SAVE THE DATE…, more information to follow.

Dear Parents,

God’s peace!

Did you ever have the experience of having heard or seen something over and over again… and yet you didn’t really hear or see it?  I have driven by certain spots every day…and suddenly…I notice a sign… a landmark…something that has been there (at least as long as I have driven past it) and yet today… I notice it for the first time.  Why now?  Why on this particular day?  I have also had the occasion to watch a film only to get in the middle of it… and realize…that I had seen the film before (and ironically I don’t remember the ending!)  Is this simply a side effect of growing older?  Perhaps aging has something to do with this phenomenon, but I think it’s more than that.  For me, I know it’s as simple as not consciously living in the present moment.

If I am not living in the present moment, then where am I living?  I only have the grace to live here…now.  I don’t have the grace to re-enter yesterday’s experiences and relive them… I don’t have the grace to make decisions about tomorrow because God is not in tomorrow yet and neither am I.  The Scriptures were wise in telling us not to worry about tomorrow because today has worries of its own.  I heard it said that worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Last week I was listening to a CD that I have listened to often.  Suddenly I really heard what was being said.  At the end of a particular part of the CD I pushed repeat so I could listen to it again… and each morning this week I have played it on the way to school.  The CD held a simple prayer… a prayer that might begin each day… for all of us.  Perhaps you might have the occasion to pray this prayer too…right here…right now…with the grace of this moment…

“Mend my heart, O God, from the wounds of many yesterdays.  Heal my body so that I might serve you in grace and holiness.  Lift up my soul where I have been worn down by discouragement and anxiety.  Give me hope to have a fresh beginning today.  Fill me with a greater awareness of your presence so that I may stand and walk with a little more confidence, courage, love and serenity.  Help me to be a person of compassion and understanding so that something of my life may soothe the wounds of those whose paths I cross today.  I thank you God for this day in which to know you through your love incarnate, Jesus Christ.”

If you prayed this prayer and have let the words ruminate within you… what is left to do is the most difficult of challenges… to live what you have prayed.  We do, however, have the grace to do this… not yesterday…not tomorrow… but today in this particular moment…now.

May we live each day of our lives, and may we truly see and hear what is before us in this moment…

In prayer,
Sr. Maureen

Join us on March 3^rd from 6:30 P.M.-9:30 P.M. at St. Rita School.

The evening will feature: Animal Crackers Showcase, Baskets Galore, Classroom Boutique Items, Door Prizes, Sign Up Parties, Taste of St. Rita, Wall of Wine-Add you own flavor to our wall. Please donate a bottle of your favorite wine the night of the event. One lucky raffle winner will go home with a Wall of Wine!

Cost $20 per person or $35 per couple.

For information on purchasing tickets, please contact as at 203-248-3114 or stritabasketbonanza@gmail.com

Dear Parents,
God’s peace!

This week I had the privilege of speaking with our 8^th grade students about vocation.  What is our call…and how do we know what it is?  We began to speak generally about “call” and then we spoke specifically about a call to religious life.  In preparing for this class I came across a piece from Rumi, the Sufi mystic, which I shared with the class… and now I share it with you…

“The Master said, ‘There is one thing in this world that must never be forgotten.  If you were to forget everything else, but did not forget that, then there would be no cause to worry; whereas if you performed and remembered and did not for get every single thing, but forgot that one thing, then you would have done nothing whatsoever.  It is just as if a king had sent you into a country to carry out a specified task.  You go and perform a hundred other tasks; but if you have not performed that particular task on account of which you had gone to the country, it is as though you have performed nothing at all.  So [each human being] has come into this world for a particular task, and that is [each one’s] purpose; if [one] does not perform it, then [that one] will have done nothing.”  (Discourses of Rum, trans. A.J.Arberry [London: J. Murray, 1061] 26).

