Sharing in the Sacrifice of Christ
Father Shannon Collins of the Fathers of Mercy, gave a talk at the Immaculate Heart of Mary conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, June 14. The following is a summary of his talk.
"May I never boast of anything but the cross of Jesus Christ .Let no man trouble me for I bear the brand marks of Jesus Christ on my body."
These words from St. Paul to the Galatians, we might consider in this season after Pentecost and reflect back on the lighting of the large Easter candle we see on the altar during the Easter season. We put nails in that Easter candle to represent the nails Jesus bore in His body. The Paschal candle actually represents the Body of Christ. The wax of the candle represents the flesh and the blood of Christ. The wick that runs in the center represents His human soul. The flame represents His divinity.
During the Easter vigil, that candle is the only thing in church that has light. The church is in darkness, to represent the world before He came. That flame represents Lumen Christi, the Light of Christ. Light has come into this world. We hold our little candles during the Vigil. We have no light of supernatural faith, but as we light our candles, we share in the Gift of Faith; we are enlightened with the Light of Christ, which is symbolically shown as we light our candles from the Easter Candle.
The Easter candle also represents the Son-ship of Jesus Christ. During the Easter Vigil, the candle is dipped in water three times. This represents Christ going into the water when He was baptized. Christ was baptized in order to make the waters of the world holy, to give the waters a certain power to baptize, and thus to give the Son-ship of Jesus Christ to those who are baptized. We become children of God when we are baptized. As God the Father said when Jesus was baptized, "This is my beloved Son," so we too become sons of God when we are baptized.
In homeschooling, we want to help our children understand their inheritance as children of God, and to be able to understand the purpose of life. Parents need to help their children answer the question, "Why are you here" What is your purpose for being in this world?"
Dr. William Marra, who recently died but was a great supporter of homeschooling, would tell parents at homeschooling conferences, "Heaven is your end, not Harvard." Heaven is your purpose in life. We need to teach this to our children.
Christ expects us to share in His sufferings. That Easter candle has five nails driven in it, representing the five glorious wounds of Jesus Christ. Those nails are tokens of love, those nails are signs that He laid down his life for us. They remain on His risen body, evidence that the Lamb Who was slain still bears His wounds.
It gets tough to be a Catholic because we preach Christ crucified. Not only do we participate and share in His light and his Son-ship, we share in the wounds of Christ. Keep in mind that we are part of the work in sharing the wounds of Christ. As homeschoolers, we have experienced the nails, the sufferings as a Christian.
We have plenty of nails in our life and in our family. However, in those nails, you can find your glorification. The wounds that Christ has today are glorified, the medals of his great victory.
There are many nails or sufferings that you can offer up that you have as homeschoolers. You homeschooling mothers rarely have a day for yourself. Dads need to help out at home in the evening or on the weekend. They don't have an opportunity for leisure.
Other nails, sometimes, are the difficulty of keeping records, or needing to read and learn yourself about a subject you must teach, keeping only a chapter ahead. Another nail is when a baby or toddler becomes ill, and the lesson plan for the day goes out the window. Lack of support from your spouse or parents might be another nail in your homeschooling life. Another nail might be ridicule from others when they discover you are homeschooling your children.
Sometimes a nail is the pressure that homeschooling mothers put upon themselves. Sometimes details weigh down upon a mother. Sometimes moms want to be the best wife, the best spouse, and the best teacher. Sometimes homeschooling mothers have unrealistic expectations, and allow it to weigh heavily on their souls.
The nail of burnout can hit the homeschooling family. Teaching the children the same subjects year after year can be very tiring. Homeschooling moms can't just pass students on to another teacher for next year!
Some parents have nails from local parish teachers or pastors imposing certain guidelines regarding religion classes, or religion books, or attending certain classes. Often these guidelines are said to be from the Church. Remember, you are the parents and the primary educators of your children.
Though homeschooling parents often want their children to receive the sacrament of Confirmation before the kids get older, sometimes there is confrontation with the parish religious education department. Parents often believe their children need the sacrament when the children are younger. Some parents don't want their children to wait for the sacrament of Confirmation until they are a junior or senior in high school. They know that temptations are going to be present. The sacrament of Confirmation helps their children to resist temptations when they come.
