Sacred Heart re-union

On December 6th, I had a reunion with a group of girls I used to teach at the Sacred Heart Convent back in 1981. It was great to see 18 of them get together for Mass at my chapel at Hilltop Gardens, followed by a reception afterwards. Here are few words I shared with them in my homily.
36 years have come and gone and we are here together again. You have grown into wonderful beautiful women, most of you mothers, successful in various careers. The years you spent at Sacred Heart have made you who you are today. Most probably your daughters have gone the same way and took your place in the 90s. I always like to say ‘Cherish your yesterdays, Dream your tomorrows and live your Todays.’ Because what you built in the past is seen in the present, and what you are creating now for your families, will determine what kind of future we will have.
As we connect the past with the future, let us remember what our parents and grandparents had and compare that with what we have today. We have IPods and ITunes, I Phones and IPads, but with all these electronic gizmos that we can’t survive without, our parents had values that have lasted many generations. They had expressions that we don’t see very often today, the I Love You, I care for you, I forgive you, I believe in you, I am sorry, I thank you – and they survived, they thrived and passed their baton to the next generations.
We really don’t know how long the Ipods and Iphones and Ipads will last, (at least they lasted 10 years) but let’s hope that the values our parents shared with us, we can also share them with the next generation. There is a quote which I often repeat especially to parents, and which makes a lot of sense – ‘Children have never been known to obey their parents, but they never failed to imitate them.’ So yes, children will give you a hard time in doing their homework, cleaning their room, come home on time, turn the TV or Internet off, eat around a table as a family.....but they will always imitate your example. The example you set for them and their friends will remain indelible in their lives. If you want to see what your children will look like 20 years from now, look at their parents now.

Sacred Heart Convent is still going strong after all these years – I’m sure there’s a long waiting list for students to try to get in. I know you look back with nostalgic feelings about the years you spent there. When they had asked me to start saying Mass for the younger girls, I never thought I would end up teaching you for a full year about our faith. But I really treasure that year we spent together, and I always prayed for you, all these years, wondering what you are doing, how many got married, how many children were born out of that bunch of girls, Class of 1984. Let’s hope we can continue this annual re-union and see the group increase, year by year. (In memory of Joanna Pace.)