Dear Friends,
It is hard to believe another summer has flown by but it has! The students are now all getting settled into their routines, and once the shock of a new schedule wears off they will start to appreciate it. For work we are made, to use our time well to improve the lot of ourselves and others, to pull back the curtain of ignorance and to live a life pleasing to God. As we well know, Christians follow the truth. We embrace beauty and order, and we find no possible contradiction between the Word of God and the book of Nature. We practice love, the selfless desire for the good of another. Pope Francis reminded us, a person who in good conscience strives to practice virtue should be encouraged to be good, not judged. We know that for freedom God made us and virtue makes us free. If our students wish to be diligent, and find themselves falling into sloth, we need to encourage them to be diligent. Should they wish to be patient and kind, loving and joyful and find themselves struggling, we stand ready to lend a helping and loving hand.
When the individual is no longer being tempted because they gave in, the situation changes. Wrongdoing must be addressed and corrected and consequences dealt with. Those who have done the wrong thing must admit to it if they wish to be free of it. For once an individual takes ownership of their actions they are eligible for a great act of love, forgiveness. When we admit our sin to God, especially in the sacrament of confession, and ask for His forgiveness, we are free and strengthened to sin no more.
I will write more about this year's theme next week.
Welcome back or Welcome!
Timothy Gallic Principal, Holy Family High School
