b'N O I T C E L F E R hy am I here?WWhy am I here?By Joanna Daileyan it be fall already? The days of summerBecause sometimes we can see the hand of are, as Simon and Garfunkel used to sing,Providence in others lives more easily than we slip slidin away. In my youth, August used tocan in our own. However you got here, you are be longer. It was the last month before schoolnot here by accident. You were led. You are sent.opened, and there seemed to be plenty of timeBut why? The reasons you began may not be to meander in the neighborhood branch library,the reasons you continue. We grow in self-walk to the city pool and back (which meant youunderstanding, and we grow in our appreciation ended up just as hot as you were before you madefor our own roles in furthering the Kingdom.the trip), spend the afternoon on a screened-in porch, or ride bikes to a friends house. Shortly after his election, Pope Francis received a Then arrived that Sundayvisit from students in Jesuit-run after the Feast of theHow did I get here?schools in Italy and Albania. He was prepared with a long Assumption when the SistersWhy am I here?speech, but, in meeting the were again seen at Sunday Mass. Theyre ba-a-a-ck Why do I keep at this? students, he laid the speech aside And with them, the cusp ofand decided to open the visit to a new scholastic year had arrived. We are oncequestions and dialogue. Much again at the cusp. It may be a good time to lookof his address centered around the meaning of back at your own journey and ask yourself:a Catholic education, which the Pope identified as freedom and service. For their teachers, Pope How did I get here? Why am IFrancis had these words*: here? Why do I keep at this? Do not be disheartened in the face of the I have always been intrigued by vocation stories,difficulties that the educational challenge because each one is so different. Did you plan for apresents! Educating is not a profession life in religious education, or did you somehow fallbut an attitude, a way of being; in order into it and find that it suited you? Did you have ato educate it is necessary to step out of hunch that this would be your path, or did Godourselves and be among young people, to surprise you along the way? If you have a facultyaccompany them in the stages of theirnor catechist day of recollection before beginninggrowth and to set ourselves beside them. the school year, sharing stories of how and whyJoanna Dailey is part of the content development you each find yourself in your current ministryteam at Saint Marys Press and has a wide-range of might be faith-strengthening for everyone. Why?experience in the educational field. She has authored and developed texts for the elementary, middle-school, and high-school religious-education settings.*To read the complete address, see http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/june/index_en.htm. Scroll down to To Students of Jesuit Schools of Italy and Albania.'