The monks offer their service where they can, these reflections offer a glimpse into their daily labora.
The Aha Moment by Fr. Jeremy Heppler
Te a c h t o Wo n d e r by Br . Christopher Start
Why do we serve? I am tempted to give clichéd or pietistic answers. We serve the youth because they are our present and our future. We serve one another, including our confreres, because God asks us to do so. Yes, these are true. But more than anything else, I find moments of realization, the ‘aha’ moments, exciting and inspiring.
Teaching middle school is a blessing, far more than it is a challenge. Every day I have the opportunity to spend time with 70 some odd students (and some are quite odd) at one of the most pivotal times in their lives. My students are transitioning from childhood into adolescence. They are gaining the critical and abstract thinking that will guide them in life outside of our Atchison, Catholic schools. At the same time, they retain a child-like ability to enter into the moment. This transition provides a moment when they are keenly looking for insight and guidance—even if they never say those words.
At Maur Hill-Mount Academy, I serve as the Chaplain. Admittedly, some days it is easier to see the face of Jesus in the students and my co-workers than others. There are times of joy, frustration, and challenge. Yet, the fruit of God’s love is spectacular. Seeing the student have an ‘aha’ moment, understanding why the Church teaches what she does or how to solve a physics problem is very inspiring. Even more so are those opportunities to minister by my witness and presence. I strive to see others, and present myself, authentically, and to help them encounter Jesus by “getting in the mud” with them. Often this encounter occurs through the sacraments where the grace of God leads to the ‘aha’ moment when one deeply comprehends God’s love and mercy. But, it also occurs at sporting events and by merely being present for them. It may sound strange, but even in my role as the Prior of the Abbey, the same moments are the most meaningful to me. I always feel great awe when a monk has a deep realization about his life or his faith. To see him honestly engage his vow of conversion challenges me to more deeply live out my own vows. Being able to encounter the monk where he is in that moment helps me to better see Jesus in the elderly, the young, the sick. Encountering Christ in others and seeing the Holy Spirit at work in both my life and theirs often leads me to the ‘aha’ moment of my need to deepen my relationship with God and to serve well those placed in my care.
The driving force in my classroom is my own wonder and insatiable curiosity about Creation and the strange creature called man. Whether we are studying science, math, religion, I am blown away at how incredible it is that we have been given this amazing world to discover! Not only the outside of the created world, but the interior life of each of us. Wrapping my mind around how a young adolescent thinks is a challenge I relish as I spend countless hours considering how I should construct my classes. Yet, a moment later, I am blindsided by an act of great charity or of thoughtless caprice, reminding me I’ll never quite understand this transitional stage of life. Middle school is a blink of an eye. My students are changing at breakneck speeds into the adults they will one day become. In this small teacher’s part I play in my students’ lives, I try to inspire curiosity, openness to God, and model how a Christian man is supposed to act. The longer I teach, the one constant is how I summed up my approach to teaching when I was earning my education degree: “Teach to wonder.”
Society of St. Benedict
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