School is in

We never stop learning.  This may be an often spoken adage, but it is true nevertheless.  

As I reflect on the last two Sundays, Luke, in his gospel, has been taking us back to school, inviting us to eneter the School of Mission and the School of Love.  In both schools, Luke shows himself to be the gifted head teacher.  Yes, as we listen to his gospel stories, we could say that we have heard them so many times.  So why do we hear them again?  Okay, but then ask why we have not perfected them in practice.  Fact is that we still don't get it.  Just reflect on our lives.  After 2000 years, we still need to listen and learn.  We still need to go to school.  Will we ever learn?  

Luke's lesson objectives seem simple.

1)  The Kingdom of God is here and now  So we keep on the mission.  Success or failure, it does not matter.  We are energised, motivated by the reality that God is with us and that a full life is God's will for all.  This is Good News.  

2)  God is love.  God created us out of love.  We are loved by God.  This love is for all to live and enjoy.  God's love has no boundaries.  We share it freely and without cost, remembering those most wounded and hurting in our world.  End of story! 

No matter how simple the curriculum may seem, we remain students, novices, in both fields of life.  We seem to never learn.  We keep making mistakes.  We remain entrenched in self-interest and greed.  Often we don't even try.  Why do we make it so comnplicated?  Maybe it is because we do not want to be taken where do not want to go.  Maybe we wish to guard our comfort at all cost.  Maybe we just don't care, because it is all too difficult.  

Whatever the reason, school has never stopped.  We still struggle to comprehend.  What matters most is action.  So what do we see in action?  We look around at us and our world and wonder - whatever happened?    

Thus, comprehending core learning remains ever the challenge of the Schools of Mission and Love. 

1)  The social meaning of existence.

2)  The fraternal dimension of spirituality.

3)  The inalienable dignity of each person. 

4)  The corporate nature of life, loving and accepting all our brothers and sisters.  

I think that school will be in for as long as humanity exists on earth, for we are slow learners.