Franciscan at Home

God’s Work in Small Moments

As a teacher, the most rewarding thing to witness is the moment when a student “gets it.” It is these small moments, usually few and far between, that makes it all worth it. These moments are even more memorable when they come from a student that you would least expect, or a student who struggles in your class.

One of my freshman students, “Maggie,” was one of those students I couldn’t quite figure out right away. She would participate every once in awhile and seemed knowledgeable with the content but was mostly withdrawn and failed to turn in the majority of her work. The pieces didn’t quite fit together.

In February, I began a new unit and took my students to the chapel instead of the classroom. As a teacher I think it’s important to show my students a variety of ways that we can pray. So, throughout the course I’ll introduce them to meditative prayer, the Rosary, etc. On this day, I decided to do Lectio Divina with my students. I had them enter the chapel quietly, with only pen and paper in hand. They were instructed to spread themselves out so they could take the exercise seriously. I introduced what Lectio Divina is and began walking my students through it. The passage I chose was the prologue from John’s Gospel that begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Do You Believe in Me or Not?

When I was a student teacher of Grade 12 Philosophy Religion and Grade 11 World Religions classes, I felt inspired to have the students in both classes do an assignment that would involve them spending time before the Blessed Sacrament. The emphasis for the Philosophy class was more on whether or not they can know God exists, as we were covering St. Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs for the Existence of God at the time. For the World Religions class, the emphasis was more on communicating with God, as we were covering meditation. The students then had to journal everyday, indicating what they thought about the exercise and what their experiences were. I emphasized the fact that I wanted them to be honest with me and not just tell me what I wanted to hear.

I have to admit that I was reluctant at first to have the students do this assignment, because I was afraid that if nothing happened it would just confirm their doubts about God’s existence or that he is a personal God who cares about them. I suddenly felt God nudge me with this very gentle rebuke, “Do you really believe I am present in the Eucharist or not?”

Remember Your Death

I have a pretty realistic looking human skull on my desk, positioned to face my high school students. It’s constantly “looking” at them. I acquired the skull years ago from an old classroom closet and placed it on my desk. Students immediately started to notice the skull and asked, “Mr. Bitting, why do you have a skull on your desk?” I responded with Sirach 7:36, “In whatever you do, remember your last days, and you will never sin.” I also tell them about the Latin phrase memento mori (remember your death) and show them images of saints depicted with skulls on their desks as a reminder of death and motivation to avoid sin. Even students who are not in my class stop by to ask me about it.

One feature that I like is the removable top portion of the skull. I placed a sticky note with ‘Sirach 7:36’ on the inside of the skull top so I could remove the top and show the verse to inquiring students. The skull has the accurate dimensions of an adult human skull but was bleached and had markings on it from previous teachers. The unnatural color bothered one student in particular, who I’ll call Alex.

Prior to having Alex in my class for his junior year, I had been warned about him. He had spent most of his freshman and sophomore years trying to shock as many students and faculty as possible with his love of heavy metal, violence, satanic images, and affinity for atheism. Our Lord brought Alex to the front of my mind often, and each time I would intentionally pray for him. Shortly after Alex became one of my students, I found out that he had a hobby of creating masks, the kind one typically sees in horror movies or worn by heavy metal bands. One day Alex asked me if he could paint the skull. I said yes but under two conditions: 1) I wanted it to look as realistic as possible, as if it had just been exhumed, not scary like a Halloween decoration and 2) he had to paint the verse Sirach 7:36 on the inside of the skull top. He agreed and took the skull home over Christmas break. When we returned from break in January, he brought me the skull. It looked amazing! Even more students now noticed the skull and asked about it, giving me the opportunity to catechize them about death, sin, and our hope of resurrection in Christ. I praised Alex for the good use of his talents and drew positive attention to him, as I told others that he did the painting, including the Scripture verse. He was proud of his work and seemed to appreciate the compliments he received from other students, even more than the typical shock he normally evoked from them.

What is holiness? In our lead article, Dr. John Cavadini describes holiness as the Second Vatican Council did, as “the perfection of love.”[1]

Love is an act of the will that seeks the highest good of the other. It is not a feeling, or an emotion, and certainly is not about self-satisfaction. It is a choice to join our will to the will of God, and sometimes this demands that we totally step back and let God do the work. The choice to love God cannot be coerced or be based in deceit, guilt, or shame. For my wife, coming to love Christ and his Church was a journey of love that could not be forced. It took time, patience, faithful catechesis, and most of all, a love that respected freedom.

