Parent Letter Faith Reflection
The Gospel reading this past Sunday was the Transfiguration of Christ. This reading was brought to life in a most wonderful way recently. Last week as I was heading up to Yucaipa to do an errand I took the back way through the canyon instead of my usual freeway route. I’m so glad I did as there was a most delightful sight as I rounded the curve towards Crafton Hills College. With so much rain this year the hills are alive with a burst of vibrantly colored flowers that I haven’t seen in years—the hills have been transfigured making God’s glory so evident. Transformation is what Lent is about. These flowers blooming show us how beautiful Easter can be as we keep fast to our disciplines during Lent.
Our 7th grader shows us how we can transform our communities by the small things we do that will make them bloom.
Radical Community Care
by Patience
There is a large amount of problems and sad things that occur in our community. We might not know about it, but it happens. There are many people who cannot find shelter or food. I am happy to say that there are also many things we can do to avoid things like this. We have already done simple things to help the homeless, like providing canned food. But I think that we could do even more like having a homeless center where people who are hungry, or in need, can go to be provided with clothes, food, and shelter. We would need helpful and trusty volunteers to accomplish this. In the summers and in the winters where it gets too hot or too cold, we can give them what is needed for those specific weathers. This idea can help many people, and I believe we can all do it for the good of the community.
Another problem that I would like to point out is there is a lot of trash thrown on sidewalks and other places that should be kept clean. Many people get lazy and throw stuff around everywhere. God is the creator of this earth, and it is our job to keep it clean. We should have community pickup days where everyone picks up at least twenty pieces of trash to decrease the amount of trash. Twenty pieces many not be much, but if everyone helps our community will stay very clean. We should all be compassionate caretakers of creation, and I believe that we can accomplish these tasks to help our community in the best ways possible.
Sacrificing things we enjoy, going deeper in our prayer life and the other things we do during Lent is challenging, but God is with us always and there are ways he shows us his presence. When I saw this article about beautiful staircases I felt it illustrated visually how Jesus is there with us as we struggle to make that ascent toward Easter. The 7th graders noticed this also: “I saw faith in these pictures because when you see stairs you are reluctant, but when there are paintings on them it motivates you to keep going, just like God does.”; "I enjoyed the faith aspect of the staircases. Even though life can be a hard climb, God makes it beautiful."; “We may be struggling during the climb, but God won’t leave us alone. He will still be there to help us get through it. And that’s what puts the beauty into the climb.” 15 beautiful stairways: https://www.curbed.com/2019/3/5/18250166/best-city-stairs-public-urban-staircases-united-states
God Bless,
Mrs. Alhadef
Campus Minister
5th Grade / Jr. High Teacher’s Aide