In today’s episode I talk about the fact that the trials we face in the daily work of education can be a profound invitation to spiritual and personal growth. What if the trials we face were a way in which God is calling us to a deeper level of dependence and trust?
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you.
Speaker:Once again, welcome friends back to the Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:Hope you're doing well.
Speaker:Man.
Speaker:I love doing this.
Speaker:I really hope it's a blessing to you.
Speaker:It's so cool to see the numbers growing.
Speaker:And just to know that in some small way, I'm getting to a, to.
Speaker:Offer some encouragement and some inspiration to so many fantastic.
Speaker:Thick fantastic Catholic teachers around the world.
Speaker:It's um, somebody said to me many years ago, you know, when something comes
Speaker:from God, when you've tried to let go of it and it won't let go of you.
Speaker:Uh, meaning that I have a very busy life like you do with so many
Speaker:different parts and things happening.
Speaker:But, uh, I can't let go of this.
Speaker:Respect and admiration that I have for Catholic teachers.
Speaker:I just think that the work you do each day is really at the forefront of what God
Speaker:is doing through his church in the world.
Speaker:Young people are at a really unique cultural moment where.
Speaker:They often get few influences, uh, in terms of faith in the gospel.
Speaker:So please do not underestimate what an incredibly important job you're doing.
Speaker:Just by being a person of faith and trying to share the gospel in
Speaker:any way you can, with young people.
Speaker:So friends today, I want to share a quote with you from St.
Speaker:Mary Magdalen, depart C.
Speaker:She was a Carmelite noncom light sister in the 16th century.
Speaker:She died eventually in 1607, but, uh, just one of those great spiritual giants
Speaker:of holiness that had a huge influence on the other sisters in the convent.
Speaker:And she wrote a little bit and she just really inspired
Speaker:people towards holiness denture.
Speaker:You know, you meet some people and you just have a sense that God's really
Speaker:present in their life in a powerful way.
Speaker:And they encourage us on to holiness.
Speaker:That's kind of what the sites are like, you know, that, that beautiful thing
Speaker:in the, in the book of Hebrews, you know, the great cloud of witnesses.
Speaker:And what the saints are like is that they're cheering us on in heaven.
Speaker:They're kind of looking at us day in, day out saying, yes, go, yes, do that pray
Speaker:more trust God, they're cheering us on.
Speaker:And not only are they cheering us on in heaven, but they're also still
Speaker:providing this incredible witness.
Speaker:We look at these great men and women, these incredible sights
Speaker:throughout the centuries.
Speaker:And we look at their lives and we go, you know what.
Speaker:That's worth emulating this something.
Speaker:Uh, inspiring about that.
Speaker:So today I want to share with you a beautiful quote from a
Speaker:sister or Saint Mary Magdalen.
Speaker:Depart.
Speaker:See.
Speaker:And she says this, you said trials are nothing else, but the forge that purifies
Speaker:the soul of all it's imperfections trials and nothing else, but the forge.
Speaker:That purifies the soul of all its imperfections.
Speaker:Now, as I often said, I said this yesterday.
Speaker:So many of these great quotes from holy men and women have so many layers.
Speaker:There's a lot in this, and I want to bring it back to relevance for
Speaker:Catholic education in just a moment.
Speaker:But first.
Speaker:I guess this is reminding us of a very expansive, important aspect of
Speaker:Catholic theology and spirituality.
Speaker:You know, suffering has a unique place in the Catholic faith.
Speaker:It's a, it's an, it's an experience.
Speaker:It's a reality that can be very confusing to the wider world.
Speaker:Why would people embrace suffering?
Speaker:Why would they seek suffering?
Speaker:Why would they.
Speaker:Endure.
Speaker:And even have gratitude for suffering.
Speaker:Well, firstly, I think it's because.
Speaker:We look at the life of Christ himself who enjoyed great suffering.
Speaker:So the first sort of foundational principle here is that we know
Speaker:what anything that Christ did.
Speaker:Anything that he did.
Speaker:Is worthy of emulation.
Speaker:So we know that if he suffered, he's trying to tell us something.
Speaker:He took on flesh.
Speaker:He entered into the human condition.
