Catholic Faith

Practice Makes Perfect

by admin on February 5, 2012

By Roderick O.

This weeks’ Catholic service at The Family Foundation School shed a new light of hope to the students. The gospel reading, from Luke 2:22-40, touched on how we must be constantly searching for God in our everyday lives.  Simeon and Anna, from the reading, are a couple that spend every night in church.  Once Simeon and Anna saw Jesus for the first time they knew he was a special baby.  Their continual search for God allowed them to realize the miracle of the baby Jesus. This miracle happens every day when a baby is born. With every new-born child we start to see the light of the world.

By practicing prayer we are strengthening our relationship with God. If you think God is going to answer your prayer by casting down vibrant rays of sunlight and roaring his powerful voice into your ear, you are mistaken. Even though that would probably change our lives forever, realistically we must look for God through other people. Sometimes God will answer our prayers subtly or blatantly, but if we are not listening to people when they talk we might miss the message. The more we practice prayer, the more we realize that God is in our everyday lives.

As a person that has many struggles getting through their day, I can firmly say prayer is my number one back-up that can always help me get through any tough situation.

Falling in Love

by admin on November 25, 2011

By Ileana A.

During this Wednesday’s morning chapel service, Father Chris had something very interesting to share. He introduced a complementary way to take daily inventory of ourselves and our spiritual life, which was suggested by St. Ignatius Loyola. In one category, we list our desolations; what things drew us away from God today? In the second category, we list our consolations; what things drew us closer to God today? Because of this, our awareness level is heightened and we begin to have more consolations than desolations.

We also read a poem called Fall in Love.

Nothing is more practical than

Finding God, than

Falling in love

In a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,

What seizes your imagination, will affect everything.

It will decide

What will get you out of bed in the morning,

What you do with your evenings,

How you spend your weekends,

What you read, whom you know,

What breaks your heart,

And what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love,

And it will decide everything.

I find this to be true because when one feels as if they are in love, everything seems better and lighter. However, who better to fall in love with than God? God never lets you down and is abounding in hope. God is also life, and if you are in love with life, what could possibly go wrong?

Christian Love

November 17, 2011

By Ileana A. The gospel from this week’s Catholic service was taken from Matthew 25:31-46. In this reading, Jesus said one of my favorite lines, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” This was a reminder for me that I must love [...]

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All Saints Day

November 2, 2011

This Tuesday at The Family Foundation School, instead of having our usual Jewish service, Father Chris came in to celebrate All Saints Day in the Catholic tradition. In the Christian tradition, Halloween is just the vigil before All Saints Day, and following customs, on vigils before feast days, Christians mock evil because it has no [...]

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Happy Birthday, Mary!

September 8, 2011

By Ileana A. Today is the Virgin Mary’s birthday, which is a very important date to many students at The Family Foundation School. Today’s chapel service was dedicated to her, singing songs and learning about Mary. In the Catholic tradition, Mary is the most important saint. She is the one to pray to because she [...]

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Jesus and the Gentile

August 14, 2011

By Ileana A. This week, Father Chris read to us about Jesus and his encounter with a Canaanite woman. Jesus had retired to the region of Tyre and Sidon, or as Father put it, for vacation because we all need vacations. But a Canaanite woman, called a Gentile because she was not Jewish, asked for [...]

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Mary’s Month

May 24, 2011

By Yana K.   April Showers are known to bring May flowers, but in our case, April showers are bringing even heavier May showers. The month of May is also Mother Mary’s month. Father Chris is giving students the opportunity to honor her by inviting them to pray the Rosary. Every Thursday afternoon at 1 [...]

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Cleansing, Repentance, and Soul-Searching — Lent

March 13, 2011

March 9 was Ash Wednesday, a special day that marks the beginning of Lent. Exactly one year ago, I heard and learned about Lent for the first time in my life. However, I wasn’t at The Family Foundation School for very long, so my idea of soul-searching and repentance was a little different then than [...]

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