For many years l have been influenced by the writing of Joan Chittester, an American a Benedictine Sister, a modern theologian of our time. Chittester challenges our thinking as modern believers and brings a contemporary lens and interpretation of Scripture. I subscribe to a weekly reading from Chittester, as she inspires my thinking and provides nourishment to my faith. This week l have included a passage from last weeks writing, l too hope it nourishes your faith and helps you reflect on your thinking and your relationships.

The Prophetic Task

Unfortunately, the vision of Jesus the Prophet has become quite domesticated over the centuries. As life got more comfortable from generation to generation, prophecy became reduced to Christian rituals, to public “witness” of our own private spiritual lives. We learned that the good life was about saying our prayers regularly.
As time went by, the spiritual path came to be more and more about us: our salvation, our public identity, our eternal rewards, our very special, very safe institutional ministries. Gone were the grubby and the outcast around us, gone were the forgotten or forsaken. These kind, we figured, should do it for themselves. After all, we had.
Yet the truth is that in every period, the prophetic task was the same: to interpret the present in light of the Word of God so that new worlds could be envisioned and new attitudes developed that would eventually make the world a better place.

The needs of God’s people today are no less pressing, no more acceptable today than they ever were before. Destitute immigrants languish on our borders begging for help. They risk their lives, their families, and even their children to live a decent and dignified life. In the United States, (and Australia) not one state offers a two-bedroom apartment cheaply enough for families who earn a minimum wage to rent it. Which is why, of course, so many young families live in their cars these days waiting to hear a prophet’s cry in their behalf.

It is now our task, as individuals, as intentional groups, wherever we are on the social spectrum, to shine a light on their lives and to insist that others see it, too. It is the task of each of us to be their voice until they can be heard themselves. It is the individual prophet’s task, whatever we do and wherever we are, to point out their absence in society, their needs, the inequities they bear. It is our task to give them hope, to give them possibility, to help the outcasts to fit in.

But prophets are never mainstream. They hold a completely different vision of life than do most. In fact, they hold the rest of the vision of holiness, the part that seldom is taught in the same breath as charity or morality or good citizenship. They are the other half of Christianity, the forgotten half of the spirituality of the Christian world. They see what’s missing in the world around them and set out to see that the world supplies it for those who need it most. They value other ends in life than the ones toward which most of the world strains—for too much wealth, too much power, and too much distance from the dailiness of the daily.
The prophet in this day—facing a world where rugged individualism reigns and those who can’t make it on their own are easily forgotten—now must do more than simply serve. They must lead this world beyond its present divisions of race and gender, of national identity and economic class. Yes, the prophet is always out of step with the average response to pain or want or loss or oppression. They are always disturbingly different, always stirring up the consciousness of those left behind, always confronting a world that obstructs them, always on a path toward the Kingdom rather than the palace.” —from The Time Is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage (Penguin Random House), by Joan Chittister

The challenge therefore for us at Damascus are to be people who push the boundaries for the marginalised in our community and to be a people who do not accept the status quo. We are people who demand inclusion and rights for all. Using our voice and opportunities to educate to shape a world that enables all to participate and to live in a world that accepts and promotes their human dignity.

As people of faith, we celebrate and embrace each opportunity to build a better world, being open to learning and to the other enables each one of us to be models of the prophetic Jesus. The challenge for each of us is to continue to respect the dignity of all and to recognise the dignity of all people in our classrooms, in our social groups and in our society.

At Damascus, we are working with our young people to support and model how they can express their ideas, emotions and feelings in a respectful manner – one that promotes independence and self-respect. Our continued focus on social-emotional learning is designed to develop an awareness of their feelings in times of change and to explore the opportunities to learn and grow in a faith community. The same opportunities exist for us as adults; for us to stop and reflect on how we are feeling and to take the time to see if there are alternate ways for us to respond, our response in modelling for young people provides their greatest learning opportunities.

Last week the Universal Church celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. This feast celebrates Mary as the mother of Jesus, and currently, it enables us to celebrate the importance of our families. Family support and partnership in education is critical. The Holy family provides a model of family, but we celebrate and recognise the diversity of family within our community, and we pray for the blessing and challenges that family provide.

The College continues to work in partnership with our families; to redirect inappropriate behaviour and to learn from our mistakes. I want to again thank and extend my gratitude for your understanding in these confronting conversations. No doubt there are a range of needs out there within our community, and if you feel the school can provide some support, please reach out to your child’s Teacher Advisor or House Leaders

Last week the College hosted our Annual Secondary Education Experience Days for our Catholic Primary Schools. I was so impressed by the leadership of our students and staff who were excited to share their schooling experience here at Damascus. I would like to acknowledge and thank Laura Kimm for her leadership and organisation in these events, six days with over 500 hundred children visiting the College. Our student ambassadors were humble and proud showcasing their school and welcoming the Grade 5 students and their teachers. We have so much to be proud of at Damascus; our young people have a strong sense of themselves and what it means to live in community with a genuine sense of humility and trust. Let’s continue to build on this sense of humility and openness to the other.

With every blessing