To the Band of Brothers: November 30, 2021
Good morning and welcome back!
After six glorious days of being out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday, it is time to get back to work for the last push of the first semester. Think about it, only a couple more weeks of class and we are diving into semester exams and off on Christmas break. If you blink, it will pass by. The key here is to work hard during this final stretch so you can sit back and relax, only worrying about how nice you have been so that Santa doesn’t leave any coal in your stockings.
Yesterday morning, as the rest of the world headed back to work or school, I was sipping my coffee walking through the Arroyo Quad. I noticed the beautiful flowering of a plant called Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Brunfelsia pauciflora). They are originally from Brazil and do very well in Miami. I thought I’d look into the reason they have such an interesting name and found out it has to do with the flower. It blooms purple at first, then lavender on the second day, and then white on the third.
I realized there was an email in the making.
On Sunday we celebrated the beginning of the liturgical season of Advent. The word comes from the Latin adventus which means “arrival.” During these four weeks, the Church focuses on preparing for the arrival of Jesus Christ. All the music and readings are focused on Jesus’s birth. During Mass, the priest wears purple, the color of preparation, and we don’t sing the gloria. All of it is done in anticipation for the birth of the Messiah, the savior of the world. And, just like the flowering plant, while we drape ourselves in purple today, we eventually end up in white when Christmas finally arrives.
Even last Sunday’s readings pointed to Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. The first reading was taken from the Prophet Jeremiah (33:14-16). Written about 1,500 years before Christ, the “weeping prophet” spoke about the promise made by God to the house of Israel and Judah of raising an offspring of David who will bring peace upon the land and make things right. This is the “yesterday.”
The second reading was from St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians (3:12-4:2). In it, he encourages Christians to live our lives as Jesus taught us. To grow in love for one another, to be blameless in holiness, and to conduct ourselves to please God and to do so even more. This is the “today.” Then the gospel, taken from St. Luke (21:25-28, 34-36), is apocalyptic in nature referring to things to come. We read the words of Jesus as he speaks about anticipating what is coming upon the world and reminds us to stand erect and raise our heads because our redemption is at hand. This is the “tomorrow.”
It’s amazing how a little horticulture can really open your eyes to the beauty of God and, even, our own Church practices. Sometimes, even better than a homily, the things that surround us can speak to us about the faith. There’s literally a lesson at every turn. It is no wonder we can always pray, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit… as it was in the beginning, is now, and every shall be.” Hey, that’s another Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
Auspice Maria,
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.