Give What You Have

Last weekend's first reading mirrored the Gospel. The first reading showcased a widow who offered the remainder of her flour and oil to the prophet Elijah. The Gospel also showcased a widow who offered all that she had - two coins - into the temple treasury.

In both cases, the widows give God what they have. 

In return, Elijah informs the widow and her son that they will have an abundance of flour and oil: "the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry" (1 Kings 17:16). 

Similarly, Jesus praises not those who gave from their abundance, but the widow who, "from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood" (Mark 12:44).

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Widow%27s_Mite_(Le_denier_de_la_veuve)_-_James_Tissot.jpg

Give God what you have. 

As you consider your efforts as Catholic school leaders to be missionary, visionary, strategic, collaborative, analytical, and professional, how might you hold back on offering what you have to God?

Maybe we hold back because of a feeling of inadequacy - we aren't smart enough, skilled enough, we don't have enough time, or enough financial, structural, or personnel resources. Blessed with a poverty of time, experience, and/or resources, how often do we let perfect be the enemy of done? 

Or, blessed with an abundance of any of the above, we can fall into the trap of only giving God our extras. How often do we keep God and His influence on our ministries relegated to just the moments where it feels safe and easy?

Given 15 minutes in between meetings, give God what you have. Get out to a classroom. Write a thank you note. Read an article that you bookmarked. Visit the Blessed Sacrament.

Of course, don't do all of these in 15 minutes. Instead, pick one and give God what you have.

Similarly, don't wait until you're perfect at something before you start to do it. As you're learning how to conduct observations and coaching sessions, do them anyways. Instead of waiting to begin work on a project until you have the perfect plan devised, take an initial step. 

It's apostolic to build the plane while it's in the air. 

Magnify God's greatness by giving Him what you have. In turn, He will magnify your efforts.

Don't worry about what you don't have or what you can't do. Instead, thank God for what you do possess and have the courage - like the women from last weekend's readings - to give all of it, even if it seems insignificant, back to Him.

______________________________________

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

- this poem was found written on the wall in St. Teresa of Kolkata's home for children in Calcutta 

Get Small

Over and over again throughout the past year, God has reminded me to get small. 

Far from a statement about God's assessment of my worth - I am wonderfully made; wonderful are God's works (Psalm 139:14) - this message brings me great encouragement and hope. 

I often feel overwhelmed with the volume of work on my desk. I frequently find myself frustrated with having a lot of responsibility but limited power. I routinely doubt that anything I have or can do will have any sort of impact on the world. 

Thankfully, in these moments I have heard God whisper to my heart: Get small. 

Minister to the people that God has put in my life right now. Love and serve and lead and encourage and support and guide those in front of me right now. Like St. Teresa of Kolkata exhorted in her 1979 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, "And if we really believe, we will begin to love. And if we love, naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, our next door neighbor, in the country we live, in the whole world." 

Use the resources that I have - gifts and talents, positional authority, experiences - and allow the God of the universe to use them for His glory. He can feed thousands with five loaves and two fish. He can surely use my feeble efforts and assets to accomplish His work. Similarly, regardless of the amount of power I can wield, I have the ability to thoughtfully communicate and purposefully inform those in decision-making positions, influencing them in life-giving and mission-advancing ways. 

"Given the smallest things / It’s wild what God can do" (https://youtu.be/-soTNi3XZbM?si=MvR26JESwDmc1PWe).  

Do the work that God has entrusted me to do to the best of my abilities. God has called me to be the best Associate Superintendent for Secondary Schools that I can be. As such, I am called to lead and serve schools in the Diocese of Cleveland by designing systems and developing leaders. God hasn't called me to be the presidents or principals of our schools. I'm not called to evangelize the entire diocese. I'm not being called to cure cancer or ease our country's political tensions. 

Get small and watch what God can do. 

This isn't defeatist. It's apostolic. 

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible" (St. Francis of Assisi).

Of One Accord

One of my weekly faith formation activities includes listening to the weekly sermon from Levi Lusko. A Protestant preacher at a church in Montana, I appreciate Levi's gift of connecting scripture with history and culture. In my estimation, he masterfully intertwines relevance with orthodoxy. 

This past week, being a few episodes behind, I providentially listened to his message entitled "There's No 'I' in Awesome." The main takeaway follows: "There's no 'I' in awesome, but there is a 'we'."

There is a "we" in awesome. In fact, the only way for us to be truly awesome necessitates unity with God and others.

Focusing on Psalm 133 (see below), Levi exhorts us to recognize the incredible power of communion.

How good and how pleasant it is, when brethren dwell together as one! Like fine oil on the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, upon the collar of his robe. Like dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion. There the LORD has decreed a blessing, life for evermore! (Psalm 133)

When we come together in collaboration, uniting around God's mission for our schools, amazing things result: oil - a sign of anointing - overflows in abundance; dew travels over 100 miles of desert conditions to bring "life for evermore!"

Mount Hermon in the north down to Mount Zion, about 120 miles. 

This type of unity takes effort. Levi encourages us to fight to stay tight with the right people.

This type of unity isn't easy, but it is worth it. 

Anchor and commit to communal prayer. 

Communicate your mission, beliefs, and values. 

Communicate them again. 

And again. 

With great clarity in both your words and the actions of both you and your organization. Operationalize your mission, beliefs, and values in your school's policies, procedures, and programs. Allow people to know what you believe by watching and listening to what you do and say.  

Like the apostles huddled in the upper room, waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit, remain united in prayer to the great call - the Great Commission - we have received through Christ. "All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer" (Acts 1:14). "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together" (Acts 2:1).

And, like the apostles filled with the Holy Spirit, let us go out and "accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20).

United. Of one accord. To Christ's mission. For the glory of God.