A Tribute to the Sacred Heart Graduating Class of 2020

         

 
           I think many of us have had the most disappointing experience of biting into what you have anticipated as a scrumptious, warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie only to discover it is in fact a raisin cookie. When I was on retreat back in March something I looked forward to every evening was having a big homemade chocolate chip cookie heated in the microwave for 12 seconds so that it had that “fresh baked” feel. One evening after a really great day full of God’s consolations and blessings I did just so and took my cookie out to a swing to enjoy. However in that first bite I realized with great dejection that I had in fact grabbed a raisin cookie as it had been placed in the chocolate chip tray when those cookies had run out. Raisin cookies are not the worst, but raisins are weird when they are heated up, and not nearly as satisfying as a good gooey chocolate chip cookie would have been, but I still had a fantastic evening in the swing even with a raisin cookie.

Seniors of 2020, someone filled your tray with raisin cookies at the end of this year instead of chocolate chip.

           You already know what all this raisin cookie entailed at the end of your school year and how unsatisfying it tastes. It is entirely understandable for you to be frustrated by it. The vision you had for this year, what you’ve dreamed about for who knows how long was all swept away. You've had to figure out a "new normal" and adapt. Being the first to do something different that no one has ever done before is a huge challenge, but can also be a most satisfying challenge when accomplished. Thi is something we've all had to take on in our own ways over the last few months. By now someone has probably told you, look at the bright side, or even “God will never give you more than you can handle.” Or something along those lines. This Facebook post I saw once came to mind when thinking about y’all.

           That top line is a half truth. The only reason we can handle and endure the challenges and trials we face is because God is with us in them. These experiences remind us that we’re not in control and that we must grow in greater dependence on God. This truth has been instilled in you through your families, the school, and the Church. We have two choices, we can despair that we didn’t get our chocolate chip cookie, or we can make the best of the raisin cookie. You are a class capable of making the best of a raisin cookie!

           I have been daily inspired over the last month reading your individual posts on the Sacred Heart Facebook page. It is clear y'all have been learning and making the best of the raisin cookie. You guys will not have to be told twice to appreciate what you have. This was a lesson you all had to learn now in a difficult way. I noticed when reading your advice for the underclassmen most of you told them not to take anything for granted as nothing is guaranteed. It is true, all we have is the present moment to live our best in. I think the greatest take away from this experience is what you each have expressed which can be summed up as a greater attitude of gratitude.

           This greater attitude of gratitude gives us all true spiritual freedom and that is entirely refreshing to live in. In this we recognize that all the good that we have is from Him. We are entirely in debt to Him, and all that He asks in return is that we freely share everything in our life with Him, good and bad. As we contemplate all the great good to be thankful for from God we see that He is in all things. He is in all of creation and most especially in each and every person. His goodness dwells in all people! Now how we cooperate with that goodness is entirely up to us. When we think further on that, on His presence in all good things and in all people we realize that He is actively laboring in love for us in every moment in all good things! This is something we often take for granted and are not aware of, but realizing this we become overwhelmed seeing just how much God really loves us. And finally as all of this is true then we see that any good that we do, any virtue we possess originates in God’s goodness in us as He created us for His good purpose that we may know His love and that others may know His love through us. I encourage you all to keep living out of these “attitude of gratitude” that has come up in you from this experience. Daily live your best. Daily love to your fullest. See God's good in all things especially in all people you encounter. Daily be aware of Christ in you and with you in all the ordinary and extraordinary things that will come in your life, and live out of that great good!

           In this past Sunday's 2nd reading, St. Peter perfectly summed up what that looks like for a Christian especially in a time of trial as this.

"Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit."  1Peter 3:15-18

           Even in suffering, challenges, and when things just do not go your way, this lesson you must always remember. Monsignor John said it well in his homily for y'all Friday, when he said this experience will make you stronger. Fr. Scott in his homily this past weekend reminded us of the true meaning of hope, the reason for our hope, and your reason for hope amidst everything you endure. JESUS is the reason for your hope. He is the reason for your joy in all things, for your strength, and your resilience. He is the reason you can go forward with peace, grace and confidence. You do this by remaining rooted in Christ in prayer which is another comment from one of you that stood out, "God always has a plan for you. You just have to pray about it and God will lead you down the right path." This is so true! Keep praying and living in that truth of His good plan for you! Keep praying with great gratitude in all things as Jesus is with you and loving you in all good things! He will never forget you, you are not here by chance nor are you enduring this “raisin cookie” by chance. Jesus consistently wills your greatest good and has a good purpose for each of you in His divine plan of love for all.

