Dear Friends and Families of Falls City Sacred Heart,
“In terms of human development and education, there is no mystery more directly applicable to the school setting than the Paschal Mystery, for this mystery teaches the entire community that all of the successes and failures of life—the aced quizzes as well as the failed tests, the state championship trophy as well as the career-ending injury—are simply different ways to identify with Jesus Christ and to participate in the Paschal Mystery. They are ways of dying with Christ in order to rise with him. Educators of every sort depend on the Paschal Mystery as a primary way of giving witness to the Gospel, of affirming faith in Christ, and the good news that if we die with him, we shall also rise with him. An education absent such a central conviction about the order and direction of the universe might well be judged incomplet
e if not inadequate by people of faith.” – At the Heart of the Church, Fr. Ron Nuzzi
The celebration of the Paschal Mysteries in this time of pandemic and confusion, takes on new meaning and purpose for us who are becoming the people that God has in mind. While we often focus in Lent on our penances, and we look forward to the end of all those sacrifices we’ve been making, sometimes we forget that Easter is a season of new beginnings and living out the effects of the Resurrection in our lives.
The end of the story is Life unending!
And so, even though the Class of 2020 may be prevented from going through the normal ceremonies that mark the transition from one mode of life to the next. This mournful sharing in the things that will not be, should only open us up to the hope of things yet to be revealed.
Graduation is a celebration of the culmination of all that has been accomplished in one life, but only in preparation for sending these young men and women into a ‘new life’: discerning their gifts, finding their vocation, and becoming a people destined for glory. Our Graduates are citizens not only of this world, but of the world to come. And to that end, these students of ours will be bright shining examples to those they come into contact with, leading others to the Truth that we have come to know, an encounter with Christ Jesus, our Crucified and Risen Lord.
The ceremony is a testament of how we, as a community, have come together to support and give these students every opportunity to succeed, helped them along the way, and now are ready to send them out into the world as Christian witnesses. And we pray that our graduates, regardless of when, or if, or how that ceremony will ever take place, they will be able to stand stronger for what they have been through, and will be ready to be the next pillars of our community.
May the Risen Christ continue to fill your homes and hearts with blessings in this Easter Season and may our Sacred Heart Family, continue to educate mind, heart, body, and spirit for this life, and the NEXT!
Alleluia! He is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
