Having a faith conversation with old and new friends is as easy as setting the table.
FAITH FEEDS GUIDE VISION
Introduction to FAITH FEEDS 3
Conversation Starters 6
• The Merton Prayer: A Reflection for Catholic Educators by Kate Coulouras 7
Conversation Starters 9
• On Earth as It Is in Heaven by Casey C. Beaumier, S.J. 10
Conversation Starters 12
• God’s Time by Melodie Wyttenbach 13
Conversation Starters 15
Gathering Prayer 16
Faith Feeds is an initiative by Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Program (C21), a Center that serves as a catalyst and resource for renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States. Faith Feeds was originally designed for individuals in Catholic parishes who are hungry for opportunities to talk about their faith with others who share it. Considering that many Catholic schools are an extension of a parish, in partnership with the Roche Center for Catholic Education, a Center that forms Catholic educators to become agents of change who work to create excellent PreK-12 Catholic schools, a customized set of guides has been developed for Catholic educators.
Educators who strive for this excellence embody the following five virtues that allow them to transform Catholic schools: adaptable, joyful, attentive, visionary, and humble. St. Ignatius stated: “All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully. As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God.”
These Faith Feeds guides challenge Catholic educators to reflect on how they are living out their vocations in their everyday lives. Together, the C21 Center and the Roche Center hope to deepen the faith of educators and bring communities of people together through these Faith Feeds reflections and questions. All authors in these guides have served in Catholic schools, have a deep love for them, and strive daily in their vocations to love and serve God.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who should host a FAITH FEEDS?
Anyone who has a heart for facilitating conversations about faith is perfect to host a FAITH FEEDS.
Where do I host a FAITH FEEDS?
You can host a FAITH FEEDS in-person or virtually through video conference software. FAITH FEEDS conversations are meant for small groups of 10–12 people.
What is the host’s commitment?
The host is responsible for coordinating meeting times, sending out materials and video conference links, and facilitating conversation during the FAITH FEEDS.
What is the guest’s commitment?
Guests are asked to read the articles that will be discussed and be open to faith-filled conversation.
Still have more questions?
No problem! Email church21@bc.edu and we’ll help you get set up.
READY TO GET STARTED?
STEP ONE
Decide to host a FAITH FEEDS. Coordinate a date, time, location, and guest list. An hour is enough time to allocate for the virtual or in-person gathering.
STEP TWO
Interested participants are asked to RSVP directly to you, the host. Once you have your list of attendees, confirm with everyone via email. That would be the appropriate time to ask in-person guests to commit to bringing a potluck dish or drink to the gathering. For virtual FAITH FEEDS, send out your video conference link.
STEP THREE
Review the selected articles from your FAITH FEEDS guide and the questions that will serve as a starter for your FAITH FEEDS discussion. Hosts should send their guests a link to the guide, which can be found on bc.edu/FAITHFEEDS.
STEP FOUR
Send out a confirmation email a week before the FAITH FEEDS gathering. Hosts should arrive early for in-person or virtual set up. Begin with the Gathering Prayer found on the last page of this guide. Hosts can open the discussion by using the suggested questions. The conversation should grow organically from there. Enjoy this gathering of new friends, knowing the Lord is with YOU!
STEP FIVE
Make plans for another FAITH FEEDS. We would love to hear about your FAITH FEEDS experience. You can find contact information on the last page of this guide.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
Here are three articles to guide your FAITH FEEDS conversation. For each article you will find a relevant quotation, summary, and suggested questions for discussion. We offer these as tools for your use, but feel free to go where the Holy Spirit leads.
This guide’s theme is: Vision
THE MERTON PRAYER: A REFLECTION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATORS
By Kate Coulouras
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
—Thomas Merton
Some may call it obsessive, rigid, or downright crazy; but I am a planner. Before undertaking a task, I like to plan where I am going, how I am going to get there, and the tools I need to succeed—and if I can color-coordinate and laminate those plans, even better! This has proven successful as a classroom teacher and school leader. By providing structure and clarity, I feel like I am equipping my students and faculty with a detailed map before setting out on a journey.
