One Lasallian's thoughts

From today’s gospel: “Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.’ The Lord said to her in reply, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.'"

From John Martens, “One Necessary Thing", America magazine, July 4-11, 2016: “With Jesus we are not judged by how much we can accomplish, but we are accepted for who we are. Jesus asks us to spend time with him. Our worth is not dependent upon what we can do but upon who we are: beloved friends of Jesus, who calls us to be with him and love him."

Teachers, who spend a fair amount of time planning lessons and grading their outcomes, and students, who want to do well, especially on assessments and assignments, may well find this gospel passage challenging. We have all heard the cries; perhaps we have made them ourselves: “Who will help me with this Spanish translation? Who will help me so that I can grade all these essays? Who knows how to do this Boyle’s Law problem?" But there it is: “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

Professor Martens makes it a little clearer: “Jesus asks us to spend time with him." It is clear that De La Salle wanted his teachers to live this as well. He wrote in the Rule of 1718 that in living the essential spirit of faith, the New Testament should be carried and read daily: spending time with God in the Word. In the Rule of 1708, he refers to interior prayer as the “first and principal of their [Brother teachers’] daily exercises": spending time with God in prayer. How else could De La Salle instruct the teachers to “recognize Jesus beneath the poor rags of the children you have to instruct; adore him in them" (Med. 96.3) if they did not spend time with Christ, so as to know him when they saw him?

The San Miguel student handbook has said, for as long as I can remember, that students are expected to do two to three hours of home study each night (p. 13 of 2016-2017 handbook). This is important, and we must encourage it. But as our incoming freshmen report tomorrow, perhaps we should consider how we encourage our students, especially by our example, to spend time with Jesus – “the better part" who accepts us “for who we are."

From today’s first reading: “I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. . . ."

From De La Salle’s First Meditation for the Time of Retreat: “This is what God does by diffusing the fragrance of his teaching throughout the whole world by human ministers. Just as he commanded light to shine out of darkness, so he kindles a light in the hearts of those destined to announce his word to children, so that they may be able to enlighten those children by unveiling for them the glory of God."

I wish it were called Educator Appreciation Week. “To educate" comes from the Latin for “led out" or “lead out." “To teach" is from the Old English “show, present, point out." I can show or point out something to my students, but unless I lead them there, they will not, in Paul’s phrases, stand within it or hold fast to it. Unless I lead them there, they will not truly understand that what I am trying to hand on is the most important, or that it was handed on to me. To simply show or point out something will not enlighten my students’ hearts. Education demands a level of engagement or personal interaction with a student that will allow the teacher to touch the heart, to move the mind, to bring the student to an understanding of the glory of God in all the forms in which it can be found in every academic discipline. Unless we lead students in this way, we cannot be sure that they will continue to hand on to and lead others as we hope we have done for them.

What I have always treasured most about being a part of the San Miguel community is that you are the best educator models around. During this Educator Appreciation Week, please accept my thanks, for myself and for the students who might not always articulate it, for being the older sister, the older brother, the one who cares for and educates every one of the young people entrusted to your care.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From today’s gospel: “Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.'"

From De La Salle’s Meditation for the Second Sunday of Easter: “The members of the flock of Jesus Christ are also obliged to hear their shepherd’s voice. It is, then, your duty to teach the children entrusted to you; this is your duty every day. Because they must understand what you say, you must give them instructions that are adapted to their capacity; otherwise, what you say will be of little use."

The daily challenge of the good shepherd metaphor, as illustrated by the Gospels and De La Salle, is the deep connection between the student and the teacher. Have I built relationships with my students so that the flock will stand together, or even help, while I try to rescue the one lost sheep? Do we know each other well enough that I know how to convey information to them in ways that will stick, or use instructional strategies that touch their hearts as well their minds? When we are stuck in class, is my relationship with my students good enough that I can ask for their help in moving forward? Can they do the same when they are lost, personally or academically?

