|
Dear Families,
It may at first seem a little strange to talk here about “beginnings” as we approach the end of our school year, but a few events on our calendar suggest that it may not be inappropriate. I refer to Pentecost, celebrated last Sunday, to this Memorial Weekend itself, and to an upcoming date, June 15th, that the Xaverian Brothers call “Foundation Day.” I suppose I could include the obvious one, too, that 8 days ago, in ending one stage of our relationship with the Class of 2024 at our lovely ceremonies of graduation, we called the event a “commencement”! Endings often DO imply beginnings!
Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, ends the liturgical season of Eastertide. Beginning the new Church Year, it is understood as the birthday of the Church because it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, who were still cowering with other disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem, scared to be recognized as followers of the man whom the Romans recently had so cruelly crucified. The Spirit gave them the courage, strength, and insights to face the world and to spread the Gospel. Where the Apostles were still groping through an imperfect understanding of Jesus and His mission, the Spirit filled them with wisdom. The Spirit is the power of God’s love still inspiring us today, guiding our Church and it leaders, and sharing with us gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and reverence for God.
Our Memorial Weekend, of course, is the unofficial start of summer. Our thoughts turn toward long-awaited travel, backyard grilling, toes in the sand, and opportunities simply for change of pace or other leisure pursuits. We try our best to remind ourselves, too, that all of these good things are predicated on the sacrifices of those we remember on Memorial Day itself; we renew a thanksgiving for those, living and dead, who have been of service to our country, who have given their energies or their lives to preserve freedom and democracy.
Finally, June 15th commemorates for the Xaverian Brothers and for those who are heirs to their foundational legacy the day in 1839, when a forty-two year old shoemaker, Theodore James Ryken, began his institute of religious brothers. Having received permission from the bishop of Bruges, Belgium, to start his Brotherhood in that city as “a band of Brothers who mutually help, encourage and edify one another, and who work together,” a very unlikely visionary beat all odds in bringing his dream to life. He went to live in a rented house on Ezelstraat in Bruges, where it was five long days before the would-be founder would greet the arrival of the two companions who had promised to join him in his undertaking: a tailor and a weaver. These three artisans were called to be the foundation stones of an institute of religious educators with worldwide missionary aspirations. Malden Catholic and our other Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools and ministries draw their breath from this humble beginning.
As each day we greet the new beginnings on our lives’ journeys, may we trust that the Holy Spirit who inflamed the Apostles with God’s love at Pentecost may continue to inspire us and grant us a thankfulness for the lives of those on whose foundations we stand. Happy Memorial Weekend!
Sincerely,
Brother Thomas Puccio, C.F.X., Ed.D., H’18
| 
