NOVEMBER MODULE

Cultivating Temperance

Objective: LEAD Fellows will be able to recognize the value and practice of building temperance by reflecting on their own God-given talents, and they will consider how they share those gifts with others.

Prayer: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."(Matthew 5:13-16)

"Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to seek reward, except that of knowing that I do your will. Amen. (Prayer for Generosity, St. Ignatius Loyola)"

Introduction:

So far in this journey each of you has been asked to reflect on your own histories and consider the value of your personal narrative, or what has formed you to be the person you are today. Doing so then brought us to a place where you could look forward, to question and consider what your personal destino might mean to you. This practice of looking back and looking forward serves a two-fold purpose-- it offers us the opportunity to establish belonging in this community and helps us determine the posture and direction of our formation. This is all to say the essential questions of “Where have I been?” and “Where am I going?” will be central moving forward.

We place these two questions before you because it is at their intersection where LEAD hopes to meet you with a stepping stone, a space to consider the intersection of our program's pillars, which we’ll do by considering, weighing, and discerning the themes of the upcoming modules. To that end, you should know that each emerging theme will be anchored in a cardinal virtue of the Catholic Church. This is our intentional approach towards a framework that will deepen your own spirituality as a model of Christ the Teacher, honor what is both unitive and distinctive within this cultural community of people who identify with Latinidad, and further the conversation of your leadership development in Catholic School spaces.

This month’s theme will focus on temperance. Temperance, a cardinal virtue found in Catholicism, carries relevance and importance for a few reasons. First, the development of cardinal virtues, in general, helps us grow as moral educators within the context of Catholic schools. Secondly, and more specifically, this virtue complements the ideals and character traits that authors Bordas (2013) and Brooks (2015) reference in our upcoming selected readings; temperance reminds us to be a good steward of resources, and calls us to establish systems that encourage equality and the good of all. In order to exercise temperance, we need to have a firm understanding of what resources have been given to us or are at our disposal. The first step in developing temperance begins with this question: what are the gifts, talents, and treasures with which we’ve been blessed?

After acknowledging these gifts, a continued commitment to temperance calls each of us to steward our resources well. Stewardship here means that we carry a sense of gratitude for our gifts and express that gratitude, in one form, by continually extending our gifts to the benefit of others. Through her work and research across communities, Bordas reminds us that this notion of temperance can be seen, in some ways, in the collective orientation Latino communities might have towards a “we culture.” Bordas suggests that some of the most successful leaders within this identity group tend to be other-centered and pay deference to the needs of the community before those of an individual. She writes, “It’s about family, and the face of their children, and the face of the future. There’s a level of optimism and sense of community" (p. 100). Of course, tension can and does often arise within this cultural norm, but it also operates as a gift in and of itself. The “we culture” serves as a reminder of what the practice of temperance looks like within a community, even across generational and geographic divides.

Your burgeoning awareness of and appreciation for temperance is essential in your growth as a leader, and we can see evidence of that virtue in the manner you recognize your gifts and also within the general norms of our shared culture. As such, we encourage you to consider what your specific God-granted gifts are and reflect upon the ways you’ll continue to steward those gifts. Know of our accompaniment as you engage with those questions and of our prayers as you live into the virtue of temperance.

As you read the texts, consider the following questions.

Reflection Questions:

1. Each of you has been gifted with “treasures” and talents to use in service of others. What gifts has God given you? What do people tell you that you are good at?

2. Bordas names the importance of our values and their convergence with our desires. What values were engendered in your family/formation?

3. How, if at all, do these values intersect with your understanding of Latinidad and/or cultural norms you've noticed or experienced?

4. In what ways do these values animate your desires to grow professionally? Are there particular gifts that come as a result of the values you carry?

5. How do you see your gifts being put into place for the good of the community, and how do you practice temperance in the acknowledgment of these gifts? In other words, how can you generously offer your gifts for the benefit of the entire community?

Supplemental Reading

Graphic Organizer:

Be welcome to use this slide deck as a place to organize your thoughts. When you click this link, it will ask if you want to make a copy. Simply respond "make a copy" to access your own version.