A Few Words

The Family Foundation School Catholic Community Bulletin

Pauca Verba (a few words)

What a pity it is when people are more concerned with growing their body parts than their consciences. Conscience is that inner power to discern right from wrong: the voice of the inner man/woman which says, “No, not that way, but this.” Of course, conscience can be suffocated, even killed, or it can be nurtured, informed, grown-up, enlightened, made sensitive. Listen to Jesus. Listen to the saints. Listen to people who HAVE a conscience.

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Laughter is the first thing we do to prove, “I’m in.”  Be still this week: watch and listen. Be an observer. See how much ridiculous laughter there is. How people pretend to “get” what’s so funny. To prove they’re in, simply because they’re laughing. But look at yourself first.

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The term teenager was only invented in the 1940’s. Before that, the term was young person or young adult. The older terms (especially young adult) carry with them a sense of direction, promise, hope. Teen or Teenager sounds more like a term we might use for an excuse. “Well, what do you expect….teens.” In parts of Africa, where life is difficult in ways we can’t appreciate as pampered Americans, 13 year olds are given automatic rifles to fight. However sad that is: 13 year olds being trained for killing signifies that we’re the only ones living with this idea of teenage adolescence – even perpetual adolescence.

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Young Catholic! Want to begin responding to the questions and issues I’ve been raising of late about lust? Begin with your wardrobe. What does your clothing say? Are you advertising? Are you very conscious of your clothes and body messages during the day? (Maybe you should be more than you are!) TRUTH! Do your clothes show more than is necessary? Do you really think it’s nice that your clothes climb up?

These barbeque days: Some of us are spread out over tables and lawns, all open and inviting, in poses that say come and look. That’s putting it delicately. Our lives won’t fall apart if we close our legs. “Cover yourself” doesn’t have to mean wrap yourself in a blanket, if that’s what we’re afraid of.

Our society is hypocritical in its attitude toward handicapped children. On the one hand, we provide special parking and elevators for the handicapped. We talk tenderly about those poster children with MS, spina bifida, and leukemia. We are touched when we see the telethons, the March of Dimes, and the United Way ads. We sponsor the Special Olympics and cheer on the Down Syndrome competitors, speaking of the joy and inspiration they bring us. We watch with admiration a television series that stars a Down Syndrome young man. But when we hear that a woman is carrying one of these very children, we way, “Kill it before it is born.”  (Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments by Randy Alcorn)

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“Here I am to do the will of God,

without delay,

without reserve,

without return,

by love. Amen.”   Father Michael Garicotis

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On August 15 the Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It is the feast of Mary’s Easter, falling on a Saturday this year. The womb of the Virgin Mary (Jesus’ Mother) was God’s temple on earth. Jesus, alive and ascended to heaven, would not leave the body of his Mother here to decay. In her Assumption, Mary anticipates our own resurrection of body and soul. It is a feast of tremendous joy and promise.

Today, July 26: The Feast of the parents of the Virgin Mary, Sts. Joachim and Anna. How beautifully they must have raised her! Pray for your grandparents today and give thanks for the gift of Mary in your life.