Mater et magistra

The Church is mother and teacher, imbued and commissioned with Christ the Teacher's authority to teach. We also have other teachers as well, parents, families and friends who hand down to us the truths of faith.

In life we meet 2 kinds of teachers, whose methods are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The first teaches us of God and the Church and the faith. From them we learn the facts and figures, the people and the personalities of faith This is all good and necessary as Christianity is a historical faith, the journey of a people, Israel, chosen by God as the recipients of his favour. When the Son of God became man, eternity entered history which continues in the Church of today. We need to know all this and to understand the Word of God through the Scriptures, God's living Word to us.

The is a another kind of teacher who by their example of living the Christian faith virtuously in charity and, importantly for me, with great joy and mirth, give us living examples to emulate. We want to conform ourselves to them, to be like them, practicing the joy of Christ and the love of God in our daily actions and way of life. People are attracted to Christ by their example, charity, humility and integrity much more than all the words a preacher can preach because by encountering them, we encounter Christ through them.

I've been blessed by God to encounter ( very very very very few) teachers of the second kind which sets the standard, under Christ, for me to aspire to. We really need more people like that. Yes, I know about the saints and all that. I am familiar with the hagiographies and I do have my favourites (who hopefully hold me their favourites as well and are interceding extra hard for me in heaven =)] But these flesh and blood people we meet in the flesh, pardon the pun, seem more real somehow. It's not a dogmatic sentence, but it's my perception.

So, I wish that each one of you will meet, at some point in your lives, men and women of the 2nd kind who will inspire you to live the Gospel values in charity and mirth.