On Thursday afternoon I boarded a bus with a bunch of
“rowdy” juniors. I didn’t know what to
expect as I never usually know what to expect on these retreats. On this particular retreat, I was a given an
auxiliary support role. This is
different than the usual front and center role I have, which I and my ego do
enjoy. My task was to stay up beyond the
“lights out” command that was given at 11:30pm.
As I was walking around at 1:00am in the cold dark shadows near Medina,
Texas, I wondered, what the hell was I doing out here in the cold of morning. Almost 30 years old and making sure that kids
were not sneaking out of their cabins!
Why wasn’t I given a more prominent role in this retreat? Those kids need to hear what I have to say!
24 hours later, thanks be to God, my whole disposition
changed. It was good and humbling to
sit, observe, and reflect on why I’m continuing to be an educator. It was reaffirming to say “yes” once again to
serving the people of God in this way. It
was good to hear how life has impacted the faith journeys of the students and
my colleagues. It was beautiful to see
how God was manifesting in the interactions our students were having. What was most amazing was the fact that, with
grace, we can grow and change.
Our school has this oft abused yet beautiful notion of
“brotherhood.” This notion is fundamentally referring to our
ability to see God in the world and its creation. This notion is on a basic level accepting
love but also learning how to love. The
ultimate notion of this high ideal is for our students to leave our institution
not afraid to own their faith in a
culture that is less and less accepting of faith. Not afraid to transform the world for good.
The dark side of this “brotherhood” shows itself when our
students “help” out a fellow “brother” on tests/quizzes/homework or bully/tease
each other. These misguided actions are
used to justify the “brotherhood.” Much
of my work as an educator is attempting correct these errors because so many of
our students have become “numb” to these behaviors. Indeed these mistakes run rampant in our
school and I have to, frequently, remind our guys that there is a line of
behavior that isn’t good. We must
challenge ourselves to be better than our worst destructive behaviors.
The final night of the retreat adults and students alike sat
around a campfire and shared about the ups and downs of life. One colleague posed the question about the
future of our school. Will it be around
in the next fifty years? How about
one-hundred years? Will families find it
too expensive to send their children to Catholic Schools? What’s the purpose of Catholic schools if
faith can be transmitted and taught at the parish? These are but a few great questions that caught
my attention as well as the attention of the students.
My colleague then issued a challenge that struck at the core
of our beloved “brotherhood.” He stated
that this is merely a word and God is more than the “brotherhood” we’ve
created. Our true challenge, he
concluded, was to learn to see God and to learn how to be loved by this God,
but also to learn love to world. It
seemed as though stillness and silence were the only things able to be heard as
we all gazed at the cosmos above us and considered the challenge issued moments
before.
My colleague challenged all of us that cold night. He challenged us to own our faith and to trust in the work of our best friend, the Holy
Spirit. As we enter into this time of
Thanksgiving, I give thanks. I give
thanks for all you who are reading this!
I want to thank my community for blessing all my involvements and time
spent away from our home! I thank my
family for supporting me all these years.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give thanks for my beloved, CCHS. This school has trusted me to do things that
I’ve only dreamed of. The list goes on…
What are you thankful for?
I should, at the essence of my being, be most thankful for my
relationship with God. This sustains and
nourishes me and I hope it does the same for you. Experiences like the junior retreat remind me
of the task I have to construct the kingdom of God. I will own
that! Thankfully this task isn’t only
mine but yours as well. Let us work
together!
A great jazz song (Esperanza Spaulding) about hope:
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