In these days, in which the world is going through a dispersion of Christian values and principles, I would like to begin this chronicle with the words that he stressed Mr. JosĆ© MarĆa Gil TamayoArchbishop of Granada, during the celebration of the consecration of Our Mother of Help in the temple of the convent of the Augustinian Recollect Mothers of the Most Holy Corpus Christi, last February 11 of the present year of the Lord: “Let’s mark our Catholic roots in education.”.
Sowers on foreign soil and holy ground. We are all sowers of the good seed of the Kingdom; some, as parents, in the domestic church where our children are born, nourished and grow with the living testimony, which must be the bread that nourishes their spirit. Others, from the chair of the large classroom where we are placed, as expert teachers in the art of helping to develop the seed of faith that leads our children along the paths of values and virtues that will make them men and women of benefit to God, to the Church and to society.
It goes without saying that our teaching is based more on the testimony of life than on the wise principles that are presented as curricular subjects, necessary for a suitable academic promotion. That is why both parents and teachers must be committed and courageous teachers who show through their full dedication a belief in themselves as transmitters of life and teachers who have wanted to consecrate their task for life. Only in this way will they be credible in their work as loving parents and teachers dedicated to the sublime task of helping new generations to grow. Only in this way of dedication, from the constant love for the students, will we teach the men and women of tomorrow that they have to recreate a fairer society in which all citizens are happier.
Weak ministers who must strive to put the gifts received into the furrow of new life. Naturally, if we feel that we are parents and teachers, living members of the Church, our teaching must be imbued with the presence of God’s love that is present in his creatures, especially in the weakest and smallest. Not for nothing did he say: “Let the children come to me”.
For this reason, the evangelizing mission of the Church in educational institutions requires the presence of educators who witness with their lives and dedication to the Christian virtues in the daily work of sowing, aware that the seed thrown into the furrow of the “child’s heart” will not take root if it is not watered with the water of love and dedication.
Mother’s presence, both in the kitchen and in the classroom, is illuminating. She knows about love, and what is more important, she knows how to transmit it: it will be by keeping silent at times: … “Mary carefully kept all things in her heart”. It will be in compliance, others: “Let it be done to me according to your will”. It will be advising, when he sees fit: “Do whatever he tells you”.
She teaches us, who call ourselves teachers, a new way of sowing and of seeing life, which is a task, more pleasant, fruitful and prosperous. She opened her heart to the will of God; she trusted and placed herself at the disposal of the Divine plans and formed her own school: the chair of accepting at all times the will of the Father, in order to beget the Son in her womb, opening her actions to the silences, caresses and inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that all is not lost. There are sprouts that break the crust that covers the soil where we have thrown the seed that are signs of hope. Young people who take time off from their vacations to make their youth available for relief work in mission countries. Groups capable of surprising us with their attitude of solidarity, going to the “Corrala” of loneliness and fear to instill a breath of life and those who say they believe that life is not worth living. Costaleros that under the weight of the throne have walked their belief and their virgin through the desolate streets and exempt from traditional piety.
Silvia Crespo Rica
(Article published in the magazine ‘Santa Rita y el Pueblo Cristiano’)