Because Angels Have Six Packs

This past week my students kept me on my toes! Here's a re-cap:

On Tuesday morning, one of my students arrived late to my Old Testament class. I was in the middle of telling the class to put everthing away and take out paper for a quiz when the door opened and in walked one of my students. I stopped midsentence and shot this very tardy student a look. I waited for him to apologize for being late (per Slovak custom), but he said nothing - he just started grinning. Now, I was not about to continue with class until this had been worked out, so I remained silent and began to tap my foot. My tardy student was unfazed. He simply walked in front of me to the other side of the room and took his seat - beaming the whole time. I started to address him, but he held up his hand in a gesture for me to wait. He began flipping through his notebook, and when he found the paper he was looking for, he proudly handed it to me. I snatched it from him, read it, and busted out laughing. The paper said (twenty times) "I will not be late to class. I will not be late to class. I will not be late to class." It was dated Wednesday of last week. "I wrote it ahead of time - just in case," he announced.



I meet with the third years twice a week for Life and Teachings of Jesus. We wrapped up our unit on "The Worldview of Jesus" about two weeks ago, and we have finally started studying the Gospels. On Monday we read texts pertaining to the Advent of Our Lord. The students learned about how Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she would become pregnant. I asked the students to imagine this scene: You are a twelve or thirteen year old girl who is betrothed to man named Joseph - - and one night an angel comes to you to announce that somehow you would become pregnant - even though you were a virgin. AND to top it off, this wasn't just anyone announcing this to you. Gabriel the archangel had come to pay you a visit. "There is a reason," I told my students, "that Gabriel precludes his message by saying 'Do not be afraid.' Gabriel was huge. He was a strong. He was a warrior. He probably even had a six pack. Wouldn't that terrify you?" I asked. The students laughed, and we continued to discuss Mary's response to the angel's message.

The next class we read texts pertaining to the Nativity of Our Lord. We hear about angels and heavenly hosts appearing to shepherds with their flocks in the fields, and again we learn that the people to whom the angels appear are terrified. "Students," I ask as a review from the class before, "why were the shepherds terrified?" Katka in the front row answered with a cheeky grin and without missing a beat, "Because angels have six packs."