"As Jesus is present in the Eucharist," Pope Francis said to the Jesuit community he visited in Ireland this past August, "so in discernment the Holy Spirit is present." The spirit acts in us and prompted by the Spirit we become engaged in doing and go where the Spirit leads - and often we will find ourselves heading in a new direction then what we had planned. Last week, inspired by the words on the marquee at the church across the street from school having to do with listening to the Spirit, I used the book Windblown for the 7th grade for their faith reflection time. It turned out to be good timing because the colors and shapes in the story matched to the color and design of the napkins that Lila had chosen to pass out the treats she brought for her birthday. On one hand it wouldn't have mattered if what I picked for their reflection didn't match the colors Lila had picked but it was nice that the story paired nicely; all from listening to the Spirit and making a small decision based on that.
Given the Lila connection I picked her essay for this week. It turned out to be very fitting. She doesn't mention the Spirit outright, but as she talks about being open to new ideas and not being hesitant to sharing them, she's essentially talking about being led by the Spirit. When she tells us about something she loves and couldn't imagine being without, and then is concerned others may be without these same things, that is discernment and the Spirit working in our 7th grader.
Radical Community Care
by Lila
Some people may be wondering what "Radical Community Care" is. The way I look at it it's a crazy or new and exciting way to help out our community. It shows that we care to do more than the same old community services. Although the old ones are old, it doesn't mean they are bad, it is just more exciting with new and fresh ideas. We all have crazy ideas in our heads, but we don't all want to share them. Not me. I have a few crazy ideas and I am not hesitant to share them.
One of those crazy ideas I have is that our community could run a clothing drive for all homeless people in the community. We could do a drive for the whole year and than at the end of the year have a big giveaway to all the homeless. This could help our community by helping a big portion of our community - the homeless. This would not only help the homeless but also fill them with joy and happiness. This also not only helps the homeless, but it helps us to care for others, not just ourselves.
Many other ideas can be considered "radical," but this idea stood out to me the most. I feel it might help a large portion of the community because a lot of people are homeless and maybe don't have much clothing. I love my clothing and I couldn't imagine having none, so I don't want the homeless to go without clothing either. I hope that people feel the same way as me and go radical!
Windblown by Edouard Manceau is a children's book where the same shapes became a different animal on each page as the wind blows the shapes around. This is what we used last week for their faith reflection instead of a video. Some of the 7th grade thoughts were: "The wind may symbolize God creating everyone uniquely, but in his image at the same time"; "God never makes a mistake. He gives us a path for a reason. It may not be the way we want it to be, but God has even greater plans for us"; "I thought that the Holy Spirit BLOWS us to many unique ways and PUSHES us closer to God!"; "The wind is like God. He blows and shapes us and our actions to be a better person"; "I see the faith in this story because the wind is like the Holy Spirit and the wind is changing the paper, like the Holy Spirit changes us."
Thank you.
Mrs. Alhadef