Good morning, class! Welcome to the School of Christ!
Yes, this is a school. We meet every Sunday throughout the year for about an hour and we encourage you to show up for each class (on time). There are many things we have to discuss and, if you miss a session, you might miss something important.
Enrollment in this School of Christ is open to everyone. There are no academic prerequisites; no previous degrees needed. There are no age requirements, no fees for this school of learning; no entrance exam; no written reports that are due.
There is no mandatory reading when attending this school but we strongly encourage you to read one text called the Bible. But we will share those readings with you each week. If you want to supplement what is presented here at our Sunday class, then you are free to join one of our study groups during the week such as Bible Study, Marriage Support Group, RCIA or some adult education program.
Our curriculum here at the School of Christ is pretty basic. We offer only one class. That class is called “Learning to Love.” The goal of the class is to teach you how to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And love your neighbor as yourself.” All of our lessons and instructions are based on this central idea. You should also know that we don’t have any teachers. We will have lots of facilitators but there is only one teacher from whom we gain all our information that we will share with you. His name is Jesus. He has promised to be present every time we meet but does so in a hidden way.
By the way, did I tell you that the School of Christ doesn’t operate on the quarter or semester systems? Classes are ongoing. Nor is there any real graduation date that is set. Our classes continue throughout the course of your life. After all, we recognize that graduating from this school may take an entire lifetime. It is our hope that you will learn the basics of loving God and your neighbor before you move on to eternity.
What I’ve just described may well be the best description of Church. The Church is the School of Christ and the primary lesson of Church comes from the primary teacher: Jesus. We are all students and we are here to learn one basic thing: How to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.
Apparently, some two thousand years ago, the School of Christ was in session when some religious leaders who prided themselves on being teachers, tried to challenge Jesus with a tough question. They say, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is greatest?” One has to wonder if they really wanted to learn anything or were they just interested in tricking the teacher? These were students who thought they were smarter than the teacher. Well, Jesus passes the test with flying colors. He answers quoting the Book of Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind..’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” But Jesus gives a more complete answer than that. He adds a second commandment from Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He then tells them that the entire Law rests on these two commandments.
In answering this way, Jesus demonstrates that he knew two things: he knew his Bible and could quote it. That certainly helps. But he knew something even more important than that. He knew how to live those commandments He brought two commandments together from different books to create one powerful and all-important law that governs the way he himself lived and the way we should live. That is why it’s known as the Great Commandment.
I suppose that, after Jesus answered the question, he could have ended the class right then and there. Once he sums up the entire law in that Great Commandment, his work could have been completed. He could have dismissed everyone and just moved on to something else. But Jesus, as a good teacher, knew that he had much to teach his disciples and others about how to love God and how to love our neighbor. He even took time to teach them “who is our neighbor?” As a result, we have lots of information from the life and words of Jesus that instruct us in how to live out the Great Commandment— how to love as we should. That is how the School of Christ continues to this day. That’s why we are here every Sunday. That is why we become involved in various ministries. Our ultimate goal is to learn how to love God and our neighbor with everything we have.
Now, some of us might be tempted to think that with this knowledge about the Great Commandment, we can just ditch the classes and go out and love God and our neighbor. But it’s not that easy. No matter how hard we try, loving God and neighbor isn’t something we can just decide to do. It requires schooling. And we get that schooling in the Church.
We learn to love God and neighbor here each time we meet. We learn it as we see it on the faces of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We learn to love God and neighbor as we hear love in one another’s words and voices. We learn to love God and neighbor as we pray with our fellow Church members. If we are ever to learn the lesson that Jesus is teaching, we learn it here in Church.
Then, once we learn about it here among each other, the homework begins. We must then take what we have learned here and begin to practice loving God and neighbor. We do that by our words, actions and our attitudes. We put that love into practice by exercising ministry, usually through the Church, for the betterment of others in our world. The school of Christ— the Church— also provides on-the-job-training in love of God and neighbor as it feeds the poor, comforts the lonely, visits the sick, teaches children, and advocates on behalf of those who have no voice.
So, yes, it is important that we keep up your attendance in this School of Christ because it is here that you will begin to learn about loving God and neighbor as well as begin to practice love of God and neighbor. Once you realize how effective the School of Christ is, you will want to be here. You will also begin to love being loved by others.
As one CCD student wrote to me in a letter, “Fr. Perry. I love church and all my friends and I love you.”
Now that student gets an “A” because she is learning the lesson of love right here in the School of Christ.