The Chapel of
Lights
Once Upon
A Time, there was a Spanish nobleman who lived in a castle. The land, as far as
one’s eye could see, belonged to him. His family was his pride but in time the
children grew up and one by one they moved out of the castle to lands he had
given them. When the last son moved away he became very lonely. He decided to
build a chapel where all of them might come to worship together. He did not
tell his children about his plans, but he built a beautiful chapel high on the
side of a mountain. From its front door he could see the entire valley, the
castle and all of his children’s homes. When it was finished he called his
children to his home and then took them up the side of the mountain to see the
new chapel. When he asked them how they liked it, he could see that they were
deeply moved. One by one his sons gripped his hand. His daughters gave h im a
kiss. He was very happy. “The first service will be this Sabbath night,” he
announced. “We will gather as the sun sets behind the mountain.”
Then on e of his daughters noticed that there were no
lights in the chapel. “Father,” she cried, “you forgot to put lights in the
chapel. How can we meet at night?”
But the father answered, “No, daughter, I did not forget
the lights. Each of you shall be a light.” As he was speaking, he walked to a
closet and came out with hand lanterns. He had a lantern for each son and
daughter. He passed them out to the family, saying: “Each of you shall carry
this light as you come to the chapel. It will light you way here and your
return to your homes. There are hooks in the chapel where each of you will hang
the light during the service. Remember, if any one of you is missing, the
chapel will have just that much less light because of your absence. We need the
lights of all for the perfect chapel light.”
Reflection by Ken Willers
You and your colleagues are the lights
of hope to the Mission of Catholic education. Your presence and participation help our Catholic educational community find its way through dark and troubling times. And now more than ever
we need to be united and supportive of this Mission. I would like to encourage all Catholic educators to
continue to be faithful to their call to the Church's Mission of education and to be present to their community. The light and effectiveness of Catholic education is diminished when even one educator is is
absent from living his or her vocation.
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