Those to Follow

Picture courtesy of http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/115012

Now that the fall is coming, and school is in session, I like to take some time to talk about educators. It is not that teachers are the only educators. All through are lives there are people that mold us, that pass on experiences, rules, practices, ways, traditions, etc. In the hopes that we have what we need to better our lives and the lives of others.

As Catholics, we have a great teacher. The greatest teacher in history. I believe I am right in saying that teaching itself is a calling. The best teachers, or the best arbiters of knowledge are always the ones who's main interest is to better the brains at the desk's, and not how much their tenure will be worth. I feel we are truly blessed to have so many great teachers in the Church. The early fathers, and men such as Augustine, and Aquinas. When we learn, we are taking part in the love that God has for us. It is up to us to not waste it on petty things.

I know for some classes may be hard. Maybe you are in a big class at a major university. Maybe on a regular basis you get busy work as it is called. Work that really you do the same thing over and over that really doesn't accomplish any lasting thing. Even as we go on to become upper class men and women. We always end up being able to think of things that are much better to do than listen to a person up at a board talk for a couple of hours. Or when out professor goes off on a tangent we feel he has nothing meaningful to say.

As Christians, we have the knowledge placed before us that we are part of something great. Something cosmic, something Eternal. Every day we wake up on this earth there is one more thing in infinity that we could learn. Our ceiling does not end at the scientific method. Our intellect does not end at the closest star or farthest away galaxy. We are able to learn because we are loved.

Now let me move away from the classroom sage. Let me move into more out of class room mentors. I type this because I want you all to know that there are many people in our paths, that help us become more fully us. As students, but even more so as young Catholics we have a duty to seek them out, and to mode not only our behavior out in the world but also take it to the classroom to where can plant seeds.

TV has had a rough patch as far as hero's go. This isn't the days of McGiver anymore. Plus most of our lives are spent well "plugged in", a great article about this about E-Slavery can be read at Catholic Answers. Any way I know of a T.V character that can really show us what a good man, as well as what a good teacher can give us. This man is none other than Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The boss of the NCIS team, a Marine Sniper, and a craftsman in his spare albeit sparse spare time.

I think the biggest reason I want to point him out is because of his Conviction. His foundational person is rooted in conviction, a value too few of us have or understand. He is like Peter, the rock. Gibbs is set in his ways, but weather some may meet him and think other wise he is selfless and strong. He shows what it means to stand up for what is in your heart. or in Gibbs' case, your gut. Wherever he is, he always takes himself with him, and he always brings him back.

He also in his way mentors, and raises his team up to be the best they can be, he brings out in them all the qualities that make them great agents, and he always reminds them about the path they walk on this road of life. he also passes down to them the way that Mosses gave us the 10 commandments, well of course God gave them to us but you know Mosses still brought them down from the mountain; the "rules" we heard about these on many occasions, we know how they were in homage to his late wife, and he has kept them close to his heart. They are the well Rules. In this way he reflects Christ ministry although in a more blunt and less depthful way, in the parables Jesus told.

We should go through this time between two eternities look for people like him. Even though we have Christ, God has brought people into our lives to better us, and try to bring out the person we are able to be. Have open ears to hear the wise words spoken by teachers. A little bit may go a longer way than you think, and little more time can open up vast new avenues of information.

Back 2 School

It's that time again. last minute shopping for books, going to staples to pick up back packs, pens, pencils, and making sure you are going to go to the right class tomorrow morning. It's the school year once again. Amongst seeing old friends, or maybe meeting new ones for the first time we are going back to a part or life that is shaping us better or worse for the future. Who we are now, and who we will be once we get out of school are never really the same.

Since this time is so crucial, I think it is something for us to not only remember the home work due tomorrow, or the test coming up next week, but I also think we should take time to see ourselves. I think today for a person who is just starting out in college, who has stuck to the faculties of the Christian life, college is an exotic land. One that may or may not have seen missionaries come by. This is where we should stop and think about how we are when we step in to that land, and how we might be when we step out.

I have been fortunate enough to have grown up in the Catholic school system. From grade school, high school, and now I'm back again after taking a four year hiatus I am back in the system of my youth. But I know many fellow Catholics who didn't or specifically the audience of this blog are the ones who are not.

College puts you on the cusp of something bigger. In universities, and colleges across the country, young adults are going to take a part o something that may very well be there future. But in doing this they enter into well the exotic land mentioned above, and in this land has a different way. Today colleges are a place where the values of the building blocks of society are tossed aside, replaced with a "modern" blue print. For a young Catholic who is going to navigate this labyrinth this can seem a pretty daunting task.

But I in no way want you to feel discouraged, for what you are doing is taking part in something that leads you to God. Learning is a transcending experience, and it gives you identity, a piece of yourself that you will always have with you. For whatever the shifting sand of society are going, you can always remain in something greater. That knowledge, you develop more and more everyday by attending lectures, and practicing problems, it is a very real sign of the love that God has for you, to lead you towards the mysteries of the cosmos, even the law class you are taking in your Criminal Justice Major.

In college, so many can be a witness to the hope that is in you. Never be ashamed of that. The Christian tenet of Charity comes in. To help those in need. This can be done by helping your fellow student out. To be there, to lend a hand. For it is in giving that we receive.

Let it be that you can take heart in Peter, the rock. That wherever the passing fancies of contemporaneity life go you can allays be firm . Today school is filled with the ism's that only tear away at the fabric of ourselves and reduce us to cattle off to the slaughter. So stand and always be a light for those tossed on that stormy sea.

I guess it is safe to say that you will do a lot of reading right.?...

Well one could dream can't they. But in the mix of "hitting the books", and carousing with friends let your hope shine for all to see. Also I have a little reading list. It's little I promise, no really I mean it's like two books. I mean come on giving me some credit two books, the first is called Disorientation: How to go to College Without Losing Your Mind written in part by Catholic Professors, Journalist, Theologians, Priest, Philosophers to help guide you through the popular errors of Modernism, Progressivism, Scientism, Fundamentalism, and others. The other book is the recently published, youcat or the Youth Catechism as it is known. Also as a tip I have learned throughout my years in college, is to study before you go to bed, but do not cram that is acually harmful to the majority of kids, and when you wake up have a banana, especially when there is an exam that day.

So may God bless you and keep you, and grant you his precious gift of peace.