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On Monday we will be celebrating the Feast Day of our school’s founder, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. As part of our celebration, we will be remembering her life story. In its simplest form, Philippine’s story (as is true of all saints) is a love story.

One half of that love story is Philippine’s deep awareness of God’s great love for her.  We know about this half of the love story when we read about Philippine’s passion for prayer and her desires for spending time with God in prayer. You’ve heard the tales of how the children in France put little papers on her habit to see how long Mother Duchesne would kneel motionless in the chapel. Or perhaps you’ve read about how the Native Americans or little pioneer children would put leaves on her habit for the same reason. Or, maybe you recall how the Potawatomi people would reverently come to the rustic log chapel on the Kansas prairie and kiss the hem of her habit during the hours this holy old woman was ‘lost’ in God. At the center of all these remembrances is Philippine’s capacity for prayer. What is at the heart of this capacity was the simple JOY of being with her Beloved. She was opening her heart to God and allowing the One Who loves her to fill her heart to overflowing. In the process, Philippine was being sustained and suffused with knowing herself to be loved by Love’s Very Self.

The other half of this love story is Philippine’s life poured out in love.  Her whole life can be seen as returning love with love. She wanted to reveal God’s Love to others. Her love for God was the impetus for her passion and the energy behind her famous zeal. We can imagine Philippine up early in the morning and we can picture her going to bed late at night, busy about many things. What is important to remember is that she was a woman whose very life was poured out AS love for the one whom she knew loved her first!

So, let us celebrate Philippine’s Feast by opening our Hearts to that same Love. Let us allow God in, let us let God love us. Let us take time to sit with and in that Love. And then, like Philippine, let us allow our lives to be a witness to that Love through all that we do!

Happy Feast!

— Maureen Glavin, rscj

Around here, not surprisingly, the month of November is known as Philippine’s month. Her feast day is November 18. In line with Philippine’s character, and in honor of her month, I want to focus today’s letter on the value of simplicity.

By simplicity, what I mean is paring down one’s wants. Some might say, living with less. The question is, why would we value less, desire less or seek for ways to live with LESS?

From a spiritual perspective, it is often claimed that each of us has a hole in our heart. The effect of that hole is that we have a natural and deep yearning to be HEART-FILLED. If, as adults, we think that having more things is what fills our heart-hole, or makes us happy, we may want to GIVE our children MORE, presuming that more things will fill their heart-holes. Of course, we want our children to be happy, so why would we NOT give them more?

Christ’s message to us is helpful: Our heart emptiness is not satisfied by things! Despite our intellectual agreement to this, consumer culture lures us to live as if more is better.

So, here is my challenge to all of us. As we struggle with helping our children grow in resiliency, inner strength and deep joy, perhaps we allow our children to experience the “more” of that proverbial “less”!

In so doing, we allow the heart-space to be God-filled. Therein lies human nature’s deepest joy!

Helping to facilitate this space and this experience for our children would indeed be the BEST gift we could EVER give them.

— Maureen Glavin, rscj

A huge thanks to all who attended the General Parent Coordinating Council Meeting this past Tuesday evening. I know that the adjustment you made in your schedule to be present is just one example of the many sacrifices you make as a parent-partner in this education. Please know that a follow-up e-mail will be sent to you with more detailed information regarding how you can participate in helping the Academy of the Sacred Heart to prepare for its second two hundred years! My deep gratitude goes out to Mr. Brooks, Mr. Timmons, Mr. Schaefer and Mrs. Parvis and all with whom they worked in helping to articulate the Long Range Plans.

One point I made in my own concluding remarks on Tuesday is worth repeating:

A Sacred Heart education is
JUST AS, if not MORE, NEEDED
in our world today
as it was 200 years ago.

Our world today is in desperate need of people who can think creatively, reflectively, divergently and synthetically. At Sacred Heart, we work hard to help our students think in these ways.

Our world is in desperate need of people who are confident to BE who they are because they know that they are inherently valuable. At Sacred Heart, we work hard to help our students to understand themselves in this way.

Our world is in desperate need of people who are able to negotiate and collaborate with others. At Sacred Heart we see relationship-building as the foundation of all that we do.

Most importantly, our world is in desperate need of people who have the courage to make choices based on the attitudes of the Heart of Christ. To be privileged to participate in forming children to become such adults is our SACRED TASK.

At the core of all of this, we want our students and your children to be at home in God’s Heart and to make God’s Heart their home. This is my deepest prayer!

 

Blessings,

— Maureen Glavin, rscj