Gratitude

When I am under stress, I easily become frustrated with the world—and usually the people around me. For instance, I find myself blaming drivers in front of me, like they purposefully sought out my car, knowing I was in a hurry, and decided to drive 5 miles under the speed limit in front of me on a one lane street. This has happened often on my way home driving down Church Street. Usually, just as I am about to lay on my horn and whip around the car in the opposite lane, I will see a police officer down the road monitoring the speed limit with a radar gun. I immediately think to myself, thankfully the person in front of me was going so slow, or I would have probably gotten a ticket. As I decelerate to 5 miles under the speed limit, my stress level also decreases.

While I don't believe God bothers himself with getting me out of traffic tickets, I do believe He is constantly sending me the message that the path to patience starts with gratitude. It becomes more difficult to be upset with the world around us when we recognize the many gifts we have been given. One prayer process I like to use that helps remind me to give thanks to God is from Matthew Kelly’s book The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic. The process involves the following steps: 

As we approach Thanksgiving and continue our school food drive—we are well on our way to reaching our goal of 10,000 food items—I challenged the students to take one minute each day when they wake up and thank God for three things. My hope is that with our gratitude we can change our attitude. 

CKS

This morning at assembly, I asked our students what CKS means to them. I had a variety of answers including the obvious, "Christ the King School," the altruistic, "Caring, Kind, Spirited," and the odd, "Castles, Knights, and Serpents." Other than the response from the child who still had Halloween on the brain, most of the children had some form of the first two. 

When I am asked by parents what CKS means to me, I tell them our mission: to inspire each child to grow in the love of Christ, the joy of knowledge, and the spirit of service. Simply put, CKS stands for Christ, Knowledge, and Service. This week we kick off our annual food drive, and our goal is to bring in over 10,000 food items for those in need in our community. It is fitting that we will also celebrate Veteran's Day this week and honor the service of our military. I challenged our students to honor the service performed by these heroes by bringing in food and performing a service to the poor. 

As we continue to "embrace patience" this quarter, performing acts of service can help us better appreciate the gifts God has given us, especially as we see what others have done with less. In his letter to the Phillipians thanking them for a gift, St. Paul wrote, "It is not that I am eager for the gift; rather, I am eager for the profit that accrues to your account." St. Paul was speaking of a Spiritual account. This week, while our students deposit items to fill the food banks, I am confident they will feel the Holy Spirit depositing Peace into their lives.  

8th Graders Organizing Food Items from Day 1

Perspective

As Agents of Peace at Christ the King, we have chosen to Embrace Patience this quarter. One key to embracing patience is having perspective. When we become frustrated, angry, or upset and are ready to lose our patience, perspective--knowing what another person has experienced--can change how we feel. For example, finding out a student has experienced a loss in his life does not excuse poor behavior but it does help me have a more compassionate response to him.

Another way to gain perspective is to remember that God is trying to reach us through our experiences. To hear that reminder, all we have to do is ask, like the prophet Samuel who said, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." Perhaps, when we are about to lose our patience with someone or something, saying these words will alter our perspective and help us hear what the Lord is trying to say. 

Parents, remember, though, that while listening to the Lord may look like this for us, 

It will probably look like this for our children. 

Just because it looks different doesn't mean they aren't listening. Enjoy your families and Embrace Patience. 

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