"Be the Echo" - Abraham Alarcon's Blog

Its a busy time. The holidays evoke in me many feelings of nostalgia, joy, sadness, nervousness among others. Its also flu season and children and adults get sick and they pass it along. As an educator, I need to be wise, keep watch and stick to things that help me stay happy and healthy.  Here is my holiday plan: Mangu (Dominican breakfast) 1. Listen to my body . If I am hungry I will eat. If I am tired, I rest. If I am sick, I will take the day off to recover.  If I need to move, I will dance and/or exercise.  I must take care of myself so I can be effective everyday.  2. Watch what I watch . Along with "fake" news and silly distractions on social media, I need to be wise to monitor where and how I spend my time. With so many demands, I can't participate in every chat or click on every app and connect. I will make the time when I can but I watch what I watch. I am better because of it.  Looking up from my school. ...

Boys don’t cry. I was raised with this mindset. As a young boy, I always heard my mother tell a story of how my older brother was bullied in the third grade. She saw him cry and forced him to go back to the school and fight the bully. He did and he won. I never saw my brother cry while I was a kid or as a young man. By the way, my father wasn’t around long enough for me to see much of anything let alone him show this kind of emotion.  The only time I saw my brother cry was when I entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1998. Having made the decision to discern God’s calling, men who identify with the charism of St. Ignatius of Loyola , apply and get accepted into a two year, let’s call it, training period. Here they live, pray and serve while they see how God’s graces develop in their lives. Men enter a novitiate to see if this new lifestyle of serving God and others and living in community is for them. Men focus on things that bring them closer to God and   detach from worldl...

Being an educator today requires a lot of training, skill and experience. It also includes knowing about people, having relational skills, and effective communication. Planning, preparation and time management play a big part in the life of any educator. Then, more time is spent inspiring children and reassuring parents that their child can reach specific academic, social and emotional goals. In all of this work, educators constantly build walls and bridges in schools.  Educators Build Walls When They ... 1. Fail to listen to others, especially to those they serve like children, parents and those they work with.  2. Think they can "teach" alone and do not need to collaborate with their colleagues.  3. Stay in their comfort zone and do not take risks.  4. Excuse not doing something on not having enough time.  5. Use "if only" a lot.  6. Exhibit an "I taught it and they didn't learn it" attitude.  7. Offer after school ...

Every year around this time I am praying and thinking about what I am going to teach my students at Sunday School. I think a lot more on how I am going to teach them. After 10 years of serving as a catechist at my local parish of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Washington Heights, NYC , I realized that there is NO WAY I am going to teach 2,000 years of church history, christology, mystagogy, theology and all the other “ologies” out there. It would be Mission Impossible and I am in no way Tom Cruise on a motorcycle. Besides, the students would hate me and so would the parents.  It’s not my purpose as a catechist to teach so much and it would be best to remember that there are 5 simple things that catechists can do for a successful and grace-filled year.  1. Never start your class with prayer.  This may be shocking as you read it but I am serious. I used to begin with a “Good morning” and quickly get a candle, stand in the front of the classroom and have my students...

I have been on Twitter since 2008. Like others, I've tweeted about education, sports, news, and politics. I never thought I'd tweet about God let alone lead a discussion. (Oops! It's called a chat with a hash tag.) My debut came on August 4 when I moderated #ChristianEducators. I have never seen a powerful moment online where people gathered to share and grow in their faith. I am Abe and am blessed to lead you tonight! #ChristianEducators — Abe Alarcon (@abealarcon) August 5, 2016 Having been part of this group for a year or so I noticed that it was a special place to join and express what was in my heart: a deep desire to share my faith with others for 60 minutes via tweets full of inspiring words and visuals every Thursday night.  I also discovered others with the same desire. This past June, I was saddened to find out that the group stopped meeting. Summer vacation will compel many groups on Twitter to pause and take a break. At the same time I let my intent...

In the mid 90's I was younger, slimmer and had more hair on my head. I was in grad school,  working and living on my own. Like any single young man, I had my share of relationships and encounters. My family was always supportive and I had lots of close friends. I thought life was good.  Yet, with so much going for me I was often upset, angry and frustrated with my life. Instead of addressing it in a responsible manner, I acted out. This involved self medication via binge drinking, overeating, casual sex, and lying. Whenever any one of my relationships questioned my behaviors, I chalked it up to me being immature. I used that excuse so much that I perfected it. I got away with so much. I knew I was immature but soon realized I was selfish and manipulative. It was a crazy cycle of deceit and games.  One day, I woke up after a long and uneventful Saturday night of partying and I heard a voice tell me, "Go to church."  Some people might call this exper...

One of the hardest things to do as an adult is to manage my time. As a husband who works full-time and is raising two boys, ages fourteen and three, with my wife in NYC, things can get hectic. Cooking, cleaning, commuting are simple but monotonous tasks that must get done. There is a never-ending to-do list: homework, laundry, playing with the kids, paying bills, and not to mention, spending quality time with my wife.  I am surprised at how we do it day after day, month after month, year after year. Amidst these daily activities, I struggle to find time to eat, sleep, rest, and most of all, pray. I discovered that biking was a great way for me to lose some pounds, reflect and pedal my way towards God.  Last year, my spiritual director, a Jesuit, suggested I try the Jesuits in Britain’s Pray As You Go app .  I found myself listening to it every morning.  The introductory music provides a calming sense of invitation for prayer.  What’s more exciting ...