As I look ahead to planning for a new school year in an unprecedented era, there are so many questions and unknowns. I am sure that Thomas Merton himself couldn’t have foreseen such a time of uncertainty. We are tasked as Catholic educators to continue the formation of our future generation during this quarantine. With distance learning becoming the new norm, how can we truly ensure that we are providing students with the knowledge, tools, resources, and care that they need? Students all over the country find themselves adopting new daily routines: going
to work with their parents to put food on the table, babysitting siblings and relatives, cooking and cleaning, experiencing heightened anxiety, lacking adequate access to technology and resources, and some even trapped in unsafe living situations. Is the education we are providing enough to support the various needs of our students most at risk? At times, it feels like we have no idea where we are going or if what we are doing is sufficient. We cannot know for certain where this road will end.
During this time of isolation and without a clear roadmap, it is difficult to envision what the next steps are for our Catholic school communities. Merton reminds us of the importance of trusting in God during these times of darkness. For me, trusting in God signifies relinquishing my will to control and plan for the future, and be present with God in the now. As I look around, I am in awe of the resiliency, kindness, and dedication that people have shown in the most challenging of situations. I have seen God in the faculty members that have taught themselves how to use new technology to provide lessons to their classes. I have seen God in the students that submit homework assignments at 1:00 am after spending the entire day helping their families. I have seen God in the fierce unity of the Cristo Rey Network, and how school leaders across the country have reached out to support one another. I have seen God in Catholic schools that did not skip a beat in the transition to remote education. In the darkest of times, it is incredible to see how bright God’s light shines in each of us.
As we return to a new normal in the coming months, it is important that we not go back to old habits: moving at the speed of light, relying on muscle memory, and thinking that our plans and timelines ultimately control the future. This can blind us to God’s presence as a result. We may not be able to return to the road that we have been on and walked for years; we might need to forge a new path. But I am comforted in knowing that we are not alone. As Catholic schools, we will walk this journey side by side, firm in our belief that God “will never leave us to face our perils alone.”
Kate Coulouras is a director of training and implementation at Sown to Grow. Colouras was formerly Assistant Principal for Curriculum & Instruction at Cristo Rey High School in Sacramento, California.
THE MERTON PRAYER: A REFLECTION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATORS
Questions for Conversation
1. In what ways have you been challenged during this time of isolation and how have you remained grounded in your core value and beliefs?
2. How have you slowed down your day-to-day routine to notice God’s presence in your everyday life?
3. How can you relinquish the urge to plan and control the future,
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
By Casey C. Beaumier, S.J.
Where there is no vision, the people perish. These words from the 29th chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament speak to how important vision is for human flourishing. Without vision, a human becomes arid, tepid, complacent—perhaps even cynical. The truth is that every person needs vision to flourish, strive, and anticipate the bright optimism of possibility.
In a prayer often attributed to the Jesuit, Pedro Arrupe, it seems to me that what Arrupe names as love, we might even think of as vision. The zeal of vision within
a person’s heart is “what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know...” Indeed, to love is to have a vision of possibility for what could emerge from the present moment. Vision propels—it lifts, animates, and motivates. It is the fuel that energizes each day of living.
This love, this vision, is what makes for an excellent Catholic educator. I believe that vision is at the heart of the charism of an outstanding teacher. When such a
visionary enters a classroom, she or he has within her or his heart a glimpse of possibility—of what could sprout from the sharing of one’s talents, creativity, and effort with the lives of the young. We teachers depend upon such holy glimpses. We feed off them and guard them because they are sacred. I use the word glimpse very intentionally, for by its nature, a vision is fleeting. It manifests itself within the human heart, only as a glimpse, containing just enough Spirit to sustain us to do what we can do, as we contribute to the upbuilding of on earth as it is in Heaven. Equipped with holy vision, the classroom and the school become a beautiful, sacred venue of the Kingdom entrusted to us. It is in this kingdom parcel that vision is cultivated and harvested, so that an abundance of vision continues to be handed on from one generation to the next. This is the beauty of our very Catholic way of tending to the delicate formation of the human heart and the human mind.
For Christians, the master visionary is Christ Jesus. He is fully human and fully divine. Christians are fully human while having been entrusted with a share of divinity. It is this divinity that becomes the seedbed for vision. It is within the rich soil of grace, that the depths of vision take root, deepen, and grow. Consider those whom Jesus gathered. How tempt-
ing it is to notice the human limitations and flaws of those disciples and apostles! Yet, Jesus deeply desires to work with them and to nourish their divinity, so that they become more than they appear to be. He has within his heart a divine vision of possibility for them.
Catholic educators have been entrusted with a share of this vision of Christ Jesus. Consider those young people gathered in a school. The bad spirit always draws attention to limitations. Yet, the Catholic educator notices the glimpses of Christ at work. The vision of Jesus energizes and propels the desire to assist the young in becoming more than they appear to be—a divine vision of possibility.
The work of a Catholic school educator is one of the more beautiful ways of contributing to our faith, which is constantly striving for the vision of Jesus, whose Kingdom is coming and whose will is doing … on earth as it is in Heaven.
Casey C. Beaumier, S.J., is Vice President and University Secretary of Boston College and Director of BC’s Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies.
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Questions for Conversation
1. How would you describe the vision in your heart that gets you out of bed in the morning?
2. Can you describe an experience of seeing something of your vision come to fruition? What was that like for you?
3. What glimpses have I had of on earth as it is in Heaven? In other words, have there been moments in life where you felt like a vision of Heaven was before you?
GOD’S TIME
By Melodie Wyttenbach
What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a common question that adults ask children, and oftentimes the responses are endearing. I want to be like my dad. I want to be an astronaut and go to the moon. I want to be a doctor and help sick people. Children have visions of who they will be early on, and adults encourage these visions, given the talents and gifts they see in the child.
When the genetic counselor told us that our daughter had a rare disorder known as Dup-15Q, having a sense of what she would be when she grew up became a paralyzing thought for me. When she was about eight
months old, I began to observe her motor and speech delays. She was missing milestones, by six months she should’ve been rolling over, she wasn’t; by eight months she should’ve been babbling, she wasn’t.
Many doctors assured me she’d be fine—saying things like she’s so young, she’ll begin to talk soon, or don’t worry, she’s just taking her time. As an educator, having worked with children my entire career, I was skeptical of the professionals. I had this gut feeling something wasn’t right, but trusting the experts, I continued to work with her, and patiently wait. After some time of not getting the answers, my husband and I de-
cided to do genetic testing. The results revealed she had extra genetic material on her 15th chromosome. Never having heard of Dup-15Q before, we learned the extra material would cause her to have some delays- speech, motor, cognitive- the extent of the delays would only be revealed with time. The geneticist told us some children have severe delays, they may never talk or walk, while others are affected mildly.
Upon receiving this diagnosis, my mind jumped to the unknowns. What would she be capable of doing? How delayed would she be? What did this mean for her future? And of course the question, what would she be when she grew up? I remember going home after work that day, and when putting Claire to bed, held my now two-and-a-half year old daughter, and crying. There was so much uncertainty, so many unknowns. My tears woke Claire, and she looked at me. I could tell she was concerned and confused by my sadness. As she gazed lovingly at me, she placed her hand on my cheek and said, “Mommy, I am here.”
As my mind sped with doubts of uncertainty about her future, her words brought me back to the present moment, she was here, she was in my arms, and my love for her was all that mattered. Two words, I am, are ones that bring immense reassurance throughout scripture as we come to understand Christ as the great I am. “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6); “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” (John 15:5); “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall never hunger” (John 6:35).
Christ was revealing himself to me in that moment with Claire, just as he had done repeatedly in the scriptures through these two words, “I am.” It was a beautiful reminder to me that we are in control of so little, to trust God’s vision, and remember that everything happens in God’s time. Leonardo da Vinci once claimed that “an average human being looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking.”
In other words, instead of truly living life with awareness, we let life happen to us. With each passing day, we are often consumed by anxiety, busyness, unknowns, and in so doing, life passes us by, without us ever experiencing its fullness.
Claire has helped me realize the significance of the present moment, the significance of God’s time. Such is grace, it is the moment in which the finger of God touches our reality and reveals God’s presence more fully in a certain moment. Just as Claire’s little fingers touched my face, she is a grace who has touched the core of who I am, and because of her, I am constantly reminded of the eternal meaning of Christ’s presence in my life.
Melodie Wyttenbach is Director of the Roche Center for Catholic Education at Boston College.
GOD’S TIME
Questions for Conversation
1. Who is a reminder of Christ’s eternal presence in your life? In what ways has Christ revealed himself to you through this person?
2. Reflect on a time when the vision you had for yourself, was not necessarily what God had in store for you? What did you learn about yourself in this moment? How can you be more trusting of God’s vision for you?
3. Would you describe your day as one filled with busyness and anxiety or one where you were attentive and appreciative of the many ways God was revealed to you in all things? How can you develop a life where you are more attentive of God’s presence in your life?
