Sr.
Ancilla Maloney, IHM
Teacher,
Aquinas High School, Bronx, New York
4:30
a.m. -- "Jesus,
flood my soul with your Spirit and Life." With these words my
day begins. Quick wash up and breakfast and then my prayer time
begins. This morning God says in Isaiah, "For I am the Lord,
your God, who grasps your right hand; it is I who say to you,
'Fear not, I will help you.' " The fact that God grasps my right
hand is such a wonderful image, such a reassuring way to start
my day. I stay with this image, gifted with the gentle, enfolding
presence of Jesus -- my candle burning, welcoming the day with
the Light of Christ.
6:00 a.m.
-- I live with two Sisters who both are engaged in
different ministries. One works in New York City in AIDS ministry;
the other Sister is a clinical social worker. Both Sisters leave
for work later in the morning and work later in the evening.
So at 6:00 a.m. I beginning the Morning Prayer of the Church,
united with my brothers and sisters around the world; joined
especially to my IHM Sisters in community across the country
and in Latin America.
6:30 a.m.
-- I leave for school, heading down the Bronx River
Parkway, continuing my prayer, listening to the music of the
Advent season on the tape "Every Knee Shall Bend."
7:00 a.m.
-- Mass begins in the convent chapel of the Dominican
Sisters who run Aquinas High School. How blessed we are to have
five wonderful priests who give an excellent homily every day.
7:30 a.m.
-- The school day begins! When I came to Aquinas five
and a half years ago, I had a burning desire to teach the young
people of the city, to be love in the heart of the Bronx. And
teaching the African-American and Hispanic girls (plus girls
from 17 or so other cultures) is an experience of love. The
students are wonderfully friendly, warm and loving; many stop
and call a "Hello!" into me. Students gather to chat and finish
their homework. Angela slips in, pulls an envelope full of one
dollar bills out of her pocket and softly says, "Sister, I got
paid for tutoring." (She counts out $25 in ones.) "I want to
buy a piglet for a child in Haiti." My heart is filled with
emotion as this precious young woman teaches me what Christmas
is all about, what our Catholic education is all about, what
I am all about as I sell piglets to pay for the cost of educating
children in Haiti. The piglet is given to a child to raise and
when it matures, it is sold and the money is enough to pay for
the child's education. Our IHM Congregation is twinned with
a native religious community in Haiti and also supports other
grassroots projects there in light of the fact that our foundress
was Haitian. Then in come some Amnesty International students
with permission slips for the vigil/rally in New York City this
afternoon against Nike and Disney sweatshop policies in poor
countries as well as our own USA.
8:05 a.m.
-- Morning prayer led by one of the students begins,
homeroom ends and my teaching day begins. I choose a song from
my Advent tape, "Every Knee Shall Bend," to begin my religion
class, giving the girls time to enter into the spirit of the
Advent season in the beauty of a song which happens to be sung
by Sr. Trish Scalese, IHM. I love teaching my two freshmen
classes. Today I have the opportunity to share my own joy in
Emmanuel, God-with-us, as part of our lesson on the liturgical
seasons. God-with-us, passionately longing to convey to these
beautiful girls who are definitely hungry for God, how much
God loves them, how great a woman Mary of Nazareth is - here
for us.
9:10 a.m.
-- Global Studies II begins after an opening reading
from this morning's passage from Isaiah 14. I earned my first
Masters in European History from the University of Notre Dame,
a "piece of cake" as the saying goes, compared to teaching the
history of the whole world except the United States and Canada
to bi-lingual students. Preparing them for a rigorous state
regents exam is a tremendous challenge, but I love it -- most
days! I am so blessed to be teaching in Aquinas. We have every
kind of instructional material you could dream of and a tremendously
dedicated administration, faculty and staff. I use a Power Point
presentation for the basic elements of Napoleon's impact on
Europe and the world and then switch to the laser disc for an
animated account of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Latasha questions
the material on the disc and everyone congratulates her for
her insightful questions.
