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The best way for me to describe what the Catholic Discipleship College has meant to
me, is to borrow an analogy from a CDC supporter, who described it as a glasshouse.
The environment of prayer, Catholic teaching, community life and outreach was the
soil in which I, a little seed, was buried in for 10 months. God’s rays of love poured
down intensely in this environment.
God was not only the sun that warmed the soil, but He was also the glass that
intensified the sun’s rays, and filtered out the wind and rain, and God was also the
Gardener tending to His little seeds. He weeded, watered, and did everything possible
to encourage growth.
As a little seed, it was difficult to go through this process of growth and
transformation – shedding old ways of seeing oneself, and relating differently to the
world around you.
However, the joy of seeing new growth: little roots, and a flourish of green, made it
all worthwhile, and was particularly important when the time came for me to be dug
out of the glasshouse environment and planted in the wide spacious garden outside.
At first, it seemed like the sun did not reach this particular corner of the garden. It felt
cold and lonely. The other living things nearby were not like the other seeds I knew
back in the glasshouse. The transformation that had taken place in the glasshouse,
seemed so insignificant in this wild open environment.
Thankfully, the Gardener also decided to place two other seeds from the glasshouse
nearby to me, and I did not feel so alone. And looking up one day, I realised He
had planted me under a beautiful rose, called Our Lady, that the sun shined upon
everyday, and the soil was nourished by her presence.
I also discovered that, with effort, the transformation that had happened back in the
glasshouse, could continue, and I could grow roots in the garden too, seeking out the
nourishment I needed.
The most important thing I discovered in this garden, was that the Gardener still cared
for me, His little seedling, and in fact was in total control of this garden that to me
seemed so wild and so untameable.
But He was stepping back to let my potential release itself, allowing growth to happen
in different ways, to allow me to bear fruit, tending to me when necessary.
I am still on this journey of growth, and I am so thankful for that time of tender care
in the glasshouse, and so thankful to the One who gave me life, and who continues to
give me life.
me, is to borrow an analogy from a CDC supporter, who described it as a glasshouse.
The environment of prayer, Catholic teaching, community life and outreach was the
soil in which I, a little seed, was buried in for 10 months. God’s rays of love poured
down intensely in this environment.
God was not only the sun that warmed the soil, but He was also the glass that
intensified the sun’s rays, and filtered out the wind and rain, and God was also the
Gardener tending to His little seeds. He weeded, watered, and did everything possible
to encourage growth.
As a little seed, it was difficult to go through this process of growth and
transformation – shedding old ways of seeing oneself, and relating differently to the
world around you.
However, the joy of seeing new growth: little roots, and a flourish of green, made it
all worthwhile, and was particularly important when the time came for me to be dug
out of the glasshouse environment and planted in the wide spacious garden outside.
At first, it seemed like the sun did not reach this particular corner of the garden. It felt
cold and lonely. The other living things nearby were not like the other seeds I knew
back in the glasshouse. The transformation that had taken place in the glasshouse,
seemed so insignificant in this wild open environment.
Thankfully, the Gardener also decided to place two other seeds from the glasshouse
nearby to me, and I did not feel so alone. And looking up one day, I realised He
had planted me under a beautiful rose, called Our Lady, that the sun shined upon
everyday, and the soil was nourished by her presence.
I also discovered that, with effort, the transformation that had happened back in the
glasshouse, could continue, and I could grow roots in the garden too, seeking out the
nourishment I needed.
The most important thing I discovered in this garden, was that the Gardener still cared
for me, His little seedling, and in fact was in total control of this garden that to me
seemed so wild and so untameable.
But He was stepping back to let my potential release itself, allowing growth to happen
in different ways, to allow me to bear fruit, tending to me when necessary.
I am still on this journey of growth, and I am so thankful for that time of tender care
in the glasshouse, and so thankful to the One who gave me life, and who continues to
give me life.