Welcome back my friend. It has been a little while. Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalen and I want to share some important insights about what she has to teach us as Catholic educators. No matter what our background, it’s unlikely we have a past as shady as Mary Magdalen and yet Christ radically transformed her life.
I also talk about the way that Mary Magdalen can help us think about our most difficult students.
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Transcript
Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you once again for the Catholic
Speaker:teacher, daily podcast, been a little break, have been beavering down
Speaker:into the other podcasts that I do.
Speaker:And I know many of you listen to that one as well, but I really
Speaker:had it on my heart just to.
Speaker:To start to, um, get back in the game, keep producing good content, keeping
Speaker:couraging you guys out there every day, doing your remarkable work in
Speaker:this journey of Catholic education.
Speaker:There's a reason that we called the website one Catholic teacher,
Speaker:because one Catholic teacher.
Speaker:I can do the most extraordinary things, you know, in God's economy, in God's
Speaker:view of the cosmos that he has shaped that the galaxies and solar systems
Speaker:that he has spun from his fingertips.
Speaker:Uh, small things matter just as much as big things.
Speaker:And, uh, he is just as interested in, uh, the tiny details of insects
Speaker:crawling through the Amazon as he is in the, uh, the supernova in the
Speaker:outer reaches of the universe itself.
Speaker:All of this is my way of saying that the way God values things is so
Speaker:different to the way that I guess a postmodern secular culture values things.
Speaker:So this again is my way of saying it's the small things you do every
Speaker:day that make such a difference.
Speaker:Uh, today.
Speaker:Before I jump into VR.
Speaker:If you're not a regular listener to this Catholic teacher daily podcast,
Speaker:please hit that subscribe button and you'll find a bunch of stuff.
Speaker:Uh, in these description notes, you can find how to book me to speak.
Speaker:You can find how to get a free 10 week pass to the going deeper program.
Speaker:So please subscribe, leave a review.
Speaker:And, um,
Speaker:I've always I'd love.
Speaker:If you could share this with teachers now today, all I want to talk to you about is.
Speaker:The feast day that we are celebrating, which is the feast day of one
Speaker:of the all-time greats, uh, St.
Speaker:Mary Magdalen, Mary of Magdala.
Speaker:If you have seen the chosen series there at the scene in that first episode with
Speaker:Mary of, uh, just misses me up, messes me up every time I watched it today
Speaker:after morning, prayer still messes me up.
Speaker:It's just the most powerful, beautiful scene of the interaction
Speaker:between Jesus and Mary.
Speaker:Magdalen now the holy Spirit's put it on my heart to share with you a couple of
Speaker:things today about this great feast day.
Speaker:The first thing is that if you've ever heard me speak live.
Speaker:You know that I, that, that, uh, my thing, my stick, my real focus is this belief
Speaker:that we are all called to become saints.
Speaker:That's a real belief.
Speaker:You know, we are all stumbling sinners along the path of grace, but we
Speaker:are being called heavenward and we are being called to become saints.
Speaker:And what I always remind Catholic teachers is when I tell them that, you
Speaker:know, most teachers laugh and think that saints are these unique, special.
Speaker:Almost extraterrestrial beings that, uh,
Speaker:Zapped down to earth to do all sorts of holiness.
Speaker:But the reason today is so important.
Speaker:My friends is that Mary Magdalene is the best as we know a woman of ill repute.
Speaker:A woman of the night, if you will.
Speaker:I was lovable as Victoria in terms of woman of ill repute.
Speaker:A house Seville repute.
Speaker:Um, we don't know exactly what she was into, but, uh,
Speaker:Not really the kind of girl that you'd bring home to meet.
Speaker:Mom, I guess was one way we could describe it and a.
Speaker:What we find is that not only.
Speaker:Is she called and, you know, she's recognized now as a great Saint of the
Speaker:church, he reminds us that sanctity sainthood is something we are all
Speaker:called to no matter what our background is, no matter what our path is.
Speaker:So if interaction have an encounter with Jesus can so radically
Speaker:transform her life then is it not true that the encounter with Jesus
Speaker:can and will do the same for us?
Speaker:So, I guess my first point for all of us today is to realize that St
Speaker:Mary Magdalene is a reminder that no one is beyond the reach of grace,
Speaker:which leads into my second point.
