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.

Anything is Possible With God

One of the many poignant aspects of yesterday's Gospel included the reminder that: "All things are possible for God" (Mark 10:27).

At the risk of making too strong of a connection between our faith and sports, our Cleveland Guardians reinforced this message this past Saturday and have been doing so all season long. In fact, the Cleveland baseball organization has defied the odds for quite some time. Despite having the 28th largest payroll out of 30 teams in Major League Baseball, the Guardians fought their way into baseball's final four. It's worth noting that the other three teams remaining in the MLB playoffs boast the top three payrolls, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd out of 30 teams.

Riches, as we witnessed yesterday when the wealthy young man walked away sad from Christ because he had many possessions, do not lead to success. Money can't buy eternal life and it doesn't guarantee victories on the baseball diamond.

Instead, the Guardians stand as one of baseball's elite because of a solid work ethic, a disciplined commitment to strong fundamentals, and outstanding selection and formation programs for coaches and players.

Known as Guards Ball, the Guardians' approach to winning stresses sound pitching and fielding, aggressive baserunning, and hitting for contact. Fold in an investment in developing players in these key areas and you have a recipe for success that goes beyond the sum of the ingredients.

Put more simply and disconnected from the world of sports: the Guardians selflessly commit to the fundamentals of the game of baseball.

As we proudly cheer on the Guardians through the American League Championship Series, may we embrace our own Catholic School Leadership version of Guards Ball.

Focus on the fundamentals of formation, of teaching and learning, and of leadership:

• Faith Formation: Disciples create disciples. In this way, do small things that demonstrate discipleship and invite others into these practices: pray, celebrate the Eucharist, read scripture, learn about your faith, perform acts of stewardship for the Church and others, keep the Sabbath.
• Teaching and Learning: We are made in the image and likeness of an omniscient (rational), omnipotent (creative), and all-loving (collaborative) God. Endowed with the gift of curiosity, we all seek to better understand and interact with the world around us. Our wonder-full minds take us outside of ourselves and into relationship with our surroundings and other people. Foundationally, classrooms should have clear purpose and relevance, methods for learners to collaboratively interact with content and test skills, and frequent checks for understanding with feedback to gauge progress in knowledge and abilities.
• Leadership: Invest time and energy into the recruitment, selection, onboarding, development, and performance management of our employees. Follow strong HR practices, ensure our employees and volunteers meet our standards of conduct, set goals, monitor performance, and provide feedback.

Work hard. Stay committed to the fundamentals of our ministries. Develop others.

Apostolically, we only need five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. Regardless of our resources, we - like our beloved Guardians - are capable of amazing things.

Remember, with God anything is possible.

It's a Process, Not an Event

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope Francis has invited the faithful to pray and fast today, the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, for peace.

Until today, I did not know the original name of today's feast: Our Lady of Victory. In 1571 Pope Pius V called upon all Christians to pray the Rosary to invoke Mother Mary's aid for the European navy in the Battle of Lepanto. Against all odds, the European navy emerged victorious and Pope Pius V instituted a feast day to commemorate Our Lady's intercession. After three years, the name of the feast changed to Our Lady of the Rosary to shift the focus of the celebration from victory to the power of this prayer.

Since 2015, I have had a devotion to Our Lady and asking for her intercession through the Rosary. She has helped me untangle many knots. She has assisted me in various victories. She has brought me closer to her Son. I carry a Rosary with me wherever I go. I pray the Rosary every day...or at least I try to - some days I fall asleep in the middle of decade in the arms of the Blessed Mother.

This prayer centers on Christ. The Hail Mary's fulcrum is Christ: ...blessed is the fruity of thy womb, Jesus...

All of the mysteries - Annunciation, Visitation, Incarnation, Presentation, Finding, Agony, Scourging, Crowning, Carrying, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, Descent, Assumption, Coronation, Baptism, Water into Wine, Proclamation of the Kingdom, Transfiguration, Eucharist - anchor in Christ's life and ministry.

The Rosary's rootedness in repetition acts as a tug, pulling us ever closer and closer to the heart of Christ.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Our_Lady_of_Victory_Daoud_Corm.png

In this way, the power of the Rosary stands in the process of praying. More than a singular mountaintop event, praying the Rosary provides multiple opportunities for us to grow in faith. Working out daily provides better health benefits than just being a weekend warrior. A daily dental detail of brushing and flossing determines oral hygiene more than a deep clean. Relationships require regular relations - communication and shared experiences. Getting better at anything - running, throwing, reading, cooking, driving, writing, singing, dancing, drawing, speaking in public, sewing, playing an instrument - requires repeated practice.

As it is with prayer and our lives, so it is with our leadership efforts. Communicating our mission, vision, values and beliefs is a process, not an event. Reinforcing our policies and procedures and their connections to who we are as organizations entails more than just a fresh kick-off. Leading demands consistency and constant clear communication.

More than just a moment, our leadership, like the Rosary, must act like a movement. With each decision, with every communication, with all of our actions may we pull our communities ever closer to Christ's heart and to the victory of fullness of life on earth as it is in heaven.

Faith and Works; Believe and Act

This past weekend, I completed a home improvement project that I had dreaded for about a month: hanging our television on our wall.

I know that successfully mounting our TV does not qualify me as accomplished. Similarly, I realize that most people tackle this type of work in short order. Give the typical person an hour and it would be finished.

But, my hesitation stemmed from a belief of mine about my abilities to do just about anything with tools: I am not handy.

This hesitating belief, along with a series of other events from last week, got me thinking about something that I do think I'm good at: organizational culture and what it takes to build a successful one. 

First, at a recent meeting, an educational leader talked about a disciplinary situation involving a kid that "wasn't a bad kid". This comment made me bristle. Behaviors are good or bad; people are gifts from God.

