Homily for Education Conference

Transcription

1 Homily for Education Conference Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever. It is with these words that I greet you the men and women of the Catholic education apostolate here in the Diocese of Harrisburg. This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to pray with you and I am happy to be with you today as we celebrate the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that we find our identity as sons and daughters of God. We were reminded of this by our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II in his last letter to the universal church entitled Ecclesia de Eucharistia. The title points out clearly that we are the Church of the Eucharist and in it we find both our identity and our destiny. I point this out to you because I believe it is important for all of us as Catholics and especially Catholic educators to grow in our appreciation for this wonderful mystery that has been given to us. It is in the Eucharist that Jesus continues to accomplish His work of uniting men and women with the God who created us, called us to life and offers us the gift of eternal life through union with Him. Every time we gather the Lord Jesus brings together all of space and time into that eternal moment of His total self giving of Himself on the cross for the sake of our salvation. In doing so, He gives us His body and blood to eat so that He may live in us and we may live in Him and truly be God s people. As we gather this morning for this celebration the Church throughout the world celebrates the feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. We know of their existence through God s revelation of them in Scripture. As we heard in our readings for this liturgy there are literally myriads of angels that constantly worship God

2 and do the work of protecting His creatures and His creation by doing His will. The three Archangels that we celebrate today are known to us by name because of a particular work that they were given in the history of salvation that has been revealed to us in and through the Sacred Scriptures. In honoring them we honor God because they have been given to us as His gift. St. Michael is known as the great protector of God s people. He has been revealed as the one who does battle with the Devil, the evil one, in the war for the souls of human beings. St. Gabriel is the messenger of the Good News of God s activity on behalf of the human race. He was given the task of announcing the birth of our savior. St. Raphael has been revealed as the one who binds up and heals human beings especially those who have been blinded to the reality of God and His activity in this world. In honoring and acknowledging them we are able to enter into the very mystery of God s creation. We come to understand more fully that there is much more to life and to existence than what we experience in this world. Through them we come to know more about the Kingdom of God that exists and that is blossoming into its fullness more and more each day. In contemplating them hopefully we come to understand that like the angels God has created us for a purpose and that He has work for us to do just as the Archangels have their work to do. As Catholic educators I pray that each of you may understand the great vocation that God has entrusted to you. Unlike your counter parts in the field of public education I hope that you understand that the task you have undertaken is more than simply a job to impart knowledge

3 about a particular subject that you may teach to your students. Hopefully, you are able to see that your work has not only a temporal but also a supernatural dimension to it. In your work as Catholic educators you are asked to help to form young people not simply to be successful persons in this world but to be prepared to take their place in the Kingdom of God as God s sons and daughters. Last week our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI visited the United Kingdom on a pastoral visit on his way to celebrating a Mass for the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, one of the great educators in the history of the Church and the world. During that visit he had a meeting with Catholic educators. In his address he pointed out what he considered to be the vocation of a Catholic educator. I would like to read an excerpt from that talk to you today because I believe it underscores for us here in Harrisburg what is our work with the young people we encounter in our classrooms each and every day. The Holy Father said: As you know, the task of a teacher is not simply to impart information or to provide training in skills intended to deliver some economic benefit to society; education is not and must never be considered as purely utilitarian. It is about forming the human person, equipping him or her to live life to the full in short it is about imparting wisdom. And true wisdom is inseparable from knowledge of the Creator, for both we and our words are in his hand, as are all understanding and skill in crafts. (Wis. 7:16) (Address to teachers and religious, St. Mary s University College, Twickenham. September 17,2010) In fulfilling this mission I believe that our young people today need good role models of right living. I believe that if we are to be effective

4 in accomplishing our vocation as Catholic educators that we need to model for our students what it means to be a fully alive and vibrant human being. In order to do this I believe each of us must take seriously our own responsibility to be formed in the image and likeness of the truly authentic human being that has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who reveals to us what the perfect human being looks like and how he or she acts. In that vein I ask you today to take seriously your own faith life. I ask you to embrace Jesus and to grow every day in your knowledge and love of Him. He has been given to us as a gift from God the Father and He has promised to be with us all days even to the consummation of the world. It is Jesus who teaches us where to find authentic joy and happiness in life. It is Jesus who teaches us the truth about life and about existence. He has told us He is the way, the truth and the life. In concluding his remarks to the Catholic educators in the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict told them that the life of faith needs to be the driving force behind every activity in the school, so that the Church s mission may be served effectively, and the young people may discover the joy of entering into Christ s being for others. It is my hope that our schools are truly places where our young people are able to encounter Jesus. They will be able to do so if we allow Jesus to live in us. Hopefully, through our actions, they will experience the authentic love that God asks us to have for one another. In closing these remarks I would like to return to the Archangels that we celebrate today and perhaps suggest that the work that they were given by God has some resonance in the vocation of a Catholic educator. Like St. Michael you are called to be protectors of the great

5 treasure of our young people that have been entrusted to our care. Please take a deep interest in them and help them to walk safe paths in their journey of life. I am a great believer that one of our tasks as educators is to get our young people through the formative period in their life with as few permanent scars as possible and to help them to be able to negotiate the highways and byways they will travel in their adult lives in a fruitful and life giving manner. Assist them in their battle with the evil one who would have them seek the transient pleasures and riches of this world while forsaking the true riches of life with Christ. Like St. Gabriel we are to deliver the Good News about the love of God the Father for His children. It is important that we announce to our students that there is a plan and a purpose to life and that it comes in the person of Jesus Christ. Encourage them to welcome Jesus as did Mary and inspire them to bear Jesus to the world. Show them how to be heralds of the Good News and genuine builders of the Kingdom of God. Finally like St. Raphael we are called to help our students to be able to see the light and truth about life in a world that can often seem dark and barren. We must be willing to bind up their bruises and brush burns as they sometimes impetuously rush here, there, and everywhere only to find that they lost their way. As St. Raphael was able to restore sight to Tobit in the Old Testament we must restore the sight of our young people who are easily blinded by the ephemeral allure and attractions of things in this world. I finish by saying THANK YOU for all that you do in the work of Catholic education. The task is not easy and there are many challenges

6 but we must never forget that the Lord has promised to be with us. I am confident that He will help us in our task if we will simply place our trust in Him and do the best that we can in forming His sons and daughters each and every day. May we never lose sight of the importance of the vocation that God has given to us and may we allow ourselves to be true teachers after the model of the best teacher, Jesus Christ.