Dear Families,
It is difficult to believe that we are almost to Holy Week and the end of third quarter. It has long been a tradition at Mount Royal to have Holy Thursday and Good Friday off from school in order to allow families to participate in these days without distraction.
Fulton Sheen wrote an amazing book called The Seven Last Words, a meditation on each of the last seven statements of Christ as He hung on the cross. It was introduced to me many years ago by my dad, who always read it between noon and three on Good Friday, and if you don’t mind I’d like to share a short excerpt which reflects on the request of the “good thief” that Jesus remember him when entering His kingdom. Sheen says:
“A dying man asked a dying man for eternal life; a man without possessions asked a poor man for a Kingdom; a thief at the door of death asked to die like a thief and steal Paradise. One would have thought a saint would have been the first soul purchased over the counter of Calvary by the red coins of redemption, but in the divine plan it was the thief that was the escort of the king of kings into Paradise. If our Lord had come merely as a teacher,the thief would never have asked for forgiveness. But since the thief’s request touched the reason of His coming to earth, namely, to save souls, the thief heard the immediate answer. ‘I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.’ (Luke 23:43) It was the thief’s last prayer, perhaps even his first. He knocked once, sought once, asked once, dared everything, and found everything.”
To me, this is the essence of Holy Week and, really, of our whole faith. If only we dare seek and ask, we will find everything.
Wishing you and your families a Happy Easter and restful vacation!
Sincerely,
Katie Richardson, Vice Principal