One Lasallian's thoughts

A thought for the third week of Lent

Posted by Jerry Meyer on March 24th, 2019

From today's gospel: "And he told them this parable: 'There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, 'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?' He said to him in reply, 'Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'"

From Brother Agathon, FSC, The Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher: "He never grows disheartened or weary from repeating the same things to them often and at length, but always does so with goodness and affection, so as to make them remember these things, no matter how difficult and boring he finds this to be. For the fact is that by instructing, warning, remonstrating, and correcting students one sooner or later attains the end sought: the correct and reasonable notions which one has consistently presented to them begin, as it were, to take root. . . ."

I loved our Friday meeting. Many of the junior and senior names that I heard were pretty familiar in our grade level meetings, together with some new concerns in some areas. But even in the middle of March, strategies are being developed and information exchanged to help students, even those who have experienced difficulties, missed too much homework, or do not seem to have absorbed earlier opportunities. It is with this variety of patience that we can believe that what we teach will eventually take root and bear fruit. Our students, of course, have to demonstrate effort and understanding on their part to succeed. But we have seen that our work to cultivate and fertilize, with patience, has helped students to change for the better, even if it took longer than we had hoped. May our Friday efforts together allow us to take joy in the work of continuing patience with our students, that they will come to change and cooperate with the work of salvation that happens daily at San Fernando and Lerdo.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the fifth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on February 10th, 2019

From today's first reading: "Then I said, 'Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!' Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, 'See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.'

From today's second reading: "For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective."

From today's gospel: "When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, 'Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.' For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him . . . ."

De La Salle (Med. 193.3): "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. . . Be faithful to this practice, then, so that you can contribute, as far as you are able and as God requires of you, to the salvation of those whom he has entrusted to you."

Isaiah, from the first reading, Paul, in the second reading, and Peter, from the gospel passage, all knew that they were not perfect. Yet God selected them anyway, and they responded as well as they could. When we think about our lessons and classes every week, I am sure that every one of us can think of something that we could have done better, or where we just should have gone in a different direction. But De La Salle reminds us that God wants our students to be saved, and we have been called to be God's means. Nobody expects perfection. "We should not grow discouraged before examples of holiness that appear unattainable . . . The important thing is that each believer discern his or her own path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal gifts that God has placed in their hearts. . . ." (Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, 11). This week, let us resolve to give our students the best of ourselves, knowing that we can inspire them to salvation by letting them bring forth their own best gifts, and we can learn together how to grow our gifts.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the fourth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on February 4th, 2019

From yesterday's gospel: "Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: 'Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.' When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away."

The Rule of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, 3, 13: "The purpose of this Institute is to provide a human and a Christian education to the young, especially the poor. . .The Institute's primary concern is the educational needs of those whose dignity and basic rights are not recognized."

Jesus' reminder to the people in his home synagogue that God was present to those outside the people of Israel led to such outrage that they sought to kill him. In today's world, it is more convenient to ignore or belittle those on the "outside". How often do we discover that people we interact with do not know about the little miracle we have going here at San Fernando and Lerdo? How often do our student athletes hear under the breath slurs about their ethnicity, or less than flattering descriptions of our location from visiting teams? How much of our current public discourse is driven by fear, or demonizing, of the "other"? In our lessons and interactions with those entrusted to our care, how do we include students in the greater human family, respect their human dignity, and help them see that they are blessed children of God? In our lives outside of school, how do we serve as a corrective to the vision and misconceptions of others about our children?

"Our mission is to announce the Gospel and to discover in the poor the face of God. . . Our mission invites us to have our eyes open before the inequalities created by our society and to be creative in our response to new needs" (Brother Alvaro Rodriguez Echeverria, FSC, "New Wine in New Wineskins", 2010).

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the second week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on January 20th, 2019

Today's second reading: "Brothers and sisters: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another, the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, mighty deeds; to another, prophecy; to another, discernment of spirits; to another, varieties of tongues; to another, interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes."

