Staff Meeting Faith Formation – September 2015
Leader:
As we move into this new school year, we also move into the first year of our three-year theological theme, One Family in Christ: Know Him, Love Him, Serve Him. We take some time today to consider the idea of “One Family in Christ”. What might that look like in our school community?
Reader:
Ron Rolheiser tells this great story of a four year-old girl who woke up one night frightened, convinced that there were monsters and spooks in her room. So she ran to her parents’ bedroom. Her mother, however, brought her back to her own room, put on a number of lights, showed the child that there was nothing to be afraid of, put her back to bed, calmed her, and finally left her with the words: “There is nothing to be afraid of. When I leave, you won’t be alone in the room. God will be here with you.” But the young girl replied: “I know that God will be here with me, but I need someone in the room who has some skin!”
Reader:
“It has been said that God is not just a noun, but also a verb. That is true. God is not just a person, but also a certain flow of life, a flow of receptivity and gratitude between three persons. Inside of God there is a kind of family life going on and Jesus has assured us that when we give and receive from each other within a family, when we break open our lives and hearts and joys and frustrations and egos and agendas and share these with each other, Readerwe are letting the life of God flow through us and we are giving skin to the inner life of the Trinity. In that sense, family life is a sacrament and, for many of us, the most important sacrament of all because it is the one that in fact touches our lives and transforms us the most deeply.”
So we consider our school communities in this context of family. How do we share our joys and our frustrations? Do we open ourselves to be authentic with our colleagues? Do we let the life of God flow through us…do we give skin to the inner life of the Trinity?
Reader:
Teresa of Avila said:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Leader:
May we strive to be sacrament to one another, to our colleagues, to our students, to the families that we serve.
We take a moment to think of our colleagues and our communities, we bring these intentions to our loving Father, answering each intention with “Lord hear our prayer.”
(Note to leader: offer intentions from those assembled—perhaps start out with one or two that you know are relevant to your community)
We gather these intentions and all those that remain in our hearts as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us: Our Father…