There is a letter from the Vatican to an American bishop for an eleven year old girl who, along with her parents, requested the sacrament of Confirmation. Rome responded by saying that the sacraments may not be denied to those who ask for them, if they are properly disposed. This girl possessed the requirements, and any other considerations, even those contained in diocesan policy, need to be understood in subordination to the general norms of the Church concerning the reception of the sacraments. Diocesan policies must be subordinate to the universal law of holy mother Church.
Other nails for homeschooling mothers might be loneliness, a desire for more adult conversation. Some mothers have the nails of suffering because their husbands are not willing to talk when they come home from work.
However, all these nails or sufferings will be glorified like the wounds of Christ. These will be part of our glory.
Padre Pio was a priest who died in 1968, who bore the stigmata, the brand marks of the nails of Christ in his body for 50 years. This was a sign of redemption being worked out; he was a victim priest. But the stigmata is ultimately a sign of love. God chose him to be a victim priest as a sign of love. When Padre Pio said the words of consecration, he began to go through his own passion; his bleeding would increase and he sweat profusely because he experienced more fully in the passion and death of Christ.
Though Padre Pio was a victim priest, he had joy when he suffered. Christ on the cross helps us to understand that the more one sacrifices, the more one gives himself, the more joy one receives. Both pain and joy can exist in the same event.
When Christ walked the earth, he experienced some of the common sufferings of hunger, thirst, and abandonment, just to name a few. Yet He experienced the Beatific Vision in His human soul while He was going through suffering.
Every instant He was on earth, He was seeing His heavenly Father, face to face, with unbelievable joy, yet He was also suffering at the same time. Imagine that He saw His Father face to face while He was on the cross. This must have been the greatest joy imaginable. He had complete joy yet at the same time, He suffered the utter depths of sorrow, abandonment, isolation, pain, torture. He experienced both extremes, the heights of heaven and depths of suffering.
Great joys can co-exist along with unbelievable sorrow. You have great joy in your home schooling no matter how many nails of suffering are driven in the wax of your body or your soul; you have wonderful joys.
You want to form your children to give glory to God. Every day, you are forming them. Some days, you teach the religious lesson plans you want to do. You also form them by having them make sacrifices, such as washing dishes, making beds, doing housework.
You are teaching your children to read and to solve problems. You are looking over lessons and grading. You need a sense of humor and relief once in a while. Laugh at your situation once in a while.
Home schooling gives time for bonding, even though there may be family fights and tensions, but there will be spiritual growth and siblings will come to love each other more and help each other out with their studies. In the end you can say with joy, when your homeschooled children graduate, "We did it!"
Homeschooling is a beautiful accomplishment. Any resistance from educational authorities or relatives fades away. Resistance will wane and fall off.
Homeschooling is still counter- cultural and revolutionary. Homeschooling is still training our children to be children of God, it is still training our children to be what they are meant to be and to see God face to face. Remember what Dr. William Marra said, that our purpose in life is not Harvard but Heaven.
Those nails are part of your martyrdom; we shed our blood in red martyrdom; but there is white martyrdom, witnessing to Christ by pouring out self, making sacrifices of time and sacrifices of your own will by being an instrument in your child's formation. You may financially suffer with only one income, yet there will be great glory with what you have suffered.
When you look at statues or pictures of the saints, they often include the instruments of their execution. The saints are shown holding these instruments, yet they show joy, they show the beauty of the joy and suffering united. They suffered and yet received joy as a result of their suffering.
These instruments of suffering are also instruments of glory. You will have wounds and Christ will judge us by our wounds, and by our scars of self-sacrifice. Love is an act of the will.
To conclude, we share in the light of Christ, we share in His Son-ship, we share in His sufferings. If we share in these, we will share in His eternal glory. Outside the Cross, we will not find salvation. But if you do these things, you will share in His glory, eternal life in Heaven.
Content taken from the July 2003 Seton Home Study School Newsletter.