Second, I read through and approved a posting for a faculty position that listed out the school's beliefs: "The ideal candidate for this position believes: Students are granted individual gifts and talents by God to do his work."

Third, my family and I watched Inside Out 2 (on our freshly attached TV) in which the main character, Riley, behaves in a manner consistent with her evolving beliefs: I am a good friend, I am brave, I am talented.

Fourth, the Gospels from both this past Sunday and Monday present Mark's and Luke's accounts, respectively, of these beliefs of Jesus:

• Whoever isn't against us is for us. 
• Be okay with shared leadership and others doing good work in the name of God. Their successes do not equate to your failures. 
• Children are gifts. 
• They should occupy a prime position in our lives. There have been a number of Gospel passages of late that remind us of the sanctity of childhood. 
  

Strong organizational cultures stand firmly upon a core set of principles/ideas/beliefs that provide both stability for the group and a compass for adaptation. Similarly, strong organizational cultures experience tight alignment between what they say (mission, beliefs, values, etc.) and what actually takes place across the organization (policies, programs, procedures, actions, words). 

As written in the Letter of James, "So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). 

Even the most beautifully written mission, belief, and/or value statements carry little significance or meaning if not coupled with action.

Conversely, our actions reveal what we truly believe. Sr. Helen Prejean famously quipped, "I watch what I do to see what I believe." 

Given the importance of aligning our works to our faith, consider the underlying beliefs that inspire your words and actions. Think about the number of times that you hesitate because of an underlying belief of inadequacy or act from a belief that limits yours, others, and/or God's potential.

As you recognize these principles that cause you to speak and act, think about the beliefs worthy of our God and therefore worthy of aspiring to: every person is a gift from God; excellence happens on purpose; collaboration is a force multiplier; leadership matters; I can try again.

Then, commit to believing your beliefs and act. Whereas you might end up with a TV on the floor, you might also end up with it ascending and adhering to new heights on your wall. 

Aligning your actions to your beliefs might also cause a group of students, teachers, and your entire school community to ascend to new heights as well and maybe even beyond anything that we could hope for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Perform works that demonstrate your faith. 

Believe and act. 

It's Yours, God

I had the blessing of being formed by Fr. Ron Nuzzi during my time as a student in the University of Notre Dame's Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program.

Fr. Nuzzi filled our hearts with conviction for the mission of our Church and her Catholic schools, our minds with the knowledge and skill to be competent Catholic school leaders, and our notebooks with one-liners, zingers, and compelling messages.

One such line, "It's not about you!" still echoes in my heart more than 15 years after this line boomed in my ears. Speaking about his frustration with faculty members who wanted to grade papers during Mass, Fr. Nuzzi recalled exclaiming these words in an attempt to get us to recognize that our efforts as school leaders must account for the following:

• Everything the adults in our buildings do makes a statement about what we deem important.
• When our ministries become more about us than our students' formation, we have - or eventually will - become ineffective.

Our Gospel from this past weekend reminded me of these words, "It's not about you!" In response to the disciples' arguments about who was the greatest among them, Jesus explains how to receive honor in His kingdom: "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Jesus then goes deeper by putting a child (imagine our students) in the middle of the group, embracing this young person, and declaring, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me."

It's not about you.

Go to the lowest among us, lower yourself to meet them at their level, and embrace them in the name of Christ and His commission to us, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt. 28:19-20).

Put another way: be humble enough to serve. It's not about you. It's about our students and families who have entrusted themselves to our care and education. It's about the missions of our schools that we have been commissioned to carry out. It's about the Holy Spirit-inspired dreams that God aches for us to make a reality. It's about the details needed to carry out our missions and bring to life our visions. It's about collaborating with others across our boards, our faculties and staffs, our network and our diocesan offices to achieve God's plans for His schools. It's about vulnerably looking at the data and analyzing our effectiveness in doing what we've been called to do. It's about pursuing excellence in all things for God's glory, not ours.

It's not about me. It's not about you.

It's about Him and His children and His schools.

God, it's about You: it's Yours. 

All Yours. 

Alignment

The following line from this past weekend's Gospel spoke to my heart and convicted me, "You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do" (Mark 8:33).

Jesus's message to Peter and the disciples encourages all of us to ensure our thoughts align with the mind and will of God.

As I heard that line from Christ proclaimed last weekend, my heart stirred. 

How often do I think that my efforts depend entirely on me? How many times do I get discouraged unnecessarily? How often do I harbor a grudge instead of offering forgiveness? How frequently do I default to hatred as opposed to love? Despair instead of hope? A dead-end instead of endless possibilities? Death instead of life?

As branches aligned to the true Vine, we must become ever more aware of the presence, promptings, and power of the Holy Spirit within and around us. We must fight to believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts. Too often we doubt our beliefs - does that make them doubts? - instead of holding fast to them in moments of stress and despair.  

We must think as God does. 

We must remember, "God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:7).

In addition to aligning our minds and hearts and wills to those of God, we must also consider the coherence between and among our schools' missions, values, words and actions. What parts of our schools align to these sources of life and which ones are disconnected? What components of our schools fail the celery test?

Which ones, unfortunately, have survived as Monkey Paradigms, vestiges of days gone by, antiquated and stale traditions, practices performed by those with perceived power? 

As we check our own thoughts and behaviors so that they align with God, we must also check the philosophies and practices of our organizations so that they align with our missions, beliefs, and values. 

Alignment signals that all of the parts of ourselves and our organizations experience proper positioning in relation to each other so that everything moves in the same direction. A misaligned vehicle veers off from its intended direction. Misaligned people and organizations will likewise miss their marks as well. 

Instead of straying off course, tighten your alignment to God, to the mission of His schools, and to the beliefs, values, and behaviors of organizations who think and act and love as God does.