A Catholic Tradition of Academic Excellence Since 1853
Volume 6, Issue 8
April 2015
Reflection
April Gospel
Value: Generosity
We shouldn’t be afraid of
the gratuitousness of God
which upsets the order of
human convenience and exchange. Pope Francis’ reflection was inspired by a passage
from the Gospel of Luke and in
order to make the concept
understandable, he advised:
“when you give a feast, invite
the poor, the maimed, the
lame, the blind, and you will be
blessed, because they cannot
repay you. You will be repaid
at the resurrection of the just”.
When one of those who sat
at the table with Jesus exclaimed in response: “Blessed
is he who shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God!”, in other
words “This would be wonderful!”, Jesus replied with the
parable of the man who gave a
great banquet and whose
invitation was rejected.
The men in the parable —
who are examples of so many
— always show an interest,
they seek an exchange, a
“quid pro quo”. The Pope explained: “If I were the guest, for
example, ‘Come, I have two or
three business friends coming
from another country, we could
do something together’, without a doubt, no one would
have excused himself”. Indeed,
“what frightens them is the
gratuitousness”, that “being
one like the others”. It is selfishness, the desire to be at the
Taken from: www.vatican.va
center of everything. Behind
this attitude, there is another
thing, even more profound:
there is the fear of gratuitousness. God’s gratuitousness, in
fact, compared with so many
life experiences which have
caused us to suffer, “is so
great that it frightens us”.
Even Thomas was afraid of
God’s gratuitousness. In this
regard, the Pope recalled a
popular saying: “When the
offer is so great, even the holy
are suspicious”. In other
words, when a gift is too large,
it puts us on guard, because
gratuitousness is too much for
us. So, if God offers us such a
banquet, we think: “better not
to get involved”, better to be
“with ourselves”. We are indeed more certain in our sins,
within our limits, because
nevertheless “we are at home”.
However, salvation is free,
even if we stubbornly argue: “I
don’t understand, Lord, tell me:
this celebration for everyone,
who pays for it? Do I have to
pay for it?”. We don’t realize
that, as Paul recalls in the
Letter to the Philippians (2: 511), all of this is free, because
Jesus Christ, despite being in
the form of God, did not retain
the privilege, but “emptied
himself, taking on the form of a
servant. He humbled himself”.
It is Jesus, the Pope recalled,
who “paid for the feast, with his
humiliation until death, death
on the Cross”. This is the
“great gratuitousness” of God.
Reflexión
Valor Evangélico de
Abril:
Generosidad
No debemos tener miedo
a la gratuidad de Dios que
rompe los esquemas humanos de la conveniencia y la
recompensa. La reflexión del
Papa Francisco surgió del
pasaje evangélico de San
Lucas y para hacer comprender mejor el concepto aconsejaba: «Cuando des un
banquete, invita a pobres,
lisiados, cojos y ciegos; y
serás bienaventurado, porque no pueden pagarte; te
pagarán en la resurrección
de los justos».
Ante la respuesta de uno
de los comensales que estaban en la mesa con Él —que
exclamó: «¡Bienaventurado
el que coma en el reino de
Dios!»— Jesús respondió
con la parábola del hombre
que dio una gran cena y fue
rechazado por los invitados.
Los hombres de la parábola —que son un ejemplo de
muchos— ponen de relieve
un interés, la búsqueda de
una recompensa. Explicó el
Papa: «Si la invitación hubiese sido, por ejemplo: “Venid,
que tengo dos o tres amigos
de negocios de otro país,
podemos hacer algo juntos”,
seguramente ninguno se
hubiese disculpado». En
Tomado de: www.vatican.va
efecto, «les asustaba la gratuidad», el hecho de «ser uno
como los demás». Es el
egoísmo, el querer estar en el
centro de todo. Detrás de
esta actitud hay otra cosa,
aún más profunda: es el miedo a la gratuidad. La gratuidad de Dios, en relación con
las experiencias de la vida
que nos han hecho sufrir, «es
tan grande que nos da miedo».
También Tomás tuvo miedo a la gratuidad de Dios. Al
respecto, el Papa recordó un
dicho popular: «Cuando la
limosna es grande, hasta el
santo desconfía». Entonces,
si Dios nos ofrece un banquete así pensamos: «mejor no
meternos», mejor permanecer «con nosotros mismos».
Estamos más seguros en
nuestros pecados, en nuestros límites, porque, de este
modo, «estamos en nuestra
casa».
En cambio la salvación es
gratuita. No nos damos cuenta de que, como recuerda san
Pablo en la Carta a los Filipenses (2, 5-11), todo esto es
gratis, porque Cristo Jesús,
quien siendo de condición
divina, no retuvo ávidamente
el ser igual a Dios. Es Jesús,
recordó el Papa, quien «pagó
la fiesta con su humillación
hasta la muerte, muerte de
Cruz». Esta es la «gran gratuidad» de Dios.
Praised be the Incarnate Word. Now and forevermore, Amen.
100+ Days Celebration
Science Challenge
Feast of the Annunciation
IWA students
enjoyed the
100+ Days
Celebration.
Various community organizations participated in
this event, including the Bro. P.D.,
Sheriff’s Dept., Bro. Fire Dept., Border Patrol and HEB, etc. Special
guest Charlie Clark presented perfect
attendance certificates to students.
Several IWA students
participated in the
BANSA Science Challenge. They placed 3rd
overall. As individuals
in an integrated group,
Grecia Quintanilla
placed 1st, Elizabeth Guerrero placed
2nd, and Carolina Gonzalez and
Alejandra Cervantes received Honorable Mention. Congratulations!
IWA celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation with a Mass officiated by
Bishop Daniel Flores. The Sisters of
the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament renewed their vows. Thank you
Sisters for all that you do for us!
Spreading Joy
Thank You!
Student Council members
organized a thank you
celebration for Mr. Davila.
Students volunteered to
clean rooms after school
and gave Mr. Davila the
afternoon off. Students demonstrated
their appreciation for his dedication
and hard work. Kudos!
The IWA Junior Girl
Scouts visited residents of Spanish
Meadows on St. Patrick's day. They helped
serve meals during
their St. Patrick's Day Celebration
and gave them necklaces.
Spring Raffle
The Spring Raffle will be held on Friday, May 1st. Tickets have been distributed. Please turn in the tickets to
the Accounting Office by April 29th.
Thank you!
April 2015
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
1
Thursday
2
Holy Thursday
Friday
3
Good Friday
Saturday
4
No Classes
5
Easter
6
7
8
9
Spring Break
12
19
13 Classes
Resume
20
10
Apr. 6-10
14
Mass
15
16
17
ITBS Testing
Apr. 13-17
ACRE Testing Window
Apr. 13-24
21
22
BANSA Meeting
23
Progress
Reports
24
Walk-A-Thon
Trashionista
1:30 p.m.
ACRE Testing Window
26
27
11
28
Mass
Apr. 13-24
29
30
May 1
Living Rosary
PTO Breakfast
Spring Raffle
Early Dismissal
18
25
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