Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As seems to happen every year, the summer absolutely flew by. We were just gearing up for the Carnival it seems, I blinked, and now it’s Labor Day weekend. Where did the summer go? And while it’s tempting to lament how quickly time passes, I think a better use of this week’s letter is to look at the school year ahead.
I know for educators and students alike, there is a good measure of excitement and anxiousness that comes with the start of school. The prospect of reconnecting with old friends and the opportunity make new ones is something that is quite exciting. Figuring out class schedules, locker combinations, and the geography of a new classroom and sometimes an entirely new school are things that can be quite daunting. The hope of learning new material is tempered by the dread of completing summer assignments in a timely fashion. It’s a tremendous mix of experiences and emotions and no matter how many years we’ve been at it, there’s always something different with the start of a new academic cycle.
But I believe the start of school is also a convenient microcosm of how life unfolds in a broader sense. And our ability to know and adapt to what school life may have been like in our youth, often sets us up for success for life in general. Outside of family, school is typically the first real community that we become members of. We make and lose friends, we learn how to work together on various projects, we get exposed to new foods and we learn what we like and don’t like about all of that. Interpersonal skills are as much the lesson of the day as arithmetic is. And the better we learn such skills in our youth, the easier it becomes to navigate the wider world later on.
The same can be said for learning about ourselves and how we learn, develop, and grow in the face of academic challenge and inquiry. At some point, everyone hits an academic wall; a certain lesson or subject or project that eludes our easy comprehension. I once got a 32 on a Chemistry test, for example. It can be frustrating, humbling, and incredibly instructive on how to navigate that which does not come easy as well as managing failure. Learning to change tactics, approach problems in a different way, and especially how to ask for help are all major milestones within the learning process and in life. And it often starts in school.
And so, I want to extend to all students, educators, and parents my well wishes and prayers for a successful school year ahead. While I genuinely hope that all will go smoothly, I hope we can all see the opportunity to continue to grow and learn, even when it doesn’t. May we all, in education or not, remember to be true students of Christ in our everyday lives.
Peace and Goodness,
Fr. Dan
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