READING

Faithfulness

Faithfulness is a virtue that draws us to fulfill faithfully our duties to God. Saint Paul has said that piety is necessary for everyone because it is the opening to all that God has promised us.

What about teachers without this virtue? They are left with only their own resources, complete their tasks without real excitement and even with negligence, and are unable to teach all of the values and responsibilities contained in a Christian education. They have no concern or desire to teach or to practice the life of a Christian; prayer and the sacraments are not important to them. While these teachers may be able to help students develop intellectually, and though they may pass on some knowledge that is useful in life, the important knowledge that students need -the knowledge that leads them to the totality and completeness of the Christian life-is neglected. Such teachers may develop scholars, but they will not develop Christians. They have forgotten the essence of their mission-the development of the heart and the soul, on which good values depend. Consequently, their true goals are forgotten. The tender plants that these teachers have to cultivate will show real potential in their hands, but for lack of real care they will perish, because they have not received the true nourishment they need.

How different, on the contrary, is the result with those students who have been given truly reverent teachers. Convinced that the Lord Himself has given them the students they are instructing and are responsible for, reverent teachers will try above all to bring their students to the completeness of the Christian life. Such teachers see their students’ souls more than they see their students’ bodies. They know that young people have been won at the price of the shedding of the Lord’s blood, and they consider them adopted children of God and temples of the Spirit. Their enthusiasm for their work increases because of this. Their major duty becomes instruction in the faith, and with untiring patience they help students learn to pray. They do not cease reminding students of Christian commitments , the works of God, and the effects of the sacraments. Finally, this kind of teacher helps students become able to deal with the values they will find opposed to Christianity and inspires in students a devotion to the sacred.

The Lord will bless such efforts and reward such enthusiasm with the greatest results. Anyone entering a Christian school will be able to note the reverence of the students. They grow from day to day both in knowledge and in Christian values. Those who have formed students in such a way “will shine like the stars of the heavens for all eternity.”

MEDITATION — COLLEEN RICHARDS

Blessed Basil reminds us to faithfully fulfill our duties to God.  Then he indicates that faithfulness leads to excitement, to enthusiasm, to the opening to all that God has promised us.

Duties have received the connotation of drudgery:  clean your mess, do your work, say your prayers. A Christian does these duties with faithfulness and reaps a harvest of joy. Our students are greatly influences by the labels of the culture, so let us use our influence to show them the truth. A clean room and completed chores bring joy to the soul, yet the greatest of delights is attained in communion with God.  We teachers must rest in our meditation on faithfulness so that we are capable of cultivating these tender plants with the real care and true nourishment they need.

EXAMEN

How often do I orient my efforts to this truest mission of education:  the opening of the soul to the promises of God? When I feel I cannot finish everything, where is the one thing necessary? Am I an example of faithfulness to my students? Do I lead them to faithfulness through my faithful expression of Christian living?

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, Teacher of all souls, enflame our hearts with this faithfulness that will consume us with enthusiasm for the souls of Your dear children.  I commit myself anew to this vision and vocation: to live as Your true child so as to lead others to live in perennial communion with You.