"I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.”
-Ephesians 4:1
St. Paul wrote this encouragement to the church in Ephesus, urging them to live in a manner worthy of the call they received.
Let us likewise heed St. Paul’s advice.
Live in a manner worthy of the call we have received. As leaders, we need to remember both the personal call we received and the original call for our organizations to begin ministry. We need to remember that we can see further than those who have gone before us because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
This journey back to our and our organizations’ beginnings can and will breathe new life into our efforts. It can reignite the flame of our original purpose – why did I say yes to this? – as well as provide us with a compass to guide our steps – where are we going?
Roots and wings.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (the precursor to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – USCCB) encouraged Catholic schools to embrace this duality as follows:
Faithful to the past and open to the future, we must accept the burden and welcome the opportunity of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ in our times. Where this is a summons to change, we must be willing to change. Where this is a call to stand firm, we must not yield. (1972, para. 41)
Return to the zeal and enthusiasm of that initial yes to Catholic education. Dream again. Reclaim the spirit that shouted, “Why not?” in the face of doubters. Believe once more that hard work works, and that perhaps that is exactly why you said yes to it – because you can do hard things. Get back to basics – teaching, forming, disciplining (as in creating disciples of Christ). Focus on the fundamentals of pedagogy and faith.
Revisit your school’s origin story. Who stands as the heroes of its inception? Why did a group of people come together to start Catholic education at that level in that area in the first place – “Communion and mission are profoundly connected with each other, they interpenetrate and mutually imply each other, to the point that communion represents both the source and the fruit of mission: communion gives rise to mission and mission is accomplished in communion” (St. John Paul II, 1988, para. 32)? The answers to these questions can illuminate the path forward. This is what the school values, this is what makes it unique; therefore, this is how we will forge our future.
As we embark on this walk down memory lane, we can re-member Jesus’s call on our ministries and on our schools. Jesus called. Those who went before us have echoed that summons from their time until now.
“Come, follow me.”
He’s calling again. And again. And again...
Remember your beginning.
Momento nativitatis.
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| The bishops of the Diocese of Cleveland. |