Brother Carlos Gomez, FSC, Intercom 149 (May, 2017): "De La Salle and the first brothers made creative commitments to the education of the poor, the evangelization of children and young people and their inclusion in society that was rigidly stratified . . . So the original charism lay in their continuous educational creativity to enable the poor children to find opportunities in their situation . . . Consequently, there is always a need to reinvent, recreate and start anew."

What gifts and talents do our students have? Have we familiarized ourselves enough with what they can do, or are good at, that we know? Do we allow ourselves to unleash our own different gifts and talents in our lessons? Can we use the framework presented on Friday to combine the various gifts found in within ourselves and those entrusted to our care to really let the breeze of the Spirit blow? Let's be excited about what we can reinvent and recreate, using all of the talents available, for the benefit of our students!

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Posted by Jerry Meyer on January 11th, 2019

From today's alternative first reading: "A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

From Brother Superior General's Message for the Jubilee Year: "[The disciples on the road to Emmaus] were so upset and confused that they were unable to recognize Jesus. Jesus tells his friends to stop being foolish and to open their hearts to the upside-down reality of his world. And with that their eyes were opened and they recognized him."

And so the season of Christmas ends as the season of Advent began: with a voice heralding the coming of the Lord, and a promise that this would turn things upside down. Isn't that how we came to see why we are at San Miguel? Because quality education is found in a school where incoming test scores are not always high and the Bridge program is needed? Because students with their own struggles freely care enough about migrants, children at Child Discovery Centre in Kenya, and young men in the Philippines to help provide for them? Because students build and program robots and submit to judging about their engineering work before they even get to run the robot, all for fun, learning, sharing their knowledge with others, and Gummi Bears? Because a senior can write, "[a]s I continued my service I began to look with the eyes of Christ rather than my regular view"? Christ has come, and the world is different. We can see him with us, because '[o]ur schools are called to be experiences of the Reign of God, places where the last indeed are first: welcoming, inclusive, joyful, challenging and responsive to the educational aspirations of the poor" (Brother Superior General's Message).

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the first week of Advent

Posted by Jerry Meyer on December 2nd, 2018

Today's first reading: "The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: 'The LORD our justice.'"

There is so much waiting as we enter this season of Advent. Waiting for students to turn in work so it can be graded and we can know their status, waiting to give and grade finals, waiting for a well-deserved Christmas break, students waiting for grades, students lining up at classrooms to get the help that, maybe, they should have sought a little earlier, and all the other anticipation that this time of year brings. But what are we truly waiting for? Jeremiah told the people that the days were coming that God would fulfill his promises. As Christians, we understand the "just shoot" for David as a foreshadowing of Jesus as messiah. But what will this waiting for Jesus look like for us and for our students?

We do not fully know. As Henri Nouwen wrote, "Hope is the trust that God will fulfill God's promises to us in a way that leads us to true freedom. The optimist speaks about concrete changes in the future. The person of hope lives in the moment with the knowledge and trust that all of life is in good hands." De La Salle reminded us, in remembering how he became committed to schools, "God did this in an imperceptible way and over a long period of time, so that one commitment lead to another in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning." How God's promises will be manifested in each of our own individual lives, and in those of our students, will be different. But all of us came to San Miguel with hope: hope that we could make a difference in the lives of students; students with the hope that their lives would be changed. All we can know about this process of hope and change is that it calls us to live daily in God's holy presence, a presence that will, as we wait, bring the justice that is living in right relationship with God and each other. May our waiting in God's presence help us to see this justice in our time.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the week of the Feast of Christ the King

Posted by Jerry Meyer on November 24th, 2018

From today's gospel: "So Pilate said to him, 'Then you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.'"

De La Salle (Med. 84.1): "[Y]ou 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."

