Welcome back to another semester. The weather is a little chilly outside during this first week, and may make you hustle from building to building as fast as possible. Of course hustling along may mean we miss things along the way. The spring semester will bring plenty of goals and projects to acomplish before May. While you are looking ahead don’t forget to see what is happening now, especially how God is seeking you here and now.
Well I haven’t been writing for a while. Like everyone else have been caught up in finishing up things for the semester. In addition this is also the time for Alecia and I to look to next semester. We are also trying to get our newsletter out so hopefully you will recieve that soon. The winter break is a busy break with Christmas and New Year’s in there and then suddenly it’s time to come back, and we are all back together again. We will miss some people when we get back, all those who are studying abroad next semester. We hope they have a good time and we will eep them in our thoughts and prayers and know that they are still joined to us by bonds of love through God now and always.
We are back from the Fall retreat, and had a wonderful time. The weather cooperated, but more importantly everyone on the retreated cooperated with each other and with God working on their hearts. To set aside time for just you and God is very important, if you don’t feel you can take a whole weekend at least take time each week especially on Sunday away from all your distractions to focus exclusively on your relationship with God.
As you begin October, you are, are should be, heavily involved in your classwork. But as you go about the business of midterms, papers, and projects, as you deal with all the demands placed upon you, do not lose sight of the others around us. Since October is a month dedicated to Mary, I would ask you to say a rosary this month for the needs of someone else, near or far, friend or stranger.
We’ve gone just over halfway though September, and things are starting to settle into place. All are weekly offerings will be going by next week, with still a few special events left such as the first timer’s retreat in October. Once things settle down if people want to join in the ministries here they are welcome. As the upcoming Sunday’s gospel tells us it is never too late to start.
Less than a week into the semester and we are already making adjustments. Tropical storm Hanna was threatening the area and local activities were being cancelled so we moved our welcome back BBQ to Sat. Sep. 13th. That is life in campus ministry and campus life, and that is okay. Being always on the move from one thing to another, learning new things, meeting new people is part of the excitement of being on a campus. Just remember that in all the passing currents of life the truth to which we always hold, that God is always with us.
It is getting close to the start of the school year. I’ll take a vacation next week and then it will be time to start. Hopefully you will have had a chance to reflect on spiritual as well as academic goals for the upcoming year. If there is soemthing that might help you achieve those goals let us know. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again and meeting new people and keeping this place filled with life, for our God is a living God and to follow God is the only way to truly live.
The child Jesus is found in the temple. Did you not know I would be in my Father’s house? Where to we look for God? Do we only seek Him in the unusual or extraordinary? We must remember to look where God has already said He would be. After this episode we know little about Jesus until His public life. Most of Christ’s time is spent in an ordinary life, yet it is still a Holy life. Ours can be too.
The presentation presents us with the old and the new. Mary and Joseph are coming to fulfill the requirements of the Law, while Simeon and Anna prophesy of the future the child will bring. A catholics we always stand between the old and the new. We are called to be faithful to scripture and the apostolic tradition handed on to us and to recognise we are a pilgrim people not yet done our journey. A journey that leads us deeper in the new creation Jesus opens for us. How faithful am I to the Tradition handed on to me? How open am I to God’s plan for my future?
I received some feedback on the first mystery, another starting point for the meditation is the incarnation, always appropriate with the rosary is to see how Mary leads to Jesus. The visitation can focus us on being there for others. The news of Elizabeth was given to Mary to assure her of God’s power to give life, but for Mary it also becomes a call to see to the needs of another. God’s gifts when fully received lead to greater love of God and our brothers and sisters.