Congratulations to the Class of 2020, our 94th graduating class! We hosted all 38 graduates and their families outside St. James Church on Friday for a “socially distanced” graduation. With each family arriving at a specific time…
As we close out our final virtue of the school year, we wanted to leave you with this beautiful prayer written by 8th grade student Annabelle Krueger.
Gratitude in the Face of the Coronavirus
Dear God,
Even though times are uncertain,
I thank you for the many blessings I have.
My family and I are home together
and we can enjoy each other without interruption.
I thank you for this gracious blessing of being with the ones I love most all the time,
for we see each other every day but sometimes I feel that we are always going in opposite directions and not getting the time to understand or help each other.
I thank you God for giving my family the chance to become one united group of love.
The pace of life has slowed itself down so I can notice and appreciate the small moments and beauties of nature that surround me.
I thank you for this blessing of opportunity since life goes by so fast,
we often overlook the little things
like a swim in a pond on a seventy degree day when everyone says I’m crazy but I like the feeling of the cool water on my body and the sentiment of being totally free.
Or watching our magnolia tree slowly unfurl its purple flowers.
These are the things that are often forgotten but can now be seen in the spotlight.
With nothing else to think about, the small things count more than ever.
I thank you God for letting us see that we should treasure all things, big or small, in our vast memory.
Technology allows us to stay connected with friends, family, classmates and teachers.
It allows us to have virtual human contact when we can’t physically spend time with people.
I thank you for this blessing of being able to stay connected with others.
Humans are social creatures who need to have contact with others,
and technology now allows for this to happen even when we are quarantined.
I thank you God for giving us the gift of technology to communicate with others in a time where everything is uncertain.
So even though the situation is not ideal,
I am grateful for all the blessings God has given me.
Amen.
Some great examples of our virtue of the month – Gratitude – from Mrs. LaMarche’s 2nd grade class.
Thank you to everyone who sent in a picture for our Hat spirit day!
Our 6th graders have spent some of their at-home STREAM time learning to use an online graphic design platform called Canva. Each student was tasked to showcase an inspirational Bible passage or favorite quotation as a “desktop wallpaper.” We would like to share a movie of their creations with you. https://www.youtube.com/
If you would like to download any of the images to use as the wallpaper on your own desktop, you can access the individual image files here: https://drive.google.
As Mrs. Zorger mentioned in this morning’s video, during the month of May it is customary to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary with special prayers and celebrations. Once such celebration that we have always done here at SJS is the Crowing of Mary during our May Rosary, where our 2nd graders would place flowers by the feet of Mary’s statue and a special crown of roses atop her head.
If you are looking for special ways to honor Mary at home this weekend or throughout the month of May, there are many great ideas and suggestions in THIS BLOG POST from Catholic Icing.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Distance Learning Dress Down day (or Dress Up day as the case may be) to honor all the amazing heroes in our community. Here are the pictures we received of our students and staff
As a reminder, Lenten Rice Bowls (Catholic Relief Services) that were sent home with your child/ren at the start of Lent. Here was the information originally sent out regarding this collection: https://saintjamesschool.net/lenten-collections-at-sjs/
Since we were not together when the money was due back, there are a few options we would like to suggest if your family was participating:
1) Donate the money to MACC (our local food pantry) during this time. As a reminder, the is a collection being held for MACC tomorrow at St. James Church from 9am – 12pm (please place the items in the trunk of your car and pop your trunk when you drive up).
2) Hang on to the rice bowl and we will collect it when we are back together to distribute as originally intended.
Thank you again to everyone who participated in our Lenten collections.