Tuesday, September 30, 2008

John 3: 27 - 30

"John answered, 'No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease."

Monday, September 29, 2008

To Know Thy Son

"When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her, 'O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'" (John 2:3-5) I was meditating on this scripture in prayer this morning, and I reflected on the appearance of contradiction between Jesus' response to Mary and her command to the servants. When I read Jesus' words to her, I am left with the impression that He does not intend to do anything about the wine. However, when Mary hears His response, she knows that He will do something about it. As I placed myself in the scene of the first miracle, I imagined Mary's face during this interaction. Whereas I sit in confusion, Mary and her Son look intently into each other's eyes and communicate more then words can express. I can see Mary's eyes blazing with truth and confidence, as she breaks eye contact with her Son, turns to the servants, and tells them to "do whatever he tells you." It is because Mary knows her Son that she is able to know that He will act. She spent many years knowing Him, studying His ways, and loving Him. She knew Him in a way that enabled her to know more about the meaning of His words then we can know by reading them. The importance of this my life lies not only in my need to better understand the way Jesus speaks to me, but also in my ability to clearly lead others to follow His will. Just as Mary knew her Son well and lead the servants in obedience to Christ, I must know Him well, and I must do so in such a way so as to lead others to follow His path.

Monday, September 8, 2008

History

Today, Benedictine begins the celebration of 150 years of Benedictine education in Atchison, KS. As I sat listening to the homily at the all school mass this morning, I heard a story that has become familiar to me in my time here at BC. The story is that of how our school has reached this year of celebration. However, today when I heard this story, it lead me to a new realization. I sat there taking in the words of the difficulties faced throughout the journey and somewhere inside me I sensed a growing sense of obligation to those who have gone before me. It is so easy to look at Benedictine in all its goodness and ignore the hardship that went into it becoming this place I love. There have been countless times in the story that is Benedictine that men and women gone before have had to fight hard to see our vision lived. I now have sense obligation to those men and women. I believe that we owe it to them to continue promoting and valuing the Benedictine they dedicated their lives to building. This is our history. This is who we are. This is what we have to maintain.