Being that I am not only a citizen of the United States but Ireland as well, those who know me best may expect a column about good Saint Patrick during this week of the “wearing of the green.” I have been playing music around the tri-state area for the month of March with my band, The Irish Mist (www.theirishmist.net), so I have certainly had my fill of corned beef, cabbage and Irish tunes. So as I sat down to write this article, I thought I would take this column in a different direction.

Lately, I have been renovating my attic. My dad is always a steady presence during my home-improvement projects. He offers not only his expertise but his spiritual advice as well. I seem to approach each project with the same attitude. I think to myself, “How soon can I finish this project?” My father quickly pulls me back to reality. He speaks with the patience of the true carpenter who knows the importance of planning and contemplating your next move.

I slapped on my goggles, facemask and gloves as I prepared to insulate the rafters of the attic. In the best of circumstances you can imagine how difficult it is to work with gear that obstructs your view. As I muttered under and over my breath, my father calmly reminded me that I should not allow my frustration to get the best of me. Even though the sagging insulation tried to prove the contrary, his voice became a prayer to this weary worker.

As my back ached and the years of dust in my attic consumed me, I couldn’t help but ponder the relationship of a master carpenter and his young son in Nazareth. The mature Joseph must have spent many days tutoring young Jesus in the carpenter’s shop. During the most frustrating times, Joseph would guide the apprentice. Joseph knew the pain of the splinters. He felt the cuts from the lack of concentration. He lived through the hottest days, when the midday sun scorched the back of his neck.

I am sure that Joseph used these quiet moments to teach his son some of life’s most important lessons. Joseph had no idea what lay ahead for Jesus, but he knew from experience that God had a special plan for him. The carpenter’s shop would provide the opportunity for unique father-and-son time. Because God had emptied Himself and took human form, the young Jesus thirsted for wisdom as every other young person. I am sure Jesus studied the face of his foster father as he practiced his craft. The solace of the master carpenter surely could have been on the mind of Jesus in Gethsemane and on Calvary. Saint Joseph played an important role in molding his young heart and mind. But like all teachers, we may never see the results of our best lessons.

With the Feast day of Saint Joseph in sight, we should remember that a good teacher takes advantage of every moment to enlighten his or her students. Even though we possess much more knowledge than our pupils, we must approach them as the carpenter takes each raw piece of wood in his hands. We, too, can build them into something beautiful to behold.

We have experienced the same frustrations that our students experience. We can demonstrate how to survive the most trying of times. Exhibit patience and love as your students make mistakes. Demonstrate the skill of the master carpenter with passion and grace. Anything worth building takes time to complete.

As we move through the final weeks of Lent, look to Saint Joseph not only as a craftsman of wood but as a teacher of the greatest teacher of all. You will be a true success when your students go beyond your highest expectations. Pray to Saint Joseph for wisdom and strength in your moments of frustration.

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, please assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls – Pray for me.

When Jesus preached, He often used parables. The confused, illiterate and ignorant were instantly illuminated by everyday images and real life examples. He quietly questioned Himself when they yawned with boredom and felt the thrill of a true connection. He saw the same blank looks of the students in your class. He experienced the loneliness of the teacher disconnected from his or her students. On certain days, teaching can make us question why we would ever enter a classroom. The master Teacher knew the secret to teaching. Screenwriter Dudley Nichols explained the power of parables:

“Jesus of Nazareth could have chosen simply to express Himself in moral precepts; but like a great poet He chose the form of the parable, wonderful short stories that entertained and clothed the moral precept in an eternal form. It is not sufficient to catch man’s mind, you must also catch the imaginative faculties of his mind.”

The parable draws its strength from the secular world. When Jesus tied the familiar to the heavenly, He revealed the divine in new ways to His audience. The parable gives the catechist great power in the classroom. Our students are bombarded by secular images each day. We must contemplate how to manipulate the culture to our advantage.

When I sit down to write a prayer service, I often look at the current television schedule to see how to gain the attention of our students. Popular shows such as The Apprentice, The Amazing Race and The Real World have made their subtle entrance into our Advent and Lenten prayer services. Archbishop Fulton Sheen thrust the message of Christ onto primetime television in the 1950’s. Millions of people tuned in every week to listen to the master storyteller. He captivated his audience, which consisted of people from every faith, with real life examples. Fifty years later, his shows remain popular.

