A prayer

May he support us all the day long,
till the shades lengthen,
and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done.
Then in his mercy may he give us a safe lodging,
and a holy rest,
and peace at the last.

(Card. John Henry Newman)

Laura

The name Laura Vicuña rings a bell to people who are familiar to my world. Today is her feast day. She is presented as an adolescent who rose to courageous heights up to the supreme gift of her life for her mother’s sake.
Undoubtedly she had it in her blood, I mean, heroism. I believe it was an idealism that was nurtured and honed to become heroism. Isn’t it that youth is a stage of life characterized by idealism? How then can an adolescent arrive at heroism. I mean, to give up your own, your young life for an ideal!
Laura’s story shows that a big role was played by her teachers.
What kind of school did Laura go to? What was the recipe for her “success”? I guess that more than the bright and wonderful ideals received, it was the life lived with these teachers that transformed Laura’s idealism into heroism.
Were these educators highly exceptional human beings? I don’t know. And I guess we educators aren’t called to be highly exceptional. We are called to be cordial, kind, loving, attentive, merciful, humble, to show the way and to launch our students to infinite horizons, ready to be in the shadows, the wind beneath their wings.
We Christian educators are called to try to make Jesus be seen and touched in our lives. Yes, we try. When our students see us fail, they get in touch with our humanity. When they see us try to rise up, they get in touch with the God that makes it possible. Only God transforms people from idealists to heroes.

To all the young people who have been part of my journey, you are remembered today in a very special way.

Why ask in prayer?

When people ask me to pray for their intentions or when I promise people that I will pray for their intentions, there are times that I catch myself asking whether this prayer of petition is effective at all. Let me put it this way, if some people pray for rain while others pray for a sunny weather, what will God do? Grant the request of some, and in the process, risk the ire of the rejected party?
And besides, if God is The all-powerful, The all-knowing, etc. does he really need an enumeration of things He has to do to put the world aright?
In one of my lucid moments (or moments of revelation, as I call them), I was struck by the realization that when I pray for something, it's not God's heart that is converted, what is changed is my heart.
The more I pray about something, the more that thing or intention becomes present to me. I would say that in a way, prayer enlarges my heart.
When, for example, I pray for peace in the world, peace becomes the subject of my thoughts, and the more I pray, the more peace becomes a conviction or a criterion for my ideas, my attitudes and lifestyle.
When I pray for a person, the more that person becomes an object not only of my prayer, but of my thoughts and my actions as well.
God doesn't need my prayer of petition. I need it.

Praying for someone means being present both to God and to the person, attaining a perfect balance between these two loves. (G. Thibon)

Words

This morning I was browsing through an invitation to a convention, trying to figure out whether it is worth attending. I shared the possibility to a colleague of mine and she jumped at the invitation, saying how these congresses, seminars and conventions are good moments of ongoing formation. To tell the truth I wasn’t very optimistic. The invitation showed a tight schedule of one talk after another. Oh my, I just cannot endure a barrage of speakers, trying to outdo each other and more often than not, exceeding the time given to them.
Words are tools for self-expression. They are important to everyday living. I’ve heard once that unless a person is capable of putting feelings and ideas into words, they remain fragments, bits and pieces without any synthesis. But the use of too many words can also indicate an incapacity to make a synthesis and make a stand.

Baby Jesus

God – from the time of Adam – saw that his grandeur provoked resistance in man, that we felt limited in our own being and threatened in our freedom. Therefore God chose a new way. He became a child. He made himself dependent and weak, in need of our love. Now, this God who has become a child says to us: you can no longer fear me, you can only love me.

(William of Saint Thierry)

Time

Yesterday was a busy day for me, not for work-related matters. A sister from Madrid, who is a good friend of mine, arrived the other evening. I haven’t seen her for a long time, so we just talked and exchanged stories for almost two hours.
In the afternoon, I just passed by the laundry to get my rag and to ask the sister in charge if she happened to see my scarf. There were other two sisters there and so I greeted and exchanged a few words with them, too. One after another they just started recalling their days as novices. We were almost hysterically laughing. Actually I didn't say a word. I just listened since I saw that they were enjoying this recollection of their younger years. Wow, time passed so swiftly and it was almost 3:30 pm when we finished. We were there, standing and laughing for almost an hour.
Well, of course I didn't manage to finish what I have written in my to-do-list-for-today, but I am glad that I spent those two moments with my sisters.
We talk about the "quality of time as more important than the quantity" but still, we need to invest something which not many people are willing to give up, our TIME.

A blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you!
May the Lord let his face shine upon you,

and be gracious to you!

May the Lord look upon you kindly

and give you peace!

(Numbers 6:24-26)