In the unlikely event that you would like to read my “Catholic Schools Week” homily, here it is:
—
We rejoice to come together as a school family, celebrating our membership in the great family of God, the Church.
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 3:35)
Jesus’ statement gives us the right to call ourselves a family. And to consider ourselves part of God’s family. We become members of that family by doing the one thing we are here together to do: the will of God. Roanoke Catholic School exists for one fundamental reason: to help us learn to do the will of God. That makes us a ‘school family,’ like nothing else ever could.
Now, St. Thomas Aquinas, heavenly patron of Catholic schools… A very quiet man. Did not talk a lot. He listened a lot. And, by listening all the time, and reading quietly, he became incredibly smart, and holy.
St. Thomas’ life teaches us that God’s will for us is, above all, to learn things. The more we learn, the more we will love God and each other. The more we know about God, and about all the wonderful creatures He has made, and all the kind deeds He has done—the more we learn about this endlessly fascinating world, His creation—the more full of holy love we will be. And our very love of the truth will bring us together and make us love each other as brothers and sisters more and better.
Our heavenly patron St. Thomas teaches that everything true and good leads us towards God. Every honest effort we make to learn something brings us one little step closer to heaven.
Pray for us, Angelic Doctor! Help us to stay on the path of truth. Help us to learn something true and beautiful every day, so that we can grow in love together as members of God’s family.
Father Mark White Blog 
Father Mark,
Pat has made it a practice to give presentations in what I call “Second Grade” mode — that is simple, short sentences, and lots of demonstrations and visual aids (you’d be surprised what you can emphasize with a Venn Diagram). This is her approach to audiences of all ages; and she has been wildly successful in doing so — the listeners actually remember much of what she says. The bookish, corpulent listener, St. Thomas Aquinas, may have been more erudite; but I doubt if he could have swayed a contemporary audience as much as she.
Forming Family in all circumstances is a God-given predilection.
Under the circumstances, I, for one, am more than willing to read your “Catholic Schools Week” homily.
Happy Catholic Schools Week!
In God we trust.
LIH,
joe