One Lasallian's thoughts

A thought for the 28th week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on October 9th, 2016

From today's gospel: "As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, 'Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!' And when he saw them, he said, 'Go show yourselves to the priests.' As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan."

Jews and Samaritans did not get along in the slightest, even though they worshiped the same God. So it is quite a significant point that it was the "foreigner"/outsider who was the only one to return to give thanks. What a desire for community this leper must have had! Not only was he released from the prohibition of being in contact with anyone but lepers, but he recognized and praised his connection to the God who freed him to return to friends, family, and the communal worship of that same God. Similarly, unlike the typical Jewish residents of the other portions of Palestine, Jesus traveled through Samaria, instead of crossing the Jordan River to avoid it. Rather than avoiding "outsiders", Jesus deliberately invited a connection between individuals, community, and God.

The late Rita Pierson, in her TED talk on teaching, said, "And you know your toughest kids are never absent. Never. You won't like 'em all, and the tough ones show up for a reason. It's the connection, it's the relationships." For every student who belongs to this San Miguel community, we, every day, are their connection to God: "[Y]ou are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ." (De La Salle, Med. 195.2) When we think of our toughest students, the ones that don't seem to care, or the ones who act out or make poor choices, do we think about how we are representing Christ to them? Are we thinking about how we are going to rebuild that relationship so that they are connected to God and community?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 26th week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 25th, 2016

Today's gospel: "Jesus said to the Pharisees: 'There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.' Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’"

From De La Salle: "See how the world acts! People consider only what is externally apparent in a person and pay respect only if they are attracted by what fascinates the eyes of the world. . . For how long has Jesus been presenting himself to you and knocking at the door of your heart to make his dwelling within you, and you have not wanted to receive him? Why? Because he only presents himself under the form of a poor man, a slave, a man of sorrows." (Med. 85.1)

I wonder how much poverty we tend to overlook in our students because they wear professional dress and conduct themselves well, especially with visitors and at work. The General Council reminded us in the Lasallian Reflection for 2015-2016 that there is, as well, a struggle not just with economic poverty, but the poverties of isolation, abandonment, exclusion, those with mental and physical problems, and those who live without God, or without hope or trust in their lives. I wonder also how much we overlook in those who are not "on our radar" because their grades are A's or B's, or because they always turn in their homework and do not need tutoring assistance. Both today's gospel and De La Salle's reflection teach us that we need to look beyond what our eyes show us, and see with our hearts. The needs of our sisters and brothers are in directly in front of us, with no need for enlightening miraculous events, but only the ability to see past the external and what society tells us is important. Perhaps this week, we need to ask ourselves what we know of those students we do not regularly talk about, those who have the middle range of grades: the ones who will not get the call home, the congratulatory recognition, or special attention.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 25th week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 18th, 2016

From today's second reading: "Beloved: First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone . . . This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth."

From De La Salle: "God wills not only that all come to the knowledge of truth but also that all be saved. He cannot truly desire this without providing the means for it and, therefore, without giving children the teachers who will assist them in the fulfillment of his plan." (Med. 193.3)

Every one of us finds small, inspiring moments during the week, moments that keep us going and remind us that what we are doing is of value. For me, two moments from last week that stand out are the prayers that our young people wrote for the students at Cristo Rey Baton Rogue, and the prayer tree that our students created together in the Quality Education prayer service. For all the academic difficulties that these young men and women might experience, they have found that one of the cornerstones of their life is prayer, and they are willing to live a life of prayer and share it with others. That foundation first took root in their families, but it was clearly nurtured by you, their educators. We bring our students to the knowledge of the truth, but also lead them to salvation, and St. Paul reminds us that prayer is essential to this calling. We have learned, as De La Salle wrote, that "the more you devote yourself to prayer, the more you will also do well in your work" (Med. 95.1). We are blessed that San Miguel students have also learned from your example. May we continue to encourage them, and ourselves, to model the prayer that helps all of us reach salvation.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 24th week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 11th, 2016

From today's first reading: "The LORD said to Moses, 'Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. . . Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation. But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, 'Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand?' . . . So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people."

From today's gospel: "So to them [Jesus] addressed this parable. 'What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy. . .'"