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           Sacred Heart class of 2020, you are all particularly special to me. Your class was in pre-k when I was a senior at Sacred Heart. In May of 2007 you graduated from pre-k as I was graduating from high school. In our drive around video I can see you standing along the fence of the pre-k play yard waiting for us to go around. Maybe y’all were just excited by the crazy parade of vehicles, but perhaps some of you were already dreaming of the day you would get to do that when you got to be “big kids.” This year it is your turn and though we no longer have the drive around tradition, you rode your last block around the school on fire trucks. I was glad to be at that last school mass you had on Friday and to attend your graduation yesterday evening and even thought about how some of you had likely been at mine as you're related to several of my classmates. It was a joy to see you all taking on the "new normal" in stride, at social distance and in your blue masks. Those blue masks could not hide your smiles!  

SHS Pre-K 06-07

SHS Seniors 06-07

           More than this, class of 2020, you mean a lot to me because you were my first class as a teacher at Sacred Heart. In 2014 y’all were in 7th grade and became my first religion class in my first experience as a teacher. The next year you became my first 8th grade integrated physics and chemistry class. Then when you were in 10th grade y’all became my first high school biology class. I know I faced many challenges being a first time teacher, and with that, as students y’all faced many challenges with me in my inexperience. I worried a lot in those “three first years” with y'all as I really cared and wanted to give you a quality lesson daily. Since those were my first years with those courses it was a lot of work daily planning those lessons from scratch. Naturally I made a lot of first timer mistakes. Naturally we all got frustrated sometimes with this because when you are doing something for the first time around it happens more often than not. I remarked to someone before that I wished I could have had y’all as a “2nd year class” when I had things more figured out. But honestly those "2nd years" were all the better because I was challenged by y'all and learned so much from teaching your unique class. I learned what worked and what could be done better and what should just be forgotten. The best blessings of God mold and shape us to be better people and better followers of Him. I grew a lot in those years teaching y'all. God knew what He was doing when He gave me your class as my first. He took care of all of us and He filled any gaps. We survived and hopefully learned something too! 

         Teaching you was a great and entirely unexpected blessing! Though it was challenging we had some pretty unique fun times along the way too. Thank you girls for singing the songs at Coronation I made for y'all, those made me so proud! Thank y'all for appreciating the memes on the door and on my tests. Taking the field trip to the Aquarium was a blast and it gave me joy seeing all of your joy over all the fishes and even the squid dissection. I think my favorite memory though with y'all was the snow day when there was no way I could keep y'all in a classroom nor even try to teach knowing the beauty God had poured out for us to enjoy that morning. So we all went out to play in it for both periods of biology and enjoyed it to the full! It was miraculous and that memory will last beyond anything I could have taught that day. I know I learned that day the value in being present and enjoying what you have while you can.

           Seniors of 2020, you are a class of strong, independent and resilient individuals. If you really think about it, each of you in your life has already been dealt some difficult challenges that you’ve learned to thrive from, not merely survive. God has given you so much good grace in all those things that greatly over shines the tough parts of your past. You are capable of handling more than you realize and I pray that you see that. Don’t ever doubt that in yourself. There are a lot of things I appreciated in each one of you. So to close this chapter, I want to high light those things and give you a simple gift of affirmation of Jesus’ good that I see in each of you as you go forward.

