As most of you know, the season of Christmas lingers through to the celebration of the Epiphany. I love that word because an epiphany is a “new insight” or an “awakening.” What was the epiphany of the Three Kings from the East? Upon seeing the Christ Child, they saw the Child’s divinity shining through His humanity and so with great humility and generosity these men paid homage to the Child.

What is the message for us?

I hope that, like the Magi, we are:

1. Attentive to following God’s Light (as they followed the star)
2. Open to see God’s Light (this was the work of Advent for us, preparing our hearts so that we could more clearly “see” and “receive” God’s Truth once it was before us)
3. Respond to God’s Light wherever we find it shining forth (just as the Three Kings responded even though they found God’s Light shining in an unlikely place).

May we experience our own epiphany as we look at each other, as we look at our children and as we look at anyone in our world, especially those most in need.

The epiphany to which I hope we awaken is, that shining through OUR humanity and shining through the humanity of those before us, IS a participation in God’s Divinity. The Body of Christ was not just in that manger in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago (though it was so in a very unique and special way), but the Body of Christ is within us, between us and among us NOW.

If we could actually engage with ourselves and with each person before us with this insight (this ephiphany), we, too, like the Magi, would respond to life and to all people with humility and generosity.

Just as importantly—and the reason I am so passionate about Sacred Heart education—our education is meant, more than anything else, to awaken our students to this truth. One could say that our education is meant to be an ongoing epiphany!

May it be so!

Just as I imagine that your December days are filled with tasks and activities, you can imagine that these days at the Academy have also been full!

Middle school students have donated money to allow students, faculty and parents volunteers to shop for Adopt-A-Family Christmas gifts. Other generous volunteers have stayed after school or come in early to wrap all of those beautiful and thoughtful gifts. All the students in the whole school are singing their hearts out to prepare for their Christmas gift of song for their parents. Students are arriving early to practice lines or study for exams. Teachers are regularly arriving early or staying late to help students study. And, the whole school community is busy preparing for the teas and the props and the sound and the lights and the costumes and the general set up as we continue to prepare for you, our guests, this weekend!  And, while all of this is happening, I know that Christmas baskets are slowly filling up in preparation for next week’s Basket Mass.

The beautiful thing about all of this activity is that it is joyful, generous and God-filled. In the Society of the Sacred Heart, we have a phrase to describe this kind of activity: Activity Permeated with Presence! And, by Presence (with a capital P), I mean activity permeated with God.

What is flowing out of everyone’s hearts are behaviors which REFLECT God’s Goodness! This IS Christ-Among-Us. This IS the Body of Christ in action. This IS a current example of what St. Paul was trying to say about himself: it is not I but Christ within me. And I have to say, I see Christ in the actions and activities of all of our students, faculty and parents in a particularly poignant way these days.

That is how it works! When we open our hearts to God, God’s Very Life and Love flow out of us in our actions and activity! This is a continuation of the incarnation. God becomes flesh as Christ continues to lives in us and through us. Truly, I feel as if we ARE living the name of our school and BEING God’s Heart in our world.

With deep gratitude to each of you for all of your Activity Permeated with Presence! Thank you for being the Face of God to me!

Blessings and Love,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

With the launch of the Advent Season this past Sunday, our hearts are waiting with longing and hope-filled expectation for the coming of Christ. This season is the Church’s way of setting aside time for us to prepare our hearts for the eventuality of that arrival.

How do we prepare our hearts?

One way we can do so is to take extra prayer time. You must think I am crazy! How, Sister Glavin, do we take extra time at this busiest time of year? I would suggest a few minutes with your first cup of coffee, taking some quiet time, sitting in front of your Christmas tree while just allowing yourself to be aware of God’s Presence in your life. Or, perhaps you might consider taking the time when you are driving alone in the car, turning off the radio and awakening to God’s Presence in All that surrounds you. However you do so, taking just a few minutes a day for quiet God-moments is a wonderful opening to Christ’s birth within.

Another way we can prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ is by engaging in acts of kindness. I certainly see this happening around here. I see students preparing their Silver Tea gift of song out of love for their parents. I hear about students who are writing thoughtful notes to their teachers. I am highly aware that families, alums and friends are generously preparing Christmas baskets of food for those in need, and we know that the Middle School students are eagerly preparing gifts for families who are less fortunate.
 
As we continue to prepare our hearts in these ways, Christ comes to birth in our hearts and the Body of Christ becomes ever more evident in our world.

Thank you for joining in the preparation for the advent of Christ’s birth, thank you for all you do to REVEAL the Face of Christ in our community and THANK YOU for partnering with this Academy as we continue to help our children become the face, the heart and the hands of Christ in our 21st century world.

Maureen Glavin, rscj

With Thanksgiving around the corner, allow me to take a moment to thank you all for giving your child the gift of Sacred Heart education. I know that for many of you, it is a conscious lifestyle choice and financial sacrifice to do so. Yet, as I said at the General PCC meeting and as I say to all who inquire, the choices and sacrifices you make to provide your child with this gift, not only girds your child with a sound value system and moral compass, but, you provide the world with men and women of courage, confidence and compassion who, by their lives and choices, reveal the Heart of Christ and thus, the Face of God! THANK YOU for doing so!

With deep gratitude for each and every one of you!

