Dear Saints,

This past Tuesday, the Holy Father issued an apostolic letter to Catholic educators, encouraging them to measure education not “on the axis of efficiency,” but rather in “dignity, justice, and the capacity to serve the common good.” In other words, the purpose of a Catholic school is nothing other than to help children flourish into the plans God has made for them: human beings who love him with their whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength, and their neighbors as themselves. People led by the Spirit and consumed with zeal for their Father’s house. In a word, saints.

In his letter, Pope Leo offered teachers some very practical advice that we would all do well to heed: “Guard your heart: the relationship comes before opinion, the person before the program. Do not waste time and opportunities: to quote an Augustinian expression: ‘our present is an intuition, a time that we live and which we must take advantage of before it slips out of our hands.’”

It’s a fitting exhortation for All Souls’ Day. Today, as we take time to honor the faithful departed for their fidelity in life and pray for them, it’s good and natural to remember that time will slip out of our hands too. Over at the school, we do everything we can to form children into people who take full advantage of their limited time to build God’s kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. May our lives be faithful role models as they go; in the words of Pope Leo, may each of us be a lighthouse in the night to guide their navigation.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