That's My Sister!

Today was an unusual day.  We had the first school-wide assembly of the year.  We're going to have one every trimester.  Given that the end of the trimester is rapidly approaching, we had the assembly today, since we didn't have much time left to have one.

We started off the assembly with a prayer.  As always, we invoked Saint John Baptist de la Salle, the French priest who did so much to further education in France 300 years ago, and who founded the tradition of Catholic schools to which we belong.  We implored him to pray for us, as we also did at the close of the assembly.

After the opening prayer, we had the students compete in several groups.  We quizzed them, including about facts they had learned in Social Studies, Math and Science classes.  They were excited to compete against each other. 

But before we got to the contest, we teachers handed out awards to the youths we teach in our particular 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes.  Students received certificates for excellence in Social Studies, Science, Math, Literature and Writing.  Students had also voted to decide which of them was the most supportive of his or her fellow students, which pupil motivated others well, and which student was the most organized, in addition to which children have taken other positive approaches at school.  We also recognized particular students for reading in class in a loud voice.

I was enjoying hearing students' names being called, and I was liking watching children walk up to receive their certificates.  Partly I was feeling satisfaction in seeing these young scholars get these awards because I know that some of them have expressed that they wanted to be academically successful, but some of them have seemed to doubt that they could excel in their studies.  After seeing them apply themselves to their work, I felt joyous over their achievement, their advancement, their betterment of themselves.  As I saw students stride up to receive their awards, my eyes grew watery as I repeatedly felt happy for them. 

Given that I was taking in the recognition of these students in this emotional context, I was primed to feel especially touched when one particular boy spontaneously shouted in excitement when his sister won an award.  When her name was called, he proudly cried, "That's my sister!" 

It was delightful to hear his unrestrained enthusiasm and show of affection and love for his sibling, partially since he was cheering her for her intelligence, her motivation, her application of herself and her academic accomplishments.  I do indeed literally pray that I am contributing to such intellectual growth and development in these youths.  I hope that I am helping these students to progress and learn.  I hope that I can be partly responsible for causing children to extemporaneously call out in praise of their siblings.  If I can, hearing such cheer will certainly serve as a reward. 

First Day Of School

Today was the first day of school at the Catholic middle school where I'm teaching on the south side of Chicago.  At times last week I was so anxious about this coming school year that I literally wouldn't have wished such feelings on my worst enemy.  With the goals of not having a cerebral hemorrhage and not having a heart attack, last Friday night I prayed in earnest and consequently, I tremendously calmed down.

Thus, all things considered, I was relatively calm today.  I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and read the Bible for an hour as usual.  Later I wheeled the garbage bins out to the curb, since that's one of the tasks assigned to me here in the faith-based community in which I'm living with some of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.   Next I sat down to a bowl of cereal in the kitchen.  At 7:00 a.m., the Brothers and I gathered for morning prayer, as we do every weekday.

After morning prayer, I gathered my things and headed for the door.  As I walked through the living room, my fellow community members wished me well on my first day.  I walked out the door.  I stood on the stoop and I realized I didn't have the keys to the car.  I turned around and headed back into the house.

As I entered the living room, one of those same community members asked me, "How was it?"

I replied, "I figured out that I'm not going anywhere without the keys to the car!"  I headed back upstairs to my room, retrieved the car keys, and I was on my way.  I had an uneventful 15-minute drive on surface streets from the house to the school.

Arriving at the school, I had a fairly mellow entrance into the classroom.  The other teachers and I had spent all of last week preparing our classrooms and reviewing school procedures, so we were ready for today.

At 8:20, the kids stopped exercising in the gym, as they lined up in preparation to head upstairs for school.  We walked the students upstairs and into the classrooms.

I'm teaching 7th Grade.  One of my fellow teachers, Mark, will be teaching Math, Social Studies, and Religion.  Another of my fellow teachers, Alison, will be teaching Science.  I'll be teaching Literature as well as Writing.  The entire 7th Grade, which is composed of 30 students, roughly equal numbers of boys and girls, is seated in one classroom. 

