St. Kieran

Catholic Church

Chicago Heights,  IL  

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Notes From Fr. Joe Cook

August 19, 2007

Dear Sister and Brother in the Lord:


The new school year 2007/08 begins on Wednesday.  Please join in praying that God bless the coming year— the students, faculty, Mr. Simone, our principal, and of course, all of our St. Kieran families - with gifts and graces that will help give witness to our faith in the Lord Jesus.


Our school exists not so much to offer academics—which we do quite well— but to implant and inculcate the truths and values of the Faith. It is this, living the Faith that marks Saint Kieran School as special and unique.  We are a Catholic school and that makes all the difference in the world, at least it should!


Here’s a prayer for those families that are sending their children back to school.

Thank you God, for fresh starts

 

God bless this brand-new backpack,

filled as it is with survival gear for the year to come.

 

Bless the pristine paper, the uncreased texts,

and the pencils whose erasers have yet to be rubbed raw.

Bless the workbooks and the notebooks,

both the three-ring binder and the spiral variety.

Bless the pencil case and protractor, the sharpener and the compass.

Bless the thermos and the sandwich bags

and the unbruised apple, gleaming and firm.

Bless all 84 crayons,

each with its own contribution to make.

Bless the hands that will use these tools and the minds

that will imagine how.

Bless the hearts that will guide our children—

and the ache in our own hearts as we watch them leave yet one year more.