St. Matthew School
October newsletter
Respect Life Month
Dear St. Matthew families and supporters,
October was a busy month filled with learning and many activities. We celebrated Respect Life Month by praying regularly for the unborn, wearing our Life Runner jerseys, and supporting a mother who chose life by having a "baby shower". We are blessed to be able to live our faith daily and show respect for life.
We look forward to meeting with our parents this week at parent/teacher conferences as we continue our partnership in learning and faith formation.
Many of our other events are highlighted below.
As we celebrate All Saints Day on Nov. 1, let us not forget that God has called each of us to be saints. May our daily work bring us closer and closer to that goal as we become better versions of ourselves!
Angie Palmer
Principal
Student of the Month
Classroom Spotlight- PK- Mrs. Songcuan's class
Learning our Letters
Fire Safety Month
Social Learning
Liferunners Support Life
On Oct. 28, we had visitors from the Archdiocese of Huehuetenango, Guatemala visit our school. Our sister school is part of this Diocese. We sent them a gift of Liferunner jerseys for our visitors as well as one for the principal, Sr. Andrea, from our sister school. We sent prayer cards with the Liferunner Creed as well as wrist bands for the students at our sister school, Santa Maria of the Assumption. These will be the FIRST Liferunners in Guatemala!
Sr. Nora's sister school is St. Stephen the Martyr here in Omaha.
Trunk or Treat
The Knights of Columbus prepared hot dog meals for everyone.
The weather was nice and was a great parish and school community event!
Volleyball
Heartland of America Air Force Band
For many students, this was their first concert experience of this kind. We were very thankful for them choosing St. Matthew so we could provide this learning opportunity for our students.
Pink Out
Halloween Fun
Door Decorating
7th graders
8th graders
Parade
Room Parties
Parade
Glow Stick Rosary
Field Trips are BACK!
1. Our 6-8 graders got to go to an overnight Outdoor Education experience at Camp Rivercrest in Fremont. Highlights were the zipline and the free fall. On the way back they stopped at Holy Family Shrine and enjoyed the beauty of the facility.
2. The Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd graders enjoyed the day at Vala's Pumpkin Patch. The day started off chilly, but turned out to be a nice day filled with pumpkin picking, giant pillow jumping, and bicycle racing (just to name a few).
Thanks to all our chaperones and teachers that helped on these trips. We couldn't have done it without you!
Red Ribbon Week
WHY DO CATHOLICS DO THAT?
New to the newsletter is a section where we answer some of those questions that are often asked.
This week's question- "Why is adoration so important to Catholics?
Adoration is one of the five forms of prayer as taught by the Church and described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). Adoration is a particularly intimate form of prayer between God and us believers. In Adoration, our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit though Christ to the Father and correspondingly our Father’s grace descends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to us (CCC #2627). It is a prayerful and adoring “conversation” between the Creator who loves us unconditionally and we who are called to transform to unconditionally love God in return.
Adoration prayer is often associated with Eucharistic Adoration, which we pray as students and staff here at St. Matthew’s school. In Eucharistic Adoration, Jesus is truly present to us as we gaze upon Him in the monstrance on the altar. In Eucharistic Adoration, silence is sacred. This makes sense when we recall that Adoration is a divine conversation with God. We have to be quiet and have an open heart and mind in order for us to “hear” God’s part of the conversation back to us. And, being quiet can be very challenging for all of us. It takes time to develop a fruitful habit of prayer. At first, our minds race with all types of thoughts. We’re distracted by what is going on around us. We sometimes feel compelled to “fill the silence” by just talking at God and not silently listening to what He wants to say back to us. But it’s very often in the sacred silence of Adoration that we notice that God affirms His love for us; He shares His dreams for us; and He answers those questions that are most dear to our hearts. But, patiently learning how to dwell in sacred silence in order to hear God takes patience.
A case in point. In the First Book of Kings, we meet the prophet Elijah. God has a very important message about a mission He wants Elijah to do--but Elijah isn’t hearing the message. Elijah does notice a great many distractions--but no God. Finally, as Elijah is resting in the quiet, he notices God as a “still, quiet voice.” In the sacred silence, Elijah is finally able to discern God’s will for him and is likewise strengthened to go forth and accomplish his mission. Like Elijah, we also have many great distractions that prevent us from hearing God’s still, quiet voice in our day-to-day lives. We have to patiently seek opportunities, however small, for sacred silence in our lives. Prayer in Adoration is one of the most fruitful ways to find that sacred silence that helps us discern God’s voice in our own lives.
St. Matthew the Evangelist Catholic School
Email: staff@stmattschool.com
Website: www.stmattschool.com
Location: 12210 South 36th Street, Bellevue, NE, USA
Phone: 402-291-2030
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmatthewcardinals
Twitter: @StMattCardinals