By: Mary Magdalena Ladisa

Im very thankful and proud for having been at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School for 8 years, for having been homeschooled in our Catholic Faith for one year, for being raised a Catholic for 13 Years, and I would like to continue being educated in our faith at Alemany High school next year. I praise the Lord for letting my parents have good jobs so that they may pay extra for me to be educated in the Catholic faith. I thank my parents for educating me in our Catholic faith, for baptizing me Catholic and for sending me to a Catholic school. I thank my teachers who have been nothing but encouraging on my journey to having a closer relationship with God. There are many good things about a Catholic education at a Catholic school. At OLPH we are all friends and popularity doesnt mean a thing to most of us. We learn more and more about our faith every day. We get to go to mass every week as a class and once a month as a school. We have our First Holy Communion and Reconciliation through the school. We have many good role models who are very kind and filled with the Holy Spirit. We have a morning assembly every day where we pray, say the pledge of the allegiance, and talk about what is going on for the week. We can pray and talk about God freely whereas in most public schools you cant. At Catholic school we can easily practice and live the life Christ wants us to live. Doing this at a younger age sets the pattern for our life and we are more likely to live that way till the day we die. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of Gods one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:16-21 God wants to see all of us in heaven with Him. Some people dont believe in God or do believe but are not

following His ways or laws. By having a Catholic education I am informed with my faith so that I can inform others who are trying to find the way and with my knowledge I can lead them in the right direction. If anyone has received a Catholic education I believe they should pass it on and share it with others so that everyone will be saved and will hear the word of our merciful God. And once they hear what the truth is they will come into the light and they will be forgiven. I will always remember that God forgives you no matter what you do. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?11 No one, sir, she said.Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. Even though the woman had sinned and in the Pharisees eyes deserved justice, Jesus challenged them to do what was right. Jesus calls us to forgive no matter what the person has done because we have sinned too and everyone deserves forgiveness. After Im done with Catholic school I will most likely have a lot of temptations and thoughts that go against the teachings of my faith. Having a Catholic education will help me through these hard times. It will help me to always be true to what is right and just and it will help me to trust in God no matter what is happening. 1 God is our refuge and strength, an everpresent help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging Psalm 46:3

I think the most important quality of our faith is to trust. I know this because before my mom was pregnant with me she went to the doctor and asked if she could have another child. He told her she was too old. She didnt lose faith though. For two years she prayed the Rosary and prayed to the Virgin Mary pleading to have another child. She promised Mary that if she had one she would say the Rosary with him/her every night. Mary granted her wish and on August 21, 1997 I was born. She named me Mary, after the Virgin mother. If my mom didnt trust that Mary would intercede for her she probably wouldnt have even tried and I wouldnt be born. Mary is one of my favorite saints and I was very pleased and honored to crown Mary on May 2. This was one of the things that I will remember most about from my years at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Having a Catholic education means that we know what happens in the end. We know that God will prevail and all bad and evil will perish and only goodness will remain. 8 He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his peoples disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. Isaiah 25:8 And we will live with him for eternity praising and rejoicing with the saints and angels. After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen! Revelation 7:9-12
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