9:50 a.m.
-- A prep period - phone call to Will Corey of the
Jesuit Relief Service to make arrangements for him to talk with
my Amnesty International students. Will is working on behalf
of refugees held in US detention centers. My Amnesty International
students are getting ready to make visits to Congresspersons
and NY State Assembly representatives to advocate on behalf
of refugees in US detentions centers as well as speak in favor
of eliminating the death penalty.
10:35 a.m.
-- Another religion class.
11:20 a.m.
-- My senior sociology students pour into the room.
After the Isaiah reflection and some special intentions for
personal and global issues, my 90 minute class, which is studying
socialization theories of personality, begins taking the Myers-Briggs
Personality test. (In this unit, my second master's degree in
counseling from Marywood University comes in handy). After scoring
the test, we have a lively and fun discussion of their own personality
types and that of their parents and boyfriends. As the students
are leaving, I ask Yamaris how her mother is and Alison about
hers - both moms have recently been hospitalized and appreciate
our prayers.
12:50 p.m.
-- Lunch in our faculty room where I am "given the
business" about my technophobia as the Xerox machine gets stuck!
1:50 p.m.
-- The last period of the day and in come the sophomores
for Global. It takes some psyching up to get them into Napoleon
at the end of the day.
2:26 p.m.
-- The last bell rings and students begin to trickle
in with a variety of needs and requests. "Could you please write
a letter of recommendation for me to Binghamton University,
Sister?" "Ms. Debbie at Thorpe needs to know if you're still
going to take the children to see the Christmas lights? She
needs some Big Sisters to go along too." (We use the Aquinas
bus. I have a Big Sister program involving 70 girls who volunteer
at two residences for homeless women and their children in the
neighborhood.) "Where's the sign up book, Sister? I'm going
to tutor at the Mary Mitchel Center today."
3:30 p.m.
-- Eight Amnesty students and Sister Elizabeth
McLaughlin, OP arrive and we head for the subway downtown and
the Sweatshop rally.
4:45 p.m.
-- Arriving in front of Niketown, we are thrilled to
see so many students, huge puppets depicting multinational CEOs,
also candles and posters everywhere. We are joined by Sister
Mary Ehling, IHM who lives in the city and who also feels strongly
about the injustice of the sweatshop conditions. We march with
the crowd of about a thousand other activists to Rockefeller
plaza near the big Christmas tree. Liza and Jessica have met
Steve from Catholic New York who interviews them about
the protest. They join us as we arrive and the interview continues.
Alexandra shares how upset she has been with her economics class
because they are investing in Disney and she has not been able
to convince them to divest on the head of Disney's poor labor
practices.
6:30 p.m.
-- Gydmer becomes anxious over the ton of homework
she has. Determined not to let her head home on the subway alone,
we set out together for upper Manhattan. The other girls catch
a subway for the Bronx leaving Gydmer near home. I board a cross-town
bus, then transfer to another bus which drops me off near school.
7:30 p.m.
-- Home! A warm supper with Sister Regina and Sister
Susan followed by a quick chat with my Mom who is 90 and looks
forward to my call each evening. Then we gather for prayer together.
So many people have come into my life today. So many intentions.
Regina asks prayers for Jerry who is dying of AIDS, Sue for
one of her clients who needs to be institutionalized. From one
our books of prayers, Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly,
we pray, "God of love, tonight we are grateful that You have
bound us together in love of Jesus Christ. We bring You the
needs of Your people ... We praise You for the steps we take
to make Your vision of justice and peace come true."
8:30 p.m.
-- But there's still tomorrow! I set wearily to work
planning my five classes for tomorrow, check a few papers until
my eyes won't stay open.
10:00 p.m.
-- Shower, then turn my book, God Hunger by
James Kirwan. The half hour I usually spend in spiritual reading
each evening just isn't in this day's time frame. A few lines
and I'm asleep in the arms of God, grateful for another day
of living and loving.
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