Greetings Academy families and friends,
As I write this note I am clinging to the final vestiges of the Christmas season about to conclude…upon my table is a poinsettia that has clearly seen better days and a group of Christmas cards that wished all of us at the Academy a blessed Christmas and wonderful new year. The greeting in one card was in fact a prayer… a prayer that resonated with me and I that I believe we share as a Sacred Heart family it offered:
At Christmas especially, may we be guided by Christ’s perfect light and love, to serve one another, to love one another, and to truly strive for peace on earth.
While the Christmas season officially concludes following the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, observed this weekend, I believe that which we are asking for through its petition should not be put away with the Christmas tree or our family creche. Let it instead carry us forward into the new calendar year.
As we watch the news and wonder are we on the brink… the brink of a major military move, the brink of a Senate Impeachment trial, the brink of a financial correction, the brink of no return for the poor and marginalized or the brink of disaster for many species hastening to escape the fires in Australia. The list goes on and is different for each one of us as is our perspective and focal point.
We as the community of Christ’s heart need this prayer. A prayer for peace, a prayer for selflessness and a prayer that each in their own way and in their own circle of influence will make God’s love known, experienced and ‘real’ for another person.
This is my prayer for the coming year – I hope you will join me and make it your own.
Dr. Susan Dempf
January 9, 2020
