by Sr. Regina Marie,
School Sisters of Christ the King
“Is there anything we can help you with?” This is a question I am often asked by my fifth-grade students. Recently, my class had an indoor recess and two girls came over asking this question.
What I really needed done was to have 75 new pencils sharpened! Honestly, I thought the girls might take back their offer when they heard of this potential job, but instead the girls took the bucket of pencils, asked if they could get another pencil sharpener from another classroom, and set about sharpening every one of those pencils during their recess time.
In my 12 years of teaching, I have taught second, third and fifth grades. People often ask me which of those grades was my favorite to teach and, although I enjoyed them all while I was teaching them, I feel as though I have found my niche in teaching fifth grade.
Fifth-graders have a beautiful, child-like wonder and are still enthusiastic and creative learners. They are old enough to be independent and are willing to take on new challenges. They are also maturing into noticing the needs of others and not just focusing on their own needs all the time.
The two girls who offered to spend their recess helping me, noticed that preparations for our upcoming parish Confirmation retreat had left me a bit frazzled and they responded by offering to help. It is beautiful to be a witness to this generosity in our diocesan schools—it is not the exception, it is a normal part of the culture of our schools!
As we near Holy Week and I spend time in the liturgy and in my personal prayer, meditating more on the Way of the Cross and Jesus’ Passion, I often find myself drawn to the example of Simon and Veronica. Although the circumstances of their situations were very different, both Simon and Veronica responded to Jesus’ need. Simon stepped in to help reluctantly, but it seems that his heart must have been changed while he labored under the cross with Jesus. Veronica stepped out of the crowd courageously to try to console Jesus in his suffering, and I am sure that she must have consoled both Jesus’ physical and interior suffering by her love and generosity.
We are all called to be “Simons” and “Veronicas” for others in times of suffering and difficulty. As much as I try to instill this way of living in my students, I find that often they are better teachers than I am in this area.
My heart was deeply touched recently as I was cleaning up my classroom after the students left for the day. As I passed by the desk of a student who had been absent, I stopped to organize the papers left on her desk and became curious when I noticed a few handwritten notes and colorful cards left there. The student who had been absent was away from school due to a death in her family, and a number of the other girls in the class had spent their free time during the day making her sympathy cards. What a beautiful sign of God’s love!
Opportunities to be a helper and friend to those who are suffering under their own crosses come into our lives often each day, yet it is so easy to miss them! Perhaps as we enter into Holy Week, we can ask for our guardian angel’s help to see those around us who need someone to show them love in the midst of their suffering. Even something as small as a handwritten note or offering to sharpen pencils for someone who is stressed may be the perfect way to allow Jesus to speak His love into the life of someone around you.
