So 11 of my 14 students came back for class after Confirmation! I’m pretty happy with that because it is a typical weekly absentee rate. We had a good discussion about their Confirmation (once they got past saying “It was too long!”) and an especially good discussion about their service experiences.
There are so many highs and lows during any given class. On the one hand, 11 students returned. On the other hand, only 4 brought their books. On the one hand, we had a great discussion about their service experience. On the other hand, as we were reviewing later, one group of boys could not name the Ten Commandments. On the one hand, we had a beautiful prayer experience with the lights down and only a candle giving off light. On the other hand, the final seconds of the prayer were marred by an unwelcome gastro-intestinal sound from one of the boys. What a roller coaster!
I’ve learned over the years, to not let the bad moments negate the good. The good moments are just as real as the bad moments. I deal with the bad moments by isolating them from the good moments. It’s like the Gospel story of the weeds and the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30) where the Master says that we must allow them to grow together until the harvest lest we uproot the wheat with the weeds. As catechists, we need to harvest everything, collect the weeds (bad moments) and bundle them for burning, and gather the wheat (good moments) into the Master’s barn!
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