Falling in Love with God
- vcroth
- Jun 8
- 2 min read
Patricia Cook
Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.
~Attributed to Pedro Arrupe, SJ
In Life on the Vine: The Joyful Journey Continues, Rebekah Rojcewicz uses this familiar poem to introduce a chapter on "Moral Life in the Kingdom of God." She writes about observing children as they become familiar with God and attracted to Him. Sofia Cavaletti said that morality emerges from love. I suggest we use this poem to guide a reflection on our work in the atrium this year and how attracted we are to God through it.
As catechists, we spend much time building and maintaining the materials and works in the atrium, preparing and practicing our presentations, and browsing websites and blogs to better understand Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as a method of faith formation.
I would like, however, to look beyond those tasks and pause to remember how we initially felt about CGS formation. Was Catechesis of the Good Shepherd received as a gift? One that we truly “fell in love with” and that we continue to view as such? Only then can we share it as a gift with the children.
Do we have Wonder and Awe, a gift of the Holy Spirit, visible as we work in the atrium and converse with parents and pastors about CGS? If so, have we nurtured the children’s ability to “fall in love” with God through their work in the atrium? Both questions deserve prayerful reflection.
Summer gives us an opportunity to retreat from the weekly tasks of the atrium and find answers to these questions. It also provides time for us to very practically refresh ourselves with the people in our lives and in the places where we find respite from the busyness of the parish. Then, with renewed energy of body, mind, and spirit, we can begin the work needed to open the doors of the atrium next Fall.
As the Pentecost candles are put away and the children are nearing summer break, my hope is that the Holy Spirit will pour the Gifts most needed by each of us into our hearts so that our work in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is filled with the joy and gratitude that comes from falling in love with God.
Patricia Cook is a member of the Our Lady of Good Help CGS board. She is a veteran Catholic school teacher, having taught in the diocese of Spokane, Washington for 20 years. She currently serves as a level one catechist and Coordinator of CGS for the Diocese of Helena in Montana.
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