This weekly update is to keep you informed about and active in the life of your son, his schoolmates, and St. Michael’s Prep.
Thanks to those parents and friends who helped make the week a success:
A belated thank you to Mrs. Martha Elmer for her donation to the Back to School reception.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bonello and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Minder for hosting students over the long weekend.
General announcements to Parents
Parent Gala Meeting, Sept. 12th, 7:00 p.m. in the student dining room.
This week’s photos are of freshmen musicians: Michael Howard and Nicholas DiNapoli; of the deans: fr. Brendan Hankins, Mr. Mike Smith, and Fr. Claude Williams.
Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 4, Sections 1, 2
1. Introduction:
This chapter presents the policies, rules, and practices which support the wholesome personal development of each student by promoting his harmonious living with other students. Individuals with good character augment the Christian character of the entire community. Clearly stated expectations and consequences, presenting the school’s philosophy in the varieties of daily life, support a student in his individual well being and as a member of the larger society.
2. Closed Campus:
St. Michael’s has a closed campus policy. Students are not permitted to leave the campus or receive any individual visitors without the permission of the headmaster or his delegate. Alumni and associate alumni are encouraged to visit the school and talk with the student body as a whole. All are to respect the privacy of the students by not entering the student residency. There is no special alumni privilege to visit brothers or relatives.
Etiquette Point of the Week: When a guest in someone else’s home, offer to help your host and hostess with household chores like emptying the trash, setting the table, or doing the dishes. Always clean-up after yourself and don’t expect to be waited on. Thank your host when leaving, and call or write a note within 24 hours to show your appreciation. Why? Because a gentleman never wants to be a burden to someone else.
How To Raise A Gentleman, Kay West; Brooks Brothers Press
Thanks to those parents and friends who helped make the week a success:
A belated thank you to Mrs. Martha Elmer for her donation to the Back to School reception.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bonello and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Minder for hosting students over the long weekend.
General announcements to Parents
Parent Gala Meeting, Sept. 12th, 7:00 p.m. in the student dining room.
This week’s photos are of freshmen musicians: Michael Howard and Nicholas DiNapoli; of the deans: fr. Brendan Hankins, Mr. Mike Smith, and Fr. Claude Williams.
Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 4, Sections 1, 2
1. Introduction:
This chapter presents the policies, rules, and practices which support the wholesome personal development of each student by promoting his harmonious living with other students. Individuals with good character augment the Christian character of the entire community. Clearly stated expectations and consequences, presenting the school’s philosophy in the varieties of daily life, support a student in his individual well being and as a member of the larger society.
2. Closed Campus:
St. Michael’s has a closed campus policy. Students are not permitted to leave the campus or receive any individual visitors without the permission of the headmaster or his delegate. Alumni and associate alumni are encouraged to visit the school and talk with the student body as a whole. All are to respect the privacy of the students by not entering the student residency. There is no special alumni privilege to visit brothers or relatives.
Etiquette Point of the Week: When a guest in someone else’s home, offer to help your host and hostess with household chores like emptying the trash, setting the table, or doing the dishes. Always clean-up after yourself and don’t expect to be waited on. Thank your host when leaving, and call or write a note within 24 hours to show your appreciation. Why? Because a gentleman never wants to be a burden to someone else.
How To Raise A Gentleman, Kay West; Brooks Brothers Press
Athletics This Week:
Friday, Sept. 10th, Football @ Ribet Academy, 3:00 p.m.
Homily preached by Fr. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem.
Fr. Sebastian teaches philosophy at both St. Michael’s Preparatory School and St. Michael’s Abbey.
Brothers, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. (1Cor. 3:1)
St. Paul compares the Corinthians to spiritual infants on account of their carnality. An infant lives by sense knowledge and is lacking in understanding. So too, the carnal man is lacking the gift of understanding, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul described this gift in the previous chapter which we read yesterday:
“‘What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,’ this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.” (1Cor. 2)
The gift of understanding perfects the virtue of faith. Faith is vague and in many ways obscure. The gift of understanding sharpens our faith to give us a more distinct and penetrating insight into supernatural realities and truths. The gift of understanding purifies our minds of false and imperfect notions about God and creatures. It does this not through study, but through love. The demon in this morning’s Gospel knew that Jesus was the Son of God before any of the disciples did, but this truth was a torment for him since he did not love Jesus. And Jesus silenced his confession. All our knowledge of God through study or natural genius amounts to nothing without charity. And if we teach these truths without love, the only reward we can expect from Jesus on the final day will be a rebuke and the dread command: “be silent!”
In contrast to study or genius, the gift of understanding gives us a kind of instinctual penetration into the truths of faith. We understand from a deep experience of God’s love what the Lord is really trying to teach us. When we know someone well and love them deeply, even a glance or a slight gesture is full of meaning for us. It is the same with God.
The carnal man who does not have the gift of understanding tends to place restrictions upon Jesus, because he does not understand the depths or power of His merciful love. The Corinthians wanted to limit Jesus to His ministers: “I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollo.” The people in the Gospel brought the sick to Jesus after sunset, thinking that He should only heal after the sabbath was done. The people of Jesus’ home town wanted to limit Jesus, thinking He should be as ordinary as any other carpenter’s son. Even Jesus’ own disciples placed restrictions upon Jesus, asking Him to depart on account of their sins.
We have the same tendencies. We place restrictions upon Jesus’ power to make us truly happy. We say to be happy I need Jesus and… I need Jesus and a good job, Jesus and a loving family, Jesus and the respect of my peers, Jesus and, Jesus and, Jesus and… Even when we have outwardly professed that Jesus alone is sufficient for us, our actions betray an interior lack of trust. When we enter religious life, we come with so many ideas of how it’s supposed to be, how Jesus is going to make us happy: if Jesus does such and such for me, if He takes away this or that defect in my soul, then I will be a saint. But we find out quickly, Jesus is not that kind of novice master. And even when we advance in religious life, previous misconceptions can give way to other attachments: I need Jesus and my apostolate, or even more subtly, I need Jesus and the conviction that I am holy and pleasing to God. I have to feel Jesus’ presence within me. The people in this morning’s Gospel begged Jesus not to leave them. They thought His power to save them was limited to His bodily presence. We can be the same way. We think that unless we experience the presence of Jesus in our souls, then He is not working there for our salvation, that He is not truly present. We become spiritual subjectivists: to be is to be perceived. But the truth is that all of the things we want besides Jesus end up limiting Jesus’ power to work as He wills in our souls.
Beloved in Christ, if there is anything you feel you need to add to Jesus in order to be truly happy, let it be what St. Paul added when he said: I have judged myself to know nothing but Jesus Christ AND Him crucified. By embracing the cross I embrace Jesus alone, without the other consolations this world has to offer. And to understand this is truly a gift of the Holy Spirit.
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. Casey Cook for a healthy pregnancy
• Msgr. John Sheridan, and Ambassador Douglas Kmiec who were seriously injured in a car accident
• St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them
• Those who suffer in the current economic crisis
• Those who are in the armed forces.
• For the repose of the soul of Sr. Mary Campbell, a Sister of St. Louis who died in an auto accident last week.
• For the repose of the soul of Mr. Brian Loughman, a friend of the Alquaddoomi family who had battled a long term illness.
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