Celtic Advent November 18th  37 days until Christmas

One of my friends in Long Term Care isn't sure I can keep this up for 37 more days straight--cataloguing my reaction to Celtic Saints, that is.   I guess we will find out...
November 18th and St. Mawes.   Interesting character from the 6th century again.   Supposedly his mother started out in Brittany and while pregnant, for whatever reason, ended up taking a sea trip in a barrel, where her child, Mawes, was born, just prior to them washing up on Irish shores.  As an adult he set up "shop" so to speak near Falmouth in Cornwall, then went to Brittany where he founded  a monastary on the Island of St. Maudez (his name in Breton). He had to rid the island of vermin prior to inhabitiing it and somehow has become the patron saint of pesticide.  At some point, probably because of founding multiple monastaries and proselytizing in the area, he began to develop a reputation as an educator, and is often portrayed that way in icons.

Given all that, I think I would like to focus with the association of Mawes as an educator.  A significiant part of my life is involved with  that role.  I train residents in Family Medicine, specifically with a focus on the geriatric part of their education.  I feel like it is my mission to get the currrent group of young physicians to fall in love with seniors.  I also try to do my part at my church, particularly with regards to the aspects of spirituality that I feel passionate about--contemplative prayer and Celtic Christianity for example.  To be a good educator involves a certain amount of self discipline.  You have to know your subject.  You also have to be "honest," The temptation sometimes, if you have good speaking skills, is to just focus on the form and not worry about the depth of the content.  I have certainly attending conferences like that.  Entertaining but with a shallow substance.  In addition, ven though what I primarily teach is not religious, that doesn't mean I can't approach it with a religious frame of mind.  If I can see each learner as a fellow child of God, as someone whose skills will help others in the future, then I think it helps my teaching to be more sincere.  Beyond this, if we have been given a body of knowledge, whether it is medicine, nursing, or religion, don't we have a responsbility to pass it on to a next generation through education?  As always, I will need help to continue in my educator role:

Lord, you guided St. Mawes to be not only an evangelist for the faith but to be an educator as well. Guide those of us who try to impart our knowledge to others. Help us to be sincere in our efforts and exacting in our self-dsicipline as teachers. In thy name.  Amen