February 28, 2020 ST. MARY'S STUDENTS AT ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE LENTEN SEASON BEGINS
At St. Mary's, one of our four Pillars is Catholic. As Lent began this week, we take this opportunity to feature Lenten Reflections to focus on the Catholic Identity that is the thread through all facets of our school.
This week's Lenten Reflection is by Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan.
-------------------------------------------- Lenten Reflection
Lent is an annual Church observance that starts on Ash Wednesday lasting for 40 days representing the days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness. This is a time to reflect, fast, and give penance in preparation for the resurrection of Christ. Like most, some years I have taken Lent for granted.
Not this year! Along with Lent, I am training for a half-marathon. Similarly, when you train you can sometimes go through the motions. In the end, you might not be fully prepared for race day. The same can happen with Lent. The point of Lent, after all, is to grow in holiness. And nothing will do it like uniting your thoughts, intentions and actions to the sacrifice of Christ, meditating upon his sacrifice and how it makes all things new, resolving to welcome your share in his suffering (Col 1:24).
Here are points to consider in turning your Lenten experience into your next achievement.
1. Aim: Choose a thoughtful goal for your Lenten journey. When choosing your goal for Lent, pick something achievable (truly impossible goals set us up for failure), but be honest with yourself.
2. Commitment: Hold yourself accountable. Have you set your goal? Pre-commitment is a helpful tactic to nudge ourselves toward the behaviors we want to do but struggle to, you know, do.
3. Feedback: Recognize your progress. Write down your acts of kindness every night in Lent. Join a daily meditation group to pray for your journey. Like a runner, a daily journal is important to know you are keeping up.
4. Retrospection: Take it with you, and do it again! Remember the joy of crossing the finish line, or in this case, the victory of life over death!
Thankfully, our brains are biased toward the accomplishment at the end, encouraging us to repeat and build upon our most rewarding, experiences. Training for the good habits that allow us to fully embrace the Easter season and receive transforming grace is a race worth running!
Make this year a meaningful Lent for you.
Dr. John F. Dolan Head of School Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan and Sacred Heart School students at Ash Wednesday Service.
St. Mary's students at Ash Wednesday Service.
Read on below for more Spartan news. SPARTAN NEWS UPCOMING ST. MARY'S MIAA PLAYOFF ATHLETIC CONTESTS Girls Basketball Quarterfinal vs. Austin Prep Friday, February 28 at the St. Mary's Tony Conigliaro '62 Gymnasium 7:00 p.m.
Boys Hockey Quarterfinal vs. Belmont Saturday, February 29 at O'Brien Rink, Woburn 1:00 p.m.
Boys Basketball Quarterfinal vs. Arlington Catholic Saturday, February 29 at St. Mary's Tony Conigliaro '62 Gymnasium 4:00 p.m.
Girls Hockey First Round vs. Shrewsbury Monday, March 2 at Ryan Arena, Watertown Time TBA (probably 5:30/6:00 range)
Locations: Ryan Arena, 1 Paramount Place, Watertown, MA O'Brien Ice Rink,55 Locust Street, Woburn, MA
We hope you can make some of these games, it's certainly a great time of year to be a Spartan! If you can't make it you can always follow on Facebook at St. Mary's Spartans or Twitter @stmarysspartans.
A SPARTAN ON A MISSION For the past three years, St. Mary's junior Thiago Pereira '21 has spent his February break in 3rd world countries where he would help build classrooms and playgrounds. Thiago travels with two great organizations, School the World and the Ron Burton Training Village.
In previous years, Thiago has been to small villages in Guatemala, but this year he visited Panamanian community Flor de Anís.
ST. MARY'S TRAVELS TO FLORIDA St. Mary's Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan visited with alumni in Florida over February break. We are grateful for our amazing hosts, Nick Consoles '52 in St. Petersburg and Anthony '67 and Stacey DiCroce in Palm Beach Gardens, as well as our dedicated and engaged alumni who attended the gatherings.
ST. MARY'S SCHOLARS DINNER On Tuesday, February 25, St. Mary's hosted our annual Scholars Dinner. Thank you to our special guest speakers for the evening Monsignor Garrity, Board of Trustee Mark Doyle '76, St. Mary's teacher and Scholars Program Advisor Sarah Hashikawa and St. Mary's senior scholar Erin Powers '20. Congratulations again to our accepted scholars and all of our accepted students.
SHOW CHOIR AUDITIONS Brandon Mayes and Amanda Mena '21 sat as judges for St. Mary's Show Choir Auditions on Thursday. Brandon is a Grammy-nominated musician from LA and Amanda is known for being a contestant on America's Got Talent and a member of St. Mary's Junior class. Thanks to all of the amazing singers who came out to audition yesterday!
ST. MARY'S 2019-20 TERM II PRINCIPAL'S LIST AND HONOR ROLL Congratulations to all of our students for their academic excellence!
UPCOMING EVENTS
SPARTAN PRIDE SPARTANS IN NEW YORK St. Mary's teacher Mrs. Renzi visited Holly Doig '19 at Barnard College in NYC during February break.
HEAD OF SCHOOL SUBSTITUTES AT SACRED HEART St. Mary's Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan substituted fifth grade at Sacred Heart School on Thursday. He had a great day teaching the class!
FAN SECTION St. Mary's students supporting the boys basketball team at the Spartan Classic!
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