Today I share a great quote from Jeff Cavins that reminds us that our allegiance to Jesus is a total commitment . We don’t get to pick and choose the parts we agree with. At this moment in history there are many forces that seek to shut down the right of Catholic schools and Catholic educators to speak the truth in a loving and respectful way.
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody.
Speaker:Jonathan Doyle with you once again for the Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:Good morning.
Speaker:Good evening.
Speaker:Good afternoon.
Speaker:Wherever you are around the world.
Speaker:I hope you've enjoyed the last couple of episodes.
Speaker:We've had some pretty deep things to discuss yesterday was
Speaker:anthropocentrism versus Cristo centrism.
Speaker:I think the day before we did a Emmanuel Kant's theories on education.
Speaker:So a.
Speaker:We've been going deep this week, today.
Speaker:It's a little more simple.
Speaker:I guess the, the quote that I want to share with you is a little more simple.
Speaker:But it brings up some extremely challenging ideas at this moment
Speaker:in a Catholic education history.
Speaker:So, let me read this to you.
Speaker:It's from the evangelist, Jeff Kevin's.
Speaker:He says this, the willingness.
Speaker:To take what Jesus teaches.
Speaker:And contrast it with today's culture.
Speaker:I can bring you face to face with hostile people who are willing to fight to
Speaker:keep what has become precious to them.
Speaker:Expect your popularity to suffer when you stand up for the family for the
Speaker:church's teachings on sexual morality, on the sanctity of human life.
Speaker:But if you are making a decision to say yes to Jesus, You must
Speaker:be prepared to go all in.
Speaker:To look at him and say, I mostly agree with you.
Speaker:Lord sounds a bit arrogant.
Speaker:Don't you think a true disciple is all in and in any area of
Speaker:his life that is hard to change.
Speaker:He places it in the hands of our Lord and savior.
Speaker:And submits.
Speaker:So as always, there's a huge amount in this quote that we can explore and
Speaker:how it relates to us as individual Christians, but also as Catholic
Speaker:educators, let's focus on the last word in the whole quote, the word submits.
Speaker:He sort of says that, you know, any area of life that is hard to
Speaker:change, we place in the hands of our Lord and savior and submit.
Speaker:The first thing about submission.
Speaker:Is that it is an anathema to our modern culture.
Speaker:This is the era of radical autonomy.
Speaker:Radical self Genesis.
Speaker:Self-direction uh, it's the I, everything culture, isn't it.
Speaker:It's the idea of submitting to something above and beyond ourselves is really
Speaker:difficult and not just difficult for a lot of our culture, but actually.
Speaker:Uh, I would say that our culture is really quite hostile to it.
Speaker:So I think what Jeff Kevins is saying to us here is that if we're going to stand
Speaker:up as Catholic educators, And really be strong and forthright and courageous on
Speaker:some of the more difficult areas that our culture doesn't want to hear about.
Speaker:Then.
Speaker:It's going to be challenging, right?
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:This is a culture that has essentially rejected God in this season of history.
Speaker:And more than ever Catholic schools are an evangelistic hub.
Speaker:There are place one of the few places in our culture where young
Speaker:people really have a chance.
Speaker:To hear the gospel.
Speaker:So, if we begin to push back on any of the difficult issues, usually
Speaker:your sort of automatically ostracized you're labeled as intolerant.
Speaker:And of course we all know people who can go too far the other way.
Speaker:They go hardcore Pharisaical, temple police, and they really
Speaker:can become quite aggressive.
Speaker:We're not talking about that.
Speaker:We're talking about a calm, courageous, consistent.
Speaker:Decision a disposition.
Speaker:To share what the Catholic faith teachers.
Speaker:To allow young people a chance to actually hear that proposition.
Speaker:So to be committed to this is really to be committed to the discipleship of Jesus.
Speaker:You know, that rabbinical tradition, that, that Hebrew tradition of rabbis,
Speaker:where the disciple would really come under the authority of the teacher.
Speaker:So, whatever the teacher said had to happen, the disciples followed,
Speaker:there was very little questioning.
Speaker:And, uh, you know, for me, after all these years of it comes down
Speaker:to a decision between my own.
Speaker:I guess decision-making apparatus my own confusion at times on difficult things.
Speaker:I'm going to trust Jesus.
Speaker:And I'm going to trust that the holy spirit has been speaking through
Speaker:the church for a very long time.
Speaker:And I'm going to trust that.
Speaker:I'm going to trust that over my own.
Speaker:Drive to recreate reality at any moment in history.
Speaker:So, um, I think these days it takes a certain kind of heroism to.
Speaker:To do that, to do it calmly, to do it gently, but not to budge a.
Speaker:I think that there's a genuine risk, that Catholic education can be
Speaker:hijacked by the various political winds blowing through our moment in history.
Speaker:Uh, you know, uh, no Catholic school is called to be an outpost of any
Speaker:particular political disposition.
Speaker:We're called to preach Christ.
Speaker:We're called to be faithful to the church.
Speaker:And if we do that, Then I think we have a real chance of being a
Speaker:great blessing to young people.
Speaker:I don't think young people need more political agitators in their lives.
Speaker:I think they can get that 24 7 anywhere else.
Speaker:But I think to have a place of the presentation of the gospel.
Speaker:Through gentleness through love through service, through pastoral presence.
Speaker:But then when it comes to some tough topics, occasionally we need to be
Speaker:prepared to insist on the truth to present the truth and to preach the truth.
Speaker:So if you're one of those people out there pushing back against the
Speaker:winds of culture, God bless you.
Speaker:My friends, God bless you.
Speaker:There's a certain.
Speaker:Certain martyred a minute.
Speaker:These days I'm afraid there's a certain heroism as a, as the culture around us,
Speaker:really resists and resents and six to shut down the presentation of truth.
Speaker:So God bless you for what you're doing.
Speaker:Stay strong stay close to jesus keep up your daily routines of prayer and
Speaker:sacraments and uh stay close to the heart of Jesus's mother stay close
Speaker:to the heart of his church and you're going to do exactly what he needs you
Speaker:to do god bless everybody my name's jonathan doyle this has been the
Speaker:catholic teacher daily podcast and i'll have another message for you tomorrow
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