This week is Catholic Schools Week. A time each year for us showcase our school here at Sacred Heart. Our school is a very good Catholic school that seeks to educate our children not just in our Catholic Faith, although, that is the reason that it exists, but we try to educate our children in many different ways concerning a variety of subjects.
Education, especially Catholic education, tries to teach the children not just with facts,
figures, and formulas, but how to think and reason with the information that they are given.
This is most applicable to areas of our Faith. We teach them the basics of our Faith in the
Scriptures and the Catechism as well as the ways that they can apply these teachings to their
own lives and the situations they see in our society. This is what real education is really all
about. It is not just putting things into their minds, but helping them to draw upon what
goes on in the world guided by the Word of God’s own Revelation. This is the kind of
education we have sought to give the students at Sacred Heart School and will continue to
strive for in the future. I do hope that more of the parents and families of our parish
community will prayerfully consider using what Sacred Heart School has to offer. I know that
Wadsworth is blessed with a very good school system, but when you come right down to it
Sacred Heart has more to offer because it provides an atmosphere of Faith where a
relationship with God can be nurtured based on God’s love for us and our love for Him and
others. God is at the heart of our parish family and our school community just as He should
be at the heart of our families and our lives. Jesus told us that we can do nothing without
Him, but these, like many of His words have not completely taken root in our hearts. This is
what makes a Catholic school so valuable not just to the children and families that use them,
but to our entire parish family and the whole Church.
Sacred Heart has generously supported our parish school since its founding in 1949 with the
Vincentian Sisters of Charity and all the teachers and principals that have served so diligently
over these past 73 years. I thank God for all the gifted and hard working people God has
sent to our school and for all the great things that have been accomplished in the Name of
Jesus and His Sacred Heart. May God bless all who have done so much and continue to
inspire even greater things for the future.
Again, I thank all those who contributed to the Angel Fund Scholarship program. As I said
last week, we will have around $121,000 for scholarships for the next school year. These
funds are available to our students based on need. Please check with the school or their
website for information on how to apply for these funds.
Please remember that our School Open House is TODAY after the 10:30AM Mass until
1:30PM. Please come over to the school and check it out. You won’t regret it. Please don’t
be shy about spreading the news about Sacred Heart School to your friends and neighbors.
Thursday, February 2, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. We recall
the stories of Simeon and Anna from the Gospel. They were both advanced in age and had
been waiting to see the salvation of Israel in the coming of the Messiah which they witnessed
when Mary and Joseph arrived in the temple for the Presentation of Jesus. This is also the
day when the Church blesses the candles for use at the altar and in the church. The candle is
the symbol of Jesus Christ who is the light of the world. Our use of candles reminds us that
we are given the light of Christ at our baptism and charged to take that light into the world
and share it with our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Friday, February 3, is the Feast of St. Blaise when the Church blesses throats to protect us
from ailments and diseases of the throat. We all know the story of St. Blaise, a bishop and
martyr of the early church who saved a young boy, who had a fish bone stuck in his throat,
by blessing the boy’s throat. There will be the blessing of throats at the 8AM Mass on
Friday. Please pray for all those who suffer from diseases of the throat. May St. Blaise bless
them and heal them in the Name of Jesus.
