The Body of Christ

Last week I had a remarkable experience. A student in my class had a grand mal seizure. I knew that this child had had only one seizure before this, but I didn't even think about dealing with this situation. It never crossed my mind. However, the child had told his friends that if this were to happen, they should make room on the floor so that he could lay down without hurting himself or anyone else.

I had dealt with petit mal seizures before, and so when it happened I had a pretty good idea what to do. I was not looking at my student when the seizure started, but the other students calmly told me that he was having it. At this point things happened quickly - I held his arm so that he wouldn't fall from his desk onto the floor. A student asked if he could go get the nurse; I asked students to move some desks so that we had room. The class went into action. Desks were moved, the boy's backpack was flung aside and someone brought me a kleenex box to help with the frothing. I let helped him to the floor gently. There was no giggling and no crying. The students simply helped to make their classmate comfortable. The nurse arrived, and another teacher took the class into an unoccupied room where a teacher on break showed them an educational movie. The parents were called, 911 was called, the dad showed up and the paramedics did their jobs. The child was whisked away to the children's hospital.

My principal asked if I wanted help putting my classroom back together, but I assured her that the other students would want to help put everything back to rights. I collected my students and they, again, went into action as they put things away, put desks in order and talked about what had happened and how glad they were that they were there to help. I was proud of the way that they had behaved. I was also happy to see that they knew what it meant to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

I took the opportunity to point out to them that they were a living example of what it means to be the Body of Christ - people of God who are each individuals with different gifts, but were willing to use those gifts to help another person. I told them how they were all there, that they remembered their friend's warning if he should have a seizure and they had the presence of mind and body to give from their hearts; showing respect and dignity for their friend who was in a vulnerable position.

These kids did what we all hope we will do when we are confronted with an unexpected situation - they put their friend first, put into practice what they knew they could do, and stuck around to help pick up the pieces at the end of the situation. They did it with dignity and respect, and when he came back to school, they didn't make him feel like he was an oddity.

My hope is that we can see in this situation an opportunity to draw more closely to God. Not just because my students said a Hail Mary for their friend, but because they were prayer in action, being the kind of people who do the things Christ is calling us to. We are God's people, members of the Body who should be ready to see others as our friends, our family members and give them the dignity and respect that they deserve while we help them through the hard times and stick around to help clean up the mess.

Call me crazy, but these kids really inspired me. Don't you wish you had been in my class?

Excellent Weekend!!

What a fantastic weekend at the University of Dallas Ministry Conference! I have loved being the Co-Chair of the subcommittee - Hospitality - for the past 5 years and it is such a privilege to see so many wonderful people, to shake their hands and to welcome them to such a great conference! We have the second largest religious conference in the US, second only to Anaheim, California's R.E.Congress! And we have been told that we have been able to keep our 'small town warmth and friendliness'. It is very gratifying to hear that! In fact, last year, the evaluations by attendees of the conference commented that Hospitality was the best of everything at the conference - sooo, this means that these 150 or so volunteers are doing a GREAT job! I am so proud of them, their dedication and love for ministry! If you missed the conference this year, mark your calendars for next year, October 23-25, 2014, and come to the University of Dallas Ministry Conference - I think you will love it!

What's More Important?

Today at school there was a heated discussion between students who held distinctly different views on the Life issue of abortion. Most students were extremely Pro-Life, but one person was heatedly Pro Choice. Sadly, on both sides it became an argument - a heated argument at that! I was asked to help students come to the conclusion that we must tread with respect upon such an important issue, especially when we are young and just learning how to lead with our ear and our heart instead of our arrogance and determination to 'win' the argument. Pope Francis has been trying to show just that - that the way to influence others is to show humility and compassion for all of God's children, not just the ones who think the way we do.

It is more important to be loving than it is to be right! This concept helps to bring the issue into perspective, I believe, to explain the mindset of humble dialogue to numerous students over the years while they are trying to figure out how to find personal integrity while being true to their Catholic beliefs. No one could be more Pro Life than this mother of six, with three little ones in heaven. But we will never influence the hearts of those who don't believe the way we do by being arrogant in what it means to be holy and righteous, no matter which side of the issue we are on. We must remember that we are all made in the image and likeness of God and, as such, should respect the person even if we don't respect the view point.

May God bless us as parents, teachers and adults in the lives of children so that we can show respect, loving-kindness and a pastoral approach to our neighbor whom Jesus asks us to treat as we would like to be treated. May we come to see the value of prayer for those whom we love and those whom we should love more completely. And may we submit willingly to humble dialogue with those who don't quite see it our way...

