Children and teachers have been heading back to school since mid August and will continue to start the new school year after Labor Day in the US.
In our vocation as a Son or Daughter of God; in our vocation as Priests, Deacons, Religious men and women, single and married laity and widows we are called to serve and minister to the People of God. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching (Matt. 12: 6-7). Also in scripture “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first Apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues (1 Cor. 12:27-28).
The purpose of teaching/education is to “build the Kingdom of God and to bring the child into union with God.” (TOB). Jesus is the main teacher and it is He who teaches through us. “Pause for a moment and reflect on the fact that in this process you are helped to develop your own inner richness, the ‘talents’ the Gospel parable speaks about. Each child has a great mission: to grow and become a fully realized human being. This mission of becoming fully human persons is true for each one of us and lasts throughout our life. In the course of caring for children and establishing the foundation for their physical. intellectual, emotional and spiritual lives, we too are offered an opportunity for developing our own potential. When we are with children, if we realize we have a model for ourselves, as Christ said, we will discover that our relationship not only helps them but it helps us too” (JJ Pg. 18). “St. John Bosco educated the whole person-body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith, in that love should pervade everything we do- work, study and play. For St. John Bosco, being a Christian was a full time effort…It is searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their love lead us(AC). St. John Bosco saw the importance of education and training children and the positive self worth and pride that comes with talent.
All subject should lead the child to God. It isn’t just Religion by itself, but Religion and all the other subjects together. Education isn’t just the subjects by themselves, but the subjects along with Religion. If Education doesn’t lead a child to God, then the purpose of Education has failed. Even in a non Christian school, the learning process should lead the child toward God.
You may wonder how the subjects draw a child and or teach toward God. Let’s look at the possibilities:
Science is about all the created world,the earth and universe which was created by God. Science should bring people into awe of God. For example, when a little child sees a rainbow and the parent says “yes, God made it” the child is in awe of God. When the child is in elementary school and learns that there is a color pattern to the rainbow and parents and possibly school remind that the pattern was set by God, he/she is again in awe of God. When the child becomes a little older and learns what the rainbow is made of, that this is how God made the beautiful bow in the sky, he continues to be in awe of God. Our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, is a scientist and very close to God!
Math leads to God. We work with perfect numbers in math, and who is perfect but God? Also with imperfect numbers, like ourselves. The difference is we can strive to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. (Matt. 5:48)
In Social Studies/History we learn about people and relationships from past to present. We learn about the Geography of our world, which was created by God. God wants us to be in good relationships with each other. They say “History repeats itself”, but it doesn’t have to be the bad, it can be the good also!
Reading and Language Arts also lead us toward God. Without being able to read and comprehend how could we read Sacred Scripture, the lives of the Saints, books written by people in the church, quality books, some that have been around for generations and some new. We need to be able to spell and write.
With Music and Art, many people through the ages have shared this gift God has given to them with us!
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Bosco had something in common as educators. They were Spiritual Parents to the children they taught. They didn’t just have the children to teach them. They became spiritual mothers and fathers to them to help guide to God and to build up the Kingdom of God.
In looking back at my own educational experience; there are three teachers that stand out as my favorites, my kindergarten teacher, fourth grade teacher and Sophomore Biology teacher. Science wasn’t even a subject that I liked. The common reason that they are all my favorite teachers, they handled the class in kindness, order and discipline in such a way that they didn’t have behavior problems with the students. I don’t remember these teachers having problems with students. All she had to do was say something once, and we weren’t afraid of her, but respected her as she respected us.
This is our calling to let Jesus teach through us in a way that draws the teacher and students ever closer to the Trinity. This can be done even in a school where religion is not allowed to be taught, by how the teacher handles herself/himself and how he/she handles the class and presents the subjects. It can be seen in how the children relate to one another, when faith is being lived at home, the children try to practice it elsewhere too.
Have a great school year!
Notes:
Holy Scripture
TOB = Theology of the Body, JJ= The Joyful Journey, AC=American Catholic Website