I remember my grandma telling me when our oldest son was born that our greatest responsibility was to raise him to be holy and to ask for the grace to help him get to heaven, writes Sheri Wohlfert in the latest edition of FAITH Magazine, the official publication of the Diocese of Lansing, which is dedicated to Catholic schools. This week is also Catholic Schools Week! Sheri, pictured above, is a Catholic wife, mom, grandma, speaker, writer, parishioner and erstwhile teacher at Saint Mary in Westphalia. Sheri continues: Sending our kids to Catholic schools was one of the things we did to set him on a path toward holiness. Catholic Schools Week is in January each year, so it’s the perfect time to highlight some of the fruits of Catholic education in our journey to raise saints.
The center: Fostering a relationship with Jesus and learning to live the Gospel is at the center of everything! As students grow in their knowledge of Jesus, they learn to imitate his actions and put his teachings into practice. Amid conflict, discipline, relationships, and challenges, students are taught to seek the love and truth of Jesus to form behavior, attitudes, and actions.
Two big ones: Sacraments and prayer are intertwined in daily life. Attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist often is what many saints call the “recipe for heaven,” and many Catholic school students have this opportunity each week. When sacraments are added to intentional prayer pauses throughout the day, students are able to form habits of prayerfulness and faithfulness that will serve them well throughout their lives.
The missing link: The messages our culture sends aren’t always designed to help us grow in holiness, but a Catholic education steeped in the virtues is the antidote to those mixed messages. The Gospel lays out the virtues and Catholic classrooms bring them to life. Learning discussions, activities, and accountability for living the virtues are the foundations for great discipleship. An early emphasis on honesty, humility, generosity, temperance, and patience, to list a few, can change lives. Faith instead of fear, humility instead of boasting, and sharing and contentment instead of greed are Gospel-based swaps that make saints.
Community: Being a part of a Catholic school, students learn they’re part of the Body of Christ. As St. Paul reminds us, every part of the Body has different gifts. (see 1 Cor 12:4-11) Catholic school classrooms are beautiful places to celebrate all the ways God has created us differently and perfectly, and that despite our differences, we’re all one in the Lord. Rooted in this sense of connectedness to all the other members of the Body, Catholic schools form students to help those who are suffering through outreach and service, drawing students into solidarity with the broader community beyond the walls of their school.
Lasting gifts: Words such as “mercy,” “grace,” and “forgiveness” are spoken and practiced daily. Students are given the gift of truth — God’s truth rooted in Scripture. Students are taught to find their value and their motivation by turning to their Creator, not the world. And the greatest gift of all, in a world that treasures busyness and independence, students in a Catholic school classroom are taught to pause with the Lord to be still and to know he invites us to be dependent on him for everything we need.
* Do you want a Catholic education for your child or grandchild? Find out more, here: https://dolcatholicschools.org/