Isle of Saints and Scholars

Celebrating Catholic Schools Week at I.C., Fort Smith

01/216/2025

Luke 4:14-21 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

I recently came across a little cartoon that I am convinced was inspired by my dog, Apollo. Pictured are two dogs, one older, and the other a puppy, sitting in training school. In the distance a man stands offering a doggie treat. The older dog says to the younger dog: “They give you a lot of treats while they are training you. So, play dumb for as long as you can.” By the way, I took Apollo to the vet two weeks ago, and saw a sign that said: “My dog is not spoiled. I am just well trained.” All dog people sooner or later ask themselves: who is training whom???

This Sunday we begin Catholic Schools Week, and the students at Immaculate Conception never play dumb in school, but they certainly teach us adults a lot. For example, at the Sunday 10 a.m. Mass brave 5th graders Ben Harmon, Alivea Needham, and Valentina Araujo are reading at Mass, in front of a full church with over 500 people listening. Could I get a show of hands how many adults would get up and do that? Please don’t all raise your hands at once.

Or, this coming week the students will participate in a “Diaper Parade” and deliver bags of diapers to Heart to Heart Pregnancy Center and then sing for the staff and visitors. What a powerful pro-life witness! Or, another inspiring example, our choir – cleverly called the Treble Makers – love to sing at Mass. Who says “Catholics can’t sing?” These little guys love to belt it out.

In other words, our students never play dumb and they definitely are not spoiled. Rather, they are little saints and scholars in the making. And that should not surprise us one bit. Why not? Because this church and school were founded by courageous Irish priests and Sisters of Mercy whose homeland is called “The Isle of Saints and Scholars.” Do you remember why it is called that?

Well, because Ireland produced so many holy saints and brilliant scholars between the 5th and 9th centuries that they practically rescued Europe from the Dark Ages after Rome fell and the barbarians invaded. As I look into the eyes of our Immaculate Conception students I feel very hopeful they will keep America from the Dark Ages too. The next St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Finnian, and St. Columba are walking the halls of I.C. School today.

Our students attend weekly Mass on Thursdays, and it is hands down my favorite Mass of the week because I get to speak to our budding saints and scholars. I often tell them that the most important classroom in our school is not the technology lab, nor the art room, nor the library, not even the cafeteria where we will serve Crispitos! Rather, the most important classroom is this church.

And when I ask them who the teacher is here, they know it is not Fr. Samy, or a deacon, or Fr. John. They will quickly tell you that our great Teacher, the One who teaches us all, is Jesus. You see, the same Jesus who instructed the Irish 1,500 years ago in County Wicklow and County Cork is still teaching his saints and scholars today from Country Sebastian and Country Sequoyah (in Oklahoma).

If you walk into our classrooms at I.C. School, you will immediately see catchy slogans with inspiring words. They are like the iconic words the Notre Dame Fighting Irish see and slap as they run onto the football field that says: “Play like a champion today.” Or the last lines a tennis pro sees before they walk onto center court at the U.S. Open: “Pressure is a privilege.”

Well, our teachers have decorated their classrooms and pulled out all the stops for our Open House Sunday from 11-12. Their rooms are filled with inspiring slogans and sayings. In the same way, Jesus, the Teacher, has adorned his classroom with images, and prayers, candles and kneelers, not so his students will play dumb or even to play like a champion, but so that they will play like a saint and a scholar in the game of life.

And good teachers know that the best ways to instruct is to teach by example. They say, “Watch me, and do it like this.” Therefore we read in the gospel today from Luke: “Jesus stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah” – and Ezra had done likewise in the first reading – so our students stand up at Mass to read from the scrolls of the Old and the New Testament. They imitate their Teacher, who says in effect, “Watch me, and do it like this.” Why should they imitate him?

Well, because like their Lord and Savior, our students by virtue of Baptism and Confirmation also have “the Spirit of the Lord upon them because he has anointed them to bring glad tidings to the poor.” And the poor are you are me. Folks, haven't you learned a lot from your children? All dog people, as well as parents, often ask: “Who is training whom here?”

In other words, the Holy Spirit’s anointing makes our students modern saints and scholars, and they are being trained for their great mission, namely, to save the world from the Dark Ages. And where are they being trained? Well, where else but on the Emerald Isle of Immaculate Conception School, the modern day “Isle of Saints and Scholars.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!