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-check out this week's LinC Letter at www.parishlincletter.blogspot.com
-I will be celebrating mass at 8am and 6pm on Sunday
Pop Quiz
Remember the thing called a "pop quiz" back in high school? You walk into the classroom and the teacher says "take out a piece of paper for a pop quiz." Ugh. The pop quiz is very different from a midterm or final exam. The exam is scheduled, explicit in its subjects, and the professor often provided study guides even. An exam measures the ability of the student to become familiar with a certain material (called "cramming") and to regurgitate it according to the professors requirements.
Not so, the "pop quiz" you may say. The pop quiz, we may complain, cannot be prepared for. However, that is a delusion. If we think about it the preparation for the pop quiz really is known, assigned, published and explicit. It is called homework. In fact, the pop quiz is a better measure of the quality of a student/learner than the exam. The pop quiz reveals whether or not the student is living a learning and obedient life, daily doing the reading and the assigned homework.
The Lord in the Gospel today is presenting us with two styles of discipleship( A certain type of student). On the first hand, those who are not concerned about doing the daily and diligent work of study being only concerned about the final exam/personal judgment and hoping to succeed in impressing the great master. In the second case, the style of discipleship which is regular and constant, obedience, steady, authentic learner.
Remember the kid in school who, during a passionate rant by the teacher, puts his hand up and asks (much to the teachers chagrin) "is this going to be on the test?"
Which type of disciple shall you be? The one counting on cramming for the exam or the one always prepared for the quiz-so it doesn't pop?
2 comments:
I appreciate the direction you're going, I think people will relate well and be able to grow in it. You prompted me to recall how I was unknowingly taught to learn ... Top grades were important, we got silver dollars for A's ... A's were winners, no matter (in my mind) how they were obtained. I was a top student because I was diligent with my homework, my success was all about me and my A's and cash, not about learning or remembering or growing. My class rank was all about being on the top of the heap, and I didn't realize how this unsuspected andd unrealized drive remains and grows and develops (think mold!).
Then I became acquainted with a woman who is a teacher and shared in her everyday life with her family a hunger and thirst and curiosity of learning. No tests here as much as cultivating growth through fun and questions and obaervations and thinking and curiosity ... The simple joy of learning ... Why are leaves green? Why is the sun here in the morning, there at night? I had never been exposed to the gift and adventure or enjoyment of thinking and learning. Blessed be God in this woman who shared the love of learning with me and shares it with her developmentally delayed students in Parma schools. What an incredible and wonderful way to share God's Love in the marketplace!
My sister and I were always good students - and my 2 brothers were not. We loved school, they hated school. Not surprisingly, our grades were good, theirs were not. One time my father was so frustrated that he said to one of my brothers, "Look at these great grades your sister gets and you are barely passing!" My brother's response - trying to be funny - "Well if I studied as hard as she did it would be easy for me too - doing it this way is more of a challenge!"
Long since those childhood and adolescent years, both brothers have changed their tune. Both went on to obtain Masters degrees, both were very hard workers in their jobs. It was a type of immaturity that had a grip on them in those early days.
I think "mature discipleship" is exactly what the Matador was reflecting on in this particular homily prep. A mature disciple is one who would treat everyday as significant in following Jesus - every decision matters, every act of kindness matters, every effort matters. We can't put it off until tomorrow. For one thing, we don't know if tomorrow will come. And perhaps even more importantly, Jesus simply counts on us today.
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