One Lasallian's thoughts

A thought for the twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on October 8th, 2018

From yesterday's gospel: "And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.' Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them."

From Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 7: "In their own way, all these instances of joy flow from the infinite love of God, who has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ."

From De La Salle (Med. 90.1): "Have you made [paying attention to God] your joy?"

Have you ever heard the sound at an elementary school's doors when it is time for recess? Students come bursting out, and the collective sound can only be described as an explosion of joy. It is that joy, from which flows childrens' characteristic innocence and trust, which we adults, preoccupied, busy, and serious, often completely forget. Yet to place joy on our back burner is to miss God, miss the face of Christ in the children entrusted to our care, who even as they reach young adulthood, seek joy in their lives, a joy which in all ways comes from God. Do our lessons and interactions with our students provide joy to them? Do we allow their glee and happiness to lighten our hearts? "The kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twenty-sixth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on October 1st, 2018

From yesterday's first reading: "But Moses answered him . . . 'Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!'"

From the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) (1964), section 12: "The holy people of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office: it spreads abroad a living witness to him . . . ."

De La Salle (Med. 196.3): "In carrying out your service to children, you will not fulfill your ministry adequately if you resemble Jesus Christ only in his guidance and conversion of souls. You must also enter into his purposes and goals. He came on earth, as he said, only that people might have life and have it to the full. . . This must be your goal when you instruct your [students], that they live a Christian life and that your words become spirit and life for them."

Moses's request was heard: in Christ, we are prophets. Teaching reading, writing, and higher order thinking skills are so essential to the intellectual growth of our students, and are an element of providing a full life. But prophets call people to return to God. How does our teaching provide a connection to, or a relationship with, God for our students? How do we imbue our students with a Christian spirit and bring Christ to their lives? Where do you see that in your lesson plans or teaching strategies this week?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twenty-fifth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 24th, 2018

From today's gospel: "Taking a child, [Jesus] placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, 'Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.'"

From Lasallian Reflection 4 (2018-2019), Lasallians: Hearts on Fire: "As Lasallian educators, we should not be afraid of winning over and moving the hearts of our students; on the contrary, we must earn their trust and affection. It is a matter of creating a positive educator-student relationship, since it leads, together with our personal witness, to a more effective learning process. By using the right pedagogy, we can achieve the great goals of Lasallian education, among which leading our students to God stands out in a special way."

So many goals: grades, college acceptances, winning athletic competitions, end of course assessments. Yet for us as Lasallian Catholic educators, we cannot ignore that receiving children means that we are to lead them to God. Of course, providing the education needed to break the cycle of poverty opens the door for students to know and understand God in their lives. But without knowing God, that education provides no true meaning. How does your pedagogy lead students to God? How does your relationship with your students help them receive God in their lives?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 16th, 2018

From today's gospel: "Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' They said in reply, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.' And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter said to him in reply, 'You are the Christ.' Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.'

From De La Salle, Letter 118: "You are right in saying that in the light of faith, you see things quite differently from when they are looked at in themselves. . . ."

From the Rule of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, 6: "By faith, Brothers learn to discern in every event, and in every person, especially in the poor, a sign and a call of the Spirit . . . ."

As we learn, the core of faith is the building and strengthening of our relationship with God. Today's gospel and the writings of De La Salle and the Brothers present us with one of the results of that ever-growing relationship. Being in relationship with God means that we grow to see things differently than we have in the past. The love that God shares with us through his suffering, death, and resurrection lets us see with the lenses of that same love. We no longer see people and things as we would describe them in our humanly defined categories, but as created and loved by God and the sign and presence of the Spirit of love that animates and renews the world. May our vision of the young women and men who have been entrusted to our care be focused daily in this way.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twenty-third week in Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 9th, 2018

Today's second reading: "My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, 'Sit here, please, ' while you say to the poor one, 'Stand there,' or 'Sit at my feet,' have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?"

De La Salle, The Conduct of the Christian Schools: "The Supervisor must make new teachers realize how important their obligation is to love all of the children with equal charity. . . ."

We are privileged to be able to teach those who are economically poor, according to the Network guidelines, as well as those who are impacted by the "new poverties" that Brother Alvaro described and were shared last week. I believe that we truly do love them all. But even within this large group, do we distinguish between students? Do we draw preferences because some do homework and some do not? Because some contribute in class, and some do not? Do we subtly show preferences by our seating charts? By how we prepare for particular students or parents at parent-teacher conferences?

De La Salle, The Conduct of the Christian Schools: "[The Inspector should see] that teachers apply themselves with as much, or even more, affection to teaching the poor as to teaching the rich . . . ."

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the twenty-second week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on September 4th, 2018

From today's gospel: "Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, 'Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.'"

De La Salle (Med. 43.3): "You carry out a work that requires you to touch hearts, but this you cannot do except by the Spirit of God."

