AdZUHS this week, June 20-25, 2016

Date: 4 March 2016

Weekly Memorandum No. 2016 – 3.1

TO: AdZUHS Community
FROM: Father Principal

Welcome back!  Here we are, facing another school year.  The summer went quickly.  I hope it was a restful time for  all of you.  If we can be certain of anything in this changing world it is that we will be facing many challenges and opportunities to become better during this coming year as we have faced them in the past.  And, as in the past, I have no doubts about your ability to meet and conquer each and every challenge. 
And so, as we begin a new year, we assume a new name/title:  we are now called Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School.
And what do we expect with this renaming?  Definitely, nothing will be lost in our school, its identity remains intact.  It will continue to accept new generations of students that will file through its doors and sit in its classrooms.  And, it asks us to look forward. 
We shall look forward to continue celebrating traditions, exploring new friendships and new loyalties.  We shall look forward to more and better learning.  We shall look to the work ahead and the rewards that work shall bring us.
With our junior high school, we look forward to tomorrow!

2. Characteristic of Jesuit Education (CJE):  Jesuit Education includes a religious dimension that permeates the entire education. Religious and spiritual formation is integral to Jesuit education.  It is not added to, or separate from, the educational process.  In all classes, in the climate of the school, and most especially in formal classes in religion, every attempt is made to present the possibility of a faith response to God as something truly human and not opposed to reason, as well as to develop those values which are able to resist the secularism of modern life.

3. Activities and Events for June 20 – 25

a. 20, Monday

• Monday Assembly sponsor: Social Studies Department
• 7:30 – 8:30 AM:             Medical and Dental Checkup for Gr.7 Ignatius
• 9AM                              Principal’s meeting with Assistant Principals
• 4PM – 5PM                   Reading Test Orientation fro Gr. 7 Moderators

b. 21, Tuesday

• 7:30 – 8:30 AM:             Medical and Dental Checkup for Gr.7 Jerome
• 1:30 PM                           AMT Meeting re Project Articulation
• 3:45 PM                            Orientation with Class and Club Moderators at AVR 1 c/o Social Action and Student Activity Office

c. 22, Wednesday

• 7:30AM Mass:               Start of Class Masses
• 7:30 – 8:30 AM:             Medical and Dental Checkup for Gr.7 Kostka
• 10AM                            Principal’s Council meeting
  4PM – 5PM:                   Reading Test Orientation Grade 7 Moderators

d. 23, Thursday

*  7:30 – 8:30 AM:             Medical and Dental Checkup for Gr.7 Rodriguez

e. 24, Friday

• 7:30 – 8:30 AM:             Medical and Dental Checkup for Gr.7 Brebeuf
• 10AM – 11:45 AM:       Reading Test Orientation for Gr. 7 students

f. 25, Saturday                       *  8AM – 11:30 AM          Club Recruitment Day

1. Teach us to Pray:  Insights in Prayer

Fr. James Martin, SJ

There is an unfortunate tendency in some Christian spiritual circles to privilege the emotional over the intellectual.  Spiritual directors (myself included) often emphasize how God can work through your emotional life – moving you to tears during a Mass, prompting feelings of consolation when reading Scripture, or filling you with joy at the sight of a sunrise.  Sometimes this emphasis, however, can lead to downplaying intellectual insights that happen in prayer.  But God is just as likely to work through our minds as through our hearts.

One example is having an “Aha” moment while praying with Scripture.  A few years ago, I was reading the story of Jesus’ rejection in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30).  Almost all the homilies I had heard about this passage focused on how townspeople knew Jesus too well and thus dismissed him.  How could someone living among them be the Messiah?  But during my prayer, I realized something I had never thought about:  Jesus knew them too.

When we know people well, we can usually predict how they might respond to something controversial we might say.  Jesus surely knew that his comments could provoke controversy.  But Jesus preached the Good News anyway.  For me, it was an important realization about the courage required for Christian discipleship.  This was an intellectual insight and not one that came with a great deal of emotion.  God was just as much at work through my intellect as if God had moved me to tears.

James Martin is a Jesuit priest and author of “Between Heaven and Mirth”, “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything”, and “My Life with the Saints”.