Theology of the Pencil

By Br. Rob Malusa, SDB

Welcome to Zambia’s ZMB vice province, which is made up of four countries: Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Within these past four years here, I have been in two houses of formation: one year in the novitiate and the last three in the post novitiate, where 32 young men are presently studying philosophy on their way to their final vows to be perpetually professed Salesian brothers or priests. Thirty of them will stay here in this province, and two who are with us from South Africa will go back at the end of their three years of studies. We are so rich in diversity, having two formators from India, one from Poland, one from the USA (me) and two from Zambia itself as well as the brothers in formation.

Our brothers do apostolates on weekends. One of eight different places they go to is a program that deals with girls ‘at risk’ run by the Salesian Sisters, a place called "City of Hope." The brothers decided to give a retreat to the girls in preparation for Lent. One of the brothers gave a talk I would like to share about a pencil. He claimed there were five important things to a pencil:

1. The "inside" (the lead). Without the lead, a pencil does not work. He pointed out that we have to protect our inside. If we don't, we won't be able to do what God asks us. We will just wind up doing useless things with the wood part of the pencil that does not bear the fruit God intended.
2. Keep it sharp. Think of the sharpening process of a pencil from its point of view. It cannot be fun! We, too, need these difficult times to sharpen our skills and allow God to shape us.
3. Keep writing forward. A pencil that just sits not in use cannot produce anything; it has to be in motion. However, you could keep writing in circles or gibberish. That is not what God is asking. He’s asking us to write poetry and other beautiful things that show His greatness.
4. Who is writing with the pencil? Is it yourself? Maybe you are giving your pencil to others and they are writing your story. However, it is God alone who can write the amazing story of your life from His perspective.
5. The eraser. We will never be perfect. When we fight with God over who is in control of this pencil, our lines will be crooked and not make much sense. Although God can always "write straight with crooked lines," there is always the other option of starting again through forgiveness and most importantly with His sacrament of Reconciliation.

Throughout my schooling, we were always told to use a #2 pencil on all standardized tests. I always wondered what happened to the #1 pencil? For some reason, teachers never even mentioned it for some reason. As I think back now, I realize that I was in a public school that never talked about God. Yet maybe that is because even they knew who had the most important pencil even if they couldn’t say it directly? Think of who’s writing with your pencil.