Every August means the approach of a new academic year for young people and their parents across the diocese.
Naturally, this can bring with it a range of feelings from eagerness and excitement to nervousness and uncertainty. For some, the school year will mean a return to a familiar place and familiar names and faces. For others, the start of school may mean something entirely new.
Whatever the situation may be, this time of year is an opportunity to ask God to be with us through every new beginning, no matter how great or modest it may seem. By God’s grace each new beginning can be filled with hope and promise.
I give special thanks to God this time of year for our homeschool families, our Catholic schools and religious education programs, and the commitment of faithful Catholic educators across our diocese who do so much to assist parents in their role as the primary educators of their children.
The Lord tells us that if we hope to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must become like children. (Mt 18:3) We see reflected in the minds and hearts of so many young people the same qualities that Our Lord wishes to see us retain throughout our lives: earnest hearts, joyful spirits, and a faithful, confident readiness to trust in God with each day.
As people of faith, our baptismal promises commit each one of us — no matter our age or station in life — to grow intellectually, morally and spiritually in ever greater fidelity to God and his commands, which are always for our good. The Christian life is, in a real sense, a lifelong school of the virtues.
By asking God for his assistance in all things, we can learn to develop the habits necessary in our everyday lives that make for happiness here and in eternity. Truly, growing in the virtues means resolving to grow in habits of excellence, with a desire to fulfill the Lord Jesus’ wish that we be perfect as his Heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:48)
First and foremost, we can act on such resolutions by drawing closer to Christ through the sacramental life of the Church, making a frequent habit of attending Mass, confessing our sins and resolving to amend our lives and cultivating the daily habits of prayer necessary to sustain us throughout our earthly pilgrimage. These habits are crucial if we wish to live with fervency and zeal as Christian disciples, and they are especially important for parents to practice, model and encourage in their families and with their children from a young age.
Children learn not only from their schoolteachers, but particularly and especially from the words and example given by their parents. Dear parents, how necessary it is to help your children develop a strong, vital, lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ.
When children see their parents at prayer, participating in the Mass each Sunday or Saturday evening, and frequently receiving the Sacrament of Penance, they learn the most important lesson of all: to rely on God and turn to him, through his Church, when we fall short of our aspirations and best intentions. It is through our relationship with the Lord that we can remain confident in our ability to grow and protect our minds and hearts from discouragement.
If the Christian life is a school of the virtues, we should ask ourselves what “subjects” God might be calling us to focus on in this season of change. Open your heart to the Lord in prayer, perhaps before the Blessed Sacrament, and listen readily to what he may ask of you. Consider conferring also with trusted loved ones and friends, those who know you well and desire the good for you in every way and ask them how together your lives may continue to grow for the better.
An old saying comes to mind periodically: if you are not getting better, you may be getting worse. The point is that, with intentional concern and commitment to do good and live according to God’s commands, and by his grace, we will strengthen our spiritual lives and grow in virtue.
Every day (not just the start of a new school year) is a gift from God and a chance for each of us to begin anew in the life of faith, hope and charity, and with the Lord’s help to grow ever stronger in lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.
