One of the most remarkable things about being a Catholic teacher is the ability to see the potential in your students in the way that Jesus also sees that potential. As we see the best in our students we tend to expect more for them and from them. In today’s episode I want to share some thoughts with you about the role of faith in the life of each Catholic teacher and what it can mean for your students.
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you.
Speaker:Once again, welcome aboard to the Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:Just want to send a little bit of encouragement.
Speaker:A little bit of a hopefully useful formation your way as you go about this.
Speaker:Very special at work.
Speaker:Of Catholic education.
Speaker:It is raining here today.
Speaker:It is miserable.
Speaker:Blake.
Speaker:We've had this, uh, extraordinary winter so far somebody the other day
Speaker:from New York emailed me and they were like, it's below zero in Australia.
Speaker:I didn't know what happened.
Speaker:It got below zero.
Speaker:Well, it definitely does.
Speaker:And it's, uh, it's pretty bleak here today.
Speaker:Beautiful seasons is interesting though that, uh, The, uh, the sort
Speaker:of Psalms today from the divine office, it's a beautiful, some it
Speaker:thing it's, um, 64 talks about, uh, you know, how the Lord basically
Speaker:cares for the earth gives it water.
Speaker:Um, softens it with showers.
Speaker:It's definitely being softened with showers right now.
Speaker:But, uh, there's a beautiful thing today in the intersections of today's
Speaker:divine office that I wanted to share with you, uh, given this COVID
Speaker:stuff that we're all going through.
Speaker:This is a beautiful line in the intersections where it says,
Speaker:Lord Jesus, as this day begins, we remember that you are risen.
Speaker:And therefore we look to the future with confidence.
Speaker:We look to the future with confidence.
Speaker:How many of us right now are looking to the future with confidence, depending
Speaker:on where you are in the world, all sorts of different things are happening.
Speaker:Uh, here in Australia, we're in a crazy lockdowns.
Speaker:And, uh, of course, meaning many students not able to go to school.
Speaker:So, I guess many of our senior students must be looking at their own.
Speaker:Final couple of years of schooling thinking, uh, you know, can they
Speaker:have confidence in what's happening?
Speaker:Can they have confidence in the future?
Speaker:So many of us have been profoundly impacted over the last couple of years.
Speaker:Karen.
Speaker:And I, uh, you know, been going through a real challenging season in terms of.
Speaker:Just the grief of missing the travel and meeting people and, uh, and
Speaker:just talking to so many people.
Speaker:So, uh, how do we look forward to the future with confidence in
Speaker:this particular moment in history?
Speaker:Well, as this reminds us today, Jesus has risen.
Speaker:And we need to hold on to that, that great truth that he is risen.
Speaker:He has gone ahead of us.
Speaker:He's prepared a place for us.
Speaker:And all of these temporary travails are just that they're temporary.
Speaker:I know my friend.
Speaker:They may not feel temporary today as you go about your work
Speaker:or your family responsibilities.
Speaker:But let's hold onto that.
Speaker:Let's hold on that in faith.
Speaker:And that's a second thing I want to talk about.
Speaker:Yesterday.
Speaker:I went across to adoration, always encouraging you guys to.
Speaker:To make prayer central in your day.
Speaker:And, uh, you know, I could work a lot more often.
Speaker:I feel, you know, I feel a tension ruin a work more and work more
Speaker:and produce more and do more.
Speaker:But I keep making time for prayer and I went across.
Speaker:To adoration and really felt the Lord kind of putting these scriptures before
Speaker:me for my own journey at the moment.
Speaker:So beautiful scriptures in mark, where we have the story of the woman with the
Speaker:hemorrhage and we have gyrus his daughter.
Speaker:Those two stories are put very close together in Mark's gospel.
Speaker:And they're both stories of profound faith.
Speaker:Have you go through them slowly?
Speaker:They're extraordinary.
Speaker:I mean, this woman who'd suffered for so long and it got worse.
Speaker:And it was this faith in Jesus turns to her and says, you know,
Speaker:Go in peace store to your faith.
Speaker:Has saved you.
Speaker:And then gyrus had the faith to come and seek Jesus out and fall at his
Speaker:feet and risk his social standing.
Speaker:He was a senior leader in the local synagogue and.
Speaker:You know, there was all sorts of talk about Jesus.
Speaker:So for him to, to go and do that, to reach out to Christ.
