EVERY CATHOLIC is a teacher and every home should be treated as a classroom wrapped with love like the way Mary and Joseph nurtured the young Jesus, a UST administrator said.
In his homily during the Eucharistic celebration for World Teachers’ Day and misa mayor for the Fiesta del Santísimo Rosario, UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, O.P. urged Catholics to lead others to the Father and to listen to them with empathy.
“Mary and Joseph were teachers, not only of knowledge, but of virtue and their classroom was their home. Jesus learned there first before meeting the teachers (in the temple). And their lesson plan was love,” Coronel said in his homily on Sunday, Oct. 5.
“We were taught to listen with a heart. During these times, what the people need most is not just information, but inspiration. Not just intelligence, but goodness of the heart.”
Coronel said the Virgin Mary responded as a teacher of humility and love when 12 year-old Christ strayed around Jerusalem and was found three days later asking teachers questions at the temple.
“Mary did not scold [Him]. She did not teach with anger [but] asked why the young Christ decided to separate from them– a question filled with love and understanding,” he said.
The secretary-general said World Teachers’ Day, which is celebrated every Oct. 5, is a reminder for everyone to show their willingness in transforming themselves as educators baptized in their words, actions and sense of companionship.
“Let us find our temple, not to show off but for us to listen. That temple could be a classroom, a chapel, a home, the parish community, wherever we allow our hearts to be taught by God with love. That is the temple where God is,” he said.
“And like Mary, even if you do not see immediate results, even if your students do not always say thank you, treasure all these things in your heart. Because teachers, parents, all of us, we are shaping lives and we are forming Christ in others.”
The National Teachers’ Month culminated on Oct. 5 with the theme, “Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession.” It was celebrated alongside the misa mayor for the feast of the University’s patroness, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary or Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario. F
