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Dear Assumption Catholic Schools,

My continued prayers and blessings for you and your loved ones.  As the spring season evolves I hope you can find hope, joy and renewal.

Our virtue this week is ENDURANCE – The strength to suffer through adversity with courage. Beginning new activities is relatively easy but sticking with them, especially when the “newness” wares off and the going gets tough … only through ENDURANCE will we fight through and accomplish our goals and dreams.

PRAYER TO ST SEBASTIAN

Dear Commander at the Roman Emperor’s court, you chose to be a soldier of Christ and dared to spread faith in the King of Kings—for which you were condemned to die.

Your body, however, proved athletically strong and the executing arrows extremely weak. So another means to kill you was chosen and you gave your life to the Lord.

May all of us be always as strong in their faith as you have been. Amen.

RESOLUTION

Let’s go all out today with our best show of ENDURANCE we’ve ever had. Finish every moment, finish every class strong, finish every drill.
Mentoring

How has your ENDURANCE improved during this year?

Who inspires you to keep going when you feel like quitting or letting up?

WAY TO LIVE THE VIRTUE THIS WEEK

Recognize when you feel like giving up and remind yourself to live the virtue of ENDURANCE.

“The patient and humble endurance of the cross, whatever nature it may be, is the highest work we have to do.” – St. Katherine Drexel

“The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.” – Vince Lombardi

“Nothing great is every achieved without much enduring.” – St. Catherine of Siena

2 Timothy 2: 3-5

Bear your share of hardship along with me like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. To satisfy the one who recruited him, a soldier does not become entangled in the business affairs of life. Similarly, an athlete cannot receive the winner’s crown except by competing according to the rules.

SAINT

St. Barbara

Saint Barbara, also known as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Greek martyr born mid-third century in Heliopolis, Phoenicia. Barbara secretly became a Christian and dedicated her life to knowing the true God and making Him known to others. She offered herself completely to the Lord, choosing a life of consecrated virginity.

THE OPPOSING VICE

LETTING-UP – The weakness to not keep going when the going gets tough.

If endurance is suffering through adversity then letting-up is not. We want out or we wish the difficulties would just go away.

More often than not, they don’t just go away.

In this clip the protagonist, Rudy, has put in tow years of work striving to achieve a dream and he is at the point of quitting, of letting-up. He is blessed that someone who cares about him gives him some hard advice without any sugar-coating. At times, this is necessary.

Many other virtues or strengths come into play here that we have learned about … vision, perspective, trust, patience. All of these strengths will help us get through the really tough adversities in life.

So all of us should reach out to a trusted mentor when we feel like quitting or letting-up and listen.

Ask
Listen
Reflect

Before making decisions we might regret.

And remember is to look at Jesus on the Cross. He is there to help us, to strengthen us, to inspire us.

During this Easter season

In Christ’s Peace

Daniel MInter

President

Assumption Catholic Schools