Last week, I received an email that advertised a colleague’s appearance on a local show called “Total Praise.” Lisa Mladinich was booked on the show to speak about this website and her puppet ministry. I had heard people praise Lisa’s work, but I had not seen her work firsthand. I recorded the show on my DVR so I could watch it at my convenience. When I finally viewed the show, my family mulled around the living room while getting ready for bed. As my nine-year old daughter passed by the television she became hypnotized by the puppet show performed by Lisa and her daughter. It was a lesson on Palm Sunday. For the entire performance, my daughter stood motionless. When the show ended, Maggie, skipped off without a hesitation.

As I contemplated the magnetism of the puppet show, I thought of the principles of compelling youth ministry. Lisa utilized the youth and personality of her daughter to convey the heart of her lesson. The puppets drew children to the gospel in a non-threatening and non-preachy way. The lesson was clear and concise for an audience of any age. My daughter comprehended the lesson on Palm Sunday without realizing that she had been in class.

The creative teacher transforms the classroom into the places that his or her students feel most comfortable. We have the freedom to tell stories that remind our students of the Master even when they have left our presence. Parables stick to our students like glue. When you watch the nightly news or your favorite television show think about how you can relate the story to the Gospel. Follow the example of the King of Storytellers. Make every word and gesture point to the Kingdom. Create your parable today!

Dear Friends,

Every catechist looks to the gospels for inspiration and ideas for his or her next lesson. When we search for the most recurring theme in the stories of Jesus, the topic of “love” comes to mind. As our Lord spends the majority of his days teaching the multitudes, He resists delving into deep theology and shedding light on the great mysteries of God. Instead, Jesus focuses on the most practical element of every relationship.

When the discussion of “love” arises in my class, I ask my students to define “love.” Most students describe love as emotion, as something that makes us feel a certain way. I reveal one of my favorite sources, Scott Peck, who explains it in this way:

“Love is not a feeling. Love is an action, an activity. . .Genuine love implies commitment and the exercise of wisdom. . . . love as the will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth…..true love is an act of will that often transcends ephemeral feelings of love or cathexis, it is correct to say, ‘Love is as love does’.”

There are always several students who continue to debate the “real” definition. He or she insists that if you are not inspired, you will not really love another. They fail to see that our desire to love is needed if love will happen at all.

Understanding the concept of love is similar to that of faith. Both are unseen realities. We will never realize the reality of either if we do not make the decision to love others or search for God. Many people allow pure emotion to dictate their relationships. Maturity and wisdom reveal the path to faith and love. We must choose to believe in God and will the good of another.

Jesus makes love the centerpiece of His ministry because without it we will never become fully human. Long before Robert Browning uttered the words, “Take away love and our earth is a tomb” our Savior wanted us to make loving others a priority. Love permits us to experience heaven on earth. It is the bridge that brings us into communion with Jesus Himself.

Our goal of letting our students in on the secret of love may be a lofty one. It may take until he or she is taking care of a sick relative or up late with a newborn before the meaning of love sinks in. Sometimes a lesson takes years to finally hit home. Our students will get the point of love when they move into action.

Jesus encourages us to leave the cocoon of comfort and practice the art of loving. Demonstrate the love of Christ in your classroom. Make it practical. Bring them to visit the elderly. Have them reach out to the poor and helpless. Open their hearts and minds to love when they feel that it is an impossible task. Live the Gospel and show how Christ loved as the people around him performed the most despicable acts possible. Do not hesitate to utilize the greatest guide about love ever written. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell the story. Use this resource. We all have many questions about life. Love is the answer to every one of those questions.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day,

Alex

I enter this time of year with trepidation. I prep my student for weeks before it begins. The subject of “death and dying” makes the hair on their necks curl. A friend at school lost her son suddenly the other day. The faculty, staff and students at school ran to her with the greatest compassion. As I felt the grief of this terrible event, I asked my students to pray for those who were experiencing difficulty so that they might find consolation. This prompted me to prepare my students for the difficult subject matter that we would be tackling in the weeks ahead. A student quipped, “Why would you bother us with this stuff?” Frustrated by his lack of willingness to address a major fact of life, I asked, “So I guess that you are immune to death?” He glared back at me without an answer.