Speaker:And he showed us that suffering was something that could eventually be.
Speaker:I guess what's the Crow transcended that eventually suffering could
Speaker:lead to great joy and life.
Speaker:If it's entrusted to God.
Speaker:And of course, Jesus himself in a father into my hands.
Speaker:I commend my spirit, you know, in the moment of the greatest trial and
Speaker:suffering, there's a trusting God.
Speaker:You know, and also that Jesus has experience of suffering and trial was
Speaker:incredibly real for him to cry out my God.
Speaker:Why have you forsaken me?
Speaker:How many of us have had that thought or.
Speaker:Have said that at some point in life, that we look at the trials and sufferings in
Speaker:our lives and we wonder where God's gone.
Speaker:You know, Jesus has had that experience in his humanity.
Speaker:Experiencing the absence of the presence of the father and wondering.
Speaker:How he's going to survive and enjoy this terrible suffering alone.
Speaker:But of course he was never alone.
Speaker:So, what we find here is that, you know, in Catholic theology
Speaker:and spirituality, I trials.
Speaker:Purify us well, how do they purify us?
Speaker:I think it's because what our trials do is present us all
Speaker:with a very simple question.
Speaker:Our trial simply force us to confront whether we think we can transcend
Speaker:them through our own resources.
Speaker:Or whether we need to cry out to God and trust in him to carry us through.
Speaker:Now that doesn't mean we don't do practically intelligent
Speaker:things when we're suffering.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:You know, there's, there's a lot of practical things we can do.
Speaker:But eventually we're faced with this idea that Lord, this cross is too heavy for me.
Speaker:This is too difficult.
Speaker:And the purification is that we become dependent on God.
Speaker:And slowly, this self-will is so.
Speaker:I don't know, there's this belief that we are masters of the universe
Speaker:is slowly driven out from us and we learn a kind of dose style.
Speaker:It's not a very popular word, but you know, we develop a certain dosage
Speaker:city to God's action in our lives.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:You know, we take from God, the good things, and we learn to be grateful
Speaker:for the challenges and trials.
Speaker:Now, how is this relevant to Catholic education?
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:You are going to have trials.
Speaker:You could be having one right now and you can look back and you realize
Speaker:now, what does that trial look like?
Speaker:Usually it'll probably come in.
Speaker:You know, a few basic forms, it'll be a difficult student.
Speaker:It'll be a difficult parent, or it'll be a different colleague that you work with.
Speaker:Now at no point, do we ever put up with inappropriate
Speaker:behavior or abusive behavior?
Speaker:Of course, but.
Speaker:We're going to rub up against difficult people.
Speaker:We're going to have particular classes or experiences that for whatever reason,
Speaker:uh, You know, pretty hard work for us.
Speaker:And it's in those moments of trial as Catholic teachers that we are.
Speaker:We have the option, don't we to, you know, fight and structure the
Speaker:world in, you know, to our advantage in anger or, you know, revenge,
Speaker:even in different passive ways.
Speaker:We can sometimes do that.
Speaker:All we can go, Lord.
Speaker:This is a really hard for me.
Speaker:This is a trial and I need you.
Speaker:To carry this burden with me.
Speaker:And then you end up in this, what I used to call the path of dependence.
Speaker:You, you end up kind of.
Speaker:Gently allowing God to carry you through these difficult times.
Speaker:So as sister Mary Magdalen to party reminds us trials and
Speaker:nothing else, but the forge.
Speaker:That purifies the soul of all its imperfection.
Speaker:So I want you to look around your life today in Catholic
Speaker:education, that difficult student.
Speaker:That class, that exhaust you, that colleague that is not particularly kind
Speaker:or gracious towards you, that parent who doesn't appreciate the efforts that
Speaker:you're making these trials or invitations.
Speaker:To a deeper trust and dependence upon God.
Speaker:All right, that's it for me today.
Speaker:Hope that's useful, please make sure you've subscribed.
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Speaker:Go to that resources page and check out the going deeper free trial.
Speaker:All right, everybody.
Speaker:That's it for me today.
Speaker:My name's Jonathan Doyle.
Speaker:This has been the Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:And i'll have another message for you tomorrow
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