Called to Teach

I teach eighth grade faith formation and last Wednesday was the first night of class.  I created a handout with several questions for the students to answer just to see where they were at and what kinds of things they knew.  Two of the questions included on the sheet were, “What topics are you most interested in learning about this year?” and “What is one thing you hope to understand or learn more about?”.  After they finished filling out the sheets, we discussed some of their answers to the questions.  I collected all of their sheets and we continued on with the rest of class.  At the end of class I was looking through all of the answers and noticed that for either of the two questions mentioned above, just about every student had written “Jesus” as one of their responses.  At first, upon looking through their responses, I was a little disappointed.  I figured they had written Jesus as a response because of apathy and passiveness.  They didn’t have any ideas of what they would want to learn about and probably didn’t care so they put Jesus as a simple and safe option.  My first thought was, “well, that’s not exactly what I was looking for.  That’s it?  It’s too general.  I wanted them to write something more specific... Of course we’ll talk about Jesus.” 

But then it hit me.  Of course we’ll talk about Jesus.  They got it right.  Whether we talk about the Bible, saints, sacraments, the Mass, or church teachings, it will be about Jesus.  The answer seemed so basic and like it was lacking in depth at first.  Then I realized that many of them may not really know much about Jesus or who He is.  They might have a real desire to know who He is and why He matters.  And as a catechist, my role is to help them learn just that.  That evening, a group of 8th grade students unintentionally reminded me of something very important.

It’s all about Jesus.  Jesus is why we are Catholic and why anything else matters.  Every topic we cover and discussion we have should ultimately point back to Him.  It’s good and important to learn about church history, facts, and documents.  But at the end of the day, these 13 and 14 year olds will likely forget a lot of it.  However, if they come to know Jesus and have a better understanding of why we need Him and why we believe what we believe, that is something they hopefully will never forget.
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Lord, you have called us all to share this deep and beautiful faith you have given us with others- with kids, family members, friends, co-workers, and fellow parishioners.  Give me the knowledge and wisdom I need to carry out this task.  I need you to help me speak what you want me to say and guide me as I teach.  Use me as your instrument to share the truth, beauty and goodness of the church.  May others see You in me.  Work through me so that others may be inspired or touched by You in some small way.  Amen.


(Side note: Rather than cramming through a whole textbook, the goal for the year is to pick a few topics/areas and focus on them.  There are so many possibilities.  What is important for 8th grade students to know?  I would love to get ideas on what you think 8th grade students should learn about/discuss in class.  Drop any suggestions in the comments! On facebook or directly on the blog)