"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest… for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Sometimes I wonder though… is the yoke really that easy? Is the burden that light? I actually found it incredibly challenging to teach this past year about issues related to social justice and Catholic Social Teaching when the news I would read in the morning reflected a world that was becoming increasingly ravaged by hate and violence. And how do I teach on behalf of a church that continues to see groups of people as less than, all in the name of God and Jesus Christ. Oftentimes, after a conversation with a fellow Catholic, I found myself thinking “How could we be a part of the same church, yet come to a vastly different understanding of who the God of Love is all about?” 

As I accompanied my students this year, I was continuously reminded of the incredible struggles they face as young people, as the fabric of these formative years are saturated with social media, AI, political and societal polarization, as well as a slew of global conflicts and wars. Each of these factors has contributed to what I like to call the neo-dehumanization period that seems to be growing more pervasive in the hearts and minds of not only my students but all of us as a whole. Indeed, it feels as though we have forgotten that we belong to each other- that it is the flourishing of the Other when we ourselves will flourish. It feels as though we have forgotten that the Divine dwells within each of us, and that it is the face of God we are dealing with when we are dealing with the faces of each other. It feels as though we have forgotten that when we contribute to this growing "globalization of indifference”, as Pope Francis once called it, we are indeed contributing to the degradation of one another. It seems that we have forgotten that whatever we do to the least of us, we do also to God. 

And yet…. I see the defiant, belligerent, and steadfast hope within each and every one of tmy students. I have seen it in class when I have explained the painting that hangs in my office- La Sagrada Familia- which depicts the Holy Family as a modern-day refugee family, fleeing persecution and instability to only be rejected at the stable or the border. But the readings today tell us to rejoice! Rejoice, because a meek and weak baby, riding on a donkey with his terrified parents, is coming to save us from our own destruction. I must confess that it is not my go-to reaction to rejoice in the face of terror or in the face of hatred and exclusion. It is not my go-to reaction to rejoice when I see my students and young people all over the country who are suffering with increased anxiety, depression, wondering blindly how they are to fit into a world that is putting artificial intelligence on a pedestal, leaving their human gifts behind. It is not my go-to reaction to rejoice when my students question the tangible effectiveness of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching when our political and government leaders are preaching a very different form of justice, while also invoking Christianity as their foundation. But I have found solace in the great paradox that is our faith, and that my students have taught me and shown me both in the classroom and on our service immersion trips. 

This paradox that is our faith, which depicts the God of all creation- “from sea to sea”, from heaven to earth- who comes into the world as a vulnerable baby, in a lowly stable, born to a refugee family fleeing persecution. And when it comes time for this same God of all creation to die, he is given a death sentence by the state, accused of being a criminal. He is subsequently nailed to a tree after a humiliating and excruciating journey of carrying his cross, beaten and half dead. And yet…the justice of the God of Love reigned down and humanity was restored, setting a path of liberation through new life, renewal, and a fulfilled promise of neverending mercy and compassion. Neverending mercy and compassion…and yet. How have my students shown this to me tangibly? Through the laughter and smiles they shared with those members of the L’Arche communities. It was these individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities that moved my students to see the vast and ever-expansive abilities of the human body and spirit when given the dignity to thrive in a community of love. 

My students have shown me on our annual immersion trip to Belize, through countless examples but the one that has always stood out to me was when we went to mass on the small island called Caye Kaulker, but the priest had missed the last boat to celebrate that mass. Four older women of the community proceeded to stand up without hesitation, head to the alter and lead us in a prayer service- I remember being moved to tears when one of my students pulled me aside afterwards and said “Why does the Catholic church not let women lead like this more often? Those women brought God to us tonight.” Thinking back to this moment, I can’t help but think of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s quote when thinking about the moment when all the members of the Church will be able to fully and completely participate in the Mass- he says “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides of gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the the world, humans will have discovered fire.” 

My students have shown me when they traveled to Homeboy Industries and Delores Mission in LA, to encounter the mission and the people of these communities. Hearing my students reflect on radical kinship, boundless compassion was awe-inspiring. Hearing how Fr. Brendan Busse at Delors Mission leads a station of the cross every Holy Week, where each station is at a location where someone has either been murdered, taken by ICE or assaulted, revealing yet another example of the living God who journeys with us. Hearing the stories of unimaginable fortitude from the homies and watching my students engage with the family at Homeboy Industries was awe-inspiring. And this idea of “awe” is exactly what Fr. Greg Boyle’s idea of compassion is all about when he says “Here is what we seek: A compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgement of how they carry it.” 

To be like God is to be gracious, merciful, slow to anger and great in kindness. This is the God of Love; a God who is bound to us as our Maker and as the one who loves us beyond all comprehension; A God who loves us even in the face of the worst thing we’ve done. The hatred, darkness and pain of the world has brought me to my knees, knocking the wind out of my spirit. But it is the light and the hope of my students and those who are on the margins of society that continue to give me strength- let’s look to them together, give each other the hope we need to become more whole. For we believe in a God who dwells amongst the poor, the outcast, the stranger, the refugee, and the forgotten. This is my sole objective as a teacher; to relay such an image of God to my students so that they may believe not only that they are worthy of receiving Love, but that they have the capacity to be like God to others. This is indeed the ultimate goal of our lives; to be one with each Other; to be one with God. 

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