{"id":11056,"date":"2025-09-19T14:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/?p=11056"},"modified":"2025-09-19T14:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:24:41","slug":"christian-maturity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/christian-maturity\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Maturity \/ Madurez Cristiana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian Maturity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I was a middle school teacher for quite a few years. It\u2019s by a miracle that I still have any hair left on my head. The
\nprincipal of the school would describe a middle school as \u201cthe land of inappropriate responses.\u201d And indeed, it is.
\nImmaturity has the knack in creating inappropriate responses in any circumstance. Middle schoolers taught me that if I can survive them, I can survive a nuclear disaster!
\nHave you ever tried to knock some sense into a middle schooler? Did it leave you feeling that the only words your child heard you say was: \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell you again!\u201d Did you need a couple of Tylenols or a Valium after that experience? You have to understand that at that age parents and adults are just decorations on the way to adulthood.<\/p>\n

Middle schoolers live on a planet that is hard to understand, especially for them. They are no longer the little kids in an elementary school and they are not yet teenagers in high school. It\u2019s a difficult time of transition for them. What makes it difficult for adults is that in middle school kids begin to enter that stage in life where they think they have all the answers and know it all. Yes! It\u2019s a time of absolute insanity, but they don\u2019t realize that they\u2019re insane. And they are at that
\ndevelopmental stage where it is all about them. Many, when they are together with other middle schoolers, don\u2019t talk with one another. They speak very loudly at one another. Primal screams from our neanderthal ancestors is sometimes activated in middle school. It\u2019s all about being heard and being seen. And it\u2019s all about their friends with whom they travel in packs. One of their favorite sayings is: \u201cYou don\u2019t understand.\u201d Another one is: \u201cWhy are you being so mean?\u201d And when you try to get them to explain things to you, it goes like this: \u201cI said because she said that he said that I said that we said that he said what she said.\u201d That\u2019s when you go for the Valium!<\/p>\n

High school students and even adults that don\u2019t outgrow the \u201cprimal scream outbreaks\u201d have not matured appropriately. They\u2019re stuck in the \u201cme, me, me\u201d stage of development. It\u2019s a sign of immaturity. Selfishness and egocentrism is a sign of immaturity. Of course, there may be emotional and psychological factors playing in all of this, but I\u2019m not getting into that for the moment. That\u2019s another book!<\/p>\n

If your middle school child is an exception to what I just wrote, get down on your knees every single day and thank the Lord God Almighty with everything you got because you have been spared Calvary! On the opening day of school, I would tell the parents to prepare themselves because their middle schoolers\u2019 minds would be abducted by aliens and, if they were lucky, they would have their children back by around the middle of the 8th grade. How do I know all these things? Well, I have the medications to prove it!!!!! The fact that I survived as a middle school teacher is still a mystery to me. Good luck to you middle school parents. May the Lord protect you and defend you from all the inappropriate responses. Keep hope alive. The aliens will return your child to you. Not even the aliens want them forever.<\/p>\n

Whenever one of my students would say or do something inappropriate I would tell them: \u201cThat doesn\u2019t look good on you anymore.\u201d Of course, they wouldn\u2019t understand what I was trying to teach them, so they would immediately look at their clothes. Then I would tell them that the childish behavior didn\u2019t look good on them anymore and that it made them look like a little kid. Have you ever told a middle schooler that he or she is acting like a little kid? Prepare yourself for an inappropriate response, my dears. Hurricanes are milder! I would try to explain to them that they were a little older now and a different type of behavior was expected of them. Did it work? It all depended on the species of aliens that had abducted their minds.<\/p>\n

Maturity requires work. It just doesn\u2019t happen, and everyone goes at it at their own pace. It also requires guidance, nurturing, endless patience, and the good example of others. And so it is with Christian maturity.<\/p>\n

