Dear Cathedral Family,
Last week, I was blessed to attend a silent retreat at The Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. While this peaceful place is most well-known as where Thomas Merton found God and himself, The Abbey continues to be where regular people, like me, can find some peace and, yes, God. Allow me to share a special moment with you:
I arrived after dark on Monday night and was able to find my key and room, and I settled in for the night. The monks start early, with morning prayer (Lauds) at 5:45, followed by Mass. I joined the 40 or so guests in the back rows of the dimly lit church and followed along the Lauds with the 30 monks. When Lauds concluded, the few lights were turned off, and all that was visible was the strong, single candle from the tabernacle at the far end of the church, piercing the darkness. Just then, seemingly right on cue, a flash of lightning was followed by a loud clap of thunder that seemed to shake the bricks, as if God was telling us that he was also awake at this morning hour. It was stunning, and as the church returned to silence, I took it all in. Wow. A God moment indeed.
In the Mass that followed, I also want to share the short and simple message from the homily as a theme for this month's message. The Gospel that day was the passage from Luke where Jesus says, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it" - Luke 8:21. The priest shared that the brothers in the monastery did not choose each other, just as all of us do not choose our families, but we make the best of it. He told of a particular monk who was very troubled by another monk and confessed one day that he could not stand to be around him. The confessor said, "He is your prince! He will teach you how to love!" What a message for all of us. Every challenge, everyone who irritates us or gets under our skin, is a prince or princess to us! They teach us patience and forgiveness and to love. As we embrace each beautiful day, I ask you to keep this in mind, hear the Word of God, and act on it with love, acceptance, and zeal.
This week, we get to show our community how special and loving our school is with our annual Open House on Thursday, October 3rd. If you know of someone with a middle school student, thank you in advance for encouraging them to register on our website and attend! Our campus is as beautiful as any campus I have seen, and we are ready to open our doors to all this Thursday!
I also want to thank our Advancement Team for a superb Evening of Excellence last week! Over the past several weeks, our advancement team has had numerous events and has executed all of them with zeal and excellence!
In a few short weeks, we will send off two groups of Educators/Pilgrims to France and Italy as the Year Two of our educator trips to trace the roots of our faith. Last year's groups described their experiences as "life-changing," and we are very grateful for the generosity of Dan '70 and Betsy Brunette for making this possible. Please keep our pilgrims in your prayers during our Fall Break (the week of October 14th). We pray for a safe and enriching journey for all twelve of them!
In closing, I thank those of you who reach out to me each month and encourage me in this blessed work we do. Our world is boisterous and troubled, as it always has been. The time for hope is now, and just as that single candle in the church in Gethsemani shone so brightly, we all, each and every one of us, can shine brightly in our words and our deeds. Our school on the Hill continues to be a special place of brightness and hope, and indeed Zeal, our Holy Cross Core Value of the year. Making God known, loved, and served is part of our daily mission. As we continue to educate the hearts and minds of a diverse group of students this month, please keep us in your prayers, and especially our Classroom Educators, who toil every day, often unseen by any other adult. Think of that, if you will, for a moment. While the rest of the world roils and rocks, our Educators are hard at it, praying with, educating, and forming our young people into the saints they were meant to be. If you have the opportunity, please say a special prayer for all Classroom Educators everywhere, that they have the strength, the health, and yes, the zeal to continue to persevere on the "front lines" with our young people. May they be blessed today and always!
As you reflect on our mission and our Holy Cross Core Values, I invite you to click here to read the October message from our Chief Mission Integration Officer, Matthew Gring.
Thank you for your support and prayers, especially for our colleague and sister, Kathy Pivonka, as she continues to battle leukemia bravely. May she and all of us be nourished by the Word and the bread of life, and may we "hear the word of God and act on it."
Thank you, and Go Irish! St. Br. Andre, pray for us! Our Lady of the Hill, pray for us!
Humbly and gratefully,
Rob Bridges, PhD
President
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