One Lasallian's thoughts

A thought for the twenty-first week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 25th, 2019

From today's gospel: "After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then you will stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.' He will say to you in reply, 'I do not know where you are from.' And you will say, 'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.' Then he will say to you, 'I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!' 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."

Adapted from The Brother of the Christian Schools in the World Today: A Declaration (Chap. VI): "[I]t is the poor to whom we are sent by preference. . . [Our] orientation toward the poor comprises an integral part of [our] purpose. . . [We] will give special attention to those students who have difficulty adjusting to a normal scholastic program, who are not developing as persons, or who have problems at home, in their work, or in adapting socially."

At the end of Flannery O'Connor's short story "Revelation", the protagonist has a vision of all who are saved making their way to heaven. She sees her proper self, and those like her, at the very end of the line; a line that is joyfully led by those whom she valued little, if at all, including "battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs." How often are we frustrated because students are not compliant in the way that we want? Have we considered the daily difficulties that the students bring to our classroom, including a lack of experience in the ways that "a normal scholastic program" proceeds? Have we trained ourselves to remember that these students are coming from the south, the west, and all directions to "recline at table in the kingdom" because that is why we invited them, and so they will be different? In all that we do, is our preference and orientation to the poor and having them lead us to the kingdom?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twentieth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 18th, 2019

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."

Bro. Nick Gonzalez, FSC, 2017: "[Y]ou stand on the shoulders of giants. Not that the amazing, faith-filled men and women were, in fact, giants; they're just like you. But that point, we build on the amazing efforts of other people, and we have to have faith that what we do today, others will build on later. And so everything we do matters, especially in a place like San Miguel."

In being able to run the race that we run every day at San Miguel, there is a comfort in knowing that we are building on important work that others began. The challenge, however, is to ensure that our focus is on Christ, our salvation, so that our own work will be capable of being the foundation of others' work. In the new works that we are undertaking, are we mindful of the cloud of witnesses who came before us to show us and our students the way to Christ? Are our own efforts grounded in that faith, mindful of its importance?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the nineteenth week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 12th, 2019

From today's gospel: "Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."

De La Salle (Med. 205.1, 205.2): "Because he is the One who has given you the ministry you exercise . . . each will give his own account to God of what he has done as a minister of God and as a dispenser of his mysteries for children. . . Have you up to the present regarded the salvation of your students as your personal responsibility during the entire time they are under your guidance?"

It is a privilege to teach the young people of San Miguel. We are here because we have our own gifts that will enhance their education. But as we evaluate what we do, are we using all that we have been given? Are we assessing our actions in the light of the salvation of our students?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 5th, 2019

From Monday's first reading: "The children of Israel lamented, 'Would that we had meat for food!' . . . When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents. . . . he was grieved. 'Why do you treat your servant so badly?' Moses asked the LORD. 'Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all these people? . . . I cannot carry all these people by myself, for they are too heavy for me.'"

From Monday's gospel: "[The disciples] said to him, 'Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.' . . Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over - twelve wicker baskets full."

De La Salle (Med. 20.3): "After we have abandoned ourselves to God . . . it usually happens that God makes us experience very extraordinary effects of his goodness and protection, as he shows us in the Gospel today: after he multiplied the five loaves and the two fishes offered to him and five thousand people - not counting the little children - had eaten their fill, there still remained a large quantity. Be assured, then, that once you have placed yourselves in God's hands . . . he will help you by his grace . . . perhaps in a way that is not obvious, or else he will deliver you from it by surprising means and at a time when you least expect it."

There will be times when it seems that what is asked of us is one thing too many. As with Moses, it becomes too much. But it is as De La Salle wrote: trust in God, and what we need, even if it not what or when we expected, will be given. One thing to remember from the gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves is, perhaps, even more important. There are leftovers! In what we receive from God, we receive what we need, but even more to feed the children of God who have been entrusted to our care. As we begin our deep dive into the school year, may we be watchful for the opportunities that God gives us to feed others beyond what we might expect from the extra that he gives us for our needs.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the first week of school

Posted by Jerry Meyer on July 29th, 2019

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. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?'"

From De La Salle (Med. 196.1): "So when it happens that you encounter some difficulty in the guidance of your disciples . . . turn to God with confidence. Very insistently ask Jesus Christ to make his Spirit come alive in you, for he has chosen you to do his work. . . You must, then, be very devoted to prayer to succeed in your ministry. You must constantly represent the needs of your disciples to Jesus Christ, explaining to him the difficulties that you have experienced in guiding them. 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."

Whether or not you are an experienced educator, you know that there will be times when what happens in your educating does not work. Maybe it is something that is going on with the students, with us, or in the world or community at the time. As goal oriented people, this is frustrating. The solution to these difficulties is prayer. We are reminded by both readings to be persistent in our requests for help, but both De La Salle and Jesus tell us that we need to be open as well to the Holy Spirit coming alive in us. Perhaps the help we need and will be strengthened for is a course of action that we would not ordinarily consider, or do not think that we can accomplish. As Pope Francis said in January, "Prayer, prayer always changes reality, let us not forget that: It either changes things or changes our hearts, but it always changes." May we always be open to such help in our work with our students!

