“I give
praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden
these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the
childlike.” (Matthew 11:25-27)
Nearly 40
years ago, Sister Enza Maria approached me about teaching CCD. I told her I didn’t know anything about
teaching, and what I knew about the Catechism of the Catholic Church was
limited to what I was getting at Mass. “Don’t worry,” Sister said, “You’ll be
teaching 1st graders who know less than you do!
And I have a feeling you know more than you think!”
On the very
first day, I was tested by the kids. The day’s lesson was the story of creation
(Genesis 1) condensed and written for first graders. When we got to the part about “God
created the Heavens and the Earth and saw that it was good” the questions began—and kept coming with
rapid-fire speed. “Did He make Mommy and
Daddy?” Yes. (Hey, they were first graders, and I wasn’t
teaching biology!) “Did He make the trees?”
Yes. “Did He make this
desk?” “Well, sort of. He created the trees and the men who cut the
trees into wood and the men who assembled the desk.” “Did He make my dolly?” “Did He make the ocean?” At some point, I felt as though I had lost
control. I know I was frustrated; I wasn’t
prepared for the barrage of innocent questions.
The class ran for an hour and a half.
After dismissal that morning, I immediately went to Sister Enza and told
her I didn’t think I was cut out for the task.
She encouraged me and told me the toughest day was behind me; now I knew
what to expect! She was right, of
course. It did become easier. As the classes went on I realized I was learning
something, too!
The most
important lesson I learned was that in their simplicity of thought, the kids
were like sponges. I spent the whole semester
introducing them to God as a loving Creator whose sole purpose in creating us
is to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
Several of the parents would tell
me later that their children would come home excited to share what they learned
from “Mister Steve”. I wonder if their excitement was the same that
the Apostles felt when they heard Jesus speak for the first time. How I hope that was the case!
Another lesson
I learned was that when we’re full of ourselves there’s no room for anything
else. When we claim to know the truths
of the faith and the secrets of God, what room is there for God to tell us
about Himself?
What God
desires is our simplicity -- our childlike wonder and awe at how wonderful
things are. We should all take a moment
or two each day and just look at one of our hands. Think about how it can move. Think about all of the things that make it
possible -- the muscles, the bones, the blood vessels, how they are all put
together. The opposable thumb. Something as simple and everyday as our hand
is full of wonder if we just take a moment to consider it.
Going back
to the children, that's what God wants of us, to see Him in all that is,
because everything around us is a wonder. Everything! We ourselves are miracles from conception to
death. It’s this childlike awe that
opens us up to see the magnificence that is the Loving Father.
It’s a good
spiritual exercise to spend a few minutes and contemplate the beauty of all
that is, the wonder of God Himself. And
in those moments, let God speak to us. He
will. He will use our openness and visit
with us and reveal more and more of Himself.
As I tried
to teach those first-graders, that’s the way God works.
No comments:
Post a Comment