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!