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!