The question becomes…for each of us… “What is the one thing I have been sent to do?” “What is my vocation as a human being…at this time…in this place?”  Perhaps for each of us, the “one thing” is to simply recognize the great love God has for us and to find some way…with my talents, flaws, gifts, experiences and quirks…to share that love with those with whom I “live and move and have my being.”  A simple insight… a challenging reality to live.  I need to be so convinced of God’s love…that I can’t but help to exude that love to others…

I am reminded of what love can do when I am in the presence of someone I love and have the opportunity to share a cup of coffee… a meal… an experience… After reveling in this experience I am certain the next person I meet will be blessed, indeed, for they can’t help but be touched by the gift of my prior experience (even though they weren’t directly a part of it!)  This example is a mere glimpse of what can happen when we open ourselves to God’s love.

In listening to today’s first reading at Mass I found myself delighting in David’s delight!  He was truly caught up in God’s presence as the Israelites moved the tabernacle of God surrounded by God’s people.  David literally danced with abandon for he was in the very presence of the living God, and therefore, was filled with an incredible exchange of love.  How blessed were the Israelites to be in David’s presence after this experience for he exuded the love that God had poured on Him!

Perhaps we aren’t dancers… but maybe we sing…or work…or coach…or parent…or draw…or garden…or write…or…  Whatever we do is not as important as who we are… When we know who we are…one loved deeply by God… then we have found the “one thing” we must do… Share what we have come to know with others…

May today find your feet dancing with the delight that God loves you beyond measure!

In prayer,
Sr. Maureen

Dear Parents,

God’s peace!

These past weeks have presented to us some very interesting weather… and the weather is one thing we all tend to discuss in one way or another.  In contemplating the incredible sunrises and sunsets we have had lately… the gentle snowfall last night… the crisp mornings… I have been reflecting on “thin places.”  I didn’t suddenly make this connection… I needed a little story to spark this revelry… and the story is, indeed, simple…

“A woman returned from a trip to the isle of Iona.  When her gardener heard where she was, he quietly said, ‘Iona is a thin place.’

‘A thin place?’ she asked.

‘Yes, a thin place.  There is very little between it and God,’ the gardener explained.”

Thin places… these are the places…the moments when the sacred and the profane meet… This is where we nearly glimpse the face of God… where only a gossamer membrane separates heaven and earth.  I found myself in this “in between” one morning as the pink and orange sunrise took my breath away.  I had to pull over and revel in the beauty of it all…  The snowfall last night also caught me by surprise…not at its coming, but rather the way it fell and accented each tree limb (even though it was quite treacherous as I drove home on the Parkway!)  These thin moments/places can greet us in the most ordinary of moments…I have the grace to receive an incredible smile from a particular student each morning and I am taken to a thin place where I find God smiling at me as well.

These thin places appear in moments when we least expect.  I remember a time when I stood in St. John Lateran basilica in Rome.  In that holy place enormous sculptures of the apostles ring the walls of the church.  Each apostle has his own niche.  I stood there naming each apostle one by one… and as I finished naming the apostles to my right preparing to name those to my left…I realized I was included in this circle of saints… and God was naming me.  This was a “thin place” for me… I was called as an apostle as Peter…and John…and James… and yes, Judas.

I believe each of us has the opportunity to experience “thin places.”  We get caught in a moment of beauty… or truth…or goodness… and God is there in our midst.

It is my prayer that you might recognize the “thin places” that visit you… savor these moments… pause and breathe deeply…take them in… and allow them to assure you of God’s presence…

May you know the deep peace of Christ in moments like these…

In prayer,
Sr.Maureen

St. Rita School invites you to buy a new book for the library. Books can be purchased at $15 and dedicated “In memory of,” “In honor of,” “Happy Birthday to,” or custom designed with your request. Anyone wishing to purchase a book please call the school (203-248-3114) or call the school Librarian Linda Kiely and she will select one for you. Upon request, a letter of acknowledgement will be sent to the person or family whom the book is being dedicated. Checks should be made payable to St. Rita School Library and are tax deductible.

The week of January 23rd, in honor of Catholic Schools week, books will be displayed in the school hall for your viewing.

Support St. Rita School. Every quarter, Connex donates fees collected from coin counting machines at various branches to non-profit organizations in the community. The machine charge is 5% to Connex members and 7% to non-members. Fees collected at the Connex Hamden Branch from January 1 thru March 31, 2012 will go to St. Rita Home School Association. The more people who participate, the more money we’ll raise for the St. Rita Home School Association. The Connex Hamden Branch is located in the Hamden Plaza.