Viking Voice

A Message from Our Principal

Dear Families, 

I have a recurring interest in the things I don't know. That is....

1) The things that are knowable but that I have not yet learned and may never learn, 

2) The things that are knowable but that I am not smart enough to learn, and

3) The things that are knowable if only my 5 senses were open enough to let the knowledge in. 

In listening to the Gospel at First Communion Mass this morning, I realized that my own sins as a human being are best explained by #3. Those two disciples had eyes that basically failed them in that moment. Jesus was in their direct presence, but they could not see Him. Their understanding of reality rendered them blind to the Truth before their very eyes. 

In the psychology literature, these perception deficits are known as blind spots. My own sense of duty in the Christian life is to continually reach for higher levels of awareness, such these blind spots becomes fewer and narrower.

My failures never seem more evident, or grace more active, than when something hidden away in one of my blind spots becomes visible. I never perch my sunglasses on my brow, but the feeling I describe here is the same one that I imagine comes from being told that your glasses are not under the car seat, in the purse, or on the countertop. Nope...they are right on your head. And....it probably took someone else to point it out. 

Thanks be to all those allies out there--those blessed extra sets of eyes and ears--who help us see the things we struggle to see on our own, whether the cause be relentless life stress, congenital obliviousness, shallow empathy, flawed assumptions, hidden prejudices, or that dogged self-centeredness that assumes everyone else sees the world the same way we do....or at least should. 

I am grateful for the people in my personal and professional life who humbly offer their counsel, feedback, pushback, two cents, actuallys, for what it's worths, take it or leave its, and just a thoughts. It all combines to help me see the things I might otherwise miss, whether they were right in plain sight or off in the shadows. One of my frequent prayers is for the grace to remain always curious about the things I can learn from people whose vision captures what mine cannot because of my limits, or will not because of my weakness. 

Those disciples on the road to Emmaus eventually recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Father Vu pointed out in his homily today that we recognize Jesus in the same way when we receive the Eucharist. May this holy sacrament transform our looking into seeing, our hearing into listening, and our moving into seeking.

May God the Holy Spirit move within us and give us eyes to see with, ears to hear with, and hands that your work might be done....

-Prayer of St. Dominic

Christ in Self. Christ in Other. 

Sincerely,

Josh

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