Speaker:Was a great act of faith.
Speaker:Faith is one of those things, you know, it's the old story, you know?
Speaker:It's launched a thousand homilies, hasn't it?
Speaker:It's one of those things that, that we kind of hear a lot about, but we're
Speaker:not quite sure exactly what it means.
Speaker:Assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things, not seen.
Speaker:The conviction of things not seen.
Speaker:How do we have conviction about things?
Speaker:That we don't even see.
Speaker:Well, this is the nature of faith.
Speaker:So what's it got to do with you as a Catholic teacher,
Speaker:as you go about your work.
Speaker:I felt, uh, that what I wanted to share with you, that one
Speaker:of the, one of the things that makes a great Catholic teacher.
Speaker:One of the things that makes a truly remarkable Catholic teacher.
Speaker:Is your ability to see things that have not yet happened.
Speaker:And you're all thinking, like, what do you mean?
Speaker:Can I, can I see the, the outcome of the.
Speaker:The Superbowl before it happens.
Speaker:Can I do that?
Speaker:Can I kind of see the future?
Speaker:Well, in a way you can, but it's a particular future and what makes a
Speaker:great Catholic teacher is the ability to see the future of your students.
Speaker:To InVision for them.
Speaker:Growth success.
Speaker:Growth in virtue growth in academic success, growth in any particular area.
Speaker:I think honestly, what makes a great teacher?
Speaker:One of the things that makes a great Catholic teacher is the ability to have
Speaker:conviction about what you don't yet see the ability to look at a student
Speaker:that other people might write off.
Speaker:The ability to look at a student that other people might think
Speaker:is beyond hope or too difficult.
Speaker:But you see something different.
Speaker:I believe that's a grace of the holy spirit, something placed within you.
Speaker:As you more deeply build your relationship with Christ and allow him to be.
Speaker:Revealed in you.
Speaker:You begin to see what he sees.
Speaker:You begin to sense what the spirit senses.
Speaker:So you don't look at students anymore, as you know that.
Speaker:They might still be difficult.
Speaker:They might still be challenging.
Speaker:But you can see for them something that they may not even see for themselves.
Speaker:And I think this is the reality.
Speaker:Faith brings into existence.
Speaker:Something that we otherwise may not have seen or expected.
Speaker:So I just wanna encourage you today as you go about your work as a Catholic teacher.
Speaker:As you go about your work as a Catholic teacher today.
Speaker:Just.
Speaker:Try and ask for the grace to see.
Speaker:In each young person, what they cannot see yet in themselves.
Speaker:And as you do that, You create the tiniest little corner of the kingdom of God.
Speaker:His kingdom comes into the world.
Speaker:As you see what he sees is you have the faith that he gives you to see a
Speaker:different future for each young person.
Speaker:You know, there's plenty of studies about the, you know, you've probably
Speaker:seen them over the years that, you know, those studies many years ago
Speaker:were teachers were told that there.
Speaker:You know, they took a really difficult class, but they told the teacher
Speaker:that they were all gifted and the teacher just tended to teach to
Speaker:the expectation that they had the teacher just sort of thought, well, if
Speaker:they're brilliant, I'm just going to.
Speaker:You know, Teach them as if they're brilliant.
Speaker:And then the student's marks all came up.
Speaker:So let's ask Lord for the grace to see in each young person, what you hope
Speaker:for in them, what you see for them.
Speaker:The incredible beauty of each young person that you created, that you created them
Speaker:for a future and a purpose and a hope.
Speaker:Uh, pray for every teacher listening to this today that they will.
Speaker:Since your presence with them, that you will give them your eyes for each
Speaker:young person, your hope for each young person, your capacity Lord would go
Speaker:into each teacher today hearing this.
Speaker:And they would envision something that may not yet exist.
Speaker:All right friends.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Uh, come and say good day on, uh, Twitter, J D Catholic at J
Speaker:D Catholic and a on Facebook.
Speaker:At the moment, you can find me at one Catholic teacher.
Speaker:Just do O N E Catholic teacher, one Catholic teacher.
Speaker:And you can find the group there.
Speaker:We'd love to welcome you in there.
Speaker:You can share.
Speaker:Your experiences your day with other Catholic teachers from
Speaker:around the world, please make sure you've subscribed to the podcast.
Speaker:God bless you everybody my name's jonathan doyle and i'll have
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