Speaker:The other thing on my heart this morning, as I prayed the divine office and saw
Speaker:that she was the Saint of the day.
Speaker:Is do not.
Speaker:Ever think that any student is beyond the reach of grace?
Speaker:I know my friend that you probably have a one to 10 or more students that, um,
Speaker:that the Lord has sent as a gift into your life to increase your sanctity.
Speaker:To help you grow in patience and acceptance and love.
Speaker:He going, yes, Jonathan keep talking.
Speaker:Uh, but I feel that Mary Magdalen today, the grace of
Speaker:this feast day reminds us that.
Speaker:There are many students who are also on a journey that come from
Speaker:backgrounds, perhaps of difficulty in trauma and even neglect and abuse.
Speaker:But we must not forget that no matter how difficult they are, if Jesus can
Speaker:reach into the life of Mary Magdalen and transform his so radically, he can
Speaker:also reach into the life of every single student and transform them radically.
Speaker:So let's have that hope, that Christian hope.
Speaker:That the encounter with Jesus, pray for your students, pray that they
Speaker:might encounter the grace of Christ.
Speaker:And remember that probably the most likely way they are going to encounter
Speaker:the grace of Jesus Christ is through you.
Speaker:On any given day, no pressure.
Speaker:It doesn't need to be pressure.
Speaker:It just needs to be an ongoing cooperation with the holy spirit.
Speaker:Listen, the last thing I wanted to say to you was.
Speaker:The readings for the day for St.
Speaker:Mary Magdalene's feast day, the first reading some of the songs,
Speaker:songs, and it's one of those.
Speaker:You know, deeply passionate readings from that very special book where
Speaker:the, the young woman is talking about.
Speaker:You know, roaming through the streets, desperately seeking
Speaker:the one, her heart disaster.
Speaker:And then you go into the gospel.
Speaker:And of course it's the encounter at the, um, in the graveyard, at the tomb where
Speaker:Mary encounters Christ and both of those readings speak of an enormous passion, the
Speaker:passion and the heart of Mary Magdalen.
Speaker:She's sobbing, she's crying, she's desperate to find
Speaker:the missing body of Jesus.
Speaker:And then of course she encounters the risen Christ.
Speaker:And what does he do?
Speaker:He did what he did at the start.
Speaker:He spoke her name.
Speaker:He named her, he spoke deeply into her.
Speaker:Experience, and it's the most beautiful gospel story.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:This reminds us both the song of songs that our relationship with God is not
Speaker:meant to be a purely academic cool exercise, the commentary on the reading
Speaker:space that he made that point that.
Speaker:Um, relationship with God needs to be passionate.
Speaker:That we need to pursue in seek him with the passion that Mary Magdalen had.
Speaker:And it was a challenge for me because I like to think of
Speaker:myself as a bit of a man's man.
Speaker:And, um, you know, And, uh, and I kind of, it was challenging for me.
Speaker:I thought, yes, that's right.
Speaker:I need to be reminded of that.
Speaker:I need to be reminded that this is the ground of being, this is the, the
Speaker:Victor, the trajectory of aspiration of my life is to pursue God issued Christ,
Speaker:pursue the holy spirit powerfully and passionately on a daily basis.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Friends summary, um, Today is the reminder.
Speaker:That saints are not mystical.
Speaker:Beings.
Speaker:Saints are broken sinners who encountered Christ and were radically transformed.
Speaker:And that includes you.
Speaker:Uh, the second reminder is that your students, some of your students are going
Speaker:to be broken, difficult, challenging people like I'm sure Mary Magdalen
Speaker:might've been before she met Christ, but let's not remember that the most
Speaker:difficult student in your classroom today is never beyond the reach of grace.
Speaker:And finally, let us be reminded to seek the Lord with passion.
Speaker:God bless you, everybody.
Speaker:I hope that's a little bit of daily encouragement for you.
Speaker:Go and check out all these links.
Speaker:Book me to speak.
Speaker:Go and um, go and check out the free access to the going deeper program but
Speaker:thank you for what you're doing every day my name's jonathan doyle this has been
Speaker:the catholic teacher daily podcast and you and i are going to talk again tomorrow
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