When our students hear our voice, do they follow?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From today’s gospel: “Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’ Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name."

From De La Salle’s Meditation on St. Thomas: “Do not be so blinded, for you have the advantage of reading the Gospel and of meditating on the truths found in it every day, and you are responsible to teach these truths to others. Show by the way your actions conform to these holy maxims that, in fact, you do believe them by putting them into practice."

The gospel of John reminds us that not every encounter with Christ is recorded in the gospels. We surely know this to be true, as we think of our encounters with the risen Lord through others, especially our students. And De La Salle encourages us to live and teach in such a way that not only shows the reality of our encounter, but brings our students to belief that Jesus is the Son of God, in whom we have life.

What is your unwritten encounter? How do you share what Christ has given you?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From today’s second reading: “Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

From the gospel for Holy Thursday: “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow. . . ."

From the second reading for the liturgy of Good Friday: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin."

From De La Salle’s Meditation for Palm Sunday: “Be disposed today, then, to receive Jesus Christ fully by abandoning yourself entirely to his guidance and by letting him reign over your whole interior life, so absolutely on his part and so dependently on yours that you may in truth say that it is no longer you who live but Jesus Christ who lives in you."

Every day, our weaknesses are on display for a large number of students to see, and we share them with each other. As educators who are self-reflective and desirous of improvement for ourselves and our students, we work hard at eliminating these weaknesses, or turning them into strengths. Yet in this Holy Week, we are reminded by the scriptures and the Founder that it is humility (one of Brother Agathon’s Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher) which allows us to take on the mind and attitude of Jesus Christ, the one for whom we are ambassadors and ministers. As we continue our mission of education during this most holy of weeks, may we reflect and humbly learn from our own weaknesses.

* Am I humble enough to work with those who are not as talented as the students I might prefer to teach? Do I welcome such students?

* Do students find me easy to approach? What attitudes might I improve that would make it easier for students to talk with me, especially students who might be shy?

* Do I learn from and honor the gifts and talents of others, especially of my students?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From today’s gospel: “Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She replied, ‘No one, sir.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.’

“Then a group of seniors brought one of their classmates to a teacher and made him stand in front of the teacher’s desk. They said to the teacher, ‘Miss, we caught our classmate copying from one of us and putting some of what he copied in his essay. In the handbook, it says that he has to get a zero on his essay. What are you going to do to him?’ They said this to test the teacher, to have a complaint to take to the administrators. But the teacher simply looked at the assignment she was writing. When the students continued to ask her . . . ."

How does this story end if you are the teacher?

“The treatment the pupil received from the teacher was permeated with respect and love … As a result of such treatment, the artisans and the poor could be led to believe in a God of love and hope." (Bruno Alpago, FSC, The Institute in the Educational Service of the Poor)

“Jesus’ attitude is striking: we do not hear words of scorn, we do not hear words of condemnation, but only words of love, of mercy, which are an invitation to conversion. ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.’ Ah! Brothers and sisters, God’s face is the face of a merciful father who is always patient. Have you thought about God’s patience, the patience he has with each one of us? That is his mercy. He always has patience, patience with us, he understands us, he waits for us, he does not tire of forgiving us if we are able to return to him with a contrite heart." (Pope Francis, Angelus address, March 17, 2013)

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

Today’s gospel (with my comments in bold): “Then [Jesus] said, “There was man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father ‘Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me.’ In short, the younger son is saying, “Dad, let’s assume you’re dead now. Gimme the money" [Under Jewish law, he’ll only get 1/3 of the personal property, and no real estate]. A little insulting, isn’t it? So his father divided the property between them.

A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. The son was so desperate that not only would he feed one of the ultimate unclean animals, but he was willing to be become so unclean as to eat their food. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men.’

