Chapel Talks
-
January 22, 2010
Meditation Chapel
By Rev. James La Macchia
Just around this same time two years ago, I offered the SMS community a “Meditation Chapel” as one way to cope with the stress around semester exams. Once more, apparently, the storm-clouds of inordinate stress are beginning to gather in anticipation of next week. So, by popular demand, I’ve been asked to do another such chapel as teachers rush to conclude chapters and units, and as students receive the usual overload of information about exam-review. As the day of reckoning approaches, the decisions that you made regarding your academic work here these last five months are about to bear their fruit, for good or for ill.
Read More -
January 14, 2010
The Power of Words, January 12, 2010
By Molly Ingram, Director of Communications
We use words every day and for the most part don’t even think or reflect on them. When you run across a word you aren’t familiar with, how many of you take the time to look it up or research it? We read a paragraph in a book and come across something that is unfamiliar or foreign and we get the general gist of the sentence and we keep going.
Read More -
September 25, 2009
The Mideast and Hope
By Rev. James La Macchia
If you have been listening carefully to the pundits and politicians of all stripes over the last year or so, you have heard the words “hope” and “change” invoked over and over again. And this phenomenon is not restricted to the United States alone. In Japan’s August election for a new prime minister, the successful opposition party campaigned on a platform of unspecified “change.” Even the beleaguered and corrupt president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, apparently decided to take a page from President Obama’s successful playbook by making “hope” and “change” the totem for his campaign for re-election to his country’s presidency last month. It seems clear that all across this country and the world, people are hungry and thirsty for “change we can believe in,” together with the “audacity to hope” for something better and more.
Read More -
September 14, 2009
The School Prayer
I’m Fr. La Macchia, the Associate Chaplain at Saint Mark’s School, and I also teach in the religious studies department. The Rev. Talcott has asked me to speak to you at this First Chapel about the School Prayer, which you will find pasted into the cover of the red Book of Common Prayer in your pews.
Read More -
September 9, 2009
Age Quod Agis - New Student Chapel
The motto of St. Mark’s School, as anyone knows who walks through the main gate at the front of the school, is Age Quod Agis. If you translate it literally from the Latin, it says, “Do what you do” or “Do what you’re doing.” Well, what does that mean? A motto that tells me to do…what I’m already doing? If I’m already doing it, then why do I need the motto? I’ve heard students say that what it really means is “Do what you’re into” or “Do what you’re good at.” I can see why they might think that, but it actually couldn’t be further from the truth. If you look at the origins and history of the phrase, you find that the emphasis isn’t on what you’re doing, but how you go about doing it. Age Quod Agis means, “Whatever you’re doing, do it with effort, focus, attention and care.” Whether it’s something you’re good at or not. Whether it’s something you like doing or not. Whatever you’re doing at any given time—whether it’s studying for a physics test, practicing shots on goal, cleaning up your dorm room, writing a history paper, spending time with your friends, or playing the last two minutes of overtime against Groton—whatever it is, do it with all you’ve got. With no distractions and no fear. Just do it.
Read More
