Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. // Ezekiel 18:30
As a teacher, I enjoy the buzz of anticipation before a new school year, preparing to welcome new students, wondering what the year will hold for them and me. I imagine parents have similar thoughts as they send their children back to school, entrusting them to new teachers, partners in forming their children. It’s a time of year that comes with feelings of excitement and trepidation.
I think parents and teachers feel a similar responsibility when it comes to forming the children entrusted to them. Much thought, work, and effort go into presenting truth, beauty, and goodness with love and care, desiring their academic and spiritual growth.
Years of teaching, though, has taught me that I can desire every good thing for my students, I can give them 110 percent of myself in the classroom every day, come up with the best lesson plans, encourage them, support them, and provide everything they need to succeed, but their success is not just about what I do. They must consciously receive what is given and respond. So much of a person’s success (or failure) comes down to choosing to respond to everything that has been provided.
Our Heavenly Father looks at us the same way, and He provides everything we need to grow into the Saints He created us to be—our job is to respond to that grace.
Similarly, we are not responsible for what the souls entrusted to us choose to do in response to all we provide for them. We are only responsible for providing it to the best of our abilities. Our responsibility is to have hearts open and ready to respond to the manifold graces given to us by a Father Who loves us more than we can imagine. In the end, we will be judged according to our ways, not theirs.
Sister, today, surrender to the Father those people in your life whose decisions you feel responsible for, and beg the light to know how to receive more fully the graces offered to you, right now, to become a Saint.
Sister Maria Fatima grew up in Rhode Island and entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in 2005. She holds a MA in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Sister is in her eleventh year of enlightening middle school minds and drawing hearts to Jesus while teaching religion and history. She currently resides at the motherhouse in Ann Arbor, MI, having previously taught in Texas, Florida, and Ohio. She is a contributing author to our Lent devotional All She Had.
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