The Little Flower

A Message from our Principal, Mrs. Faraone

After an unusually long, cold, snowy winter, spring is upon us. Despite the uncharacteristic cold weather, our students continue to be actively engaged in the academic and extra-curricular life here at St. Theresa of Lisieux. We have so much of which to be proud!

Our grade 9 students wrote their first set of final exams in January, and did exceptionally well. Our grade 10 students confidently wrote the OSSLT at the end of March, after months of preparation. Our grade 11 students have chosen courses for their final year in high school, which reflect the prerequisites required for their post-secondary program of choice. Finally, our grade 12 students are now completing the last leg of their high school careers, and determining which post-secondary institution's offer of admission to accept. Time passes much too quickly!

Life outside of the classroom has been equally as exciting and as rewarding. The STL DECA chapter qualified for the ICDC and 15 students are heading to Orlando Florida at the end of April to compete internationally; 16 students qualified for HOSA International at the end of June and are heading to Orlando as one of only a few Canadian teams that made it to the international competition; our Junior STL Math team and Senior STL Math team captured first and second place respectively at the YCDSB Math Team Competition held at Cardinal Carter CHS; at the York Region Sci-Tech fair, two students captured 1^st place and were selected as Canada wide finalists, one student won silver medal and two students received honorable mention. This is but a mere glimpse into the numerous successes in a variety of areas in which our students excel beyond the classroom.

In the midst of all the wonderful and exciting events and accomplishments, our call to serve remains at the core of all that we do. Our students repeatedly demonstrate charity, compassion and dedication to living our faith. Over March break, a number of students and staff traveled to Guatemala where they provided support to an orphanage and a local school in need. In April, St. Theresa hosted the 6^th annual York Region ScrabbleFest in support of the Hospital for Sick Children. In May, we will be supporting the L’Arche Daybreak 50^th Anniversary Walk for Hope, and plans are currently under way for our biennial STL Carnival in support of Cystic Fibrosis Canada and St. John Chrysostom’s Community Bread, in memory of our beloved Mr. Boland. Our students have so much to be proud of and so much to look forward to!

Throughout Lent, we have been reminded of the Lenten observances of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving, which offer the opportunity for each of us to deepen our spiritual life. Pope Francis explains the significance of each of these observances in this year’s message for Lent:

Fasting, that is, learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to “devour” everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts. Prayer, which teaches us to abandon idolatry and the self-sufficiency of our ego, and to acknowledge our need of the Lord and his mercy. Almsgiving, whereby we escape from the insanity of hoarding everything for ourselves in the illusory belief that we can secure a future that does not belong to us. And thus to rediscover the joy of God’s plan for creation and for each of us, which is to love him, our brothers and sisters, and the entire world, and to find in this love our true happiness.

As our Lenten journey comes to an end, we look forward to celebrating Christ’s resurrection which brings to us a promise of new life, both in this world and in the next. We wish you all a happy and blessed Easter!