Once we got the 7th graders seated in the classroom, we began our day.  For the most part we reviewed procedures with them today.  We also helped them to get to know us in easygoing fun ways.  First Mark, Alison and I introduced ourselves.

After some brief announcements, I reminded the students the format of morning prayer together.  Almost all of the 7th graders attended this school last year, so they have been very familiar with morning prayer at the school.  As in all Lasallian gatherings, a prayer session begins with the prayer leader beginning, "Let us remember..." and the rest of those present completing the sentence by praying aloud, "...that we are in the holy presence of God."

Next a prayer, or prayers, of various lengths are said, usually out loud.  I noted to the students that those prayers in the middle of the prayer session could be the same as the ones said the preceding day, or they could be different ones.  I added that the important thing was that whatever one prays, it should be heartfelt and prayed with sincerity, since Jesus reminded us of the importance to pray earnestly.

After those prayers, the prayer leader begins, "Saint John Baptist de la Salle..." and the others present ask that saint, "Pray for us."  At this school, next the prayer leader begins, "San Miguel..." and the others implore that saint, "Pray for us."  Finally the prayer leader begins, "Live, Jesus, in our hearts..." and the other persons pray aloud, "Forever," finishing the prayer session. 

After our morning prayer, we had the students play a game to get to know us better.  We gave them sheets with grids on them.  Each square contained a fact about one of us.  However, the students had to determine, or to guess, which of us each fact described.  We gave them 20 minutes to work in groups collaborating to decide who they thought each fact described.  As I was circulating around the room, greatly enjoying watching the students trying to ascertain which of us teachers was the subject of each square, more than once I thought of saying to the other various adults in the room, "I think I might be enjoying this activity more than they are!"  I was anonymously described on the sheets as one who has "eaten goat" (which I did when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco), as one who has been to Iceland, as one who has worked in a McDonald's, as one who used to collect postage stamps, and as one who is the youngest of three children. 

Then Mark reviewed with the kids the system of "classroom economy."  We're continuing a system which has been used in years past at the school through which kids, by behaving well, can earn classroom currency, which they can then redeem for various benefits, including getting to listen to music while reading, or getting to eat at certain times when they normally wouldn't be eating.

Next Alison reviewed classroom procedures with the students.  First she had them read the policies.  Then she had them gather in groups and work together to determine the right answer to questions as she quizzed them.  I enjoyed seeing her transform what otherwise probably would have been a dry, boring activity for the kids into one which energized them with the motivation of competing against each other, and had them scrambling to find the right answer. 

Soon after that, we had the kids taking reading tests to gauge their reading level, and to check to see if their reading level had changed over the summer.  When the kids weren't taking the reading tests, I was helping them find books to read in the school library based on their reading levels from last school year.  I recommended the book "Tuesdays With Morrie" to a couple of kids, and both of them decided to read that book.  I'm excited to be placed at this school because the kids read for well over an hour during each school day.  

At the end of the morning, Mark ran a session on how we can build community in the classroom.  He directed the students to answer a number of questions on paper about how they would like to be treated, how they imagine we as teachers would like to be treated, and about the importance of rules, and about which specific rules are important to follow.  I was most pleased to see that students had written that an important rule is to treat others as you would like done unto you, as Jesus directs us to do.  I'm also thrilled to be teaching at this school since it instills these true Christian ethics in students. 

In the early afternoon, the school day came to an end.  The first day of a trimester at our school is always a half day.  Thus, the students headed home in time for lunch.  I'm further grateful to be teaching at this school since 98% of the students qualify for the government's free and reduced cost lunch.  I'm happy to be trying to help teach impoverished children, to be trying to help poor folks, as Jesus taught us to do.

