In today’s episode I talk about the fact that the trials we face in the daily work of education can be a profound invitation to spiritual and personal growth. What if the trials we face were a way in which God is calling us to a deeper level of dependence and trust?

Transcript
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Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you.

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Once again, welcome friends back to the Catholic teacher daily podcast.

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Hope you're doing well.

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Man.

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I love doing this.

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I really hope it's a blessing to you.

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It's so cool to see the numbers growing.

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And just to know that in some small way, I'm getting to a, to.

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Offer some encouragement and some inspiration to so many fantastic.

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Thick fantastic Catholic teachers around the world.

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It's um, somebody said to me many years ago, you know, when something comes

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from God, when you've tried to let go of it and it won't let go of you.

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Uh, meaning that I have a very busy life like you do with so many

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different parts and things happening.

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But, uh, I can't let go of this.

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Respect and admiration that I have for Catholic teachers.

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I just think that the work you do each day is really at the forefront of what God

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is doing through his church in the world.

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Young people are at a really unique cultural moment where.

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They often get few influences, uh, in terms of faith in the gospel.

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So please do not underestimate what an incredibly important job you're doing.

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Just by being a person of faith and trying to share the gospel in

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any way you can, with young people.

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So friends today, I want to share a quote with you from St.

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Mary Magdalen, depart C.

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She was a Carmelite noncom light sister in the 16th century.

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She died eventually in 1607, but, uh, just one of those great spiritual giants

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of holiness that had a huge influence on the other sisters in the convent.

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And she wrote a little bit and she just really inspired

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people towards holiness denture.

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You know, you meet some people and you just have a sense that God's really

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present in their life in a powerful way.

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And they encourage us on to holiness.

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That's kind of what the sites are like, you know, that, that beautiful thing

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in the, in the book of Hebrews, you know, the great cloud of witnesses.

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And what the saints are like is that they're cheering us on in heaven.

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They're kind of looking at us day in, day out saying, yes, go, yes, do that pray

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more trust God, they're cheering us on.

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And not only are they cheering us on in heaven, but they're also still

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providing this incredible witness.

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We look at these great men and women, these incredible sights

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throughout the centuries.

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And we look at their lives and we go, you know what.

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That's worth emulating this something.

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Uh, inspiring about that.

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So today I want to share with you a beautiful quote from a

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sister or Saint Mary Magdalen.

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Depart.

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See.

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And she says this, you said trials are nothing else, but the forge that purifies

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the soul of all it's imperfections trials and nothing else, but the forge.

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That purifies the soul of all its imperfections.

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Now, as I often said, I said this yesterday.

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So many of these great quotes from holy men and women have so many layers.

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There's a lot in this, and I want to bring it back to relevance for

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Catholic education in just a moment.

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But first.

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I guess this is reminding us of a very expansive, important aspect of

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Catholic theology and spirituality.

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You know, suffering has a unique place in the Catholic faith.

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It's a, it's an, it's an experience.

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It's a reality that can be very confusing to the wider world.

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Why would people embrace suffering?

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Why would they seek suffering?

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Why would they.

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Endure.

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And even have gratitude for suffering.

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Well, firstly, I think it's because.

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We look at the life of Christ himself who enjoyed great suffering.

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So the first sort of foundational principle here is that we know

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what anything that Christ did.

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Anything that he did.

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Is worthy of emulation.

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So we know that if he suffered, he's trying to tell us something.

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He took on flesh.

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He entered into the human condition.

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And he showed us that suffering was something that could eventually be.

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I guess what's the Crow transcended that eventually suffering could

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lead to great joy and life.

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If it's entrusted to God.

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And of course, Jesus himself in a father into my hands.

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I commend my spirit, you know, in the moment of the greatest trial and

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suffering, there's a trusting God.

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You know, and also that Jesus has experience of suffering and trial was

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incredibly real for him to cry out my God.

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Why have you forsaken me?

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How many of us have had that thought or.

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Have said that at some point in life, that we look at the trials and sufferings in

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our lives and we wonder where God's gone.

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You know, Jesus has had that experience in his humanity.

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Experiencing the absence of the presence of the father and wondering.

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How he's going to survive and enjoy this terrible suffering alone.

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But of course he was never alone.

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So, what we find here is that, you know, in Catholic theology

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and spirituality, I trials.

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Purify us well, how do they purify us?

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I think it's because what our trials do is present us all

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with a very simple question.

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Our trial simply force us to confront whether we think we can transcend

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them through our own resources.

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Or whether we need to cry out to God and trust in him to carry us through.

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Now that doesn't mean we don't do practically intelligent

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things when we're suffering.

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You.

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You know, there's, there's a lot of practical things we can do.

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But eventually we're faced with this idea that Lord, this cross is too heavy for me.

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This is too difficult.

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And the purification is that we become dependent on God.

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And slowly, this self-will is so.

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I don't know, there's this belief that we are masters of the universe

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is slowly driven out from us and we learn a kind of dose style.

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It's not a very popular word, but you know, we develop a certain dosage

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city to God's action in our lives.

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And.

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You know, we take from God, the good things, and we learn to be grateful

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for the challenges and trials.

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Now, how is this relevant to Catholic education?

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Well,

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You are going to have trials.

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You could be having one right now and you can look back and you realize

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now, what does that trial look like?

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Usually it'll probably come in.

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You know, a few basic forms, it'll be a difficult student.

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It'll be a difficult parent, or it'll be a different colleague that you work with.

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Now at no point, do we ever put up with inappropriate

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behavior or abusive behavior?

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Of course, but.

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We're going to rub up against difficult people.

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We're going to have particular classes or experiences that for whatever reason,

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uh, You know, pretty hard work for us.

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And it's in those moments of trial as Catholic teachers that we are.

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We have the option, don't we to, you know, fight and structure the

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world in, you know, to our advantage in anger or, you know, revenge,

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even in different passive ways.

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We can sometimes do that.

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All we can go, Lord.

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This is a really hard for me.

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This is a trial and I need you.

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To carry this burden with me.

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And then you end up in this, what I used to call the path of dependence.

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You, you end up kind of.

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Gently allowing God to carry you through these difficult times.

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So as sister Mary Magdalen to party reminds us trials and

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nothing else, but the forge.

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That purifies the soul of all its imperfection.

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So I want you to look around your life today in Catholic

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education, that difficult student.

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That class, that exhaust you, that colleague that is not particularly kind

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or gracious towards you, that parent who doesn't appreciate the efforts that

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you're making these trials or invitations.

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To a deeper trust and dependence upon God.

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All right, that's it for me today.

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Hope that's useful, please make sure you've subscribed.

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Go to that resources page and check out the going deeper free trial.

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All right, everybody.

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That's it for me today.

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My name's Jonathan Doyle.

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This has been the Catholic teacher daily podcast.

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And i'll have another message for you tomorrow