This is my body given for you. Luke 22:19
“A teacher and a mystagogue…an accompanier and educator…”
Directory for Catechesis, 113
What are we teaching those around us by living our lives? Whether we realize it or not, every one of us is sending messages to those who see us, who get glimpses of our actions and who hear us speak. I know that this is true because of comments sometimes made to me when I meet a person for the first time. I do not dress in a manner that would give people many clues that I am a person whose life is consecrated to God as a religious Sister of Mercy. That is sort of hidden, and I do not think about it when I am with another person. I am just “me being me.” But, on more than a few occasions when speaking to a “stranger,” once I would reveal that I am a “nun,” I would see a light in the stranger’s eyes as he would say, “I thought there was something ‘special’ about you.” And I guess that this is what devoting ourselves to God, above all else, is supposed to do: bring light into people’s lives, making them see that there is something ‘special’ making a difference within us – and within those we meet.
Each of us committed ourselves to doing that when we were baptized. For many of us, that may have been a commitment made by parents who gave us a running start even before we had learned to crawl. Well, it is never too late to come to a deeper realization of what a gift that was.
So, think about the message people are getting when they encounter you. How much of the Light of Christ is coming to the other when they encounter you?
I hope you accept Jesus’ invitation into a life of profound love, of mystery and deep challenge and adventure.
Here are some resources to help you deepen your commitment by first encountering God in the teaching and gifts of Jesus and then sharing who you are with the children in your lives.
Sister Loretta
