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Guest columnist
What does it mean to be a missionary disciple? This was the question that I posed to my teaching staff at the beginning of the school year. We read, listened, and viewed many resources and reconvened to share what we had learned, heard, and felt.
It became apparent that the message we were receiving, both individually and as a group, was that before we could be missionary disciples, we must first be individual disciples of our Lord. We need to have an intimate relationship with our Lord. It was a beautiful thing to witness. The Holy Spirit made this new journey that we are on very clear to each and every one of us, that we need to foster a deeper relationship with Christ before we can help to foster that relationship with our students.
As educators, how should we be fostering an intimate relationship with Christ for ourselves and our students? One wouldn’t invite two friends, friends that have never met, and have them spend time together without you and expect them to become good friends. We shouldn’t be using this approach with our students either. We need to be invested in a relationship with Christ so that we can help the other person know and love Christ.
With the beautiful season of Advent approaching, we need to ensure we have time with Jesus to build our relationship with him, to know him better, and to be in communion with him. In our school we are accomplishing this by a little break in the work week for teachers to be with Jesus in a way that is meaningful for them, whether that be daily Mass, adoration, rosary, devotions, prayer, or other reflections. We are also inviting others to share their personal story of their relationships with Jesus to our staff and students.
Now is the time to prepare for Christ: not just his birth but also for his second coming. Now is the time when we should endeavor to deepen our relationship with Christ. Perhaps we need to look at what we view on TV or what we listen to. Perhaps we need to be intentional about making sure our leisure time is shared with Christ. If we ourselves are questioning our own relationship with Jesus, then this is a great time of the year to make some changes to get to know him better. What is something that can be eliminated from our lives and replaced with time with our Lord?
When we are more comfortable in our own relationship with our Lord, then we can be more comfortable introducing Christ to others. When we are more familiar with Christ we reflect his light to others – they can see something different. It is then that we can go out to others, to be missionary disciples, to bring others closer to our Lord and Savior. “For it is you who light my lamp, the Lord my God lightens my darkness” (Psalm 18:28).
Nellie Goshey is principal of St. Joseph Catholic School in Grand Rapids.