Embrace Patience

By definition, patience is staying in control and positive during times of stress or when experiencing a long delay. A trip to the grocery store, an amusement park, or the school car line all provide opportunities to practice patience.

During times we experience stress, it is more difficult to be patient, as we are thinking about the inconvenience to us. When we focus so much on ourselves, we tend to forget about others and forget about God. As a result, instead of patience, most of us react to stressful situations with anger, frustration, or even tears. When we begin to feel this way, prayer can be a remedy, in particular a prayer found in the Divine Mercy image.

In the 1930's Jesus appeared to St. Faustina, a Polish nun, in a vision. He told her to paint an image of him exactly as he appeared to her. In her diary, she wrote that Jesus also told her "I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish," and to write the words "Jesus, I trust in You." at the bottom of the image. Below is one version of the image: 

A painting of this version is in our chapel here at Christ the King. To our students this morning, I offered those 5 words as a prayer to help them practice patience. When we are stressed, about to lose our temper, and become absorbed in ourselves, return to Jesus and trust that he will take care of us. This week, I challenged the students to say this prayer, "Jesus, I trust in You" three times in a row three different times a day, whether they are feeling stressed or not. The best way to practice patience is to keep ourselves from losing it in the first place. I trust that Jesus can help us do that. 

Red Ribbon Week

This week at Christ the King, we are celebrating Red Ribbon Week. The RRW campaign started in 1988, in response to the murder by a Mexican cartel of Enrique (Kiki) Camarena, an agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Before he joined the DEA, Camarena's mother tried to talk him out of pursuing a career with the agency. Camarena's response, echoing the words of Mother Teresa, was "I am only one person, but I want to make a difference" (http://redribbon.org/about/).

The goal this week is to raise awareness about the dangers of misusing alcohol and illegal drugs. The Student Government has planned activities this week around the theme, "I 'moustache' you not to do drugs."

Activities include a Red Ribbon Scavenger hunt for our EC4 and Kindergarten students, "Stomp out Drugs" dress day, a poster contest, and student pep rally on Friday. In addition to raising awareness about the destructive nature of alcohol abuse and illegal drugs, we encourage our students to remember the difference one life can make. This is in line with our Catholic values, and I "moustache" you to continue helping us make a difference in the lives of our children. 

Celebrate Youth!

Last Friday I attended the Salesian Youth Rally with the 3rd through 8th grade students from Christ the King, St, Joseph, and Villa Madonna. In all, there were over 500 students joyfully celebrating Don Bosco's life and Salesian legacy. I am often asked to explain what it means to be Salesian.

There are many books that explain in much better detail who Don Bosco was and what he did for the young and poor of Italy in the 1800's. To put it simply, though, Giovanni Bosco (often called "Don" which is Italian for "Father") was a Catholic priest who saw a need in the children of Italy, who were being exploited during the Industrial Revolution. He worked primarily with boys and started oratories where they could learn about academic subjects, life skills, and Jesus. 

At the youth rally, Fr. Steve Ryan, a priest from the Society of Don Bosco, summed up for the children what it means to be Salesian using the analogy of a hand:  the pinky represents Joy in all things; the ring finger represents Jesus, which makes sense since it is connected to the pinky, because you can't have Joy without Jesus; the middle finger represents devotion to Mary, her example being at the center of our lives; the index finger stands for kindness reminding us to point our hearts towards kind actions; and finally the thumb, which helps us complete our work, stands for doing the right thing, the best way we can, for the love of God. 

Those five principles, Joy, Jesus, Mary, Kindness, and Service are what it means to be Salesian. My Salesian challenge and Peace mission to our students this week is to pick a different Salesian practice each day and live it. I think our students are up for the challenge, are you? If we can incorporate just a little bit of the Salesian Spirit into our daily lives I think we will all find more Peace. 

If you still need some clarification, I think the picture below sums up what it means to be a Salesian today. 

Give Thanks and Spread Joy

This past weekend we celebrated our Auction at Christ the King. It is always amazing to see the community gather together in support of our school. I am always entertained by the enthusiasm of our guests at the event—I think the dance floor had as much excitement as the Live Auction.

