Every other day I put out the Moreau Mariner News bulletin for our community by gathering announcements from different people from our Moreau Catholic High School community/ family. One day our principal didn’t have the chance to make changes to the introduction she normally does and I did not want to send it out with the same introduction of the previous day. So I said a short prayer asking God to help me reach just one student in need of inspiration. It’s amazing what came to me even as I wrote: “God has left this earth in our charge. I pray for new beginnings, in the days, months and years to come. Respect what He has given us by caring for the earth on which we live. The days ahead, like you, are full of potential.” After that, Dr. Guneratne asked that I do the introductions because “it was so Holy Cross.” So the first lines of our bulletin introduction are my charge. Often I have no idea what to write, I close my eyes and ask God our Father to help me reach just one student that may need His words to get them through. Here are some other examples of what has come to me at the moment of prayer: “Time marches on, we have been in school for a month already! My biggest hope is that you are all doing well… I can only imagine your smiles, greetings, and chatter filling the halls of Moreau. We will all get back to those familiar times, hopefully soon this will all be behind us.” “Look outside through your windows… what plants do you see, trees, rocks, grasses, birds, bugs, water? As a very young child, my dad (Native American) taught us to respect creation; he said “this is God.” Here is a little prayer from Brother Carl Sternberg, CSC, that I recently received: “Oh God, let me experience your presence in all that you have created.” Br. Carl included You; as part of that creation, who are in our hearts and minds in prayer.” “Acceptance. God our Father has given us this time for reasons we may not understand or want to accept. But, we have had the chance to be with our family as never before. There are no outside events taking us away from each other, we do so much together. It is a reminder of how important you are to one another. There will be a time we will once again be able to go out “freely;” slowly at first and with restrictions.” Even in writing this I asked God for guidance. We just have to learn to listen to what He is telling us. Sometimes what comes to me, is what I think is too “heavy” for high schoolers, but then as I write, God guides my hand and my words so that the message is not too dark or “heavy.” God’s Blessings, ~Maggi Bender Moreau Catholic High School Nov. 11, 2020