From De La Salle: "Consider Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd of the Gospel, who seeks the lost sheep, puts it on his shoulders, and carries it back to restore it to the fold. Because you are taking his place, consider that you are obliged to do the same thing." (Med. 196.1)

In the middle of this seven to ten day period where we are intensely concerned with grades and student progress, it is helpful to remember that our Lasallian mission is not encompassed only by that which grades capture. In providing the Christian education that is just as much a part of the mission as a human education, have we first, and foremost, shown the mercy to our students which God has shown to us? Are we focused on providing what our students need to bring them back to the fold, and showing great joy when they return?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 22nd week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 28th, 2016

From today's gospel reading: "Then [Jesus] said to the host who invited him, 'When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.'"

Our students have no means of repaying us for the banquet of education that San Miguel, and each individual educator, provides. As De La Salle reminds us, "With joy, then, say as [St. Paul] does that the greatest cause of your joy in this life is to proclaim the Gospel free of charge, without having it cost anything to those who hear it" (Med. 207.2). So then, how are we repaid, as the gospel indicates?

"The very special satisfaction you will have when they grow up and you see [your students] living with justice and piety, keeping free from evil associates, and performing good deeds." (De La Salle, Med. 207.3)
"What a consolation for those who have procured the salvation of souls: to see in heaven a great number whom they have helped to obtain the advantage of enjoying so great a happiness! . . . [W]ho will eternally bear witness to the great gratitude they have for so many instructions they received from their teachers, whom they will regard as the cause, after God, of their salvation." (De La Salle, Med. 208.2)
"All of them will join their voices to obtain for you a favorable judgment from Jesus Christ, praying him not to delay putting you in possession of the happiness you procured for them by your work and your concern." (De La Salle, Med. 208.3)

For us to ponder and pray on this week: How do we provide the education that allows our students to live in justice, in piety, and doing that which is good for others? How does your work and concern for your students lead them to salvation? How will your instruction be such that your students will ask Christ to bring you to salvation?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 21st week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 21st, 2016

From today's first reading: "Thus says the LORD: I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations."

From today's gospel reading: "And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God."

From the General Council's Lasallian Reflection 1 (2015-2016): "As Brother Álvaro Rodríguez, former Superior General, emphasized, poverty takes many forms: there is the poverty of isolation and abandonment; the poverty of the excluded, who live on the edges of rich and opulent cities, those branded the society’s “failures"; the poverty of the victims of a culture of identity that refuses to accept what is different; the poverty of AIDS’ victims; the poverty of those entrapped in addictions; yet another poverty is the condition of those with physical or mental problems; the poverty of migrants and refugees, many of whom live in hiding; the poverty of those who are enslaved and trafficked; the poverty of those who live without God, of those who have deliberately removed God from their lives; finally, there is the poverty of those young people who live without meaning or trust in their lives. . . We should not fear the migrant or the poor. We can learn and be enriched by persons who are different to us. In fidelity to our Lasallian identity and ideals, we can discern what is right and just."

Our readings today challenge us to go to the margins of our society and our world to proclaim the good news of God's kingdom, and to allow to its banquet those from the peripheries and those places we do not, or perhaps would prefer not, to see. It is a reality that we are truly privileged to serve at San Miguel, where our students and their families cannot afford the cost of the education that we provide. But the General Council reminds us to go farther, as poverty goes beyond an economic meaning. How are we God's presence to those who live on the margins of our own community: those who walk to class alone, eat lunch alone, who are "different" in some way than the majority of our students, have physical disabilities, or are always silent? We cannot solve many of their problems, but in our discernment, we can know that it is just and right to discover how to invite them, bring them, to the joy of the banquet where they will enrich all of us. Who is that student (or students) for you?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 20th week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 14th, 2016

From today's second reading: "Brothers and sisters: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith."

In the Letter to the Hebrews, the "great cloud of witnesses" is understood to be the saints and holy ones who came before us. But on Friday, it was so easy to think of our alumni as that "cloud of witnesses". Thinking back to what many of them were like when they came to San Miguel as freshmen, they are true witnesses in whom we can take pride, showing what our "great cloud" of alumni has accomplished so far and the great path that they have in front of them. But our calling as educators moves us, just as the author of Hebrews writes, not just to continue, but to do better. I think that our alumni expect that of us, just as we urge them to persevere in all that they do.