Preparing our students for death is a challenge. Our curriculum deals with a discussion on health care and end of life issues. Our school president, Father Philip Eichner is known as a pioneer in this issue for his participation in a court decision (In re Eichner) in which the Health Care Proxy became an important part of the health care process. After a difficult two weeks each February, my weary students always beg, “Aren’t we done with this yet?” As catechists, this subject must be part of our curriculum. Nothing is possible without death. Happiness is not possible without the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus shows every Christian the true meaning of suffering:

Christ drew close above all to the world of human suffering through the fact of having taken this suffering upon his very self. During his public activity, he experienced not only fatigue, homelessness, misunderstanding even on the part of those closest to him, but, more than anything, he became progressively more and more isolated and encircled by hostility and the preparations for putting him to death. Christ is aware of this, and often speaks to his disciples of the sufferings and death that await him: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise”. Christ goes towards his Passion and death with full awareness of the mission that he has to fulfill precisely in this way. Precisely by means of this suffering he must bring it about “that man should not perish, but have eternal life”.

(Salvifici Doloris #16)

We must unite ourselves together with Jesus in our suffering. Every single person has a cross to bear. Without Christ, the weight of that cross is too much to carry. With Christ all suffering and death can make sense because of the possibility of eternal life. We must point our students to the greatest hope: the Resurrection.

The way in which we deal with suffering will determine whether or not we find fulfillment in this life. Christ invites us to follow Him on the way to Calvary.

Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world, a salvation achieved through my suffering! Through my Cross. Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him. He does not discover this meaning at his own human level, but at the level of the suffering of Christ. At the same time, however, from this level of Christ the salvific meaning of suffering descends to man’s level and becomes, in a sense, the individual’s personal response. It is then that man finds in his suffering interior peace and even spiritual joy.

(SD #26)

In the midst of death, suffering and evil, the first casualty is usually our relationship with God. He becomes the target of our blame. We must impress upon our students that these are the times to grow closer to our God. He, who creates, does everything for a reason. The mystery of God calls us to great faith. Show them that the way to transcend difficulty is through and with Christ.

The subject of “death and dying” is never pleasant. It will always be met with resistance. But Jesus Christ overcomes death with love and new life. Easter Sunday changes everything: our pain, our sorrow and our death. Bring the young people in your world to the tomb and give them hope, His hope!

… Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about… they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you’ll ever be.

My family spent many nights during Advent and Christmas watching classic seasonal movies. We usually reserve It’s A Wonderful Life for Christmas week. Most of us know the movie by heart and can recite many of the classic lines in our sleep. The struggle of character George Bailey touches many a heart, as he is lead by the angel Clarence to discover his real purpose in life.

I am reunited with many of my former students during this time of year. These students return for Midnight Mass to reconnect with former teachers and alumni. I quickly learned upon becoming a teacher that we are not concerned with the number of doctors, lawyers and business people that our school produces, rather it is certainly more important that we produce young people who are ready to embrace a life integrating Christ into everything he or she does. This concern always prompts the question from teachers when they visit, “Are you happy?”

George Bailey’s story is much more than a heartwarming Christmas tale. It is a movie that provokes each of us to think about our true vocation. Just as George is made to image a world without him, we must meditate on what God has planned for us. George reminds us of the primary goal of every catechist, to help each student discover why God made him or her.

In a world that promotes the “me first” mentality, Christianity emphasizes loving others. Too many students pursue occupations that leave them wanting more out of life. When George Bailey remained locked in his nowhere job at the family-run Building and Loan, choosing an alternative career would mean forsaking other who needed him. George truly exhibited the spirit of Jesus Christ.

In the New Year, there will be those unique teachable moments when you will have the opportunity to introduce your students to the kind of life that George Bailey lead. Just maybe, you are the George Bailey in his or her life. Open their eyes and demonstrate how magical existence can be when you forsake self-indulgence in order to live a life of love and service. When the layers of a vocation are peeled away, relationships remain. If we rewrite the last chapter of It’s A Wonderful Life George Bailey.

Might pick up The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and read: “No man is a failure who loves others as Christ so loved the world!”