ischmalzried

As my oldest daughter entered the SBCA Early Learning Program this year, it has been an unexpected but absolute joy to experience our school through new eyes: no longer just as a teacher, but now as a teacher and parent. As someone who has been immersed in Catholic classical education for many years, I wasn’t expecting this new perspective to impact my own spiritual and intellectual life as much as it has. But as I’ve experienced our school through the fresh eyes of my daughter, it has become abundantly clear to me that the education she’s receiving isn’t only for her, [...]

During the Advent season, I fondly recall sitting curled up on the sofa as a child next to the crackling fire while my mom or dad read us the story of the Nativity. After reading, I remember my sister and me excitedly waiting in anticipation of Jesus's birth. As a child, reading classical stories always filled me with joy and a sense of adventure. Now, as a teacher, I love storytelling and reading books to my students. Watching their eyes widen with awe and wonder as the story unfolds is a magical experience. Our little ones often have questions and thoughts [...]

On the first day of November, we celebrate All Saints' Day and remember all those in heaven and think about how we can be like them. All Saints’ Day is then followed by All Souls' Day. As part of a religion lesson on the remembrance of saints in November, there is one canonized saint’s feast day that is also on November 11th, Veteran’s Day: St Martin of Tours. St. Martin was a soldier. He eventually became a Bishop and served God as well. There are many stories of St. Martin. He became a catechumen at the age of 10. A catechumen [...]

The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome causes me to pause and reflect with gratitude on my Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome this past summer. I was blessed to be able to visit the Eternal City with some friends and had many wonderful experiences there. We visited dozens of incredible churches, marveled at countless artworks, and prayed over the bodies of many great saints. I even had my rosary blessed over the tomb of my confirmation patron, St. Cecilia.   Perhaps one of the most significant experiences I had in Rome was passing through the holy doors at all [...]

Every day before and after school at St. Benedict Classical Academy, a group of middle school students gathers in the chapel at an appointed time, and of their own free will. They gather to pray in common the Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours. Saint Benedict first devised the Divine Office to give his monks a structured routine of prayer throughout the day, meditating on Holy Scripture and interceding for the entire Church. The Divine Office consists principally of the Psalms, recited or sung chorally in two groups, one calling out with the Word of God and [...]

When my 8th-grade son, Michael, was younger and was small enough that I could kiss the top of his head, he collected sports cards.  On any given afternoon, Michael and a group of his neighborhood pals could be found with cards scattered across the carpet, negotiating trades as if it were the floor of the NY Stock Exchange.  The most sought-after card among this gaggle of boys was a jersey card - a card that contained a genuine piece of a professional player’s jersey.  One afternoon, Michael traded two valuable cards to obtain one jersey card.  That afternoon rolled into the [...]

I have recently been working my way through the Book of Job in the Old Testament. It brings one face-to-face with the fears of life’s potential; I immediately think of all the terrifying crises that could happen to anyone without warning. In a single day Job’s livelihood is stolen, his servants are either brutally attacked and killed by invaders or burned to death in a fire, and his children die all at once in the collapse of his eldest son’s house. Job then breaks out in painful, disfiguring sores, is rebuked and rejected by his wife, and he sits alone in [...]

Like so many of us, education has been one of the larger parts of my life throughout its entirety. Having been a teacher for the better part of two decades, I’ve been reflecting this Fall on what it means to spend one’s life in pursuit of it – though not only for oneself, in the sense of self-improvement; nor only for others, as I hope I have made possible for my students over the years; and not even necessarily solely within a community of like-minded learners that we human beings tend to seek out and in which we tend to thrive. [...]

Working with our youngest students in the Early Learning Program at St. Benedict Classical Academy, I am blessed to pray with them throughout the day and witness the great love they have for our Blessed Mother. Each morning begins in prayer, and we pause to pray together throughout the day. Our morning prayer includes an enthusiastic, “Good morning, God. Good Morning, Mama Mary!” followed by one Hail Mary. In the afternoon, we go to the chapel to pray the Angelus and sing “Immaculate Mary.” A beautiful picture of Our Lady holding the infant Jesus hangs above the prayer table in our [...]

Most days before the start of school, I love to stop in our humble chapel at St. Benedict Classical Academy to pray, usually asking God to show me how to be a better person and teacher each day. One day, as I prayed this, Saint Therese’s Little Way came to my mind. We are called to live each moment intentionally to bear fruit in eternity. Author of Abandonment to Divine Providence, Father Jacques-Phillipe, wrote, "If we have abandoned ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment." There are many little moments in the [...]