Over the weekend we celebrated another of our children’s birthdays. We Facetimed with family, played games in our basement, and celebrated being together. The air cleared enough for us to spend an afternoon at a park with friends. Witnessing our kids running around and laughing was a gift in and of itself.
This week marks the “return” of all students to the new academic year at the schools in our Lasallian District. We are continuing to learn new and creative ways to practice our Lasallian community and sense of hospitality, whether it be virtually, in a hybrid fashion, or with adherence to distancing norms. While the physical safety and well-being of all is foundational to all approaches, tending to the spiritual and mental health of our students- and educators- is critical as well.
This reflection – I Believe by Lothar Zenetti– was shared as a prayer last week, and I am pleased to pass it along to you. It reminds us to practice gratitude while recognizing the presence of God. I invite you to take five minutes to focus and view it, for St. John Baptist De La Salle wrote: “The remembrance of God’s presence will be a great advantage in helping you and in inspiring you to do all your actions well” (Letter 2).
I hope that the poem and song below, and the articles that follow, inform your leadership this week.
For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing
John O’Donohue, SJ (From To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings)
When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.
The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.
Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.
The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
ARTICLES
A Growing Number of Catholic Schools Are Shutting Down Forever
A Parent’s Toughest Call: In-Person Schooling or Not?
Creating campus cultures that welcome, even virtually, during the pandemic
Formation happens more through relationships than individual dispositions or actions; we are what we repeatedly do together. For this reason, we have to be intentional about integrating self-care and mental health into our relationships as families, friends and communities for work, school or worship.
Keeping the Faith 