September 17, 2008
-
Why?
Because it is the right thing to do. Because God expects it of us. How many times in my homeschooling career have my children heard me say that phrase? I should make a recording of myself saying that and just press the button instead of repeating. But I repeat it instead. Why? Because it is the right thing to do. Because God expects it of me.
My son is, as I type this redoing a religion test on the sacraments. Why? Not because he failed it, necessarily. But because his answers weren’t good enough, not complete enough. Am I too hard on him? Perhaps, if one considers the study of his faith just another subject in school or worse yet considers it not even a subject worthy of study at all. However, in this school it is considered the single most important subject studied, bar none. It is the subject that all others revolve around.
Last evening as I sat and listened to his religion teacher review what was taught last year and give an overview of what will be taught this year I mused on my years in that same classroom. I meditated on the privelege that my children have had to be taught by the same holy priest that I had for my growing up years. I recall sitting in that same room and wondering what I was doing there and what good it would do me. Now in reflection I know. I grew up in a marginally Catholic family. We went to Mass and went to religion class but weren’t taught at home. But when I went to college and I saw the abuses at the churches that I attended when I was away from home I was thankful for what I was taught because it was only because of that teaching that I was able to recognise those abuses at all.
And so I say to them again and again, because it is the right thing to do, because God expects it of us. I want the best you can give. Later you will understand and it will all come clear. Right now you are getting the building blocks. Later you will be able to build the wall and it will be strong because God and I helped you to build the foundation.
Comments (2)
A dear friend of mine (to use the old Irish term, an ainm chara, a soul friend), and prioress of a small Benedictine community once told me “If you want to find the saintliest religious in a community, look for the one who is peeling carrots or reading a text with perfect concentration, because she knows it is God’s will for her to be doing just what she is doing, as perfectly as she can, for love of Him.”
@MlleRobillard - God bless you. that goes along with what my spiritual advisor always says. if you want something done and done right, give it to the woman who has the most children.