November 13, 2011

Thanks to those parents and friends who have helped
For providing photos of school events, Mr. Rudy Aguilar
For hosting students over the weekend, the Aragon, Saglietto and Tin Vu Families
For driving carpools, the Aragon and Cacho families
For donating a Papuan Tree Boa to the school, Global Captive Breeders: http://www.globalcaptivebreeders.com/contact_us.html

Thanksgiving Weekend
School will be dismissed for the Thanksgiving weekend at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23rd.

November High School Information Events

St. Michael’s will be represented at the following high school information events. If you have a son or know someone who has a son entering 9th grade next year, we encourage you to attend one of these informative events.

November 15th: St. Cornelius, 3330 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach; 7:00 p.m.

Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 3; Section 11
SECTION 12: GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA)
St. Michael’s records student progress at two levels. The official GPA is the 4-point scale of the academic record. The more common Honor Roll GPA is the 100-point scale which parents and students read on the school’s electronic grading program. With this second scale, instructors provide a more nuanced report of student progress. This second GPA includes nonacademic subjects such as P.E., and conduct.

Fall Sports Awards Ceremony: Sunday, November 20th at 7:00 p.m.
All parents of football and cross country participants are encouraged to support the fantastic success of of our Pioneers at the awards ceremony.

This Week’s Photos: Eric Childs, STM alumnus 2008, who is now a bio-medical engineering major in his junior year at USC and plays on the USC football team; Freshmen trip to the Getty Villa; Weekenders attending a reptile show; First Honors Outing to Pirate Adventure

Birthdays This Week

None

Weekly Homily by Fr. Victor Szczurek, O. Praem.
Among other things, Fr. Victor is the Assistant Headmaster and teaches Latin and Greek.

Man in his foolishness so often makes the easiest things so difficult. In the Gospel the Pharisees go searching for the Kingdom of God, but are looking with their eyes closed.

Our Lord tells them quite plainly, “What you’re looking for is right in front of you. It is I”; and because even those who already believe in Christ are susceptible to the same blindness, our Lord then turns and gives the same lesson to His disciples: There will be those who say to you, “Look, there He is.” Do not go and follow them. As if to say, “Someday you too will be as foolish as the Pharisees, looking for one whom you already possess.”

It’s rather difficult to go searching for something when it’s right under your nose, even more so when it’s in the depths of your soul. Not only is God present in all His creation, He even sets up His throne in our soul at the moment of our Baptism—that’s what sanctifying grace is, a sharing in His divine life, the beginning of the kingdom of God. As we heard Scripture say, the Kingdom of God is within you.

The man who possesses wisdom can see God everywhere, from in the workings of a hive of bees to the motions of the planets. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. And this wisdom, passing into holy souls...produces friends of God (Wisdom 7:22), as we heard in the reading. The fool, on the other hand, says there is no God, even when God is right in front of him. "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not (Jn 1:10)."

The well-known atheist, Richard Dawkins, was asked not too long ago what he would do if, after all these years spent on trying to show others that God does not exist, he finally gets to the end of life and finds out that God in fact does exist. What would he say to God? Richard Dawkins replied, “I would say to God the same words Bertrand Russell (another atheist) spoke when asked a similar question: ‘Sir, why did you take such pains to hide Yourself?’”

This alleged game of hide-and-seek has been going on all throughout human history. The only problem is that man is the only one playing. God has never hid Himself from us. Quite the contrary. He has manifested Himself over and over again in both natural and supernatural ways; and, as if that were not enough, He even took on our own flesh and blood and worked and continues to work countless miracles—each one like another blinking neon sign saying, “God is here,” “God is here.”

Once again, even we who believe in Him, even we who possess Him in our souls through sanctifying grace, can suffer moments of blindness: “Where were you God when I needed You most? Why did you abandon me? Where have you been these last days or weeks or months?” All the while Christ is beside us, before us, and even within us. Therefore, let us stop searching for what we already possess, and, in the words of St. Paul, "...let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe (Heb 12:28)."

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 without written permission of the author.

Prayer Requests
● Mrs. Marge DeClue, past parent-league president, who has declining health.
● Mrs. Maria Ferrucci who suffers with a health problem.
● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.