From De La Salle's final Meditation for the Time of Retreat: "Oh, what a thrill of joy you will have when you hear the voices of those whom you have led, as if by the hand, into heaven, who . . . will represent the good you have done among them. . . All of them will join their voices to obtain for you a favorable judgment from Jesus Christ, praying him not to delay putting you in possession of the happiness you procured for them by your work and your concern."

But most importantly, De La Salle reminds us that the progress and persistence we seek goes beyond grades, test scores, college admissions, and careers. We contribute to our students' salvation, just as they contribute to ours. As we continue our work this week, let us focus on those students who are most in need of us to run the race, with them and for them, and who, although we might think of them as marginalized and voiceless, will raise their voices on our behalf to the Lord.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the 19th week in Ordinary Time (8-8-16)

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 14th, 2016

From yesterday’s second reading: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God."

From De La Salle’s Memoir on the Beginnings: “Indeed, if I had ever thought that the care I was taking of the schoolmasters out of pure charity would ever have made it my duty to live with them, I would have dropped the whole project. . . It was undoubtedly for this reason that God, who guides all things with wisdom and serenity, whose way it is not to force the inclinations of persons, willed to commit me entirely to the development of the schools. God did this in an imperceptible way and over a long period of time, so that one commitment led to another in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning."

We have arrived at San Miguel from many places and starting points. But we have been called to be here, no matter how we arrived. The author of the letter to the Hebrews and De La Salle, taken together, help us to realize that God has been walking with all of us on our journeys here. Perhaps in hindsight, we can see the little pushes or nudges that moved us, even if we felt lost or thought we were headed in a different direction. But why here? Because we continually move to that place where we see “the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God." In some way that has been “imperceptible" and “not [forseen]" for us, we have been moving to that place where “God wills not only that all come to the knowledge of truth but also that all be saved . . . giving children the teachers who will assist them in the fulfillment of his plan. This . . . is the building that he is raising. . . . ." (Med. 193.3) So as we consider our paths here and our journey forward, let us remember that we have been called for the benefit of the children entrusted to our care. Which child in particular are we called to be here for this week?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the first full week of school (7-31-16)

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 14th, 2016

From today’s responsorial psalm: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands!"

From De La Salle: “All your care for the children entrusted to you would be useless if Jesus Christ did not give the quality, the power, and the efficacy needed to make your care useful. . . So when it happens that you encounter some difficulty in guidance of your disciples, . . . turn to God with confidence." (Meds. 195.3 and 196.1)

The students have returned! “[S]hout for joy and gladness"!

But soon enough, there will be a time when each of us has some difficulty with a student or that 4th hour section, ask “why did I give them that assignment?", or just be so frustrated that we want to scream or cry and cannot decide on either one. At those times, the same God whom we praised for bringing us and our students together in this place will be our only recourse. The psalmist and De La Salle want us to know that it is God in Christ who gives us all that is necessary for us to prosper the work of providing a human and a Christian education for students, no matter what obstacles we may perceive. May we remember this week to be more aware of the “gracious care of the Lord" so that when problems arise, we are ready to “turn to God with confidence."

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for Orientation Week (7-25-16)

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 14th, 2016

From today’s gospel: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

From De La Salle: “You must do the same thing for the children entrusted to your care. It is your duty to go up to God every day in prayer to learn from him all that you must teach the children and then to come down to them by accommodating them at their level in order to instruct them about what God has communicated for them to you in your prayer, as well as in Holy Scripture . . . ." (Med. 198.1)

One of our former colleagues once said, “What we do here is hard." Being educators at San Miguel brings many joys and blessings, as well as advances in our own education and salvation. But it is not always easy. In addition, the lives and circumstances of our students can be fraught with difficulty. Yet we have recourse to God’s holy presence in all things, and especially in prayer. So as we begin to be present again to our students during this week, may we never cease bringing our students, their needs, and our own concerns about educating them to God in our prayer. For “[y]ou must constantly represent the needs of your disciples to Jesus Christ, [and] Jesus Christ, seeing that you regard him as the one who can do everything in your work, whereas you are an instrument that must be moved only by him, will not fail to grant you what you ask of him." (De La Salle, Med. 196.1)

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!