Expressions of Faith
Expressions of Faith are brief accounts of how an individual’s or families’ faith has been influenced by the Saint John XXIII School Community. Through our community involvement we strive to bring people closer to their faith and closer to God. We have heard many individual accounts and now have a way to share those stories with the rest of the community.
Please feel free to read some of these stories and possibly submit one of your own.
Sophie (alumni student)
Response to the religion blog question “List some of your daily crosses”: I think some of the most difficult daily crosses are biting back bitterness or anguish, accepting the hard parts in life, and knowing that no matter how much we struggle, Jesus faced something far worse.
To keep your head up when everything is looking down, to jump to our feet after being kicked to the dirt, and to truly believe that Jesus has gone through pain so utterly intense that ours pales in comparison are what I think some of the greatest crosses to bear, although hopefully they aren’t faced daily.
We need to comprehend that our suffering will come to an end, as all pain does, and that, since Jesus triumphed over death, something practically unthinkable to us mortals, we need to trust Him and His Father, for He has faced unbearable harm for the life of mankind, so we should be able to take the smaller aches in our lives with something like gratitude.
The Asbury Family
It’s taken me some time since we moved from Arizona, but I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to say thank you to the Pope John community for embracing our family when we moved from Ohio 3 years ago and the overwhelming well wishes we received upon our return back to Ohio just before Thanksgiving. We could not have been more blessed to have found a place as special as BPJXXIII for our children.
We expected to have high educational standards at whatever school we chose but just as important, we wanted a loving, welcoming group of families and administration. In the short time we spent at BPJ, I can’t express to you the wonderful close friendships that we’ve made with those families who reached out to get to know us. While we are very excited to be back home in Ohio, close to our families, back in our home parish and school, and being able to see “daddy” now that he’s not traveling every week, we miss our BPJ/ AZ adopted “family” very much. We’ve learned over the years that God has a plan for us and that every person He places before us is there for a reason. I know that we’ll keep in touch and cross paths again one day. We tell our kids that change is hard, but we make the best of it and take all the good from it that we can.
BPJ is a REAL community and it is one of the “best” that we can take with us from our short time in Arizona. God bless Pope John!!!
Rosie and the Responsible Christian Leader
This weekend I saw the mission of the school, to be a R.E.A.L. Catholic Community that nurtures the whole child, put into action. My kindergartener was in the backyard playing when she discovered a poor lizard that had seen better (and livelier) days baking in the sun. Before I realized it, she had gotten a ziploc bag and filled it with fresh water, rocks and some flowers. She placed the dead lizard in the ziploc in hopes of resuscitating him. When I saw the bag and it’s contents, I asked her what she was doing. She replied to me in all seriousness, “This is my pet. I am trying to save him because he is one of God’s creatures.” Knowing this baked lizard had no chance of resurrection, I chuckled. She looked at me once again with a very serious face and said, “This is how you be a Responsible Christian Leader, you know!”
We are only a little over a month into school and she has already learned a few sight words, the sounds that letters make, and some adorable prayers, but most importantly she is learning (and practicing) compassion, Christian values and responsibility.
We buried the lizard, named Rosie, and said a prayer for the repose of his soul. Rest in peace, Rosie.
Max
