Pope John Paul I on being a teacher
Homily during CEEC - Friday 2nd week of Easter
On friday the 17th of april the participants in the General Assembly of CEEC (European Council for Catholic Education) celebrated holy Mass in Saint James (Jacobus)-church, Parkstraat in The Hague. The gospel was John 6, 1-15. In this gospel Jesus shows what it is like to be a teacher.
Homily
Education is about people
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER - CEEC CONFERENCE
Dear brothers and sisters,
He cares
The Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves shows us how God deals with us human beings. The Lord cares for that great crowd of people who have followed Him. That care is expressed in the healing of the sick and the multiplication of the loaves, in which the disciples and a boy with five loaves and two fish are involved.
What does this care of Jesus Christ have to say to us today, as we dedicate ourselves to the great and important apostolate that is Catholic education?
Pope John Paul I
Pope John Paul I was Pope for just one month, in 1978.
His penultimate Angelus address was on education. It was the address in which the Pope also spoke of Pinocchio, which has become rather legendary, but today I wanted to mention something else: the Pope spoke of the inspiring example of a dedicated teacher, Giosué Carducci, who taught in Bologna. Carducci was in Florence for meetings.
One evening, he took his leave of the Minister of Public Education. “But no,” said the Minister, “stay on until tomorrow.” - “Your Excellency, I cannot. Tomorrow I have lectures at the University and the young people are waiting for me.” - “I grant you an exemption.” - “You may grant me an exemption, but I will not shirk my duty.”
The Pope subsequently remarked on this: “Professor Carducci truly possessed a very high regard for both the school and the pupils. He was of the sort who would say: ‘To teach Latin to John, it is not enough to know Latin; one must also know and love John’.” And again: “The lesson is only as good as the preparation.”
Apostolate, it is about people
I think we can all agree on the importance of this. Education is about people; they must be at the centre, not merely the subject matter. The Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves shows us how the Lord deals with us as human beings. That Catholic education is an apostolate means that we are called to fulfil the task of Jesus Christ, within the mission of the Church.
In this Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves, the first thing the Lord does is to love the people and care for them. This is how He looks upon that great crowd.
This also lies at the heart of every teacher’s vocation: it is always about people; it is important to know and love them.
Encouraging them to reflect
Next, Jesus involves His disciples in the issue, in the problem of so many people gathered there without food, and He makes them reflect on that situation: ‘"Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" Jesus therefore lets them reflect on it themselves first before He provides answers: their involvement and commitment count.
This is actually exactly what teachers try to do every day: finding ways to foster genuine engagement among the pupils so that they themselves begin to reflect and contribute their thoughts on the topic being discussed.
Involving people
Of course, Jesus can do everything Himself; ultimately, He does not need people’s help to perform a miracle. Yet He chooses not to provide the answers Himself straight away. Jesus makes use of the little that a boy has to offer, even if it is only five loaves and two fish, which is hardly significant for such a large crowd of people. He allows that boy to participate.
It is the same today: He wants to do it together with us humans; He longs for us to cooperate with Him, and therein lies the invitation for us to adopt that attitude ourselves and to involve others - pupils - in it, to let them participate. That has its own formative value.
The vocation of a teacher
Or, to put it in the words of Pope John Paul I: the teacher must know his subject, know and love his pupils, prepare himself and foster engagement, and do so in such a way that the teaching responds to who the pupil is as a person and what he or she needs.
He cares
But it is Jesus himself who provides enough bread and fish. That should give us confidence and a little peace of mind when difficulties and questions come our way, when we perhaps cannot see a solution in a particular situation: ultimately, everything is in God’s hands; He will take care of it...
