Their kind gesture was in the form of cookies...very special ones that every one of the 19 students in our class had helped to make, and a treat which they initially couldn't wait to feast upon themselves. It's a tradition in our class to carve fresh pumpkin and several weeks later use it for holiday baking. Scraping the flesh of the squash, spooning out the cooked vegetable, and then mashing it are all tasks that are organized by the children and performed in small groups. The final few students follow a favorite recipe as they cook up a huge batch of pumpkin oatmeal cookies overflowing with chocolate chips. By the time the project was completed this year, nineteen mouths were watering, eagerly awaiting their hard-earned treat.
But, just as the cookies were coming out of the oven, one short lesson about the Middle Ages and St. Augustine's work in Britain brought about a discussion of monastic life and a twist in our plans. It seemed a good time to share information about a similar current day lifestyle of sacrifice and a former teacher's decision to enter a contemplative monastery almost a year ago. Ms. Hurley, now known as Sister Hurley, is living a new lifestyle of prayer and hard physical labor with NO talking. This concept was difficult for the students to digest.
The children were stunned for a moment, but after questions, discussion and collaboration, they turned their surprise into a response filled with love. They asked if they could package up their pumpkin cookies and send them to Sister Hurley by overnight mail so that she and the other nuns at the convent might share them on their holiday table.
And so it was done...a caring gesture to begin the holiday season of giving and tender thoughts for a dear teacher and friend of AOC who remains in our hearts.