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the week of the first day of school

Posted by Jerry Meyer on July 23rd, 2019

Sunday'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 this 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.'"

De La Salle (Med. 96.3): "Recognize Jesus beneath the poor rags of the children whom you have to instruct; adore him in them."

In any group of educators, Martha moments abound: "I need to put my room together"; "when can I print my syllabus?"; "when does this start?; "what do you think about this idea for my lesson?"; "where can I get more erasers?" It is inevitable, and there is nothing wrong with taking care of all these things. But as Jesus said, there is a better part. That better part involves being with Jesus. For teachers, that not only means being connected with God through prayer, but being able to see Jesus in the faces of our students. As we begin the year with students on Friday, let's do the work to be ready, but remember the reason we are doing all that work - for Christ in our students.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for draft day 2019

Posted by Jerry Meyer on July 8th, 2019

From Friday's first reading: "The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year . . . For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first born of the land, both man and best, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt -- I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.'"

From De La Salle, Collection of Various Short Treatises: "[A spirit of faith requires that we p]ay as much attention as possible to the holy presence of God and to renew our attention from time to time."

The celebration of Passover for our Jewish sisters and brothers marks a time of redemption: redemption from slavery in Egypt into the freedom of entering a journey with God and, in covenant, growing as God's people. A festival to be remembered and celebrated indeed! On "Draft Day", our incoming freshmen and job partners meet for the first time. This event will mark one of the rituals of transformation for these young people entrusted to our care, an event that they may well remember throughout their lives. But this transformation, like the growth of the people of Israel, is accomplished in God. De La Salle reminds us that we are to remember and renew ourselves in God's holy presence as much as we can. So in your charity, remember our newest students and their corporate work study representatives, holding them in the presence of God now and always, that their transformation, like the Passover, will be a regular work of salvation, salvation through the human and Christian education that we provide as a Lasallian school.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the third week of Easter

Posted by Jerry Meyer on May 5th, 2019

From today's gospel: "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.' He then said to Simon Peter a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Tend my sheep.' Jesus said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.'

De La Salle (Med. 134.2): "The more tenderness you have for the members of Jesus Christ . . . who are entrusted to you, the more God will produce in them the wonderful effects of his grace."

It seems most appropriate to consider the words of Jesus in John's gospel and the writing of De La Salle about our relationships with students during Teacher Appreciation Week. Your hard work, creativity, ingenuity, willingness to try new ideas, and determination are not directed simply to passing on content, but to ensuring full human development in an environment in which you accompany each student entrusted to us. You show, then, that you follow Jesus' direction to Peter, in tending and feeding Christ's sheep. While it may not always feel like it, especially in early May and the inevitable student countdown of days until vacation, it is your good work in this regard that truly helps God's grace to grow within them. While seniors may be thinking about what you have done for them as they prepare to leave, our underclasspersons may not. Let me say, even on their behalf, thank you! It is your love of the Lord that allows our students to know God's love.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the Triduum and Easter

Posted by Jerry Meyer on April 18th, 2019

From the gospel for Holy Thursday: "So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, 'Do you realize what I have for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master', and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the teacher and master, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.'"

From the first reading for Good Friday: "Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; there was in him no stately bearing to make up look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted."

From the epistle of Easter Vigil: "Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life."

De La Salle (Med. 86.2): "In choosing our state, we ought to have resolved to be as lowly as the Son of God when he became man, for this is what is most noticeable in our professional and in our work . . . Only the poor come looking for us. They have nothing to offer us but their hearts ready to accept our instructions."

The spring semester academic blueprint that we received in January asked for "[m]odeling the lesson in the I do / We do / You do format" and "[b]uilding and using exemplars to monitor student progress". This gradual release of responsibility format is the teaching model that is also being learned by our CWSP coordinators for their classes. But to successfully ask students to follow our academic model means that we must invite them to follow Christ's model of life and relationship. In our lessons, have we modeled how we should wash the feet of others by washing theirs? Are we an example of how students can be of great help to others without being the most popular student on campus? Are we willing to show the young people entrusted to our care how to walk through the most difficult times by walking along with them? To be truly meaningful, the new knowledge that our students acquire must be rooted in the new life of Easter. As we plan for classes in the Easter season, how will we model Christ, being who he is, for our young people?

Live, risen Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the fourth week of Lent

Posted by Jerry Meyer on March 28th, 2019

From today's second reading: "And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ . . . So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us."

De La Salle (Med. 195.2): "Because you are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ. He wants your disciples to see him in you and to receive your instructions as if he were instructing them. They must be convinced that your instructions are the truth of Jesus Christ, who speaks with your mouth, that it is only in his name that you teach, and that he has given you authority over them. They must also be convinced that they are a letter that Jesus Christ dictates to you, which you write each day in their heart, not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, who acts in you and by you through the power of Jesus Christ."

Every one of our graduating seniors over the last ten years has heard the statement that the education they are leaving with is not just for them, but to help those whom they will encounter in the future. In the same way, Lent is not just for us. The prayer, sacrifice, and charity that we engage in is not just to reconcile ourselves with God, but to help us connect our students with God through Christ. When we think about what and how we are teaching this week, can we say that the result of our instruction will be that our students become a letter written by Christ, brought to being through the Spirit acting in us?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!