I'm glad to be trying to live my faith in my everyday life, including in my work.  I'm grateful for this opportunity for so many reasons.  I cherish the opportunity to serve, especially to serve those who don't have a lot.  I feel such fulfillment in helping people who are struggling.  As I help others, especially those who are disadvantaged, I feel such joy inside myself.  I'm so thankful that I'm helping impoverished children in a classroom.  It looks like it's going to be a wonderful school year. 

Orientation Part Three: Gratitude For Blessings

At Lasallian Volunteer (LV) Orientation at Lewis University during the last ten days of July, as LVs we had sessions on numerous topics.  Staff reviewed with us the organization's policies and procedures, with which we must comply as LVs.  One of the Brothers of the Christian Schools educated us about the life, work and times of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, who founded the order of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the order which in turn founded the staff organization named Lasallian Volunteers, which administers the LV program.  Later we were reminded of the many types of work which the Brothers perform in dozens of countries on five continents.  We went to multiple sessions during which we were trained in the tasks we will be doing as LVs, whether it be teaching, tutoring, working in campus ministry, doing social work, or serving in other ways.  Facilitators led us through discussions about social justice and about various kinds of diversity.  The presenter of one session spoke with us about becoming familiar with the neighborhoods in which we'll be living as LVs.  We received tips about beginning to live in community with others, in the intentionally faith-based community houses where we'll be living as LVs.  Insofar as we'll be living in community which is faith-based, we also received guidance on how to lead prayer sessions, a responsibility which generally all of us will have at multiple points during our service as LVs.

Since Lasallian Volunteers is a Catholic organization, and since it was founded by the Brothers, which is a Catholic order, and since it is affiliated with Catholic schools, the priest at Lewis University facilitated a session during which he fielded questions about the Catholic Mass.  While many LVs are Catholic, some are Protestant Christians.  Others might not identify with any particular denomination of Christianity.  Thus not all LVs are familiar with the Catholic Mass from having attended Mass for years.

By the end of the session during which the priest was answering questions about Mass, I was wondering if some LVs were not enthusiastic about attending Mass despite their Christian heritage.  Although we had already gone at least a few minutes longer than scheduled, and although we were thus overdue to head to the campus cafeteria for lunch, I raised my hand.  Acknowledging the time, I succinctly said that, as many of my fellow LVs already knew, at the end of last year, I finished living in an overwhelmingly Muslim country for two years: I had been living in Morocco in the Peace Corps.  I added that while I was living there, often I wasn't able to attend Mass, and consequently greatly missed spiritual community with other Christians.  I explained that when I returned to the U.S. and attended Mass, I felt so comforted by the spiritual community I felt by the other people singing around me in church that I began to cry out of gratitude for what I hadn't had, and for which I was now so grateful.  I pointed out that so often, we think nothing of singing in church, yet it can be profoundly supportive to others.  I suggested that they meditate upon these thoughts. 

The next day, late in the afternoon on Saturday, the priest said Mass for us in the chapel on campus there at Lewis University.  During communion, the hymn being sung was an adaptation of the Prayer of Peace, which is widely attributed to St. Francis, and which in this case was set to music.  For those of you who think you might not know it, the original prayer reads:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

I have appreciated this prayer for quite some time.  I find its message to be profoundly important, actually crucial, for spiritual development.

As I've noted, since living in Morocco, where I often did not enjoy spiritual community with other Christians, I have very much appreciated hearing other Christians sing when I go to church now.  Thus I certainly appreciated my fellow LVs as they sang the hymn version of the Prayer of Peace.

Yet not only hearing fellow Christians, but more specifically my fellow LVs, with whom I share a passion for helping not just poor persons, but impoverished youths, sing this hymn therefore affected me on additional levels.  Yet, knowing that they also share with me the aspiration to the ideals expressed in the hymn, goals which are demanding, in service of others, I was further comforted by this additional level of spiritual community with them.

