The modern Catholic school can be a hectic place at times. There is always so much to do and so many pressing demands. It can be easy to begin to live in the future, always planning for the next thing. In today’s message I share a great quote from the amazing Blessed Solanus Casey who reminds us that while God holds the future in His hands, it is in the present where we are called to encounter Him. It’s a great reminder that the present moment is a crucial place of deep spiritual encounter.
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Transcript
Hey everybody.
Speaker:Jonathan Doyle with you, once again, welcome to the daily
Speaker:Catholic teaching methods.
Speaker:God bless you for your incredible service of the kingdom of God.
Speaker:Has anyone said that to you today?
Speaker:Has anybody walked up to you and said, Hey, excuse me, stop.
Speaker:Can I just thank you for your incredible service to the kingdom of God?
Speaker:Probably wasn't any year students, but I'm saying.
Speaker:Because you need to hear it.
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Speaker:I love given all the teachers some free book or something.
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Speaker:Even if it's just like, I don't know a pair of socks, maybe I'll find something.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'll I'll go.
Speaker:I'll go back home and I'll find something that I want to bless you.
Speaker:So there'll be something, uh, something there for you.
Speaker:So let's do this today.
Speaker:We are going to talk about a really special quote, uh, from
Speaker:one of my absolute favorites.
Speaker:And if you see me alive, if you saw me at NCA, if you see me anywhere, you
Speaker:know that I love telling this story.
Speaker:It's a, it's a beautiful story.
Speaker:And today's quote is from blessing.
Speaker:Salonis Casey.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:We must be faithful to the present moment, or we will frustrate the plan of.
Speaker:For our lives.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:The real challenge is can I do this video without going into a two hour
Speaker:explanation of Savannah's Casey's life?
Speaker:Um, I might try and link out to my NCA keynote if I can remember to do it.
Speaker:And, uh, you'll hear me talk about him.
Speaker:Solanas Casey is just a giant, he's just a giant and it's beautiful.
Speaker:And it's an incredible story because he was such an incredibly
Speaker:simple, humble, broken man.
Speaker:And God just.
Speaker:Showed up, John just lit the fuse and you see what, isn't it amazing.
Speaker:That's what God does.
Speaker:He just finds, you know, he really picks the superstars, right?
Speaker:Like from day one, you go back to the old Testament.
Speaker:It just like, you know, w when king David gets selected, it's like,
Speaker:well, let's pick this superstar.
Speaker:Let's pick this one.
Speaker:This one's tall, this one's got thick, wavy hair, go for that one.
Speaker:And what happened?
Speaker:You know, the profits they're going, do you have any other sons?
Speaker:You know, and the anointing comes on the youngest and the smallest sinus
Speaker:Casey is a giant because he was tiny in the, you know, in the hands of God
Speaker:and just, God did incredible things.
Speaker:But his quote here today that if we're not present, if we're
Speaker:not accepting of the present.
Speaker:Then we're going to frustrate the planet, God, for our lives.
Speaker:I've been reading book, I think from the 17th century, 18th century,
Speaker:uh, called abandonment to divine Providence, because I've struggled for
Speaker:most of my life trying to understand the will of God at any given moment.
Speaker:I really struggle with it.
Speaker:I think I've got a naturally anxious personality.
Speaker:And so I always want to know that I always want to know.
Speaker:I always want to know.
Speaker:I just wanna know exactly what the right thing is and what the answer is.
Speaker:And this book's been helping me because it's been like teaching me to
Speaker:understand that whatever is happening in my life right now, unless I'm in
Speaker:massive scene and doing evil, terrible things that whatever's happening,
Speaker:including suffering is the will of God.
Speaker:For me at that particular moment, it's been very freeing,
Speaker:very peaceful, actually.
Speaker:And salons Casey is telling us that if we, if we won't accept the
Speaker:reality of the present moment and what's showing up in our lives,
Speaker:Then we will frustrate the planet.
Speaker:God, why?
Speaker:Because we want to be somewhere else.
Speaker:I'm going to be doing something else.
Speaker:Now there's a paradox here because we can envision future states.
Speaker:We can have goals.
Speaker:We can have things that we might like to change and be different, but
Speaker:imagine a disposition of heart where we trusted that God would open that door
Speaker:in that direction at the right time.
Speaker:Now let's make this real for Catholic teachers.
Speaker:I want you to start thinking about the present moment as
Speaker:you go through your teaching.
Speaker:The difficult person being overlooked for a promotion, a difficult parent,
Speaker:a moment of joy, whatever it is, be present to it because that's what God is.
Speaker:You know, even if it's difficult.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I remember the last time I was taking.
Speaker:I'd always had a great rapport with students and there's one student that was
Speaker:really struggling to have rapport with.
Speaker:And I can look back now.
Speaker:And I remember at the time all I wanted was it for the problem to go away.
Speaker:I want everything to be different.
Speaker:I wanted the problem gone.
Speaker:So what do we do?
Speaker:We control, we get angry.
Speaker:We do all sorts of things, but now I would like to think that I would
Speaker:be prayerfully sort of going Lord, what, what, what are you doing here?
Speaker:Like, do I need to let go of control of being.
Speaker:Do I need to find me the courage to be strong in discipline.
Speaker:What do I need?
Speaker:Like what?
Speaker:This is the reality.
Speaker:This is the raw material of my life.
Speaker:This is how you're showing up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Then God would change me and grow me in that circumstance.
Speaker:But if I don't want to be in that circumstance, if I'm constantly fighting
Speaker:to be somewhere else and not accepting of it now, I don't mean you accept poor
Speaker:treatment or abuse or something toxic.
Speaker:That's not what I'm saying.
Speaker:It's just that we all need to develop this gentleness of heart, where we're
Speaker:kind of more accepting of the reality that's unfolding as it is unfolding.
Speaker:So as you go through your day as a Catholic teacher, Begin to see the
Speaker:moments of your day as ordained for you that day and get curious, right?
Speaker:What are you doing, Lord?
Speaker:What are you trying to teach me?
Speaker:What do you want me to know?
Speaker:What do you want to tell me at the moment?
Speaker:How do you want me to bring your kingdom to birth in this complex reality today?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what Jesus always said.
Speaker:Don't worry about tomorrow.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because tomorrow's gonna worry about itself, man.
Speaker:It's taken me like what, 30 years to slowly begin to live that I think
Speaker:about tomorrow is that it's not here.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And you got today.
Speaker:All right, God, bless you.
Speaker:Please make sure you're subscribed.
Speaker:Please share this with some people.
Speaker:My name is Jonathan Doyle.
Speaker:I'm going to have another message for you tomorrow.
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