"Francis, rebuild my Church."

I almost always have a book with me. Whether it’s my NT or one of my favorite authors’ books, I have something to read with me. I hate waiting in lines, eating lunch without something to do, or being stuck somewhere by yourself.

Yesterday, I was sitting in my doctor’s office (more on that later) reading Maria Montessori’s “The Montessori Method.” I don’t usually read random books on scientific pedagogy, but I have a special interest in the writings of Maria Montessori. In addition to the fact that my alma mater (Xavier University) was the first university in the United States to establish a degree in Montessori education, and that I took some classes there pertaining to Montessori’s methods, my son, Sam, now attends Dater Montessori Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Here is a brief explanation of The Montessori Method from The International Montessori Index:

Montessori emphasizes learning through all five senses, not just through listening, watching, or reading. Children in Montessori classes learn at their own, individual pace and according to their own choice of activities from hundreds of possibilities. Learning is an exciting process of discovery, leading to concentration, motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning. Montessori classes place children in three-year age groups (3-6, 6-9, 9-12, and so on), forming communities in which the older children spontaneously share their knowledge with the younger ones. Montessori represents an entirely different approach to education.

The results are astounding. I love what that school is doing for its students, specifically for Sam. I will, without a doubt, be discussing his education from time to time on this blog.

In the chapter which she sets up her reason for doing all of her research, she relates the story of St. Francis of Assisi quite well to how the important the people doing the heavy-lifting are in the grand scheme of a task. In this paragraph, she is talking specifically of the achievements and failures in trying to find the write way to educate humans:

Every great cause is born from repeated failures and from imperfect achievements. When St. Francis of Assisi saw his Lord in a vision, and received from the Divine lips the command–"Francis, rebuild my Church!"–he believed that the Master spoke of the little church within which he knelt at that moment. And he immediately set about the task, carrying upon his shoulders the stones with which he meant to rebuild the fallen walls. It was not until later that he became aware of the fact that his mission was to renew the Catholic Church through the spirit of poverty. But the St. Francis who so ingenuously carried the stones, and the great reformer who so miraculously led the people to a triumph of the spirit, are one and the same person in different stages of development. So we, who work toward one great end, are members of one and the same body; and those who come after us will reach the goal only because there were those who believed and labored before them. And, like St. Francis, we have believed that by carrying the hard and barren stones of the experimental laboratory to the old and crumbling walls of the school, we might rebuild it. We have looked upon the aids offered by the materialistic and mechanical sciences with the same hopefulness with which St. Francis looked upon the squares of granite, which he must carry upon his shoulders.

Many of us work in jobs that seem, to us, inconsequential. We feel like all we do is “build the walls” while others “build the church.” I, for one, would much rather be building the church than underwriting insurance. However, at the same time, I begin to realize that, in the grand scheme of things, my job is vital to the success of so many individuals and businesses:

• My family
• My boss
• Her boss
• My employer
• All of the employees of my employer
• All of the stockholders of my employer
• The insureds who depend on coverage to be there when they need it
• My agencies
• The employees of my agencies
• The children of all of the above

So, just when I start to think that all I do is push paper, all I need do is remember that what I do is vital to the lives of so many. I don’t seek to aggrandize what I do, but it helps me to remember that my cog in the wheel is just as important as any other.