— Maureen Glavin, rscj

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

Knowing that communication is the vehicle of our collaboration, we strive to be conscientious and deliberate about our written communication to you. Perhaps the following guide will be helpful:

• Thursday Mail provides all-school information and interesting highlights about what is happening at school. Often this includes upcoming dates such as dress uniform days, important calendar events, parent events, fundraising events and all-school happenings. We do remind parents of upcoming important dates on the left hand side of Thursday Mail. Remember, Thursday Mail is your friend! We push this vital communication out every Thursday afternoon. It is best read in its entirety on a computer.
• Parent Portal Grade-Level Spaces provide a window into what is happening in your child’s classroom. This could be about what they are doing in math, what is happening with their Goal III projects, where they are going on a field trip, etc. We expect parents to check portal spaces regularly, and encourage you to find a routine that works for you.
• Parent Portal Drop-Down Bars provide information that is pertinent to parents, but which is more general in nature: lunch information, athletic information and registration, a parent calendar, school handbooks, archived Thursday Mails, parent organization information, student extracurricular information, upcoming fundraising event information and more. I often recommend printing the school calendar and posting it in your home for easy reference.
• E-mails and E-blasts or Phone-blasts will be sent when the information we need to communicate is time-sensitive or individualized, for example, if we are closing school because of snow or if we need to remind you about an important deadline.

Speaking of communication, face-to-face conversations are always best. With this in mind, we are very much looking forward to two important opportunities next week:

• The General PCC Meeting:  This parent gathering is one of two times during the year when we ask parents to come to school for a general all-parent meeting. The bonus of the meeting (for Classes P–8) is that you will receive your child’s report card, but the content of the meeting (even for our Pre-Primary parents) is always important. The agenda for next week’s PCC meeting is shown below. This is a DON’T MISS event! I can’t encourage you enough to attend.
• Parent-Teacher Conferences: These, of course, are wonderful opportunities to chat about your child’s goodness, graces and growth as they continue to discover their gifts and develop into becoming their best selves. It is an important moment of connecting, collaborating and conversing about our mutual efforts in our shared sacred task—nurturing the hearts and minds of these precious children whom God has given to us as a responsibility.

With joy in the joint journey we share with these children,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

First of all, I can’t write about anything else without first thanking each and every one of you for your participation at Country Fair. It takes all of us to put on an event of this nature, so, it goes without saying that YOU (every single parent at this Academy) have my deep and abiding gratitude.

Truly, it was a GLORIOUS weekend – from the mass on Saturday, through the Chili Cook-off on Saturday night (with the great atmosphere hanging out with the young alum bands) to the Sunday morning 5K and Fun Run, to the beautiful day on Sunday, up to the last drawing of the last raffle at 5:00 on Sunday afternoon! Thank you for donating items, thank you for helping with set-up, thank you for signing-up to ‘man’ a booth, thank you for bringing your extended family and friends to enjoy the festivities, and thank you for helping support this education with your financial support, your sponsorships, your participation and your presence.

A special and HUGE thank you goes to event chairs, Jodie and Gregg Schneider. I could not be more grateful for their thoughtful, strategic input, not to mention their generous gift of time and attention to so many details. The Schneiders were graciously assisted by co-chairs, Terri and Larry McClain for whom I am also deeply grateful.

My hat also goes off to each of the committee chairs. This amazing group of parents and alums took on the responsibility of being point-persons for various portions of what needed to be accomplished. I am so thankful that some are able to take on such leadership roles. Your generous ‘yes’ is noticed, noted and truly appreciated beyond my capacity to even articulate.

Behind the scenes at our big events is the Advancement Office. Our new events coordinator, Silvia Dadian-Smith, survived with grace! It is clear she has the organizational ability, the energy, the graciousness and magnanimity to not only survive, but to help us move forward in our event planning and execution. Kudos, Silvia!

Finally, and most importantly, I thank God for the grace of such splendid weather! The day could not have been more perfect. I credit two new citizens of heaven for their powerful prayers of intercession – Sr. Anna Mae Marheineke (an alum and long-time faculty member at the Academy) and Sr. Pat Steppe (the Headmistress of the School for 12 years, from 1972 – 1984). Thank you Sr. Marheineke, thank you Sr. Steppe and, THANK YOU GOD!

With a heart overflowing with nothing but gratitude,

At this time of year I always find myself walking around the school with deep and abiding gratitude.

First of all, I am filled with gratitude for the amazing skill, the phenomenal hard work and the beautiful hearts of the educators who surround our children. I wish you could see the engagement, the substance and the joy I see as I walk around the Academy. It delights me to watch our mutual charges grappling with ideas that lift their hearts and minds to new levels of thinking, understanding or awareness – whether the conversation is about rhyming words, algebraic expressions, electrical circuits or God’s great love for us! I also wish you could be a fly on the wall and hear the gentle re-directions and the lofty invitations our teachers provide, always lovingly leading our children to growth in goodness, grace and God.

Secondly, I am filled with gratitude for the amazing generosity of YOU, our Academy parents. At the end of a full day at the office, I see you here helping us in a multitude of ways: cutting tablecloths in preparation for the table set-up, making signs, counting raffle tickets, creating items for the Market Place! Others of you are here during the day, generously giving of your time. And, I am CONSTANTLY AWED! I know that in addition to your own work and then helping out here, you still go home, put dinner on the table, ensure children are fed, follow-up to see that homework is accomplished, teeth are brushed and bed-time routines are accomplished. YOU truly awe me!

My heart is overflowing MOST OF ALL because at the bottom of all our collective hard work is the intention to DO exactly what we hope we are educating our children to:  to know (experience) God’s Love, to develop one’s God-given gifts and to inspire them to BE God’s Goodness in the world!

Thank YOU, for being God’s Goodness here in this place where God’s Love is Alive in YOUR generous hearts and hands!

With deep and abiding gratitude,

Maureen Glavin, rscj