Jesus Said Thank You

          During this month of November we are reminded of the importance to give thanks to God.  We thank God not only for our families and friends, but for our health and our shelter and our schools.  In order to understand why it is important to thank God and others, read the following stories about Jesus and the priority He made for thanking His Father. 

 Just before Jesus commanded Lazarus to rise, he thanked God for always hearing him.  In one of his final prayers, he thanked God for giving him Peter, John, James, Mary, Martha, and the rest of his staff.  Jesus had a thankful heart. 

 Gratitude is a key element of leadership because gratitude means an open heart, a listening heart, a faith-filled heart.  How could anyone be a leader without faith and gratitude in a Higher Power or have a better future builds on better ways?

 One of the most breathtaking sights in San Diego is sunset on the beach.  As the sun sinks slowly into the horizon, hundreds of seagulls stand and turn quietly to bid farewell.  Pelicans fly by a perfect formation, skimming just the top of the waves in their sunset salute.  On the bridge across from the beach, thousands of birds line up on the electrical wires, all sitting and facing the sun, saying good-bye to the day.  Perhaps they are also silently praying “Thank you, God for knowing and caring when even on of us falls.  Thank you God, for declaring that even the sparrows shall be fed.: 

 Jesus said thank you.

 Question – do you say thank you before you ask for something from God, from your teacher, or from your fellow student council members?

 - From Jesus CEO – Laurie Beth Jones

Fall…
September
Re-unite/welcome/beginning
Holy Childhood Day

October
Rosary Month
World Food Day
Halloween

November
All Saints Day
All Soul’s Day
Veteran’s Day
Christ the King
Thanksgiving
Advent

December
Continuation of Advent
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Immaculate Conception
 Christmas
Holy Family

 Winter…
January
New Year
Epiphany
Baptism
Martin Luther King Day
Presidents’ Day

February
Ash Wednesday
St. Valentine’s Day

March
Lent
St. Patrick’s Day

Spring…
April
Palm Sunday
Holy Thursday
Good Friday
Easter

May
Memorial Day
Mother’s Day
Month of Mary
Ascension Thursday

June
Pentecost
Flag Day
Father’s Day
Farewell/Separate

Say Thanks!

Golfing great Jack Nicklaus is legendary for saying thanks.  This began back in the early days of his career when he would stay in private homes during tournaments.  Some people still prize the note of thanks he wrote to them back in those days.  As he became a superstar in golf and in business, Nicklaus continued to look for ways to express his gratitude, and it has paid off in many ways for him.

 You will note that Jesus always gave thanks for food before he ate.  He was exceedingly thankful for food before he ate.  He was exceedingly thankful to his Father for the power his disciples demonstrated when he sent them out two by two.  His appreciation for the demonstration of love by the woman who bathed his head with expensive oil and who washed his feet with her tears is another fine example of his gratitude.

 In business, really in all of life, it is impossible to say “thank you” too many times.  Do as Jesus did.  Say it often.

 - From The Management Methods of Jesus by Bob Briner

Leaders Pray in Gratitude

Idea Starters for Religious Activities

Some idea-starters for the Commissioner of Religious Activities:

1- Make a schedule of student council representatives who are trained to be ushers at all student body Masses (especially during Communion, when they should allow other parishioners to receive before the students, which shows respect for adults.

2-Help the moderator and priest, etc., to plan and have a Student Council Ceremony each fall, in church, after a school Mass (officers can speak, all representatives introduced, given plans, blessed)
 

"GROWTH"School Year Theme and Ideas

October’s Theme: Mission Month – Growth in Prayer
Make and display a banner to be sent to our adopted school in Guatemala (amend as necessary)
Dramatize the Parable of the Sower and Seed.
Carry the school plant in the opening procession
Water a plant as the Prayer of the Faithful Petitions are read

 Big Brother/Sister or Buddy Program
 Write to the children in Guatemala using colorful pictures as the media.
Pray for the poor each morning.
Sponsor a special collection for the missions.
Send get well notes to parishioners, relatives and friends who are sick.
Appoint a SC member to get names of those who are ill from the parish priest.

 November’s Theme: Growth in God’s Love – Becoming the Saints of Today
Each class chooses a saint to research and depicts that person or a characteristic of him/her on one of eight pieces of poster board.
These pieces are carried in procession at the beginning of the liturgy and inserted in a 3’x4’ stained glass window.
During the homily, a class representative will explain the saint or his characteristic.

 Big Brother/Sister or Buddy Program
Sit at lunch together and exchange a small homemade gift.
Tell each other about their name Saint.
Give examples of how they can imitate their name saint.

 Suggested themes for the rest of the year-
All surrounding the theme of Growth

 December: Growth in Gifts of Kindness

January: Growth in Generosity

February: Growth in Acts of Sacrifice

March: Growth in Patriotism and Loyalty

April: Growth in Service to Others

May: Growth in Love for the Holy Eucharist

June: Growth in More Responsibility toward study

Quote for November

 Thank God every day when you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.

-Basil Carpenter

After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. – Mark 6.46

 This short passage of only seven verses contains many leadership lessons, the key one being that prayer is as necessary after triumph as it is before difficulty.

 Our tendency is to pray when facing peril, but to forget prayer after God has seen us through hard times.  Jesus prayed before feeding the five thousands as He gave thanks for the bread; but even more significantly, after the great miracle and after dismissing the crowd and sending His disciples away, “he went up on a mountainside to pray.”  This is a great lesson for everyone who leads.

 Time alone, time in prayer alone, is necessary for successful leadership.  Certainly, prayer is important as we look toward the inevitable difficulties we will face, but Jesus shows us that it is also vital after God has allowed our leadership to succeed.  These times of prayer strengthen and sustain us – perhaps more than any other – and should be the most joyful and memorable times of praise, worship, and celebration of our wonderful heavenly Father; times for thanks and thanksgiving, and times of expressing love and adoration.  The only petitioning in these times of prayer should be for the graced to love Him more.

 After He has seen us – or allowed us to lead others – through difficulty, we should be certain to go to Him in prayer.  This is not a time for casual prayer that we whisper as we move on to our next activity.  Jesus could easily have gone with His disciples as they left for Bethsaida, which would have been the natural, expected thing to do.  Why wait and travel alone?  Because God’s great help and great blessing demanded a particularly meaningful time of communication with Him.  

 As a leader today, with the knowledge of the scriptural account, the great joy of knowing Jesus, and access to the help of the Holy Spirit, it is even more important that we express out thanks after times of help, blessing, and triumph. Doing this will allow us to approach our Father more confidently when we again need His help in facing a difficult situation.  How can we go to Him with another petition when we did not thank Him or worship Him when He first provided for us?  

 The best leaders are also the most thankful people on earth because they realize that everything they have is a gift from God.  Be thankful and remember the One from whom all blessings flow. 

 David’s expression in Psalm 138.1-3 should be a pattern for leaders and is an appropriate way to close our book on the leadership lesson of Jesus:

I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;
Before the “gods” I will sing your praise.
I will blow down before your holy temple;
And will praise your name.
For your love and your faithfulness,
For you have exalted above all things
Your name and your word.
When I called, you answered me;
You made me hold and stouthearted.

 -From the Leadership Lessons of Jesus by Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard