Holy Messiness: A Catholic Schools Week Reflection
The following reflection was written for Catholic Schools Week 2013 as part of a series for ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools.
An empty Catholic school is a lonely place, and when students go home for the summer the atmosphere changes drastically. It’s quieter, of course. There are no screaming kids at recess, no buzz of conversation down the halls, no tramping of feet before the beginning of daily Mass.
And it’s cleaner, too. The desks are empty, the lockers are bare. The remnants of the year get swept away into piles and then carried out to the trash–leftover tests, forgotten lunch boxes, old pens and pencils. The floors shine again, white boards sparkle, the bathroom walls glisten.
A parish, too, feels different. There’s a certain peace and quiet in a parish when school lets out for the summer. But there’s also a certain hollowness. When Catholic school is in session there’s an unmistakeable liveliness, an energy, a vibrancy in the parish. It’s as unpredictable as the Holy Spirit, this mass of children who descend upon a parish school each autumn. They come like a mighty wind, waking up the community, bringing new life.
Sometimes we like Church to be neat and tidy, but Church is a wonderfully messy reality. Church is the messiness of St. Francis of Assisi walking with the animals; it’s the messiness of St. Catherine of Siena wrangling Pope Gregory back to Rome from Avignon; it’s the messiness of Mother Teresa on the streets of Calcutta.
It’s also the messiness of finger painting, glitter, and spilled milk. It’s student lectors who don’t read loud enough, and servers who fiddle with their robes, and kids who poke at each other during Mass.
It’s the messiness of a young baby lying in a straw-filled manger; it’s the messiness of Christ carrying a bloody cross to Calvary.
Amid all the mess, noise, and chaos, the Holy Spirit is at work.
The quiet of summer is all well and good, but there’s a deep holiness in the tumult of watching children come alive in faith each day at a Catholic school.
Thank God for children, thank God for our messy Church, and thank God for Catholic schools.
More Back to School Prayers
A Concord Pastor Comments is a must-read blog, and today Fr. Fleming has some wonderful new prayers for the beginning of school, including this original one for teachers:
A Teacher’s Prayer
Dear God,
A new school year is about to begin
and my classroom door will soon open
to the students you’ve assigned to my care…
Open my mind and heart to each of them
and especially to the ones
who will challenge me the most…
Help me challenge my students, all of them,
to study, to learn, to grow in knowledge
and even a little wisdom…
Help me remember, Lord,
how young my students are:
give me patience to help them grow up
and insight to know the help they need…
Help me to understand that sometimes
my students may not understand me:
may I be clear in the things I say and do,
and in how I say and do them…
My students don’t know the burdens and worries
my heart brings to the classroom,
so help me remember, Lord,
how anxious and heavy my students’ hearts may be…
Keep me from favoring any particular students, Lord,
except for those who most need my help…
Let my decisions in the classroom
be fair and just, honest and true…
Send your Spirit to fill me with gifts
of knowledge and understanding, counsel and wisdom…
Lord, open my mind and heart to my students’ parents,
especially those who will challenge me the most…
Help me challenge parents to challenge their children
to study, to learn and to grow…
Help me to teach as you would, Lord:
help me be understanding when I need to be firm,
gentle in all things,
and patient until the last bell rings…A new school year is about to begin, Lord,
and I wonder,
what will you teach me today?Amen.
Be sure to read the full article, and you may even want to subscribe so you can get all of Fr. Fleming’s posts as they become available–they’re worth it.
Prayer of Blessing for Students and Teachers to Begin the School Year
One of my favorite things about starting a new month is opening up a new issue of Give Us This Day: Daily Prayer for Today’s Catholic. The opening pages for this month’s edition greeted me with a prayer for students and teachers from the Book of Blessings, and I thought you might like to consider it as you prepare for the new school year:
Lord our God,
in your wisdom and love
you surround us with the mysteries of the universe.
In times long past you sent us your prophets
to teach your laws
and to bear witness to your undying love.
You sent us your Son
to teach us by word and example
that true wisdom comes from you alone.Send your Spirit upon these students and their teachers
and fill them with your wisdom and blessings.
Grant that during this academic year
they may devote themselves to their studies
and share what they have learned from others.Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Those of us who teach in Catholic schools are the prophets God sends in our time to teach his laws and bear witness to his undying love. We are called to be Christ to our students, to teach them by word and example that true wisdom comes from God alone.
As you return from vacation and begin preparing for this year’s adventure in teaching, may God bless you with all the graces you need to be his prophet.
A Phone Call from God: Vocations and Catholic Schools
The following reflection was written for Catholic Schools Week 2012 as part of a series for ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools.
In the Spring of 1990, I got a phone call from God. I wasn’t home to get the call, but my answering machine picked it up. It’s a good thing, too. Brenda and I were about to be married, we were moving to Boise, Idaho, and I had no job. God had called to offer me a teaching position at Sacred Heart Catholic School. (Click here to find out what God sounds like.)
Ok, so the call was from Marge Ransley, the principal at Sacred Heart; but one of the most important things my Catholic education has taught me is that God speaks to us through other people. That answering machine message may have sounded like Marge, but it was really God calling me to begin my vocation as a Catholic educator.
Catholic schools are in a unique position to help students hear the voice of God in their lives. Today’s young Catholics are bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of different messages each day. From tweets to text messages, from TV shows to YouTube videos, God’s call can get lost in a cacophony of misleading and distracting noise. Kids need help discerning God’s invitation to wholeness and holiness, and that’s where Catholic schools come in.
Catholic schools nourish and strengthen the gift of faith present in each student so that he or she can trust that God’s call will lead them to fullness of life.
Catholic schools provide the academic background students need to pursue their call and respond to God’s invitation.
Catholic schools show students how to place their vocation at the service of the world to care for the least among us and help build up the Kingdom of God.
Faith. Academics. Service. These have always been the hallmark of a Catholic education. Catholic school students don’t learn how to make a living, but how to make a difference.
This summer, God willing, I will be ordained a deacon, and the prospect is both exciting and frightening. It has been the same with all my vocational calls. Before Brenda and I got married, before our first child was born, and before I first stepped into that classroom in Boise twenty-two years ago, I wondered if I knew what I was getting myself into. Of course the answer was no, I didn’t really know. How could I? How can anyone? But the faith, academics, and service I received from St. Pius X Elementary School, Billings Central Catholic High School, and Gonzaga University prepared me for each of those vocations in ways that are impossible to measure.
Every child has a vocation, a particular call from God. The Holy Spirit whispers the call deep in their hearts, quietly beckoning them to a way of life that will lead them to ultimate holiness, happiness, and eternal life. Perhaps they are called to marriage, perhaps to the priesthood; maybe the whisper leads them to consecrated religious life or to serve the poorest of the poor.
How sad it would be to miss that call. With all the noise and confusion in the world, isn’t it comforting to know there is a sacred place kids can go to learn how to hear God’s invitation, trust it, and act on it? This is the mission of Catholic schools: Faith. Academics. Service.
Powerful Video Shows Students How a Dollar Can Change the World
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” So says Galadriel to Frodo in Peter Jackson’s film of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring. The same sentiment could be applied to the money that gets donated in the following short film Change for a Dollar. Even the smallest amount of money can change the course of the future.
I am sorely tempted to list discussion points or viewing questions that you could use with this video after showing it your students, but I think this time I’ll just let the video speak for itself. I’d love to hear how you would use the video, or what you would focus on with your students. To share, leave your suggestions and thoughts in the comments section.
Thanks to CatholicTV for posting this video on its Facebook page.