If you read through the gospel stories of Jesus' trial before Pilate, it seems that Pilate was confused by Jesus, and sought to fit him and his kingdom into a Roman imperial worldview. But a kingdom based on the truth of the gospel did not make sense to Pilate. Earlier in this gospel, Jesus left his followers the words that define the truth: "I give you a new commandment: love one another. . . Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." This commandment for God's kingdom, that we should love the one in whom God is revealed and, through our love for him and one another, know that we are in relationship with God, would not have made any more sense to Pilate than it seems that it would to society as a whole today. God? Relevant? Present in our lives? Yet this is the truth that De La Salle reminded us is our duty to teach to our students. Not only as educators in a Lasallian school, but in a network named for Christ the King, we must be the educational bridge between our students and the kingdom of God, a kingdom that calls for the love, justice, and peace based on a right relationship between you and I, God, and others.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the thirty-third week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on November 18th, 2018

From today's first reading: "But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever."

De La Salle (Med. 208.2): "They will shine, indeed, in the midst of those whom they have instructed, who 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."

As teachers, we are the cause, with God and through our instruction, of the salvation of every one of the students listed on our rosters. Why else would we have been called to work with young people at a Lasallian Catholic school dedicated to the education of those who are economically disadvantaged and socially marginalized? Is this in the forefront of our thinking, planning, instruction, and interactions with those entrusted to us? On Wednesday, as we begin the celebration of the Lasallian Jubilee year, every member of our community will be challenged to consider how we use a spirit of faith and of zeal in the heart, commitment, and life of the Lasallian mission. Is our faith and zeal directed to the salvation of our students?

De La Salle (Med. 208.3): "Oh, what glory there will be for those people who have instructed youth, when their zeal and devotion to procure the salvation of children will be made public before all people! All heaven will resound with the thanksgiving that these blessed children will render to those who have taught them the road to heaven!"

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!
De La Salle, 1719-2019: One Heart. One Commitment. One Life.

A thought for the thirty-second week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on October 30th, 2018

Sunday's first reading: "In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, 'Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.' She left to get it, and he called out after her, 'Please bring along a bit of bread.' She answered, 'As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.' Elijah said to her, 'Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'' She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah."

De La Salle (Med. 59.2): "[T]he more fully we abandon ourselves to the care of Providence, the more attentive God is to not let us want for anything."

What, or who, would you sacrifice for? Our families, certainly. Long time friends, most likely. Charitable donations will be made for those in need, especially as we make end of year tax plans, or contribute to school wide drives. Why these? Because we trust, from experience, that our families need us, our friends would do the same for us, and that the organizations we donate to will not squander our money. Do we trust that if we, as did the widow of Zarephath, give absolutely everything of ourselves, that God will care for us? Do we trust that if we leave all that we have in the classroom for the precious 275 minutes (55 minutes x 5 classes) that we are given with those entrusted to us, it will not be squandered by students or unappreciated by others? De La Salle assured us that the more fully we leave it all on the playing field, the more God in his Providence will provide for us. God ensured that the jar and jug of the widow never ran dry; neither will ours if we if we truly sacrifice for our students.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twenty-ninth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on October 22nd, 2018

From today's second reading: "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. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help."

From De La Salle (Med. 196.1): "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."

At this time of the school year, when we are looking forward to the respite that the fall holiday provides, we often focus on the difficulties that our students are having. Because we take our responsibilities to educate seriously, helping them with all that they need, although a blessing, can also be wearing, frustrating, and tiring. It is here that the direction of De La Salle and the author of the Letter to the Hebrews rings true for us. In all that we endure, Jesus, fully human, "has similarly been tested", and so we can go to him in prayer, seeking help. As we look forward this week to the Heritage Festival, visits from college representatives, closing one sports season and starting another, coming closer to the next progress reports, and all else that will be asked of us that we cannot anticipate now, seek help in prayer, as much as you need. Do so confidently: we believe that our call, and the mission of our school, comes from God. God will not deny us the help that we need to carry out what he asks.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!