Education Sunday

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Mark
Sent: Mon, February 8, 2010 10:19:10 AM
Subject: Education Sun Hom


Education Sunday
5th Sun Yr 2010 11.00 am.

Today is the beginning of Catholic Education Week. There are suggestions from the education authorities for today’s homily. But it will be no harm to take a wider look at education and not just at what happens in our schools and colleges.

At the present time Cistercian monks and nuns are themselves asking what they should do to provide a good formation for the new and younger members of their communities. There is the further question of how the other, older, members in our monasteries can best continue in the spirit of our earlier formation.

Education is part of what it is to be human. We all need to be taught the basic facts of life and learning. But there are truths of life that lie dormant within each person waiting to be awakened and developed. These are gifts which like the seed of plants will one day be brought to the light of day, grow and unfold to reveal their inner beauty and riches.

A well-founded education will allow the individual to realise their full potential as a person. The word ‘education’, as you know, is from the Latin word e-ducare (meaning ‘to draw out from’). Its aim is to develop the mind and should at the same time shape and open the heart to the love of God and neighbour. That love will lead us to choose, in time, what we want to do with our lives, who we want to be with, what our ambitions and attractions will be. It is probably true to say that a well-rounded education is the very means God uses to prepare us for whatever vocation or way of life we are called to live.

True education is the oil that refines the mind and instils the courtesies that make our life with others run smoothly.

Adult education or ongoing formation is something that is strongly recommended nowadays. In today’s world many people actively follow special interests and even change occupations so that their lives don’t become stale or boring. The same is true in the monastic life. I remember our late farm-manager, Br Carthage, saying that “there’s not a day on the farm when you don’t learn something new”. That is the general idea. But it applies to all of life, not just the practical side of it. We all need to keep learning about our past history and tradition and to learn from others who are doing the same, if we are to sustain a community or neighbourhood that is both rich and enriching.

The Christian school has as its role the education of the young which includes the teachings of the gospel. In this way the seed is sown for the proclamation of the gospel throughout the world.

Isaiah in today’s first reading, Paul in the second and Simon Peter in the gospel are each called to do God’s work. They listened and responded to what they were told. And that is what every vocation is about. To listen and to build on what we have heard by word of mouth or by the word on the written page. These are the ways that God uses to touch our hearts and keep us alert, ready to respond to what we are called to do with our life.

Roger Schutz, the founder and prior of the Taize community, famously said that to stand still is to betray Christ. To remain faithful to Christ we must keep moving forward.

Ongoing learning lets us do that. Education that doesn’t continue becomes dead. To keep realising our potential as a child of God makes us ever more open to the Holy Spirit in both mind and heart. And that, in simple terms, is ongoing formation.

This coming week we are asked to pray for all who are engaged in education - the teachers and their young pupils. For it is the young who will be responsible for proclaiming the kingdom of God in the years to come. We who are not-so-young need to continue learning how to be open to the Spirit that we may make the kingdom of God really alive now.