It is truly amazing what God can do when you focus on him. Lately, I have been reflecting on the “Smith” family, who came to our parish after beginning the RCIA process at two other parishes. When they came to our parish, I met with them to see how we could help.

I was amazed at their story and how much they desired to become Catholic! Mr. Smith shared with me how he was formally a leader in the Church of Christ and had begun to study Catholicism to prove it was wrong. His intentions may have been misdirected, yet even this was a response to God’s grace. His studies took a different turn: they led him to see how the Catholic Church was the one true Church. Once he realized this, he told his wife that he wanted to convert to Catholicism. She told him that if he converted it would “wreck” their marriage. He decided to pray and continue to study on his own, trusting that if God led him to this conclusion he would also provide a way for him to become Catholic and keep his family intact.

As a confirmation facilitator, it feels like a “rescue mission” trying to re-ignite faith, hope, and charity in souls that are growing cold and are in need of conversion. The young people I serve do not always benefit from the witness of fervent or healthy families. Parents sometimes value their child’s résumé over their religious formation. Many things, like sports, compete with time for God on the weekend. The result is an attitude that religious formation is more of a burden than a blessing. I often assume that those who come to be catechized do not want to be there.

I’m trying to learn how to depend on the Holy Spirit and be attentive to the diverse needs of those being catechized without being disheartened or overwhelmed. Somehow the catechesis I provide must be a means for a young person to discover Jesus and come to follow Him, perhaps for the first time. Last year as I served a group of thirty students, composed of both public and Catholic school students, it was intimidating to say the least. We began the year with Alpha, a program based on video presentations and small group discussion. For the first few months, I came to know only a fraction of the confirmation students, those who were assigned to my table. I wondered how I could establish a relationship of trust and openness with the other students.

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Paul’s Search for God
Saint Augustine famously wrote, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Late have I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you” (The Confessions, Book X). This statement marvelously summarizes the sublime mystery of God’s action in a person’s conversion. Augustine recognizes that his search for God was a return to the self; an interior restoration of self. Augustine also indicates here that God dwelt within him, waiting to perform his salvific and regenerative act. What was he waiting on?

In St. Augustine’s conversion, there were many circumstances and people that led him to faith in Jesus Christ. This also holds true in our journey to the Lord. In my brief experience as a catechist, I have witnessed conversions in the people I encounter and in each of these circumstances, a person—primarily a catechist – has been involved. This is not to claim the conversion is brought about by the catechist. It is not the catechist who brings about conversion but rather it is the Holy Spirit, at work within the charism of the catechist that brings about the conversion.

One such instance involves a man that I worked with named “Paul.” Paul possessed a gentleness of spirit and a sincere kindness that is uncommon. Paul was baptized and received his first Communion as a child, but his parents failed to instill in him a vibrant faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. Thus, as he grew and aged, he began to wander considerably from the path of the baptized. Eventually, he married, had children, and then divorced his wife without obtaining an annulment. He later remarried to a Catholic woman in a similar situation. In all this, Paul considered himself a good person. But, there came a point in his life when he realized something was missing.

Victory Over Death and Darkness

Ten years ago I woke up from a medical coma in Billings, Montana.

Five days earlier, while I was working at a Catholic ranch for delinquent youth in northwest Wyoming, I was nearly killed. One night, while we were camping out at a site in the middle of the Wyoming high desert, in an attempt to steal the keys to a truck so they could escape from the ranch, four teenage boys waited until I fell asleep. I was in a sleeping bag under the stars. They snuck out of their tent and picked up irrigation shovels nearby. Their goal was to knock me out so they could easily steal the keys. They gathered around me, counted to 3, and then repeatedly pummeled my head—about 8-10 hits—causing a skull fracture and blood clot on my brain. One boy, not involved in the assault, ran to the staff house to get help.

Help arrived. I was airlifted to Billings. The following morning I had head surgery—a 3-inch by 3-inch piece of skull was removed (to be replaced 5 months later)—to address the bleeding on my brain and swelling. Had this boy not ran, I would have bled to death that night.

He saved my life.