The things our fathers have told us

The things we have heard and understood,
The things our fathers have told us,
We will tell to the next generation:
The glories of the Lord and his might.
(Psalm 77:3 – 4)

Our children, grown up as they are, pretty well take their own advice. They humour me by not glazing over when my suggestions are offered free of charge, and without being asked. They used to call me ‘Papa’ before that became too embarrassing when everyone else had a ‘Dad’. By high school, they called me ‘Father’ and that’s my parental moniker. I am equally humoured and delighted by their open affection. My urgent prompts for them to study hard (and often), be less exuberant and less regular in their celebrations, get to Mass, come home more often, sometimes fall on deaf ears.

So what do I really want my children to remember? What is it that I want them to carry on to their children and their children’s children? Have I offered or given them that ‘something’? What do I want that ‘something’ to be? OK, there will be a bequest of what remains of our baby-boomer life-style, but this is not about money, furniture, jewellery or houses.

I want them to be decent, kind, faithful human beings who will leave this planet a little better for them having been here; I want them to have loved deeply and shared part of their lives with someone who loved them for who they were; I want them to share their gifts and talents to the full; I want them to read great literature and see great films, great museums, travel widely; be global, responsible citizens; and I want them know, love, and worship the God whose grace is so generously bestowed on them.

This week I have had the privilege of working with two colleagues as they undertook a formal appraisal of my role as principal. This is conducted in the penultimate year of a principal’s contract and its focus is on leadership – educational, administrative, spiritual, pastoral. And while it is about me, it is also about those whom I serve, about how effective I am, about what and I how I could improve what I do for parents, students, staff and the community. My nine years at my school have been a fabulous learning journey, but in the end, it’s about supporting a new generation to love learning, but even more importantly to give them opportunities to grow in knowledge and love of their Creator God - a privilege in itself. Appraisal is also renewal, and again, from this Sunday’s readings, Paul so eloquently puts words to feelings (Ephesians 4:24): Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.

In this appraisal we are all called to account for the efficacy of our lives and work, we are all invited to ‘put on the new self’.