I want to share with you the 10 Commandments for Christian Maturity praying and hoping that any adult reading this is not a student in Christian Maturity Middle School. But just in case someone needs to graduate, here\u2019s something that can help you prepare for the exam. Pay attention to your responses to each of the commandments. That may be the exam itself!<\/p>\n

It comes from the book entitled Sacred Fire by Ronald Rolheiser.
\n1. Live in gratitude and thank your Creator by enjoying your life.
\n2. Be willing to carry more and more of life\u2019s complexities with empathy.
\n3. Transform jealousy, anger, bitterness, and hatred rather than give them back in kind.
\n4. Let suffering soften your heart rather than harden your soul.
\n5. Forgive \u2013 those who hurt you, your own sins, the unfairness of your life, and God for not rescuing you.
\n6. Bless more and curse less.
\n7. Live in a more radical sobriety.
\n8. Pray, affectively and liturgically.
\n9. Be wide in your embrace.
\n10. Stand where you are supposed to be standing, and let God provide the rest.<\/p>\n

May you breathe a little easier because of God\u2019s love for you.
\nYou are in my prayers and in my heart.
\nPeace and Good Friar Julio<\/strong><\/p>\n

Madurez Cristiana<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fui maestra de secundaria durante varios a\u00f1os. De milagro a\u00fan me queda algo de pelo en la cabeza. El director de la escuela describir\u00eda la secundaria como “la tierra de las respuestas inapropiadas”. Y, en efecto, lo es. La inmadurez tiene la habilidad de crear respuestas inapropiadas en cualquier circunstancia. \u00a1Los estudiantes de secundaria me ense\u00f1aron que, si puedo sobrevivir a ellos, puedo sobrevivir a un desastre nuclear!
\n\u00bfAlguna vez has intentado hacerle entrar en raz\u00f3n a un estudiante de secundaria? \u00bfTe dej\u00f3 sintiendo que las \u00fanicas palabras que tu hijo te oy\u00f3 decir fueron: “\u00a1No te lo voy a decir otra vez!”. \u00bfNecesitaste un par de Tylenol o un Valium despu\u00e9s de esa experiencia? Tienes que entender que a esa edad, los padres y los adultos son solo adornos en el camino a la edad adulta.<\/p>\n

Los estudiantes de secundaria viven en un mundo dif\u00edcil de comprender, especialmente para ellos. Ya no son los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os de la primaria ni los adolescentes de la preparatoria. Es un momento de transici\u00f3n dif\u00edcil para ellos. Lo que dificulta la vida de los adultos es que, en secundaria, los ni\u00f1os empiezan a entrar en esa etapa de la vida en la que creen tener todas las respuestas y saberlo todo. \u00a1S\u00ed! Es una \u00e9poca de locura absoluta, pero no se dan cuenta de que est\u00e1n locos. Y est\u00e1n en esa etapa de desarrollo donde todo gira en torno a ellos. Muchos, cuando est\u00e1n con otros estudiantes, no hablan entre ellos. Se hablan muy alto. Los gritos primarios de nuestros ancestros neandertales a veces se activan en secundaria. Se trata de ser escuchados y vistos. Y se trata de sus amigos con los que viajan en grupo. Uno de sus dichos favoritos es: “No me entiendes”. Otro es: “\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 eres tan malo?”. Y cuando intentas que te expliquen las cosas, la respuesta es: “Dije porque ella dijo eso, \u00e9l dijo eso, yo dije que, dijimos que \u00e9l dijo lo que ella dijo”. \u00a1Ah\u00ed es cuando te dan el Valium!<\/p>\n

Los estudiantes de secundaria, e incluso los adultos, que no superan los “estallidos de gritos primarios” no han madurado adecuadamente. Est\u00e1n estancados en la etapa de desarrollo del “yo, yo, yo”. Es se\u00f1al de inmadurez. El ego\u00edsmo y el egocentrismo son se\u00f1ales de inmadurez. Claro que puede haber factores emocionales y psicol\u00f3gicos en todo esto, pero no voy a entrar en eso por ahora. \u00a1Eso es para otro libro!<\/p>\n