They were singing the hymn softly and sweetly, a soft, comforting melody.  In their gentle, soothing tone, they auditorily aspired to the humility, modesty and care which the hymn expresses.  Knowing that I was surrounded by others who value this approach of serving others in life at one's own expense, I began to weep, in gratitude for the treasure, privilege and honor of being in their company.  Having sojourned alone many days in the past, I have so cherished the fellowship and support of those who share my values and ideals, as I did especially at that moment.  I saw my fellow LVs in that moment even more vividly than I had before, as the blessings which they truly are to me and to others.  I am blessed.  Thank you, God. 

Invitation To Become A Lasallian Volunteer

In March this year, my first-choice volunteer program, Lasallian Volunteers, accepted me. Yet I feel I should back up to give some context of how I came to apply to be a Lasallian Volunteer.

When I was living in Morocco and working there as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the field of Youth Development from 2010 to 2012, I experienced spiritual changes which helped me gain clarity about the kind of life I want to live. While I lived in Morocco, I had a lot of free time. I tried to make good use of my copious spare time, using it to read the entire Old Testament, then the entire New Testament, then all of the Old Testament Apochrypha. I also gradually read all of "The Imitation Of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, which many feel is the most treasured text in Christianity after the Bible.

Amongst the other Christian writings I read while I was in Morocco, I read "Celebration Of Discipline" by Richard Foster, as well as the accompanying study guide which Foster also wrote. In those books, Foster discusses spiritual disciplines which can help place one before God, which can help focus on God, which can help one commune with God, including prayer, study, meditation, fasting, simplicity, solitude, community, worship, celebration and service. As I read these books, I came to realize that Foster was describing elements of my life at that point in Morocco which I had been enjoying.

Of course I had been enjoying serving impoverished persons through my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I had long found fulfillment from helping poor people in a variety of ways, so it came as no surprise that I found satisfaction from serving poor persons whilst in the Peace Corps. 

I had been living simply as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I didn't miss the paycheck I used to earn as a lawyer, nor did I miss the possessions I had shed just before moving to Morocco. Indeed, as I progressed in my Peace Corps service, and came to rid myself of more property, I grew to want to give away even more possessions. Not only did I want to live even more and more simply, I wanted to do so as I simultaneously knew that to do so is an attempt to practice a spiritual discipline.

Before I had read Foster's writings on the spiritual disciplines, I had known in a general sense that the spiritual disciplines present worthwhile spiritual practices. After reading Foster's books, I came to be aware of why they are helpful to one's spiritual development. I further became aware of their importance in my life, and how they relate to each other. I appreciated his exposition on the spiritual disciplines, since upon reading his writings, I was better able to organize my thoughts regarding my spiritual journey and the facets of my life which I hoped to retain in my life once I left Morocco.

Soon after reading these two volumes by Foster, I read Thomas Merton's autobiography, "The Seven Storey Mountain," in which Merton describes how he came to be a Trappist monk. It occurred to me that as a monk, one can live a life of service, and also of solitude, yet also of community, a life which is especially conducive to prayer, meditation and study of The Word Of God.

Accordingly, once I left Morocco, I visited monasteries on my way back to the USA. I enjoyed my stays at Glenstal Abbey and at Mount Saint Joseph Abbey in Ireland. Even moreso I enjoyed my stay at Belmont Abbey in the United Kingdom. There I stayed inside the abbey with the monks for a week, unlike how I had stayed in the guesthouses at the monasteries in Ireland.  From those monastery visits, I found that I enjoyed the company of persons who have chosen to live their lives consecrated to God. 

After having invested my extensive free time in reading which helped me to identify the kind of spiritual life I wanted to live, and after having stayed at and otherwise visited monasteries, I arrived back in the USA in late November 2012 intentionally looking for specific kinds of opportunities to serve others. During my time in Morocco, I enjoyed spiritual community with other expatriate Christians who were also living in Morocco. I would meet up with them for Bible study, sometimes as often as once a week. I cherished the fellowship we shared as we supported each other in our faith as Christians. As much as I enjoyed the fellowship with them, I also knew that I needed more spiritual community than weekly Bible study sessions. I concluded that I wanted to live in a Christian faith-based community. Thus, I arrived back in the USA seeking opportunities to serve poor persons while living simply as a member of a Christian faith-based community, perhaps as a member of a volunteer program.