Speaking of excitement, this past weekend was a wild one for college football—there were 8 upsets among teams in the top 25. I saw several videos of excited students taking down goal posts. There was also a small concert at Raymond James Stadium attended by many of our students. Dale Mabry was backed up with traffic in both directions, but One Direction was getting all the attention. However, I think the most exciting part of the weekend was the fall weather that finally arrived on Sunday.

This morning at assembly I asked our students how many of them cheered this weekend for a sports team or an entertainer. Most of them raised their hands and excitedly began chatting about the event. I asked our students this follow up question, “How many of you cheered this Sunday at mass”? There were fewer hands and even fewer excited conversations. “Why don’t we get excited for mass like we do for a football game or a concert?” I asked. I understand that wild cheering and tearing down goal posts may not be acceptable at mass, but there are many ways to acceptably show our excitement—like responding to the priest, following the readings, concentrating during prayer, and singing the songs. By doing these things, we show God our joy for his ultimate entertainment event—mass.

Our 3^rd through 8^th grade students will have a special opportunity to express this joy on Friday at the Salesian Youth Rally with Villa Madonna and St. Joseph. We all have been practicing songs and chants at morning assembly the past two weeks to prepare. My challenge to the students this week is to take joy in Jesus—through prayer, through mass, and through their actions. This will allow them to practice kindness for God, others, and themselves, helping them be Agents of Peace. 

God Bless,

Nick Tanis

Never Too Late

In the Gospel last Sunday, Jesus offered the story of two sons who had very different responses to their father’s request to go out and work. One son said “no” but later did the work while the other son said “yes” but never did do the work—there were no TV’s or iPads but I wonder what wild thing the father had to do to actually get his sons’ attention long enough to get a response. At different times in our lives, I am sure we have identified with all three characters from the story. At morning assembly, though, I focused on the first son and his choice. Last week, when talking about “toughness,” I mentioned how Jay Bilas’ father told him it took many steps to reach the top of the ladder but only one to fall to the bottom of it. In the first son from the Gospel, I see a parallel with a more positive twist—you can make many bad choices in your life but it is never too late to make the right one, just like the son who at first told his father no but obeyed him in the end.

My peace bringing mission to the students this week is for them to continue practicing kindness. However, this week, like the first son in the Gospel, they have to right a wrong. I challenged them to find one person they need to say sorry to and apologize. It could be a teacher whose class was disrupted, a parent whose request was ignored, or a classmate whose feelings were hurt. If students can’t think of anyone, my secondary challenge is to complete a task that could bring a smile to someone’s face. Some examples could be raking leaves—or in my case pine needles—without being asked; helping a friend study for a tough test; or praying a decade of the rosary for someone who is sick. Whatever choice our students make, it is important for them to remember it is never too late to make the right one—for when they do God will be waiting for them, and he will be smiling. 

Toughness

--From Monday's 9/22 Newsletter

I recently finished a book by former college basketball player and coach and current ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. The book was called Toughness and defined true toughness, on the basketball court and in life, as being able to persevere through difficulty and do what is right. One of the characteristics of toughness, as described by the author, is focus—focus on one task at a time. In today’s world of multi-tasking it seems like we spend more time dividing our attention among many different tasks than actually focusing on any of them.

Bilas shared a story about focus in his book from when he was in high school and spent his summer building houses for his father’s contracting company. Bilas was a gopher and had to run items from the ground, up a ladder, to men working on the roof. On his first day, he decided he would use his youth, energy, and strength to carry more material in less trips. Climbing up the ladder in a hurry, he missed a rung and crashed to the bottom. After checking to make sure he was OK, his father told him, “Jay, you cannot reach the top of the ladder in one step, but you can lose focus and get to the bottom in one step.”

I shared this story with the students at morning assembly today and pointed out how many times in our lives we have known this to be true—you do all the steps in a math problem but you carelessly add numbers incorrectly and get the problem wrong; you take notes all through a class and start daydreaming about what you’ll do after school and you miss something; or you are sitting in Church and start thinking about what you have to do later and miss an opportunity to hear God.

There are many things competing for our attention, so my mission this week to the students is for them to help one another stay focused on the present. I showed them a hand signal they can use to help one another. Ask them to show you when they get home. Hopefully this reminder will help them stay focused on the important things in life and develop mental toughness.