Si tu hijo de secundaria es una excepci\u00f3n a lo que acabo de escribir, \u00a1ponte de rodillas todos los d\u00edas y agradece al Se\u00f1or Dios Todopoderoso con todo lo que tienes porque te has librado del calvario! El d\u00eda de inicio de clases, les dir\u00eda a los padres que se prepararan porque las mentes de sus hijos de secundaria ser\u00edan abducidas por extraterrestres y, con suerte, los recuperar\u00edan a mediados de octavo grado. \u00bfC\u00f3mo s\u00e9 todo esto? \u00a1Pues tengo los medicamentos para comprobarlo! El hecho de que sobreviviera como profesora de secundaria sigue siendo un misterio para m\u00ed. Mucha suerte a los padres de estudiantes de secundaria. Que el Se\u00f1or los proteja y los defienda de todas las reacciones inapropiadas. Mantengan viva la esperanza. Los extraterrestres les devolver\u00e1n a su hijo. Ni siquiera los extraterrestres los quieren para siempre.<\/p>\n

Cada vez que uno de mis alumnos dec\u00eda o hac\u00eda algo inapropiado, le dec\u00eda: “Eso ya no te queda bien”. Claro, no entend\u00edan lo que intentaba ense\u00f1arles, as\u00ed que enseguida miraban su ropa. Entonces les dec\u00eda que ese comportamiento infantil ya no les quedaba bien y que los hac\u00eda parecer ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os. \u00bfAlguna vez le han dicho a un estudiante de secundaria que se est\u00e1 comportando como un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o? Prep\u00e1rense para una respuesta inapropiada, queridos.\u00a1Los huracanes son m\u00e1s suaves! Intentaba explicarles que ya eran un poco mayores y se esperaba un comportamiento diferente de ellos. \u00bfFuncionaba? Todo depend\u00eda de la especie de extraterrestres que les hab\u00eda abducido la mente.<\/p>\n

La madurez requiere trabajo. Simplemente no sucede, y cada uno va a su propio ritmo. Tambi\u00e9n requiere gu\u00eda, cari\u00f1o, paciencia infinita y el buen ejemplo de los dem\u00e1s. Y lo mismo ocurre con la madurez cristiana.<\/p>\n

Quiero compartir con ustedes los Diez Mandamientos para la Madurez Cristiana, con la esperanza de que ning\u00fan adulto que lea esto sea estudiante de la Escuela Secundaria de Madurez Cristiana. Pero por si acaso alguien necesita graduarse, aqu\u00ed tienen algo que puede ayudarles a prepararse para el examen. Presten atenci\u00f3n a sus respuestas a cada uno de los mandamientos. \u00a1Eso podr\u00eda ser el examen mismo!<\/p>\n

Viene del libro “Fuego Sagrado” de Ronald<\/p>\n

1. Vive con gratitud y agradece a tu Creador disfrutando de la vida.
\n2. Disponte a cargar cada vez m\u00e1s complejidades de la vida con empat\u00eda.
\n3. Transforma los celos, la ira, la amargura y el odio en lugar de devolverlos con la misma moneda.
\n4. Deja que el sufrimiento ablande tu coraz\u00f3n en lugar de endurecer tu alma.
\n5. Perdona: a quienes te hirieron, tus propios pecados, la injusticia de tu vida y a Dios por no rescatarte.
\n6. Bendice m\u00e1s y maldice menos.
\n7. Vive con una sobriedad m\u00e1s radical.
\n8. Ora, afectiva y lit\u00fargicamente.
\n9. Abrazos amplios.
\n10. Mantente donde debes estar y deja que Dios se encargue del resto.<\/p>\n

Que respires con m\u00e1s tranquilidad gracias al amor de Dios por ti.
\nEst\u00e1n en mis oraciones y en mi coraz\u00f3n.
\nPaz y Bien. Fray Julio<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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