• † Karlye I admire your dedication. You are a very dedicated in everything that you do and that dedication goes a long way. Most apparently everyone sees how dedicated you are in athletics, but I more so saw your dedication in the classroom. You took time and put in the effort to get things accomplished. You never slacked, always worked really hard, and it certainly paid off. This trait in you will certainly take you far in life no matter what you face. This reflects Christ own dedication to His Father in His dedication for the salvation of the Church.
• † Dalton I appreciate how down to earth and realistic and honest you are. You are good at seeing things for what they are and not afraid to speak your mind or even to say what everyone else was thinking. That is a trait that goes unappreciated as a lot of times the truth is hard to hear. Keep seeking and speaking truth. This is certainly a Christ-like quality as time after time He both called out those who were being inauthentic and even more so brought attention to the true good He saw in people.
• † Carly I am impressed by how you are extremely genuine and authentic in all ways. You were quiet in class, but I saw in you someone who was always real in all things, in your words and deeds, with your friends, with academics, and with sports. One thing that attracted so many to Christ was His genuineness. You give God glory in just freely living fully as the daughter He created in you!
• † Shelby, I admire the pride you take in yourself and in all you do. You always give the best of yourself. When a person takes time to give their best in even the ordinary things that really shows how much they care. Especially for others you give your best and that says to others “you’re worth it.” That goes a long way! Jesus is this way with us, always giving the best of Himself.
• † John I’m not sure I appreciated your generosity enough until you were no longer my student & I apologize for that. It really is nice to have someone in a class who is bright and understands and at the same time wants to help his fellow classmates understand too. You could have just gone and done your own thing after finishing your work, but you were always willing to answer questions and help others out. I know that didn’t always go appreciated and in that you can really identify with the kind of generous service Jesus did for others. When we share our gifts to help others as you always did we give God great glory.
• † Brett your love for all people is amazing. You are definitely a girl with her heart on her sleeve and most compassionate. You genuinely care for each person’s good in your life more than anything. You see people and no one who is blesssed to be known by you, goes forgotten. I often thought, if I gave Brett an assignment that had to do with knowing people she would beyond ace it. That is actually a very commendable thing, not all of us could do that as many of us fail to be present to others as we get caught up in our own lives. You are present to people and take time to know them and know Jesus in them. You see others' good in them no matter who they are just as Jesus sees good in all of us. You already know this great love you have for others in you originates in Jesus and thus you rely on Him in all things.
• † Derrick thank you for always being so even-keeled no matter how a lesson was going. Nothing ever seemed to throw you off, you always just calmly worked through whatever you were faced with. We could all learn a thing or two from you about living this way as many things that upset most in life aren’t worth getting upset over. We see this in Christ in how no matter what adversity He faced He remained steadfast to the will of His Father and kept going.
• † Nolan I see in you someone who when it comes down to it is sincere in his work towards your goals, you are sincere with your friends and with your family. This sincerity says a lot about you and says a lot to others who experience that from being around you. I certainly appreciated it! Another trait that really attracted others to Jesus was the sincerity with which He spoke and in the way He treated people.
• † Ella you are a joy as you are always a trustworthy and truly great leader and example for everyone. I overheard you on more than one occasion stick up for a fellow class mate or even a staff member when speaking good about them wasn’t the current popular opinion. I was struck by your courage in that. It is amazing you have the ability to see that good in others when many may over look it or dismiss it. You have countless Christ-like qualities in you as you truly do live out of the goodness of Jesus that dwells in your heart as it does in every person’s heart. You are most cooperative with that goodness and live in a way that shows you honestly desire only choosing the good that God desires for you and everyone.
• † Elise I am inspired by your courage to try new things while at the same time to remaining true to who you are and your good principals. You are one who is not afraid to go outside of the box and make your own path. Christ was this way, He lived against the norms of His day, but never faltered in staying true to Who He was and His good mission with authentic joy. You give God a lot of glory in this as all good things are His gift to us meant to be enjoyed.
• † Savannah, especially as a teacher, I really appreciated your self-confidence. Being as involved as you have been means juggling a lot on your plate which I’m sure got overwhelming. You know how to push through to get where you need to be and not fall behind. And even better you never fail to share this confidence with others to help them out too. One of the best truths that we can rest in is knowing Jesus’ great confidence in us and our ability to do good things! He created each of us with a purpose to take part in His mission. Life will throw all sorts of things in our path and will be overwhelming at times. You’re one though that has what it takes to handle it in confidence as you know you can fully rely on Jesus’ own confidence in you!
• † Blake R., thank you for your goofy humor! Comic relief is needed every now and then and you reminded me of the importance to not take oneself too seriously. What I like about you is that you do work hard and know what you need to do when faced with challenges to get a task done. When things happen, mistakes made, stuff isn’t going your way etc. you don’t get down or hard on yourself. Instead, you are able to laugh, even at yourself, pick up and keep going. That’s what Jesus asks of us, never to sweat the little things, or beat ourselves up over mistakes. He calls us to just pick up and keep following Him and to do so with joy.
