Christ invites us to
open the 'door of faith'

Msgr. Louis Kihneman, III is Vicar General of the Diocese of Corpus Christi and pastor of St. Philip, the Apostle Parish.

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Marie, an eight-year-old child in second grade, was from a family who had no church affiliation. She and her older sister Angelica were loved and provided for by their parents, Roberto and Letty, who both worked. The family did not talk about God or church much, but somehow both Marie and Angelica knew there was something more. Then one day, Marie found herself enrolled at Sacred Heart School in Rockport and everything began to change.

It was the Word and prayer that began the change for Marie. She found herself looking forward to the daily Bible reading and Morning Prayer broadcast live to her classroom. As the days and weeks went by, something began to stir in her that she had not experienced in her other school. She did not know what was happening at the beginning, but she knew she wanted more.

Calling on Christ is what Marie's teacher did each day in her classroom. It had a powerful effect on Marie. She began to understand that the something special that she was experiencing had a name. With great enthusiasm Marie would run home and tell her parents and her sister about the stories she had heard about Jesus and how he loved them and how she could not wait for the next school day to hear more.

Marie found the Gospel stories drawing her in as she listened to her teacher. She felt excited and wanted to know more about God and asked a lot of questions at school and at home. Then one day the pastor of Sacred Heart parish and school came to visit her family in their home. He blessed their home and spoke about the life giving water of Baptism and God's love for them. Her heart seemed full as he spoke and she began to feel a call to be baptized in God's love.

When Marie's teacher heard that she was asking about Baptism, she was overjoyed. With her parents' permission, Marie entered the R.C.I.A. for children with a deep desire to learn more about Christ and his Church and a special desire to learn how to pray. Her teacher walked hand-in-hand with Marie every step of the way. Soon after Marie took this step in faith, her family began to attend Sunday Mass regularly.

With her teacher as her sponsor and her family present to witness her full initiation in the Catholic faith, Marie was literally glowing as she was baptized and confirmed during the Holy Saturday Mass. She seemed to take special joy in receiving Jesus for the first time in the Holy Eucharist during the Easter Vigil. Marie's journey of faith touched her family so deeply that the very next year, Roberto, Letty and Angelica entered the R.C.I.A. and were received into full communion with the Church. Marie could not stop smiling, nor could her teacher and their pastor.

"The 'door of faith' (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church," Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his Apostolic Letter, "Porta Fidei". These words call all of our Catholic schools to be a "door of faith" in which our students and their families, our faculties and staffs, and our parishes are invited into relationship and communion with God and His Church.

This door into communion is opened when "the Word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace." As the school day begins, the Word of God and God's transforming grace are present. This means that it is critical for us to begin our school day with prayer and the Word of God. It sets the tone for the day, but not only that, it is really another step in the journey through the door of faith.

Thus, prayer and the Word of God need to pervade the entire school day. It can be as simple as reading one of the daily readings from daily Mass or the Sunday Gospel or taking a Scripture phrase from the reading that can be remembered throughout the school day. This can be done before or during each class or at lunchtime, and especially at the end of the school day so it can be taken home. The Scripture of the day or Sunday Gospel can help transform each school day into a day of the Word and God's grace poured forth.

To enter the door of faith means that we as ministers, educators, students, families and parishes are open to encountering Christ and his Church. As we open the door of faith, we immediately hear Jesus say to us, "A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (Jn 13:34-35)

With these words, Jesus exhorts us as ministers, educators, students, families and parishes to live in a new way, to live in and through and with God's love so that we are signs of God's love and the "Word made flesh."

Imagine each of our Catholic schools and your school, in particular, being a center in which God's love is freely expressed. Thus, building relationships with one another in our Catholic schools is basic to answering Christ's call to love one another. It sounds simple, but the true challenge is in practice. To live in the love of Christ takes a conscious effort. Each day, from the moment we first see our face in the mirror in the morning to the last person we greet at the end of the day.

Consciously recognizing Christ in each of our personal encounters, school meetings and especially in our classrooms, is at the heart of what it means to open the door of faith and is a transforming moment. Asking Jesus Christ by name to be present with us in every school meeting, parent-teacher session, classroom moment, etc., fulfills his invitation to us "for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst (Mt. 18:20)."

Not only are we not alone, but Christ also lives in us and invites us to open the "door of faith" into his love and communion.

Seeing our Catholic schools as "the home and the school of communion" requires at the very least a conscious decision by all involved and quite possibly a change in vision. It is not enough for us to presume that our schools are "doors of faith" if we ourselves have not made the personal and school commitment to make the Word and prayer an integral part of our school day.

As we come to see that education is not just about books, but an acceptance of the other--our students, faculty, staff and their families--in the love of Christ. Being willing to meet our school families in their lived experience means that we need to be open to reach out to them beyond the school to where they live.

Home visits and house blessings are proven methods in the effort to "open the door of faith." When done in conjunction with the parish priest or school chaplain, these home visits enable the "door of faith" to open wide. The kind of relationship that can be formed with this type of personal contact is a powerful call to communion.

Our visible relationship with God and our willingness to share our faith journey are what enable us to be evangelizers, and therefore "missionary disciples." If we really want to be "the home and the school of communion," we must invest ourselves wholeheartedly in the lives of our students, faculty and staff and­as we are able­in the lives of their families.