Happy New School Year

Welcome to the 2017-2018 School Year. In the Eastern Catholic Churches (Byzantine Rite) the liturgical year has a formally designated beginning on September 1st, rather than the first Sunday of Advent (Roman Rite). What a blessing it is that we are starting a New School Year at the same time as the Eastern Christians are starting a New Church Year. We read in St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, “Make the best possible use of your time” (Colossians 4:5). The key word in this statement by St. Paul is the word "time." New Testament writers use two Greek words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos time is chronological time, calendar time, time that moves along moment by moment, day by day, year by year. But kairos time is another kind of time, a special kind of time; time which is crucial; time which determines history. Jesus lived a life of kairos time. He never ignored a single moment or opportunity for doing good, for serving, for healing. He used time to the fullest: teaching, comforting, loving, preaching. Even when He was alone, He spent His time in prayer, communicating with God as to how best use the time that was left in His life. The Lord gave us chronos time, calendar time, that we may turn it into kairos time, salvation time, time filled with opportunities for us to respond to God's gracious invitation to the Kingdom; time for bearing in our lives the fruit of faith, hope and love. The principal meaning of the word kairos in the New Testament is: the right time, the ripe time, the proper time, the opportune time for salvation. It is in this sense that St. Paul uses the word kairos in the second letter to the Corinthians: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2). Because the Church does not want us to lose the kingdom, it takes chronos, calendar time, and turns it into kairos, salvation time. It does this through the liturgical year which we also call the church year or the church calendar. Every day in the liturgical calendar is dedicated to the memory of some event or saint in the history of salvation. The Church has taken the Bible and placed it, planted it into the chronos or calendar time in order to turn the calendar into the kairos of our salvation. So let us live out our salvation by taking the words of the theme for this school year Rooted in Jesus ... Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve and make them into actions filled with opportunities to respond to God's gracious invitation to serve and to love Him, our students, and one another.

Have a Blessed 2017-2018 School Year! Fr. Julian Bilyj District Chaplain