Satan simply wants Catholic teachers to shut up. The last thing he wants is for any child to hear the truth about Christ or human identity or relationships or our eternal destiny. Satan just wants every Catholic teacher to stare at the floor and never resist the wickedness that can so easily permeate a curriculum. In today's episode I want to share the story of Blessed Titus Brandsma who was given the grace of courage to stand against the evil of his time. His witness will encourage us all.

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Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you.

Once again, welcome to the Catholic teacher, almost daily podcast.

I do try to get them out as regularly as possible as many, many of you

know, I do another podcast as well, which takes up a lot of time.

But sometimes I, I love doing these.

I really do.

I think you can tell from my voice, it's a great privilege to speak about the beauty.

Of our Catholic faith and the incredible work that you do

every single day as Catholic educators, not just any educators.

But, um, Catholic educators, universal educators.

Um, friends.

If you're new to the podcast, I love my Catholic faith.

Always have.

And, uh, well, except for the years when I was living like an absolute

raving pagan in my late teens and early twenties, but let's not ruin the moment.

Huh?

Let's not ruin the moment.

Um, but it's been a great pleasure every many years to speak and to encourage.

Tens and tens and tens of thousands of Catholic teachers all around the world.

And that's a, this little podcast is just a way to keep reaching out and touching

base with you guys and just giving you a little bit of daily encouragement for

the beautiful work that you're doing.

Today.

I'm really excited to share with you the art.

Before I get into the episode, Jonathan housekeeping, please

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For me to speak I'm back on the speaking circuit for Catholic teachers.

So, uh, if you'd love me to come to your school, Then, please reach out and let

me know today, friends, let's jump in.

We're going to be talking about, um, today's the face day.

Of blessing Titus brand's mom who died in 1942.

And again, regular listeners know that, uh, I love liturgical prayer.

So my day always includes praying the divine office and

then the rosary, which I enjoy.

Get a chance to pray for other people.

But one of the cool things about praying the divine office morning, prayer

is you, you get access every day to.

The science of the church in which particular saints are.

Um, the science of the day.

And I think that the saints have so much to offer us as Catholic educators.

Why.

Because they are like us.

That's the thing you have to understand.

If you've heard me live on stage, you know, I teach that very clearly.

That the saints did not get rolled off a conveyor belt in heaven.

They were not prefabricated.

They were men and women just like you with frailties and skills and gifts.

And.

And things that held them back.

And what makes them science is that they simply got to a point.

With a radically gave their lives to Christ and allowed

the holy spirit to elevate.

The natural faculties.

So really I think for me, Ah, theologians might want to critique

my, what I say here, but I think science is simply people.

Who became fully actualized by grace.

So all of the human capacities were elevated by the encounter

with the holy spirit that came through abandonment to Christ, just.

This radical abandonment.

So let me take you quickly through today.

Some Titus or blessed Titus brands, but long story short, a brilliant, um, Dutch.

Academic who became a Carmelite priest who was ordained in 1905 and just a

phenomenal intellect, like so many of the great Carmelites of that time that

the Theresa Benedict or the cross, for example, Edith Stein, um, just in an

incredible intellect and, uh, went and got a doctorate at the, uh, the Gregorian.

And, uh, Came back to the Netherlands and was teaching for many years.

And then as Nazi-ism began to take off, he began to speak fearlessly and

relentlessly about the Nazi ideology.

And to try and warn people.

About what it meant.

And, you know, he was arrested in 1942 because he was trying to, uh, get Dutch

papers to stop printing Nazi propaganda.

I mean, the Netherlands was under German occupation and, you know, they

were forcing the press, the previously free press to print Nazi propaganda.

And Titus brand's ma was constantly trying to stop this from happening and constantly

trying to educate and teach people.

He was a teacher.

He spent many, many years teaching in schools and universities.

And eventually he's arrested in 1942.

And he is, uh, sent to deck out where he is aware he was, uh, murdered

by lethal injection and became both a martyr and, uh, is on his.

Case continues.

He's blessed at tighter spread and the breads.

Brands at the moment.

But listen, I want to share with you a quote from him.

It's a, it's a beautiful quote and it speaks to the heart of, I think the.

Of the missionary nature of Catholic education at the moment.

And it's quite as this.

He says he, who wants, let's just say he or she.

He wants to win the world for Christ.

Must have the courage to come in conflict with it.

He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage

to come in conflict with it.

So friends let's be clear.

There are many aspects of culture at the moment that are deeply

inimical to our Catholic faith.

That are deeply inimical to the preaching of the gospel.

And I think that look as Catholic teachers, of course, we need to be.

Loving intelligent, respectful in terms of how we deal with these issues.

But let's not forget that people like Titus brands much teach us very clearly.

That if we want to win the world for Christ, if we want to win students

for Christ, then we are going to in some way, whether in a small way or

a large way, Going to be placed in conflict with the world itself, with the

world, what we call the world system.

Right.

The, um, The great challenges that come to the ideologies of the day.

Uh, at the moment, obviously for many Catholic teachers, this use huge pressures

around issues of human sexuality, gender.

Um, but there's many other subtle issues, of course, that are.

Permeating curricula and permeating the school experience.

And so I think for many Catholic teachers, there's this increasing

tension between wanting to get along, wanting to, you know, just enjoy

the vocation and be a blessing.

The young people.

But what do we do when certain things come up that become.

Really difficult.

Uh, as parents we've, um, we've encountered this in Catholic

schools, we've had to withdraw one of our kids from a Catholic school.

Um, There's some real challenges here.

They real things.

But we can find a certain courage from people like Titus

brands, men who tell us that.

If our heart is to help people encounter Jesus.

If our desire is to help people know him, to love him.

Then.

The world around us is not going to cheer that cause.

The world around us is not going to say, Hey, go for it.

Preach freedom in Christ preach.

You know, preach sexual morality, preach, um, you know, the values

of the faith to teach, teach the doctrines of the Catholic faith.

We're not going to get that.

We're going to be told that we are.

That we are.

You know, We're bigots that we are all these different names that

are used at the moment and fringe.

You can hear it in my voice.

I'm not trying to be triumphalistic or.

Create an unnecessary dichotomy, but if you're listening to this, if you've

come this far in the podcast, You know exactly what I'm talking about.

You know, the challenges that we face.

So let's pray for the grace to do it with gentleness with, with, with patients.

Uh, but just to keep speaking the truth.

No matter what the cost, because you see the example of

people like Titus brands, Mer.

Who pay.

An ultimate price for their allegiance to the truth and to their love for

Christ, let's pray that none of us ever end up in that situation, but

there are small daily martyrdoms.

There are small daily losses that can come.

From being a Christ follower.

A disciple of Jesus.

Especially at this moment in history, but let's agree that our

kids have a right to the truth.

Our kids have a right to knowing about ways of being in the world and

living in the world and aspects of relationship that will bring them

freedom and will bring them joy.

And we'll bring them love.

And we need to be prepared to oppose things that are contrary to that.

It's hard as it is.

We just need to keep telling the truth.

So God bless everybody.

Um, Bless a Titus brand's Mo we pray for your intercession for

all of us as educators, whether in the home or in the school context.

Help us to have a gentle courage, help us to have a respect for all adversaries.

Help us to be patient and gentle with ourselves, with our students, but let

us find the courage to keep teaching the truth and being Catholic educators.

Who deeply want young people to encounter the person of Jesus himself.

All right, everybody.

Please make sure you've subscribed.

Go and check out those show notes.

My name's Jonathan Doyle.

And i'm going to have another message for you very soon