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!