RELIGOUS EDUCATION
It's Fall season and we're all back to school again (since Oct. 7). This is my 12th year of teaching Religious Ed at my parish church's Catholic school. This is my 4th time teaching 4th grade but 2nd time using the new textbook ("Finding God") that has "Imprimatur" (let it be printed) and "Nihil Obstat"(there is nothing to be objected to)- church official statements of approval.
Some of you might be asking what my reasons are for being a catechist for almost 12 years now. Well, I too had to step back and look deep in my heart at the beginning of this school year as I told myself, "here we go again..."
The main reason that has stuck in my mind is - I have offered this to God as an "acceptance of a big responsibility" to promulgate faith and knowledge about Him to others, especially starting with the young ones.
Most of my friends are married and have kids and being a parent is also a responsibility, just as marriage is a vocation. Marriage and parenthood revolve mainly around people-to-people relationship, mainly spouse and family relationships and making these flourish - watching love between spouses flourish, love for kids, watching them grow up and making sure they live a good life.
I don't have such because I am single. Some can say I am married to my work as an engineer and my "kids" that I take care of are the products I build. So I can get attached to my "babies" as I "design and develop" them and make them "high quality" as they get out there in the world and help-out and improve people's way of life. Like I said to someone before, I know only 2 1/2 human languages (Tagalog, English, some Spanish) but I know more than a dozen computer and machine languages. Does that mean I can talk to machines better than human beings? Pretty lame, huh ;-). I do try to offer each ounce of talent and work that I put in my work to God.
I have shared this information before, that having had and seen the great marriage and parenthood between my parents, I feel I don't need to be that or have such - I feel complete just as how I am - I am satisfied with what my parents have accomplished in their marriage and being great parents to me and my siblings.
Human-to-human relationship is very common. Been there, done that. And I am the type who would notice those which are unique or different and prefer the not-too-common or ordinary. I'm sure even atheists and even pagans or those who do not believe in the one True God have very fine human-to-human relationships in their lives. I do feel that human-to-God relationship in this current worldly-focused temporal life on earth is faltering. So that's why I go for where there is a struggle, that which is less common and help out in the improvement to make it thrive.
So while married people mainly focus on the "horizontal relationship" (human-to-human) what I know my focus has been is in the "vertical relationship" (human-to-God). Thus, this has been the big responsibility I have undertaken - to share my faith and relationship with God with the hope that these kids and other people would include God in their lives and make their relationship with God flourish as well, besides their relationship with fellow human beings. I too continue to improve, have ups and downs in this relationship with Him. I do fully rely on God (F.R.O.G.)to make everything work out between us. I do pray that would be the case with each student/person I "touch" whenever I teach them about God - to have a personal relationship with God. I really think "human-to-human" relationship is not equal to "human-to-God" relationship. Afterall, remember how Jesus summarized the 10 commandments into 2 as: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and life and love others as yourself." Notice how the first statement is more "loaded" (all your heart, mind, life) than the second? However, both of them entail commitment from both sides. Well we can definitely count on God never failing us and always doing His part. So what are we doing on our part in this relationship?
It is sad to know that most Americans I work with hardly go to church and fulfill their commitment to "keep holy the Sabbath day". To think it only takes 1 hour out of 168 hours of the week to spend and be with God and keep focus on Him; at least an hour. Sure, others would rationalize, "O but God would understand..." Of course He does; He always does and is always merciful because He always does His part of the God-to-human relationship well. But what really are we doing to give-back to Him in the relationship?
I have re-used the graphics I started last year which had this explanation: I added 1 more "R" to the usual 3R's of education. I think it is only moral to include religion as part of schooling students, young and old alike. Not just to nourish the brain but to instill knowledge about God in our heart and soul as well.
As part of my introduction of myself, the usual "speech" was issued - I am an engineer and I was schooled from kindergarten thru college in Roman Catholic college and university. As an engineer, I like to "build" things. As a Catholic Engineer, I like to build faith in God. Where I was schooled, each and every year, each grading period, each semester, we had religion class and theology class. Since I have learned so much about God, Jesus Christ, our Savior, sacraments and other parts of God's Teachings and Truth, I have volunteered to share this knowledge so others too can learn about God, increase in their faith and hopefully get close to Him. Afterall, as a catechist, we are the "echo of God".
MISSION MONTH
Each year, in the month of October, I have mentioned about how in my schoolyears in the Philippines, we always had this month as "Mission Month" and "Rosary Month". Besides the regular donations we give during the year to charity, there was much more than normal ver heavy emphasis on this in the month of October. (The order of the nuns in Concordia College where I took kindergarten, gradeschool thru high School, is "Daughters of Charity", D.C.). I remembered there were even "contests" per year and per class and even per group in a class as to which one could give the most. "Mission envelops" were sent home so each week in October we could share cash we had to charity.
In the senior years (~15-16 year-old), we collected used bottles, newspapers and sold them to recyclers. We even went door-to-door during the weekends in residential as well as commercial areas to solicit for these so we can have more. You can imagine wearing our plaid uniforms walking door-to-door and carrying our loads of "goodies" from donations to cash in.
Other than money and goods, we also shared our time and talents - the school would arrange field trips to slum/ squatter areas, where poor, hungry people live in almost what looked like cardboard houses, with wood bridges to tread on to go from one space to another. To me, those were the most joyful moments because you really "experience" the happiness you can bring, the smile you brought to someone's face receiving food, clothing and some money as well. A lot of these families had kids who were malnourished even. We sang songs with them, played their games and spent several hours in their little homes with them.
I very much thank the Daughters of Charity nuns who gave us a chance to show love, compassion and time with people who were less fortunate than us in the material aspect of life.
Let's pray for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity too whose specific holy call is to exactly serve the needy, ill, outcasts and downtrodden. ( Tribute to Mother Teresa Webpage)
PRO-LIFE MONTH
Now since in the Philippines, abortion is illegal and not even prevailent whatsoever (one would not even hear of such things going on in public, much more have clinics specializing in this procedure), we do not have this month as a special "Pro-Life Month" as we do here in the Catholic Church in the U.S.
And to make kids participate some more in Pro-Life movement, I may ask my students to remember about these "innocent human lives killed by abortion", when they go out "trick or tricking" this Halloween. Perhaps make them think of how they too could have been sharing the goodies like them if only they did not lost their life when they were still in their mothers womb. Hmm...
UPCOMING
Also, note that we also celebrate All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day at the end of October and start of November. I read that the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing to some visionaries (in Medjugorje, if I remember correctly) told them that there are only a few times that the poor souls in purgatory are released and allowed to enter heaven. One is on Christmas Day which is when our Christ Savior was born. Of course, the obvious one is on Easter Sunday, which signifies Christ's rising from the dead before which His sacrifice resurrected a lot of righteous souls (read Matthew 27:50-54) from their grave. And the other day when some of those in purgatory go to heaven is on All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) that's why that day is when they really get in communion with the other "saints" in heaven and it is the saints' special day. A good prayer to pray for purgation of souls for their entrance to heaven is the following:
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