but for anyone who is looking for interior peace and then the courage that flows from that peace, courage to face the challenges of this world.

Our Lord tells his apostles, I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.  In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.  This peace of which Our Lord speaks in this morning's Gospel is something that He wants us to experience within our hearts; it's one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and we all receive it when we are incorporated into Christ at our Baptism.  When we feel like there is no peace in our heart, there is often a great temptation to go looking for it someplace else – I'll be at peace when the circumstances of my life are better, when these unreasonable classes are over, or when I have the luxury of more free time, or when my assignment or living situation is more to my liking.  Our peace is not to be found out there, in some illusory fairer waters on the other side of a storm.  No, peace is something that the Holy Spirit wants to teach us to discover in our hearts right in the midst of the storm.

Even as we await the coming of that Holy Spirit at Pentecost in these days after Our Lord's Ascension, we know that we already rejoice to have the Consoling Spirit dwelling in our Christian hearts through grace.  Whereas St. Paul found those disciples in Ephesus who had received the baptism of John but had not yet received the unction of the Spirit, we already have the fullness of baptism in Christ that St. Paul brought to those Ephesian disciples only later.  And what did they do when they finally received the Holy Spirit?  They spoke in tongues and prophesied and debated boldly with persuasive arguments, the first reading said.  With what great courage then can we expect to face the challenges of our own lives, we who have not only all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the very promise of Our Savior who tells us that He has conquered the world?

The martyrs whom we celebrate today, Saint Christopher Magallanes, Saint Augustine Caloca, and all their companions teach just how courageous men of interior peace can be.  They were all martyred during the terrible persecution of the Church that broke out in Mexico less than one hundred years ago.  When the anti-Catholic government closed down the seminaries, Father Christopher gathered displaced seminarians and started his own seminary, which was quickly suppressed.  He formed another, then another, and when they were all closed, he arranged for the seminarians to conduct their classes in private homes.  He didn't wait for the storm of persecution to pass before he went about the work of his priestly life, but rather he dug down into the resources of his interior peace, and forged ahead in courage.  He was arrested on May 21^st, 1927, while he was on his way to celebrate Mass, and he was executed without a trial four days later.  He gave away his last remaining possessions to his executioners, absolved them, and turned to his companion Father Augustine Caloca just before he was shot, saying, “Be at peace, my son; just a minute, and then we're in heaven.”

May Saint Christopher, Saint Augustine, and all their martyr companions help us to discover the font of interior peace that flows from the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, and may that peace make us courageous in whatever trials we must face … until we, finally victorious with the Saints in heaven, look upon the glorious face of the One who assures us, “Take courage, I have conquered the world.” 

Prayer Requests
● That all our students and their parents enjoy a safe and happy summer
● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.

May 20, 2012

General Announcements:

● Sunday, May 20, at 7:00 PM, the baseball team will have its award ceremony.  Baseball players and their parents are expected to be there.

● Remember that the Commencement Exercises are on Monday, May 28, at 7 PM.  Invitations are not required and all guests are welcome.

● June 1^st is the last day of school.  At 9:30 AM the “Bucket Brigade” begins:  all parents picking up their sons are asked to pitch in and help the students clean up the school before leaving.  We hope to have all the cleaning finished by 12 Noon (depending on how well everyone pitches in).  The school’s administrators will be overseeing this process.

Special thanks to:

● Ms. Kathleen Winters and the school choir for a beautiful performance last Monday.

● Mrs. Dang and all the other parents who provided food and drink for the reception after the choir concert.

● All the families who hosted weekend students this weekend

May Schedule Changes:

May 28^th is a holiday for all students . In addition, 9^th, 10^th and 11^th graders will enjoy an early dismissal on Thursday, May 24^th and no school on Friday May 25^th.  Seniors will remain at school May 24^th and 25^th in order to present their Matura Projects and attend Baccalaureate Mass. Seniors will be asked to take all their belongings home after Baccalaureate Mass on May 25^th so plan to bring a vehicle large enough to accommodate all your senior’s belongings.

