Christmas Parties

Today was the last (half) day of classes at St Columbkille Catholic School before the Christmas break. One of the last hours was filled with parties.

We thank all of the parents who made it such a festive day!

Geography Bee Sportsmanship

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” – Matthew 5:14-16

A bit of well-placed sportsmanship made my day Wednesday at St. Columbkille School’s geography bee – and set a great example for hundreds of kids who were watching in the gym.

A field of 10 competitors had been narrowed down to two, fifth-graders Brendan Preisman and Daniel Schraeder. The match was close but ended with Daniel as the winner.

Brendan, the geography bee’s defending champion, must have wanted to win badly. He studied hard, apparently without a lot of prompting from his parents, and he knew his stuff.

But at the moment Daniel was announced the winner, Brendan set aside any disappointment or frustration he might have felt and walked over to Daniel to give him a handshake and a hug. Brendan knew what it was like to win, and he was gracious in congratulating Daniel in his moment of victory.

Brendan’s parents, David and Kristi Preisman, might be a little sad about the loss – but they must be very proud, too. Brendan competed well. But more importantly, he was kind and gracious.

Academic success is nice and usually is the product of hard work. So both boys – and all the competitors – should be congratulated. Intelligence is a gift from God, and we must be good stewards of His gifts. But ultimately, it’s our hearts that matter, that make the biggest impact on our world, and the place where Jesus shines through.

So congratulations to all who competed in the geography bee, especially Daniel.

And thank you, Brendan, for showing us how to let Christ shine.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Sacred Heart Christmas Program

 Last night was the Christmas Program for Sacred Heart Preschool.

A lot of people came for the program.

It was a lot of fun. We appreciate the joyful way our preschool students share their talents and faith.

Special School Guests

It was an ordinary morning at St. Columbkille Catholic School until ...

 ... some special guests arrived.

It was one of Santa's elves and the reindeer Prancer.

Principal Makey and Assistant Principal Redburn agreed to dress in costumes if the Home and School Association Fundraiser surpassed $35,000. They decided today was a fun day to dress up and pass out candy.

Congratulations to the school for doing so well in their fundraiser.

Thank you to our special guests!

Jesus as Priest, Prophet and King

Fr. Damian's Advent Bible Study is underway using Fr Robert Barron's new series. This looks at the Old Testament foreshadowing of each of the offices of Jesus and how He fulfilled them.

Feel free to join in Monday at 9:00 a.m. or 7:00 p.m. in the Steinhausen Center for a look at "Jesus the King."

Ignite the Faith Campaign Results

“I’m very grateful to see the generosity of so many people,” Archbishop Lucas declared yesterday as he announced that the Ignite the Faith campaign which had a goal of $40 million dollars actually raised over $51 million dollars. As a Tweet from the Archdiocese said, "the Archdiocese crushed its fundraising goal by $11.8 million."

All of the money over goal will be distributed proportionally to the stated intentions of the goal. It is important that all of the money goes where the Archdiocese said it would.

Here at St. Columbkille, parishioners gave and pledged $1,357.943. Considering that the Source and Summit campaign for the church's worship space raised just over $1,500,000, this was amazing.

We are delighted to see such a strong commitment by the people of St. Columbkille to support the efforts of the Omaha Archdiocese!

An article from the Omaha World Herald can be found here.

Prayer = Peace

Advent is a tough time to stay focused.

There’s so many little things to do before Christmas that it’s hard to stay on track for the biggest event – Christ entering our world.

Each year as Christmas gets closer, I get more stressed, and the peace I long for seems so elusive.

But a wise person offered some advice: “Advent can be so crazy, filled with a lot of noise and commotion, and it seems you can’t find a moment’s peace. But if you can steal into the liturgy of Advent, it’s like being enveloped in the peace of God.”

So I’m trying to stay close to the church’s liturgy through daily Mass and some of the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours. And when I start to get stressed, frustrated and angry, I know it’s because I’ve strayed.

This week I needed the peace of prayer. I had a major meltdown after school Wednesday trying to get one kid to work and two kids to St. Columbkille School's Christmas programs. We were a mess. Two kids were late, and I was angry and irritated – not a good way to enjoy the performances.

But in between the two school programs, in my seat in the high school auditorium, I opened up a prayer book.

I was anxious as I first started praying, trying to make sure my children were behaving as they went off with their friends during the break. But I continued to pray and realized I didn’t need to worry about them too much as they sat calmly with friends, playing and visiting. I started to appreciate how good my kids are most of the time, and how nice their friends are.

I finished the prayers and decided to turn to my cell phone for a diversion, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I ran out to our van, thinking the phone might be there, but it wasn’t. I was nervous that I might have lost it for good.

I tried to stay calm. On the way back to our seats, I visited with a couple of parents and was reminded of how lucky we are to know such good families at St. Columbkille. One offered a quick prayer to St. Anthony to help find my phone, and as soon as I got back to my seat I found it. (Thank you, St. Anthony and Terianne Almgren!) 

Turning to God, even briefly, seemed to make everything better that night. I had peace again by the time the second program started, and I thoroughly enjoyed the children’s singing. No longer frustrated and irritated, I could let the program’s Christmas message sink in.

“Prayer = peace” is the Advent lesson I learned Wednesday night.

And finding time for prayer, even if it means stealing away for just a few minutes, is the way to find the peace and joy of Jesus this Christmas.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Christmas Program

A huge crowd gathered for the First & Second grade

 Christmas Program last night at Papillion South.

 Thank you Miss Wisniewski for a great concert!