ADSF Educators

Take a few minutes to reflect before starting your week.

What brought you to teaching? What is one of your best memories of teaching? How has teaching in a Catholic School allowed you to share out your faith? Remember a time when God walked with you. Call out to Him as you are ending your year.

The Cardinal Virtue of Temperance

TEMPERANCE DEFINITION:

Enables one to be moderate in the pleasure and use of created goods

Heavenly Father, You surround me with good things. I ask for the grace to use Your gifts rightly, allowing You to control my desires for the things You put into my life.

Learning Intention

To explore and understand the significance of Mary, the mother of God, in Catholic faith and tradition.

Success Criteria

1. Students will be able to identify and explain key events in Mary’s life as described in the New Testament and how these events contribute to her role and importance in Catholicism.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the various titles and roles attributed to Mary (such as the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe) and reflect on her influence in different cultural contexts within the Catholic Church.

We live in such tumultuous times indeed. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, I was led to reflect upon the lives of the Saints who struggled with troubles too, and hence this Litany of Supplication came into being. My prayer is that it will help you as it has aided me. These are but some of the many saints whom we can call upon for speedy help to be our buddies to journey with us in our difficult moments.

A Supplication Litany for those who struggle with Depression and Anxiety

(Written by the Grace of God, by Brian Bartholomew Tan)

Abba Father, You who made the human heart, body, and mind know most well our weaknesses, limitations, broken-ness, triggers, and propensity to things that displease You. You also know our deepest needs, As the Psalmist says in Psalm 130, “Out of the depths I cry out to You O Lord, hear the voice of my supplications!” and as Baruch 3: 1-3 says, “O Lord God Almighty, God of Israel, the weary and afflicted soul in anguish, the spirits who are dismayed call to you. Hear us, Oh Lord, for You are the God of mercy; and have mercy on us, who have sinned against you: for You are enthroned forever, while we are perishing forever.” Help us to surrender everything to You! Jesus, we surrender everything to You! You take care of everything!

L: Lord have mercy.
R: Lord have mercy.

L: Christ have mercy.
R: Christ have mercy.

L: Lord have mercy.
R: Lord have mercy

For those suffering from Anxiety, Depression, and other mental disorders:

• St. Ignatius of Loyola, you who suffered from anxious scrupulosity, perfectionism, unrest, irritability, self-doubt, and suicidal ideation, pray for us.
• St. Augustine of Hippo, you who found yourself struggling with passions, anger, mood swings, psychomotor agitation and restlessness, and severe depression, pray for us.
• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, you who suffered from deep loneliness, melancholy, grief, troubling financial problems, and the loss of family and friends, pray for us.
• St. Jean Marie Vianney, you who did so much good, but struggled with intense low self-esteem and who thought yourself useless and worthless, pray for us.
• St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), you who experienced intense depression and who was scorned and humiliated because of your ethnicity, intellect, cultural heritage; and because you were a woman, pray for us.
• St. Therese of Lisieux, you who suffered tremendous anxiety, social anxiety, separation anxiety, and scrupulosity, pray for us.
• St. Benedict Joseph Labre, you who suffered the intense loneliness of being an outcast, and you who were considered eccentric and unstable by different monks in different monasteries, pray for us.
• St. Christina the Astonishing, you who suffered through seizures, and were considered insane by many, to the point of being jailed twice for your behaviour, pray for us.
• St. Drogo, you who blamed yourself for the death of your mother, upon learning that she died at your birth; you who carry the weight of intense guilt, pray for us.
• St. Oscar Romero, you who struggled with scrupulosity and who were eventually diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, pray for us.
• St. Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, you who lost your mother at a very young age, and suffered from a lifetime of illnesses, followed by trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, when an intruder broke into your cell, leading to a loss in memory, pray for us.
• St. Albert Chmielowski, you who had to amputate your leg due to an exploding grenade in the Polish Insurrection of 1863-1864, and who became an accomplished artist; you who suffered a nervous breakdown and were hospitalised for depression, pray for us.
• St. John Henry Newman, you who suffered deep and troubling anxiety, that despite turning to the playing of the violin to relax, you still suffered a nervous breakdown; you who failed to attain to your desired professorship, and were later labelled by your friends as a failure who had wasted your life and your talents, pray for us.
• Venerable Rutilio Grande, you who grew up in poverty, and was diagnosed with chronic anxiety, and catatonic schizophrenia, pray for us.
• Servant of God, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, you who suffered from post-partum depression and had your son taken away from you to protect him. Pray for us.

Renaissance Star - End of Year Screening - May 6th - May 17th

Best Practices:

• Conduct the assessments in the first week of the window.

• Use the second week for students who were absent or students who may need to retest.

• Discuss with your students that the May assessment provides an update on how each one is learning and helps you support their learning.

• Review how to take the assessment and what to do when they finish the assessment.

• Refresh yourself on how to administer a screening.

• Review Prior to Screening - Preparation

St. Damien of Molokai is honored on May 10. Damien was canonized a saint because of his dedication and service to the lepers on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. Lepers were considered pariahs who were a threat to healthy people because of their contagious illness. Many of them were torn from their families when they were diagnosed with leprosy. They were taken to Molokai and never saw their loved ones again. (Lepers at the time of Jesus faced a similar alienation. They were often forced to wear a bell around their necks so that people could run from them when they heard the bell.) Damien ministered to the physical and emotional needs of the lepers on Molokai. He followed Jesus’ example of reaching out to these rejected human beings, offering them the human contact—the simple touch—which they were denied. Your challenge this week is to look for a leper in your life, but not necessarily in the literal sense of a person with a skin disease. Rather, look for someone who craves human contact and human touch but is denied it. It might be someone who is lonely or angry, smelly or dirty, mentally ill or imprisoned in some way. Whatever the person’s reality, reach out in love and compassion. Offer the human touch which every person on earth needs to survive and thrive.

“Creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion.” –Laudato Si’, 76. How can we work together as one people to glorify and care for the gift of creation? This week, invite neighbors or friends to look at communal ways to reduce your impact on the planet. Look into carpooling to work, school, or church. Consider planning a neighborhood clean-up, a tool lending library, or starting a community garden.

National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools