March 14/Third Tuesday of Lent
Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. ~ Ps 25.4-5
Long after we’ve forgotten how to solve a quadratic equation or conjugate a Latin verb, we will remember the energetic young math teacher who brought algebra alive, or the sturdy Latin magistra whose “Supah good!” gave us heart as we tackled Virgil’s Aeneid. Good teachers are effective not only because they convey enthusiasm for their subjects, but also for their objects, that is, their students. How many of us can recall the kind and energetic 2nd-grade teacher who read Mr. Popper’s Penguins aloud to us on Friday afternoons, or the demanding AP English teacher whose high standards drove us crazy, but made us better? It is such a privilege to place ourselves in the hands of – or perhaps more appropriately at the feet of – such dedicated teachers. In today’s psalm we encounter the most gifted teacher of all, the Lord God, who like the best earthly teachers is filled with love for his subject matter (creation) and for his students (his creatures). We will not emerge from God’s classroom knowing the causes of the Peloponnesian War, or the difference between a covalent and an ionic bond. But we will learn what is most important: the ways and the paths of God. As German theologian and priest Romano Guardini wrote, “None of the great things in human life springs from the intellect; every one of them issues from the heart and its love.” It is in the divine classroom that we are schooled in the love of God, and having learned those lessons, we share them with the world.
God, Through and in prayer, teach me your love. Amen.
To hear the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, sing “Come Down, O Love Divine,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APvO08xjJR4
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031423.cfm
