Lessons from the ninth grade…

Jesus + defines love

I teach a faith formation class to ninth grade high school students.  I find ninth graders fascinating.  These children are on the brink of adulthood.  You can see their minds racing, grasping for answers, and asking questions.  Over the course of the academic year, we explore the basics of Christian faith following the Nicene Creed.  And when we talk about God, we talk about love.  And so I pose the question to them, “What is Love?”

At the center of my book, The Sunday Monday Paradox, I remind the reader what love is.  The word has been taken away from us, redefined, misused, overused and dissolved so that it means everything and nothing at all.

But if we re-explore love, we find at its heart of love lies three values – charity, humility and forgiveness.

So when we say that God is love, we say that God is charity, humility, and forgiveness.  And when He tells us that He created us in His image, He tells us that He created us to put the needs of others before our own (Charity), He tells us to value the works and ideas of others (Humility) and He tells us to keep on putting their needs before our own and recognizing their dignity even when, nay, especially when they fail to do so for us (Forgiveness).

Jesus + died on the Cross to show us the meaning of love once, for all time, and for every one.  As I tell my ninth graders, He did not allow Himself to be crucified for a warm and fuzzy romantic feeling.

For my ninth graders, particularly the girls, I put them in the context of the statement.  When a boy tells her that he loves her, challenge the words.  Will he put her needs before his?  Does he recognize her dignity?  Does he forgive? 

If this world makes you weary and you feel you’re swimming upstream, how have you defined love?  Because the way you define love defines how you live your life.  Re-examine your definition of love.  Does it align with what Jesus taught us?  The closer it does, the lighter our burden.

In Him