Day 30.2

Answered prayers people.  Today was a great day with my students!  They actually acted like they like me today!  Phew- I think their 'tudes had something to do with the weather...sheesh!  We had another late start due to the fog, so that meant classes were short again today.  

Here was our reflection/prayer/random act of kindness from today:

Reflection:

This is my command, that you love one another.  John 15:17

 

This invitation from God is not extended to us individually as individuals.  We are called into the People of God, into a faith community.  we are invited to become a part of God's family.  By the very nature of the invitation we can come to God only together or we cannot come at all.  This is the radical meaning of "Thy Kingdom Come!"  The bottom line is this:  I cannot say my "yes" of responding love to God's invitation without saying a "yes" of love to you.  Ot is impossible for me to love God and not to love you.  Likewise it is impossible for me to love God and not to love you. 

 

Jesus says that if we come to place the gift of our love upon his altar, and we remember a grudge, an estrangement from another, we should resolve that first.  Only then are we invited to come and lay our gift of love upon God's altar.  Jesus is very clear about this.  We cannot love God without loving each other...God does not want my gift of love unless it is also offered to you.  God does not want your gift of love unless you have shared that gift with me. 

 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart.  Help me to be a peacemaker this Advent and to give special love to those who disagree with me.  Give me the strength and courage to forgive those who have hurt me just as you forgive me when I sin against you.  Amen.

 

RAK:

Forgive someone who has hurt you.  Forgiveness and letting go are crucial.  They will lead you down the path of healing and peace.  So try to forgive someone today I order to prepare your heart for Jesus.

For their journal prompt, I asked them to answer the following question: "Who do I need to forgive?"  

After that, I told them a personal story of a time where I held on to the emotional pain and anger a particular person caused me for a number of years (about 7).  I will spare the details because the goal is not to reveal this person's identity.  The goal is to show that forgiveness is not what heals the person who has hurt us-but in actuality, it is what heals YOU.  Me.  I held on to anger, pain, and a very poor opinion of this person for far too long. The only person hurting in the situation was ME.  As the reflection said- "Jesus is very clear about this.  We cannot love God without loving each other...God does not want my gift of love unless it is also offered to you.  God does not want your gift of love unless you have shared that gift with me."  Withholding forgiveness is the opposite of love.  Jesus very explicitly teaches about forgiveness.  I mean, hello!  While this person has never come forward to ask for forgiveness, I have forgiven this person in the depths of my heart.  How?  Through the guidance of my mom and Margie-one of the most wise people that I have ever met.  Oh, and Jesus.  It took a long time to let go and forgive this person in my heart, but I can honestly say that I have.

Some of my students were very upset about this story-"Why would anyone be so mean?  Especially to you!" 

"Well- that's between them and the Lord.  I have asked for forgiveness a number of times from Jesus and He has never withheld that from me.  So, it took a long time, but I have forgiven them."  

Forgiveness is what allows us to love more freely!  And no, not every person deserves forgiveness.  I fall into that category at times too!  Probably more than I've ever personally admitted, too.  

We all need to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus.  Let's all give forgiveness a try.

Better late than never! Day 29.2

I guess you can say I'm a little behind on blogging...and I'm not going to attempt making separate entries on all of the classes I missed blogging on.  Imagine the best and that should do. :)

We are a couple of days into Week 8 of Term 2.  WOW.  Now, I'm going to remind you that I am teaching primarily juniors (16 year olds) and a couple of seniors...and they can be really rude.  Surprised?  I'm not.  However, it's been discouraging, especially right before Thanksgiving.  No, I didn't feel like a complete failure or like giving up, but I felt hopeless in a way.  I know all of us, whether you're a teacher or not, can feel that way at times.  Nothing that I was saying or doing was making them interested.  I shouldn't say that for each and every student, but for the majority, that's how it appeared, and still appears.  It appears that I am a fool for even trying to get the message of the gospel across to these teenagers.  They're rude to me, rude to the bus driver, and rude to the few that want (at least they appear like so) to be over at St. Paul's.  I am trying to focus on the positives, but it's really difficult when they act uninterested, test every ounce of my patience, and then stand up to leave when we still have 5 minutes left of class time left.  Today not a single student said good-bye to me after I reprimanded them on their behavior. Yup, teenagers...

Since Advent has begun, I have changed the format of our prayer. Rather than having them stay seated, I have a new space for prayer where I placed the Advent wreath where we gather around and remain standing for a reflection and prayer that I have the students lead.  To help them prepare, I have a Jesus stocking, and I have encouraged them to do random acts of kindness as a way of thanking Jesus for all of the gifts He has given us and to prepare our hearts for Christmas.  I made up little slips of paper for them to write down their "gifts" to Jesus.  After Christmas, we will read all of the things they did out of preparation for Jesus coming into their hearts on Christmas!   A dear friend of mine from back home shared prayers and challenges that she wrote with her friend for her fellow peers and teachers for morning prayer at her high school.  They are beautiful!  Starting tomorrow I will post them on my blogs so you can say the same prayers and be challenged to do the same random acts of kindness.  Thanks Nicole!

I know that I am a champion (thanks to Katy Perry-kidding)! I am running after Jesus and doing my job as best as I can with His unfailing help.  There is no sense in being discouraged because we never truly know what seeds are being planted on the hearts of the people we encounter...hopefully good seeds!  I can't help but want all of my students to know the joy of having a relationship with Jesus and to experience that for themselves.  All in all, I want this world to be a better place.  I want all people to be good to one another out of their love for God.  It's less about about doing and more about being, and I'm striving to portray that.  Our good works should be done not to earn his love and mercy, but rather as natural responses of our love for God, in thanksgiving for what He provides us and the grace we receive through prayer and the sacraments.  I want to start a fire!  Not literally, but spiritually!  As St. Catherine of Siena said, "If you are what you should be, you will set the world ablaze."  Again, maybe I'm not going to see that "fire" right here and now in 2nd and 3rd hour class.  I can't honestly say that I was the best student at all times in every single religion class that I ever took.  So, I need to be patient, and wait for the Lord to work on them, but especially me.  Shoot, this must be how God feels when He listens to some of my prayers...

So, if anyone has any great techniques for presenting how awesome living a moral life is since I am finishing the term with Morality, let me know.

Happy Advent!

Come, Lord Jesus!