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Dear Friends in Christ, and especially all you boys and girls studying here at Holy Redeemer School ,

Today we are happy to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of this fine school - a school which has become known, not only in this neighborhood, but all over the north part of Atlanta - and it has become known not only for its excellence, but also because it is a Catholic school, where you are being taught to uphold the ideals of our Catholic religion.

You are all old enough to know that this is not an easy thing to do in our world. Many people in the world are against what we believe has been taught us by our Lord, Jesus Christ. Many people are fighting to take what we believe out of view - trying to force us to hide what we believe in our churches, or in our homes, saying that no one has a right to impose religious beliefs on anyone else.

Well, it is true that none of us has the right to force anyone to believe what we believe - but it is also true that each of us has the right to live according to what we believe, and we have the right to be seen as people who believe in living the way the Lord has taught us to live. This means a number of things, some of them very simple and easy to see, like, going to Church and to Mass every Sunday, or praying every day, when we get up in the morning or when we go to bed at night - it means not following along when someone makes a suggestion to us that we do something bad, like hurting someone's feelings for the fun of it, or taking something that doesn't belong to us, just because we want it. These are simple things - simple rules - that we mind because the Lord has taught us to live that way, and there are any more like them - and your parents and teachers are always reminding you of how important it is to pay attention to them, and to live your lives according to them.

But there are things that are not so easy to see, not so easy to understand, that are also very important if we are to live our lives as Jesus wants us to live them, if we are to live our lives as good Catholics should. Things like, praying to God to show us what we should do with our lives - whether we should settle down someday, and get married and have children, like our parents did - or whether maybe, we should give our lives in a more special way to God, by becoming priests or nuns - or whether maybe God is calling us to live as a single man or woman, perhaps giving our lives to some special service of helping others, like being a doctor or a missionary in a poor country, or a lawyer or teacher helping poor people who come to our country, because they were forced to leave their own countries. There are many things that God might be calling us to do, and though you may think you have a lot of time to decide, because you are so young, you still have to start now, to pray, to ask God to show you the way, and to ask Him to help you to stay serious about being good, and about doing exactly what He wants you to do.

Now the reason I am talking about these things, about how God is helping you to live your lives now, from day to day, and also how He is beginning to help you see how you should live the rest of your lives - the reason I am reminding you of these ways that God moves in our lives, is because, of all the things that we might think of to celebrate on the anniversary of this school, these are the most important, and the easiest to understand. Your lives, no matter how young you are, or no matter how old you think you are - your lives, how you behave, how you act, how you live, are what brings us all together - you, your parents, your teachers, all the people who work here at Holy Redeemer School - everybody who has a part in this great school - they are all working together because of your lives - because they want to make your lives good now, while they are around to help, and because they want to give you what you need to have good lives in the future. Your lives bring us all together, and give us something to work for, and this is the easiest thing to see and to understand about why we feel so good, so happy on this fifth anniversary of Holy Redeemer School .

But just like it is easier to understand how you feel today, and who you are today, then it is to know how you will feel, and what you will be doing twenty years from now, it is also easier for us to congratulate ourselves, and to think about our own lives, than it is to remember exactly why we are here, why we have a special school, a Catholic school, and why, in so many ways, we are different from other people around us in the world. But we must remember, and St. Paul helps by reminding us of something very important. It is when he says:

We have heard of your faith in Jesus…of the love you have for one another…and of the good that is growing out of your love for the Gospel, for the word of God.

Dear friends, dear young people, more than ourselves, and hat we have done, it is Jesus that we must remember on this anniversary - Jesus, and what He has done for us. For though we may be working together, living together, growing together, doing the best we possibly can, our lives really have meaning, because we love the Lord Jesus Christ -and because we are trying as hard as we can to keep His word, to do what He wants us to do - and doing what Jesus wants us to do, is what is best for us, and what is best for the whole world. For it is through us, that Jesus is reaching out to the whole world, making it a better place, and changing people into better people. Yes - this is the fifth anniversary of Holy Redeemer School, but for the love of Jesus Christ, it is an anniversary without number and without end - an anniversary that happens every time we do something good for one another, every time we ask God to make us better, and every time, especially, when we come to Jesus in this special way, in the Mass, and in Holy Communion, and ask Him to stay in us and be a part of our lives.

So, dear friends, dear students, celebrate today - celebrate this school, celebrate what you have done, and what you will do - celebrate the time you have together, with your parents, with your teachers and school workers, and with each other.

But never forget, that Jesus is with you forever, that every day with Him is better than the day before, and that life has meaning because of Him. This is why we call Him our Redeemer - He brought our lives back to God, He gave our lives meaning, He made them worth something very dear - He made our lives worth His own life, and He gave His life for us.

And so, whether it's the anniversary of your school, or of your birth or baptism, or of the wedding of your mothers and fathers, remember that every time you go to Mass and receive Communion, you are keeping an even more important anniversary - the anniversary of how Jesus Christ saved you, and of how is He telling you, showing you, every day, the plans He has for your life, your life together with Him, together with Him forever.

God bless you, and God bless Holy Redeemer School .

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