What's a PEW DO? These are things that all kids should remember to do at a Catholic school Mass. Don't miss out on these little tips to help your Mass be the most reverent and meaningful, come to the University of Dallas Ministry Conference, in Irving, TX, on October 25-26, 2013, to hear Mary Kuterbach and me give our presentation: The Catholic School Mass - Better and Better! Hope to see you there!

So today my good friend, Mary Kuterbach, and I spend almost four hours prepating for the University of Dallas Ministry Conference. We are so excited to be presenting our talk, The Catholic School Mass - Better and Better! We will be talking about Catholic Identity and unifying your Catholic school through all-school devotions, and how to make the holy sacrifice of the Mass even more meaningful for your students! We hope you will join us at the UDMC and come to our presentation! Check out the UDMC site by following the link below, and click Registration to register for the 7th annual Ministry Conference!

http://udallas.edu/udmc/

Ok, so we are studying Images of the Church in 8th grade Religion class. And one of the Images is Light of the World. You know - how the Church shines in the darkness of the world. We have studied the Scripture associated with this, Matthew 5: 14-16,

"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."

The Church is the light on the hill when we as Catholics do good deeds such as volunteering at a homeless shelter or food kitchen; or show friendliness towards our cranky neighbor; or even at school, sitting with someone who is lonely at lunch time. These are practical ways that students are able to understand the difference that their actions can make. They never have to even say anything to indicate that they are trying to be a better Christian example, they just exude that when they behave in these loving ways.

But something happened at school not long ago which illustrated how we never know that our actions may be seen by another - even when we don't know a person is seeing us and what we do. It was too hot outside to go out for recess, but we were walking through the recess area from the lunch room to the classrooms. I was coming around the corner with my class when I saw an 8th grade boy jump into a tree, and swing. He wasn't up there very long, but students around him must have said something to him because he jumped down pretty quickly. He didn't see me see him, but his actions made an impact on me. First I thought, "Hey, you know better!" But then I also thought, "Isn't that just like a boy to jump up into a tree? And since we are going inside for recess, I guess this action-packed boy needed a minute to swing!" I said nothing.

Later on that same day, I had his class for Religion and we were talking about Light of the World. I told the class that by being a light we never know who is transformed by our actions. Then I said, "... for example, if we were coming in to the school and someone were to jump into a tree and swing for a minute, that would make an impact. We may not even know that they saw us, but the viewer was transformed." Everyone started laughing and his face fell since he thought no teacher had seen him. I assured him that he was not in trouble. How could such a wonderful 'teaching moment' about Light of the World make me chastise him for his harmless action? But the other kids GOT IT! They knew what it meant to have their actions (light) viewed by others (those in the darkness) and the viewer was transformed (in this case, I will tell this story over and over!)

This is how transformation happens; when we are simply doing what we do and are unaware that we have done something out of the ordinary, special or renewing, that is when God uses our actions to show His great love for us. I hope that you will have a Light in the World experience, and that you, too will be transformed just like my 8th grade class and I have been!

Peace,
Beth

An Unexpected Gift

My cousin called me yesterday and said that she, her husband and their two small daughters were in town unexpectedly, and could they stop by for a little visit. Of course, we were so excited since we hadn't seen them for about four years; we hadn't even met their youngest daughter. What a delightful afternoon we had with them! The girls were adorable and with such personality! And my cousin and her husband are such wonderful people; soft spoken, fun-loving and such great conversationalists! We talked and swam, ate and laughed! It was lovely!

God has a way of giving us the opportunity to share in His life everyday. Sometimes we realize what this means when we do a 'churchy' thing, like go to Mass. We are then in the profound Presence of Our Lord, with the songs, candles and Rite. We see friends and soon-to-be friends, faces we recognize because we go to the same Mass. We become familiar to each other, and we look to the next week's Mass knowing that we are not alone, we are with our Family whose lives we share, if only for a brief time on a Sunday (or Saturday night).

But we were fortunate to share in God's life in a different way yesterday - and it was profound. We were transformed by our visit with my cousin's family as we heard and told stories, talked about our dreams and desires, ate together and saw the next generation in all its beauty and innocence. We were made into better people by simply being in the presence of each other as we prayed before we ate, remembering that we were in His Presence and that He had brought us to these moments of love, family and renewal.

I pray that your holiday weekend was filled with renewal, transformation and that you also received an unexpected gift from God, who loves you so very much.

Peace,
Beth