(Prayer offered on the Public Address system for the entire La Salle Academy educational community on Wednesday morning, 10 May 2017)

Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of a loving God.

For the next few minutes, I invite you to try something different.  Close your eyes.  Push all the other thoughts you were just having out of your mind.  Listen to these words again.

Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of a loving God.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “to remember” means “to bring to mind” or, “to think of again.”  We are invited to think of the fact that we are in the holy presence of a loving God at least five or six times a day here at La Salle, but depending on how you go about remembering, it is easy to forget.

Wait, what did I just say?  Depending on how you go about remembering, it easy to forget.  If remembering that you are in the holy presence of God is something you do with just your mind, remembering can end as quickly as it starts.   At any moment, there are so many stimuli competing for your attention.  A smirk from the person sitting next to you.  The buzz of a text message in your pocket.  The thought, drifting unbidden through your mind, of the really excellent bagel you ate for breakfast this morning.  That’s all it takes, and remembering that you are in the holy presence of God is over, and it doesn’t have a chance to change the way you approach your day.

Instead, today I invite you to remember in a more physical way.

Remember with your eyes.  When you see something beautiful, like the canopy of pink flowers covering the walkway from Academy Avenue to the entrance by the chapel, stop, look up, and take a moment to appreciate this beautiful spring in Providence, a reminder of God’s creation all around us.  You have 5 seconds to do that.

Remember with your ears.  When you hear someone using words that you know are hateful or vulgar, take a moment to stop, turn around, and say, “Hey, don’t use that word.  We don’t do that here.”  You have 30 seconds to do that.

Remember with your hearts.  La Salle Academy gives us countless reminders of how to be our best selves each day.  For students, you can take to heart the following words from St. Paul’s letter to his young companion Timothy, the first few of which are carved in Latin above the front doors to the school on the corner of Smith and Academy:

“Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.”  If you’ve never noticed this, take a look and think about what it means to you after school today.  You have 15 seconds to do that.

For faculty and staff, you can take to heart the wisdom of St. John Baptist de La Salle delivered to us via daily email, such as this reminder, which I saved last October: “To deal with young people very harshly is to forego all hope of effecting any good.”  If you haven’t been reading those emails lately, open the one today.  You have 15 seconds to do that.

So, when you open your eyes after prayer — they’re still shut, right? — see the world around you with new, more observant eyes and ears and a more open heart.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father,

Help us to approach ‘remembering’ that we are in your holy presence, in a new, more intentional way today and help it to bear fruit in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

St. John Baptist de la Salle — Pray for us!

Live Jesus in our Hearts — Forever!

Lia Wahl–Mathematics Teacher