Please plan ahead if your son will require a plane ticket.  If you are a local family, please remember that we have several students who are not able to go home on long weekends and would appreciate an invitation to stay with a local family.

St. Michael’s Summer Camp “Where all boys have fun!” Registration is now underway for boys aged 7-12 at: www.stmichaelsabbey.com

This Week’s Photos: Spring Choir Concert; Dodgers' Game

Homily of the Week by Fr. Victor Szczurek, O. Praem.

Among other things, Fr. Victor is the assistant headmaster and teaches Latin.

The Church celebrates today the Ascension of our Lord into heaven—that day when, after having risen from the dead and having spent 40 days on earth with His disciples, Jesus was taken up into heaven, body and soul, a day which was of great joy for Christ’s disciples, as we heard in the Gospel, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  This might seem rather strange.  Jesus is leaving them.  What in the world are they so happy about? You’d think they would be sad? Who of us actually rejoices when someone we love leaves us? If we look closely at the passages of Sacred Scripture which we read, we’ll see the Apostles progressing from fear and sadness to hope and joy, and once we understand why they were so happy, we too can find in our Lord’s Ascension a cause of hope and joy.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear the Apostles asking Jesus if He was now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Although, certainly, they believed in Him and knew that He was God, some of Christ’s followers were, perhaps, still a little unclear with regards to the victory which He had won on the Cross.  You see, for the Jewish people, the Messiah was the long-awaited liberator, the one who would restore the kingship to Israel which they had lost first to the Persians in 587 BC and then to the Greeks in 165 BC.  Now that Christ, the Messiah, was going to heaven, there were a few questions to be answered:  “What about the kingdom?” “What are Christ’s disciples to do?” “How would they survive without Him?” “Why can’t they go with Him?”

First of all, as Christ once told Pontius Pilate, His Kingdom is not of this world.  He did indeed fulfill the prophecies about restoring the kingdom, but in a more important way, in a far greater way, by restoring not a political kingdom to Israel, but rather the Kingdom of Heaven, His Church, the membership of which includes not only the Jewish people, but all peoples—a universal kingdom, a “Catholic” Church.  The kingdom was restored when its King died on the Cross; but, like Christ Our King, we too must suffer for a time in this world before we rise gloriously into heaven.  When this will happen,

when the end will come for us as individuals, and when the whole world will finally come to an end—at which point the Church will exist only in a glorified state in heaven—when exactly this will happen we do not know; and Christ tells us that it is not for us to know, that the Father does not want us to know.  (Something to keep in mind the next time someone tells you that they know when the world will end.)  

Our Lord also tells us not to worry, for He will always be with us, first of all in the Holy Eucharist, and He will also send us the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who will guide His Church, His Kingdom hear on earth, preserving it from error and destruction, despite the many shortcomings of its members.  This is what Jesus meant when He told the Apostles that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes…and that they would be clothed with power from on high.  You might say that, before our Lord ascended into heaven, He put all His affairs into order. 

Having redeemed us by His Passion and Death, having restored the Kingdom, He made sure that the gates of hell would not prevail against it, that it would always be directed and safeguarded by the Holy Spirit, God Himself.  And so, all of this being taken care of, our Lord could now ascend into heaven—paving the way for us as it were, and ruling His Kingdom from above.    

 So is this a sad thing, that Jesus ascended into heaven? It’s sad only for those who do not believe that He established His Church, His Kingdom and guaranteed it the power of the Holy Spirit, which, by the way, we will commemorate next Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost.  And this is something we should meditate on and never forget:  our Lord’s Ascension was the triumphal finish to His work here on earth, it is a foreshadowing of what will happen to all who faithfully follow Him, and it is a reminder not that He has abandoned us, but that He has won the battle against the devil, that He watches over us from heaven where He gloriously reigns, and that His Holy Spirit has been given to His Church, His Kingdom, to guide her back to Him.

 May Christ our King, ascended into heaven, reign in our hearts!        

 Prayer Requests

● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.