No, the title of this blog entry is not a mistake. I do not mean February; I do indeed mean January. I have been busy as usual with teaching. While I had envisioned blogging more than I have been, the realities of life are that other responsibilities are more pressing. So be it.
A couple of experiences stand out from school last month. Both are spiritual.
A few days after Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, we went to Mass together as a school. During the service, the priest talked about how someone once said that he didn't want to be remembered because he had won certain awards. He didn't want to be remembered for the Nobel Prize he had won. He said he wanted to be remembered for having lived a life of love. Then the priest said that the person who had said that was Dr. Martin Luther King. I thought that I aspire to live a life full of, expressing, exhibiting, reflecting love. I hope I will be remembered for having lived a life in which I have loved.
Also in January, one of my students in the 7th grade started coming up to me and to other teachers on separate occasions and showed us prayers in a prayer book she has started reading. The first time she read to me out of it, she pointed to this precious prayer:
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
And after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Amen.
Much earlier in the school year, when this same student saw other children ripping leaves off of a tree, she asked me, "Why are they treating that tree that way? Don't they understand it's part of God's creation?"
I do grant that I have not been teaching and tutoring that long. However, in the time I have been teaching, I have not been aware of such love of God and Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ and God's creation. I know that such students are rare and are treasures. I am thankful to be in the presence of this student.
A couple of experiences stand out from school last month. Both are spiritual.
A few days after Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, we went to Mass together as a school. During the service, the priest talked about how someone once said that he didn't want to be remembered because he had won certain awards. He didn't want to be remembered for the Nobel Prize he had won. He said he wanted to be remembered for having lived a life of love. Then the priest said that the person who had said that was Dr. Martin Luther King. I thought that I aspire to live a life full of, expressing, exhibiting, reflecting love. I hope I will be remembered for having lived a life in which I have loved.
Also in January, one of my students in the 7th grade started coming up to me and to other teachers on separate occasions and showed us prayers in a prayer book she has started reading. The first time she read to me out of it, she pointed to this precious prayer:
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
And after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Amen.
Much earlier in the school year, when this same student saw other children ripping leaves off of a tree, she asked me, "Why are they treating that tree that way? Don't they understand it's part of God's creation?"
I do grant that I have not been teaching and tutoring that long. However, in the time I have been teaching, I have not been aware of such love of God and Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ and God's creation. I know that such students are rare and are treasures. I am thankful to be in the presence of this student.
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