In today’s episode I share a special quote from St. Edith Stein. She reminds us of the crucial importance of letting go of our plans and trusting God to carry us through the day. I also share a beautiful testimony from Jonathan Roumie who plays the part of Jesus in the incredible new video series The Chosen.
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody.
Speaker:Jonathan Doyle with you.
Speaker:Once again, welcome friends to the Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker:Hope we can bring you some encouragement today.
Speaker:Uh, I've really enjoyed the last couple of days of episodes.
Speaker:I've had some chance to really, uh, enjoy.
Speaker:Eucharistic adoration, a chance to really spend some time with the Lord.
Speaker:And I really believe that it's that deep prayer we give ourselves
Speaker:to that as Catholic educators.
Speaker:That's so much is possible as, um, my, one of my favorite bishops.
Speaker:Said, uh, Bishop Peter.
Speaker:He said you got to stop trying to make Jesus unemployed.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Stop trying to make Jesus unemployed, everybody, which means
Speaker:what we need to stop trying to do everything in our own professional
Speaker:strength in our perfectionism.
Speaker:We need to trust that, uh,
Speaker:The more deeply we rely on Jesus.
Speaker:The more powerfully he will be.
Speaker:The resource, the grace, the energy that sustains us in
Speaker:the work that we do each day.
Speaker:And on that, I've got a couple of key things for you today.
Speaker:I want to give you a quote first from Edith Stein, also known as
Speaker:Saint Teresa Benedicta of the cross.
Speaker:Some of you would be familiar with her.
Speaker:One of our great Catholic sites of the 20th century, an absolute giant.
Speaker:I always love it.
Speaker:When I hear people say, you know, the Catholic church hates women.
Speaker:Yeah, except for like, you know, the fact that they'd been made
Speaker:doctors of the church, like Catherine of Sienna, Trezor of Abdullah.
Speaker:uh, you know, 22 year old when she died and she's a doctor of the church.
Speaker:And somebody like Edith Stein, you know, a phenomenal intellect,
Speaker:a brilliant academic, a mind of just extraordinary capacity.
Speaker:And, um, She was raised in a Jewish home and she converted
Speaker:to Catholicism and eventually.
Speaker:Uh, was, uh, became a Carmelite nun and tragically.
Speaker:She was arrested and died in Auschwitz and the guests chambers of
Speaker:outfits, but one of our great saints.
Speaker:So I just love how over the centuries, over the millennia, the church has
Speaker:venerated so many amazing women.
Speaker:That have just blessed the church so much with their wisdom and insight
Speaker:and the lives that they've lived.
Speaker:So here's her quote today.
Speaker:She says, let go of your plans.
Speaker:The first hour of your morning, belongs to God tackle the day's
Speaker:work that he charges you with.
Speaker:And he will give you the power to accomplish it.
Speaker:One more time.
Speaker:Let go of your plans.
Speaker:The first hour of your morning, belongs to God tackle the day's
Speaker:work that he charges you with.
Speaker:And he will give you the power to accomplish it.
Speaker:It's funny, all those decades later, Bishop Peter said the same
Speaker:thing that God, Jesus will give you the power to accomplish it.
Speaker:Gosh, I'm a slow learner.
Speaker:It's taken me decades to really begin to take this on board.
Speaker:That it is Christ who brings about the harvest it's Christ.
Speaker:That brings about the impact, which is the conduit through which he does it.
Speaker:If we're open to letting him do that more powerfully.
Speaker:I like the first thing she says here.
Speaker:She says, let go of your plans.
Speaker:Which leads me to the second thing I want to talk about.
Speaker:I hope that many of you have had a chance to see the extraordinary.
Speaker:A program called the chosen.
Speaker:Those of you that have seen it will go.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:And those of you that haven't, you can, it's weird.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:They bypassed all the studios.
Speaker:They bypassed everybody and produced it as an app.
Speaker:So you should be able to get it on Android or apple.
Speaker:If you search for the chosen and it's an extraordinary
Speaker:insight and a again, sort of.
Speaker:Uh, presentation of the life of Christ.
Speaker:And the act of the plays.
Speaker:Uh, Jesus is a guy called Jonathan roomy.
Speaker:I don't want you to go to YouTube and, uh, If you type in
Speaker:Jonathan Rumi, it's R O U M I E.
Speaker:Jonathan roomy, divine mercy.
Speaker:I had no idea he was Catholic.
Speaker:And he gives this testimony on YouTube and I'm going to link to it, hopefully in
Speaker:the show notes, it's just extraordinary.
Speaker:He talks about.
Speaker:The journey of humility and mercy that he's been on with Christ through
Speaker:the heart of the church, but why I'm mentioning it is because in his testimony,
Speaker:He talks about this extraordinary moment of letting go of your plans.
Speaker:And I could spend hours talking about this, but I want to be brief.
Speaker:I think one of the greatest things we can do in Catholic education is in some ways
Speaker:to let go of our plans by which I mean.
Speaker:Our ambitions.
Speaker:I think one of the things that can damage Catholic education is, um,
Speaker:inappropriate ambition, a desire to get promoted, a desire to get into the
Speaker:next role, a desire to, to get ahead.
Speaker:And I think really the Christian life, the profound Christian life is
Speaker:a life of abandonment to the plan and the will and the Providence of God.
Speaker:And I can tell you from experience that the more that we let go
Speaker:of our own plans, the more extraordinary things begin to happen.
Speaker:And Jonathan Rumi really talks about that and that YouTube testimony about.
Speaker:It was in the moments of real failure and incapacity of letting go of his agenda.
Speaker:The God just powerfully moved.
Speaker:So as a Catholic teacher,
Speaker:I don't know what your plans are.
Speaker:I know that I have them.
Speaker:We want to try and control reality.
Speaker:We think we know the right answer for everything.
Speaker:But I think that what God's looking for is the kind of person who wants to
Speaker:become a Saint by letting go of their plans and spending the first hour of
Speaker:the morning with him and trusting him.
Speaker:That he will provide you with the energy and the capacity you need.
Speaker:Every single teaching day.
Speaker:It's a risk friends.
Speaker:It's a risk.
Speaker:Isn't it?
Speaker:What if I'm wrong?
Speaker:I don't think I'm wrong, not on this one.
Speaker:So let's let go of our plans.
Speaker:Let's give the first era of the day to God and let let's let us, let him make us.
Speaker:The saints of Catholic education that the world really needs right now.
Speaker:That's it from me today.
Speaker:Hope you can check out the chosen.
Speaker:Um, please make sure you've subscribed to the daily
Speaker:email@onecatholicteacherdotcomoneonecatholicteacher.com.
Speaker:Please make sure you've subscribed to the podcast.
Speaker:I'd love it.
Speaker:If you could share this with a few people, but God bless you for the incredible
Speaker:work you do every day and get out there and do not let Jesus get unemployed.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Let's put him back in the right place and let him run the show because he seems
Speaker:to have a much better idea sometimes than i do god bless your friends thank
Speaker:you for what you're doing every day my name's jonathan doyle this has been the
Speaker:catholic teacher daily podcast and i'll have another message for you tomorrow
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