• † Teagan your joy in all the little things gave me joy as a teacher. Whether it was receiving a sticker on a test or pulling apart a squid you did not hold back any enthusiasm or joy which made the rest of us hopefully appreciate those small things a little more as your joy was catching! Jesus delights in us and in our enjoyment of His creation. A priest once told me, you won’t find God if you can’t see Him and enjoy Him in the ordinary things of life. I pray that even in the toughest times you will continue to find joy in every constant little blessing of Jesus in your life.
• † Ryan S. I only had you one year as a student and you fit right in this mix of personalities in a quiet, humble and kind way. You are responsible and self-driven and I appreciate that example you set for your classmates. Thank you for being so Christ like in this way, living in true humility and treating all you meet with true kindness. These are traits greatly needed and through which others will encounter Christ in you. 
• † Jacob I admire your unfaltering loyalty. When I first met you I saw this with your loyalty to your favorite sports teams. As you grew and as I got to know you more I saw that this loyalty carries over to all other aspects in your life, your faith, your friends and most especially your family. That is a special trait you have to stay true, faithful, and devoted to those who are most important to you. These people closest to you get a little taste of Jesus’ own devoted heart through your loyalty.
• † Conner I have to say it was fun getting to witness the young man, who the little toddler I once took care of, had become. I appreciated in you, your unique insights and ways of looking at things. Thanks for always sharing with everyone a different perspective we hadn’t thought of before. This is definitely a Christ-like trait as He in fulfilling the old law give us a new way of understanding it and living it. This way of thinking will make many things to come all that much more possible for you in your future and be a light to many.
• † Blake S., I appreciated greatly your focus as a student. You seemed to have that mindset that “this is my job right now and I’m going to do it well.” When you came into class you came in with a purpose, to put forth your best and learn something. You always stayed on task and took care to make sure you got things right until you completed the work. And then you beyond that you were always respectful of everyone else trying to learn too. This great focus you have on your goals reflects the focus Jesus had in His mission. Though He was tempted He never let Himself fall and get distracted by the world and constantly worked to accomplish what He set out to do in saving us.
• † Josh I thank you for always being respectful to me and all your classmates and keeping a positive attitude. You treat everyone with great dignity, seeking to only do what is best for others over yourself, and that means a whole lot as it certainly mirrors the dignity with which Jesus treated all people in His time and calls us to continue to do so.
• † Ryan M., I see in you someone with a good sense of easy going independence. It takes a lot of trust to have that and I think you’ve gained that from the tight-knit loving family you are a part of. Ultimately Christ shows us independence comes from fully relying on God in all things. He created us to depend on God, but to do so within a good community, a family. We see in Jesus that independence doesn’t come from being self-sustaining. He kept Himself surrounded by His closest friends and family. He had a support network as your own family is for you. Stay rooted in your family and most importantly in Christ!
• † Jodie you have a beautiful imagination and creativity and always give your best to make even something ordinary into something stunning. It really showed especially when we did projects in biology. Though I only had you for a year I truly enjoyed the unique way that you made things interesting! I also admire in you, your openness and sincerity in getting to know people and befriend anyone. You treated everyone with kindness and understanding no matter what. These qualities in you reflect God’s own creativity. Our Lord is not boring! He creates all good things with utmost beauty and love!
• † Maddy, you are an awesome girl inside and out, you never seemed to get too worked up over challenges and just embraced them one step at a time and that’s exactly how God intends us to carry our crosses daily. I find in you a very understanding and supportive person. You’re good at seeing a situation from both sides and always have the courage to stay true to what is right while still doing your best to be understanding of other perspectives. This is how Christ is with us whether we’re in the right or in the wrong He is always loving, understanding and honest with us.
• † Lane I am inspired by your strength. Thank you for always volunteering to lead the class in prayer and even take it further to do so on your knees. You in particular have faced a lot of challenges in life and especially in this last year. I admire that you always pushed through the difficult things we did in class, but even more so the difficult things in life. Jesus knows your suffering and calls you to unite your suffering with His. God’s goodness and strength is in you always, and knowing that you can be confident that you can make it through anything as He has already proven to you!
• † Darren you have a lot of energy and determination. You don’t quit! You definitely kept me on my toes, but I'm grateful to have had the pleasure of a student like you! Never let challenges get you down rather use that energy and determination to find another way to keep on thriving. It isn't hard to see when reading the gospels the energy and determination with which Jesus lived on this earth. He had to have been so as we see all He accomplished in just three years of public ministry! He never quite and never backed down. God definitely has a plan for you to use your drive for His greater good in whatever adventures He takes you on in life.

Congratulations seniors of 2020! You are in my prayers and I wish you all the greatest good that God desires in each of your incredible unique lives!