So he left the place and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. Remember, this is pity for the kid who essentially told this same father to die. He ran to the boy, Amazing! Jewish men don’t run anywhere, nor do they move towards younger people. Younger people come to them. Here is a forgiving father! clasped him in his arms and kissed him. A clear indication that the son is within the father’s protection – forgiveness before he even hears that the son is sorry Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserved to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. This robe would have been the father’s robe Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, This is a major event; cattle are a rare and prized possession in Palestine. Because of the potential for spoiled left-over meat, the entire village would have been invited to the party, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.

Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. The servant told him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in; The father is so forgiving that he is willing to beg the other son to do something, another un-elder-like action—normally he’d just order the son to act but he retorted to his father, “All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his loose women very unclean – you kill the calf we had been fattening."

The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was necessary Necessary?! that we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found."

The story of the Prodigal Son is not designed to show us the need for repentance; it is not really surprising that the younger son decided to seek forgiveness given his desperate circumstances. In this parable, Jesus wants to make a point about how we forgive by comparing the father, the one who was gravely insulted, with the older son, and He invites us to think about ourselves. Are we the father, or the older son?

The father, who shed himself of the son who treated him as if he were dead, willingly brings the unclean outcast back into the family fold. He breaks convention by running to see him, treating him as he would himself, and indicating, by the killing of the fatted calf and throwing a party, not just forgiveness, but joy in the son’s return! The older son, on the other hand, acts as a normal member of his Jewish community, as perhaps most of us would – he holds a grudge against the younger son’s actions toward the father, as well as the rather horrid things that the youngster did with the money.

Who was really insulted? The father, not the older son. And yet it is the father who forgives before he even hears the apology. He so desires to give forgiveness that he is willing to go to the older son and beg him to join in the party of forgiveness. And then we hear the stunning conclusion: we don’t just accept repentance, we are required to rejoice in it!

“As Lasallians, Brothers and Partners, we are ministers of God and ambassadors of Jesus Christ and, as such, it is our duty to be instruments of mercy" (Message of the General Council, Beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy). Remembering that two of the spiritual works of mercy are to forgive offenses and to bear wrongs patiently, may our interior Lenten check this week be to compare ourselves to the (F)ather and the older brother: Do we forgive and model it to our students? Do we rejoice in repentance and inspire joy in those entrusted to our care?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From today’s first reading: “When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ God said, ‘Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers,’ he continued, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. But the LORD said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.'"

As of the most recent data (datacenter.kidscount.org), here are some things that we know about our students:

• 66% of Tucson children living in households with an income less than 200% of the federal poverty level are in households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing. “According to HUD, households that must allocate more than 30 percent of their income to housing expenses are less likely to have enough resources for food, clothing, medical care or other needs." [66% of our school population is 223]

• 5% of Tucson children living in households with an income less than 200% of the federal poverty level are in households where no adult worked either full or part time in the past year. [5% of our school population is 17]

• The four year graduation rate for Hispanics/Latinos in Pima County is 66%, for Native Americans it is 56%. Economically disadvantaged students have a 64.7% graduation rate. (The total national four year graduation rate is 81%.)

• 28% of young Hispanic/Latino adults in Pima County aged 18-24 are enrolled in, or have completed, college (national average: 37%). The number declines to 24% for Native Americans (national average: 28%).

• 25% of Arizona children lived in a household that was food insecure at some point during the last measured year (2013) (national average: 21%). [25% of our school population is 84]

• 35% of children in Tucson under 18 live in a family at or below the federal poverty level.

• 69% of 8th grade students in Arizona public and charter schools tested below proficient in reading achievement; 26% tested below basic. 83% of fourth graders who tested below proficient reading levels were eligible for free/reduced lunch.

