President’s Message

Message from the President, 12/2/08

Dear Ursuline Family,

I hope all of you had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving week. Each year we gather with family and friends to thank God for the many blessings and abundances in our lives. Thanksgiving also involves an act of the will. It’s not a question of pretending that everything is bright and beautiful when you know it’s not. To give thanks is to stand up in the face of adversity and declare that life is worth living. To give thanks is to assert that the whole of creation is one great act of God’s love. May we give thanks, not because all things are good or easy, but simply because we know that this troubled world with all its evil and all its good is cradled in the arms of a loving God.

Yesterday we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent. Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year, a time of newness, a fresh start. But more importantly, Advent is a time of preparation as we anticipate the coming of Christ once again into our hearts, minds, families, and lives. The most important preparation happens within each of us. Advent literally means “the coming” or “the arrival”. It is a time when all of us should examine our lives and ask ourselves, is there room in our hearts for God’s gift of love, his Son, Jesus? Are we so busy, so preoccupied, and so involved that we miss the meaning of Jesus’ birth? What Christmas is really about is that God loves us so much that he wants to reveal himself to us in a tangible way. He chooses to become one of us, and to live among us. He sends, not a prophet or messenger, but his very own Son, his own mind and spirit.

Through the giving of God’s Son, God opens the door to salvation and eternal life for all of us. He not only loves us, but he gives us the greatest gift humans could ever want: the hope of one day spending eternity with Him. Jesus reveals to us that we each are a part in God’s great plan for humanity. God has a plan and purpose for each of us.

As we look to the remainder of our first semester, there are many activities and events that our girls will be involved in. Please make plans to attend as many as you possibly can. Let us also help our girls to remain focused on their schoolwork as they head into the final weeks of the semester.

Yours in Christ,
Gretchen Z. Kane

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