Although I started looking for such opportunities about a week after I arrived back in the USA, initially I could not find them. I searched intermittently for brief periods for such opportunities, not consistently searching for them partly because I was especially occupied given that Christmas was soon approaching. Even though I had not been persistently looking for these volunteer programs, by the time New Year's Eve arrived, I was starting to despair that I would not be able to find a way to continue serving poor persons while living simply in a Christian faith-based community.

Then right around New Year's Eve, while doing an Internet search, I found the website www.catholicvolunteernetwork.org. On that website, I found numerous opportunities to volunteer. I found full-time options and part-time options. I found chances to volunteer abroad or in many states in the USA. I found programs offering positions where one could teach, be a social worker, volunteer in a soup kitchen, and serve in many other ways. I found programs where volunteers work in connection with friars and sisters. I found programs where volunteers could get health insurance, room and board, and modest living stipends. In short, I found so many volunteering possibilities that I had to start prioritizing which programs were most appealing to me.

Soon I had developed a list consisting of a few tiers of programs with progressively later deadlines. I applied to the first three programs at the top of my list. I filled out long applications with dozens of questions which called for short answers. I asked former work supervisors, pastors and a co-worker to write recommendations for me. Once I had submitted the applications, I began to wait.

After perhaps a couple of weeks, I heard back from Lasallian Volunteers, which was my top choice. They wanted to interview me! I was glad to get this news. I knew that Lasallian Volunteers was a staff organization which was founded by the Brothers of the Christian Schools to run a nationwide network of volunteers. I knew that Lasallian Volunteers places volunteers in positions where they serve impoverished youths, often in educational settings. I wanted to teach. I had enjoyed teaching as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. When I was applying to the Peace Corps, I enjoyed being a teacher's assistant to a teacher who was teaching ESL (English As A Second Language), and I also enjoyed tutoring people in ESL during that same period. When I was a lawyer, I always enjoyed educating people about the law, which had led me to want to teach in the Peace Corps. So I was excited to interview for a chance to become a Lasallian Volunteer (LV), since I knew that as an LV, I could probably not only teach, but also be a teacher for poor kids. And I was excited to interview to be an LV since LVs live in Christian faith-based community, most of them with Brothers of the Christian Schools.

In preparing for the interview, I learned about Saint John Baptist de la Salle, who founded the religious order known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He was a French priest who lived from 1651 to 1719, who did much to further education. While preparing for the interview, I read about middle schools and high schools affiliated with the Brothers, schools which are often called Lasallian schools, and which serve impoverished youths. I also read about other types of sites where LVs serve, including educational centers, a family therapy center, and a retreat center. I also read about the array of positions in which LVs serve, including in the position of teacher, tutor, social worker, campus minister, recreational activity leader, retreat facilitator, and development assistant. On the Lasallian Volunteers website, I also read about LVs who were serving. In all that I read, I got a positive impression of the LV program. As I read LVs' blog entries, I could tell that LVs are happy. As the interview neared, more and more I wanted to become an LV.

The interview lasted over an hour and a half. The interviewer asked me a variety of questions, which tended to revolve around faith, service and community, the main pillars on which the LV program is based. After the interview, I wanted to be an LV even more.

In the days after the interview, I tried to busy myself as I wondered about the status of my application. After a couple of weeks, which seemed much longer, I got word that I was invited to be an LV!  I promptly accepted the invitation to be an LV.  I was happy that I had found a way to continue serving impoverished people, while living simply and living in Christian faith-based community.  I was set to take the next steps on my spiritual journey!