Former Brother Superior General Alvaro Rodriguez often spoke of the "new poverties" to which the Lasallian charism must respond. In an interview with Vatican Radio in 2011, he provided a list: those in material poverty or those abandoned, those who are treated as "failures" and excluded, victims of disease and drug abuse, migrants who must live in fear or hiding, those who are not accepted because their identities are "different" or are disabled, those who have removed God from their lives, and all who cannot find meaning in their lives. I know that we all are familiar with students who fit one or more of these categories. These categories are daunting, and one has to wonder how we can truly help these young people. But as Lasallian educators, we know that we have an education to offer, an education that can provide a way to bring our students out of oppression, marginalization, blindness, and into the freedom of God's kingdom. As we have come to know, this is not easy. But we start by touching hearts, which the spirit of God helps us do. So during this short week, in which grades will be a focus and a potential frustration, may we listen to and be animated by the spirit of God, allowing us to touch hearts first and foremost.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the nineteenth week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 12th, 2018

Saturday's gospel: "A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, 'Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.' Jesus said in reply, 'O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me.' Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, 'Why could we not drive it out?' He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'"

Associated for the Lasallian Mission . . . an act of HOPE (2.3.1): "Lasallians, by their very presence in the mission, bring personal and communal life experiences to their service in association. Their own experience of community relationships is a significant part of the vital role they play in the lives of the young. For it is these young people who recognize in them not only their professional expertise but recognize even more their experience of God, their ethical behavior and their ability to foster healthy supportive relationships."

While reading this gospel, I could not help but think of our discussion of tiered interventions on Friday. I could hear us, both in memory and in the voices of the future, say "How did (name) get to Tier 2? Tier 3? An invitation to leave?" The very core of faith is a decision to be in relationship with God. As the gospel and the circular on Lasallian association suggest, the answer to the question of why the young people entrusted to our care might choose to leave, or be invited to leave, is rooted in the association with God and this community that we did, or did not, pass on to them. There is great value in what we record in our logs, and this should not be ignored or neglected. However, will we first consider the connection that the young people whom we list have to this school community? Are they participating in extracurriculars? Have they made friends? Have they found a niche? Have we invited them to see God here? Are we, as teachers, aware of their personal situations?

"You will say to them, 'Move from Tier 3 to Tier 1', and they will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time

Posted by Jerry Meyer on August 5th, 2018

From yesterday's gospel: "So they said to him, 'What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' So Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' So they said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.' Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.'"

De La Salle (Med. 49.3): "A soul who eats, then, this flesh of Jesus Christ and is nourished by this meat no longer lives a natural life, no longer seeks to satisfy its senses, no longer acts by its own spirit but by the Spirit of its God, who has become its nourishment."

Receiving Jesus changes everything. In time, as we realize what we do, we understand that our deep hungers and thirst are satisfied by placing Christ at the center of our lives. We are no longer driven by our own desires. And "[o]nce the assembly disperses, Christ's disciples return to their everyday surroundings with the commitment to make their whole life a gift, a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God." (John Paul II, Dies Domini, 45). We are changed for others, and the gift we give is that of teaching. Imagine the deep hungers and desires of our students. How else do we provide for them other than by giving them the same Christ who nourishes and changes us? "[Y]ou are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do . . ." (De La Salle, Med. 195.2). Whether we let Christ become part of us through Eucharist, Word, or the witness of others, may we know what truly nourishes, and share it with our students.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the seventeenth week in Ordinary Time and the first week of school

Posted by Jerry Meyer on July 29th, 2018

Today's first reading: "A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God, twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits, and fresh grain in the ear. Elisha said, 'Give it to the people to eat.' But his servant objected, 'How can I set this before a hundred people?' Elisha insisted, 'Give it to the people to eat. For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'' And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said."

From today's gospel: "Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, 'Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?' He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, 'Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.' One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?' Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.' So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat."

There is nothing quite like the weariness of the end of the first week of school. You feel it in your feet, in your back, and your brain just says, "Enough. Stop." In a way, it is a little disturbing. If that is how we feel after the first week, what will it be like in the middle of February? But today's scripture provides solace.

Every one of you puts in everything you have, every day, and our students, like the great crowd of gospel, seek after us and receive all that we have to offer. Where to get more? De La Salle reminds us that "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. . . ." (Med. 193.3). God has placed those means close at hand: prayer, collaboration, the joy of extracurriculars with our students, building relationships with students and colleagues, the beauty of the desert and mountains around us, time alone with Scripture or ourselves. Put in the time with those means, and the result will not just be a week-to-week existence, but one rewarded with even more than we need, allowing us to share with students and colleagues who might need more. This week, may we be aware of the needs of others, and how we might share with them out of our abundance.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

A thought for the sixteenth week of Ordinary Time and the first day of classes

Posted by Jerry Meyer on July 23rd, 2018

From today's first reading: "I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD."

From today's gospel: "When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, [Jesus'] heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things."

De La Salle (Med. 196.1): "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. Ask him for the grace needed to procure the conversion of hearts."

Here we are, at the beginning of a new school year. It will not just be the freshmen who seem a little confused, out of sorts, or seeming to be sheep without shepherds. Even our upperclassmen will have concerns and problems, new and old. We have been called to be with those who are fearful, troubled, and in need, bringing them the joy and love that Jesus brings to all and that we share as his ambassadors. May this school year teach us many things, things that we will share for the benefit of our students.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!