These are not the happiest of statistics. All of us who are entrusted with the education of youth in Tucson have a lot of work to do in overcoming the obstacles presented to our students. But there is more here than just producing good grades and college ready test scores. “I have seen the misery. . . I have heard them crying for help . . . I am well aware of their sufferings. . . ." As De La Salle puts it, we are here to help God save our young people, just as he called Moses to participate in Israel’s salvation from Egypt: “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) While we must provide our students with the best education possible, we must go further in their salvation: “Those who have dedicated themselves to instruct them must devote themselves especially to bring them up in the Christian spirit, which gives children the wisdom of God, which none of the princes of this world has known. It is completely opposed to the spirit and wisdom of the world . . . ." (Med. 194.2)

We know from experience that this is possible. We can think of so many graduates who have gone on to persist in college and share their education for the benefit of the community in so many ways. But we also know others who did not make it through San Miguel, or college, or have yet to find gainful employment. In the same way, we know which of our current students are likely to succeed and which present difficulties. As we examine ourselves during this season of Lent, let us redouble our efforts to “assist them" and “devote [ourselves]", no matter their current grade status, because we are the hands of the God who desires their salvation.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From Sunday’s first reading: “Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong, and numerous. When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders . . . ."

From Lasallian Reflection 1 (2015-2016): A Gospel Adventure: “In the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, and human history we see over and over again that God’s people are on the move, fleeing oppression, war, enslavement, or other calamities and we always see the living God accompanying the poor, the migrants, and the young. For us, there is no clearer teaching from our faith tradition and ongoing Lasallian story than that we respond in justice to the plight of the poor, the migrant, and the young through education. For over 330 years of this God-is-with-us story, we have shared St. La Salle’s love for the young, especially the poor. Our century, like the 17th and 18th, also suffers from indifference to those abandoned at the side of the road. Our challenge is to offer a radical welcome, the oil of mercy, compassion, and inclusion."

As Lasallians, education is in our very DNA. Because we are so focused on the sacredness of the learning that occurs in our classrooms, at morning assembly, with our CIP partners, and in extracurricular activities, we may miss what makes this learning holy. But yesterday’s passage from Deuteronomy and the General Council’s reflection remind us. We are called to see the oppression and maltreatment in our students’ lives, not just in the obvious economic ways. But beyond opening the eyes of our hearts to these things, we must respond, welcoming them with inclusion, compassion, anointing them with the oil of mercy, and modeling for them a welcome that shows we are all children of the same God. This “radical", or “at the root", welcome is proposed to us so that our students can see that they are loved and cared for by those who are walking with them, and that God is present in their lives and ready to save them – through us.

In this season of Lent, we need, as Rizza said last Wednesday, to look inside ourselves. The connecting thread that runs through our entire academic and CIP curriculum – seeing, welcoming, compassion, mercy, inclusion – will only appear in our classrooms and sanctify our educational mission if we make it the core of what we do. For we arethe ambassadors and ministers of, as Pope Francis put it yesterday: “[T]he God who has a name: Mercy."

From today’s first reading: “The LORD said to Samuel: ‘How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.’

Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired, ‘Is your visit peaceful, O seer?’ He replied: ‘Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet.’ He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves and invited them to the sacrifice. As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the LORD’s anointed is here before him.’ But the LORD said to Samuel: ‘Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.’ Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, ‘The LORD has not chosen him.’ Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, ‘The LORD has not chosen this one either.’ In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The LORD has not chosen any one of these.’ Then Samuel asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ Jesse replied, ‘There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.’ Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, ‘There–anoint him, for this is he!’ Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David."

“By faith, [Lasallians] learn to discern in every event, and in every person, especially in the poor, a sign and a call of the Spirit." (Adapted from the Rule of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (2015), 6)

“Do not judge from his appearance . . . The LORD looks into the heart." How often have we, as educators, ignored that advice? More than we would like to admit, I suspect, especially when we think of grades and work effort as an appearance. Yet scripture, and our Lasallian mission, call us to see otherwise: we “learn to discern . . . in every person, especially in the poor, a sign and call of the Spirit." There will be times this week when we are tempted to reach judgments quickly and based on surface impressions. Let’s allow ourselves to go deeper into the situation, looking for the presence of God in each person and in ourselves, seeking to truly understand and live out our mission to the poor in our decisions.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!