New in Campus Ministry!!!

New in Campus Ministry!!!

I always love highlighting students and their AMAZING TALENTS!!  
Today I was blessed  to receive this truly beautiful painting for my office from 
Gr11 student, Daniel Golovenko.  

Daniel is a terrific and talented young man with a passion for the arts and for faith!

Thanks Daniel, I love it!

Earth Day

We continue to recognize Earth Day this week with our actions and our prayers.

A gift from God and the common home of humanity, the earth is threatened by man's abuse of his freedom. In his encyclical Praise Be to You (Laudato Si'), Pope Francis challenges all people to praise and thank God for his glorious creation and to work together to safeguard her.

Other popes have addressed key themes regarding stewardship of God's creation, but Pope Francis is the first to devote an entire encyclical to the subject. The encyclical takes its name from Saint Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures, which depicts cre­ation as "a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us". Pope Francis declares, "This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her."

And so we pray…

O GOD,
we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.

We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.

GRANT US a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.

For each new dawn is filled with infinite possibilities for new beginnings and new discoveries. Life is constantly changing and renewing itself. In this new day of new beginnings with God, all things are possible. We are restored and renewed in a joyous awakening to the wonder that our lives are and, yet, can be.  Amen.


Good St. Anne Pray For Us.

ASH WEDNESDAY - Welcome to Lent

On Ash Wednesday we hear a call to reorder our priorities. Isaiah tells us, "Rend your hearts...and return to the Lord." St. Paul speaks as an ambassador for Christ, "Be reconciled to God...Now is the day of salvation." And Jesus gives us some practical means to get our priorities straight.

We are living in a world that overwhelms us with all of the nastiness of life.  We only need to turn on the TV to see hate and greed, injustice and abuse. We see people being treated with absolute disrespect and we see people that think it’s their right to do so.  We are persuaded into thinking that if you don’t want to be the victim, you better be the aggressor or if you don’t agree with me the best way to solve that problem is to lash out with violence.  

If our only priority is “I, me and my” then that is all that we will be left with.  If we can’t see beyond just me and mine, to those around us in the school or country or the world and recognize the needs of others then we are missing an essential aspect of who and what we are as human beings.  We are at our core supposed to be in good, positive, loving relationships with people.  but “How do we do that?”

Looking to the words of W.A.Ward, American author, teacher and pastor and our own Pope Francis  -- 

We can FAST which means give up something that is negative…  

…but we can also FEAST on what is positive and real!

We can …

Fast from judging others And feast on Christ that dwells in them.

Fast from the large double double And feast on giving to charity

Fast from discontent And feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger And feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism And feast on optimism.

Fast from complaining And feast on appreciation.

Fast from the Cafeteria’s awesome supreme 

And feast on meatless Fridays

Fast from bitterness And feast on forgiveness.

Fast from thinking only about ourselve

And feast on compassion for others.

Fast from discouragement And feast on hope.

Fast from laziness And feast on enthusiasm

Fast from idle gossip And feast on purposeful silence.

And we ask God to help us with all of this during our Lenten Season.

You may have already decided that you are going to give up or do something for Lent but we will, as part of Morning prayer, focus on a different fast and feast each day during Lent.  We can give up something different each day. And by the end of this Lenten season we will all be reconciled to God. ...Or at least a little closer.   

May God Bless us and give us moments of grace over the next 40 days.

Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season
It's seems like just a couple of months ago we were participating in the Lenten season of last year. But in looking back, it really has been a whole year with lots of activity!
Ash Wednesday on March 1, 2017 marks the beginning of Lent this year.

Here is a great video produced by "Busted Halo" that might help with any questions!!

 And since today seems to be a technology day, you might enjoy one or both of these reflection videos found online!