So, what is next for me within my career here at the Piarists?, you may ask.
It is cloudy outside and there is jazz music playing here in my room whilst I type this. Just as the sky –grey and uncertain– it is the world out there, around us. We live in a generation where accepting the possibility to all may become the easiest way not to choose, not to actually engage into something real. How can we choose what to do? How can people know what is best if they have no criteria nor filter to sort out what is coming to them? And how can they obtain such resources and tools for life if not via education? Just as this music is encompassing my writing, education walks along the road and little by little enlightens it as time goes by. It all starts very simply but, before one can notice, principles have been written upon our spirits and they will most likely direct our lives. So crucial education is.
We live in a world where death values are becoming more usual, even the norm. Fear and rage move along a lot of people, without them even noticing. «It’s just the way it is», they may even say, ignoring their freedom to choose better, to live better and build a different reality than the one they’re living into. What kind of strange force may be able to operate such miracle? What kind of power –unknown to those living by death values– overrides everything and makes all things new? Shouldn’t it be the same force that brought it all into being for the first time? Love is more than just what any retail store tells us it is, and even though we are witness of its true power every day, we remain blind and insensitive to all the richness and plenitude it could bring to our lives. Why? I think it is because we have always lived in a shell, confined to ourselves without noticing one another, without really loving each other… and what’s worse: that is exactly what we show to our younger generations. And even if it may sound dreamy or naïve, I DO believe inertia can be –and must definitely be– broken. There is no more powerful and effective way than education.
Education is showing, throughout many different approaches, strategies, instruments and/or modes, what we truly believe by what we do, say, and share. It is our way of living what shows others who we are, and I think there is always a guiding principle we keep to ourselves, no matter how contradictory we may be when it comes down to practicing it constantly. That is what we see in others and what others see in us: that principle is what passes along generations. What we received from our parents we communicate to our children. Now, since I decided to fully –or specially– engage in a following of the Christ according to St. Joseph Calasantius’ example –his principles– when it comes to Education, this has a surname: Christian education.
So, when I think of Christian Education, I think of this way of live I want to devote myself to. Because, to me, education is not simply what happens within a classroom, or a school, it definitely goes beyond. We Piarists pronounce our vows to become lighthouses ourselves to those who, in the midst of a horrible storm, look up for some hope. We Piarists choose to be coherent with what we preach to believe. We Piarists educate all the time and by all means. And this seems overpowering to me as I type it, as much as I could flee away from here because I don’t think any men is capable of such enterprise. However, I trust in He Who called us and has pronounced his holy name upon us. He who has crafted each heart and may comprehend all its actions. Thus, when I think of Christian Education, I also look up for help and know his blissful Spirit is working with me inside out.
Bearing that in mind, I have been changing my heart lately by expanding it, making it more sensitive to those who come to us, attend our schools and parishes, work in our projects, believe in our dream and let themselves impregnate of this love, this joy, this peace we have when we do what we do. By sharing time and space –experiences– with them, I have come to understand not only that my place is here, that God’s calling makes sense after all in my life; but also, that hearts can be moved, minds can be opened, lives can be changed by the power of love. That crazy dream drove Calasanz to create such a wonderful work, and it keeps thrusting many people around the globe with one goal in their hearts: the reform of society. I want to devote myself to that, too; not just for a little while, but forever on. That is why I’m asking this ministry of Christian Education.