Well, it’s official: it is now technically fall. Personally, I’m a big fan. It is probably my favorite season. I love the cool, crisp air, the fall light, the changing colors of the leaves...just as long as winter isn’t too close behind. I could do without the pumpkin spice craze that hits right about now (pumpkin spice deodorant anyone? - yes, it actually exists), but other than that I really do love this season. There is something invigorating about fall. At the same time, I have always found that there is something melancholic about this season too. I suppose it is the combination of seeing what was not long ago so lush and green begin to wither and fade, and the turn toward hearth, home and family that the cooler weather and the anticipation of holidays brings. Perhaps more than other seasons, fall invites us to consider the big questions of life. The readings this Sunday correspond nicely as Saint Paul urges to “lay hold of eternal life,” and Jesus offers the parable about Lazarus and the rich man, these two men in very different circumstances and the eternal consequences of their actions (or inactions) in this life. I don’t think this season needs to depress or make us dour in our outlook. Rather, I think it can give us proper perspective on the meaning and beauty of life, even in its brevity, and with that comes authentic joy. So, enjoy the beautiful fall weather, and give a thought and a prayer to what this life is all about in the end. --Fr. Thom
Interested in Becoming Catholic? Do you want to prepare for a sacrament? Please join us for an informational session: Sunday, October 6 After 10:30 am Mass Lower Chapel
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
Follow us online for news, events, prayer and spiritual resources, plus much more:
I think it is only natural that we associate the concepts of home and family. The home is, after all, the dwelling of the family, a place in which we share both the joys and sorrows, the sacred and the secular, the extraordinary and the mundane events of a life lived in communion. By extension, we make this same association when we think of other places that we have called “home” for any length of time, for example, our alma mater. As a student here at St. Ambrose, I remember feeling like I spent so much time in certain places on campus that I practically “lived” there. I would have strange dreams in which I rarely remembered the plot, but always recalled vivid images of the places, which were usually a strange amalgam of all of these buildings where I spent so many of my waking hours, and the principal characters were the many friends, mentors and teachers that swirled around me in this place. St. Ambrose was and is a home and a family to me and to many. For this reason, each year we celebrate “Homecoming,” a time to return to this particular home and to reconnect with this particular family, our Ambrose family. This sense of family runs deep here, from the small-campus feel, to the caring, individual attention given to our students, to the intergenerational bonds between our alumni. This was especially evident to me this past week as we learned of the very sudden death of a sister, mother, colleague, teacher and friend, Dr. Darla Baumgarten. Darla taught for many years in the Kinesiology department and truly embodied this sense of family. As hard as this week was, this strong sense of family on full display as her peers, friends and students gathered to console each other, to remember Darla, and to begin to figure out a way to carry on in her spirit and in values of this place. You are family. This is home. Welcome home. --Fr. Thom
Interested in Becoming Catholic? Do you want to prepare for a sacrament? Please join us for an informational session: Sunday, October 6 After 10:30 am Mass Lower Chapel
The 2019 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award will be given to Bishop Munib A. Younan, the former President of the Lutheran World Federation. Bishop Younan will receive the award on September 24th, 2019, at Augustana College.
Front L-R:Jenny Dickes (Hagen), Jess Mendenhall (Davis), Emily LePretre (Rohlman), Andrea Adam (Tiedemann), Kelli Kluever (Bechtel), Alyssa Duran (North), Riley Beltramea (Franklin) Back L-R: Jacob Braun (Cosgrove), Kaitlin Enright (Cosgrove), Claire McCarthy (McCarthy), Alberto Vargas (North), Johnny Callahan (Townhouses)
Do you want to get involved in Campus Ministry? Take our interest survey!
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
Follow us online for news, events, prayer and spiritual resources, plus much more:
In the past year or so I have been trying to run a couple of times each week, usually just 3 to 4 miles. I have to admit, it is not my favorite thing. As I often tell people, I like having run, but not running in itself. Sometimes I have to trick myself into it by just putting on my running gear. Another trick I use is to pray as I run to take my mind off the fact that I am running. Sometimes I imagine myself running with Peter and John to the empty tomb on that first Easter morning. Sometimes I motivate myself more simply by telling myself things like, “Just to that next light pole...just to that next stop sign, etc.” The Gospel for this Sunday presents us once again with the parable of the lost or prodigal son. And in this parable we find the father running to his wayward son while he was still a long way off. What this parable does so well is to emphasize the active, eager mercy of God. In the pendulum swing between our own presumption (the idea that God owes us mercy) and despair (the idea that we are beyond God’s mercy), it is good to remind ourselves that we have a God who runs to us in love. And yet, we have to let ourselves be caught. We have to receive that eager love, that eager mercy of the Father. This can be difficult for us as human beings who like to believe that we earn everything we have. In either our pride or our self-loathing we can try to outrun God’s mercy. My prayer this week is that we allow ourselves to be caught by God, who runs to us in mercy and, in turn, that we might show that same mercy to others. Who knows? Maybe on my next run, I’ll imagine myself as the father running to his long lost son...whatever it takes to forget that I’m exercising. --Fr. Thom
The 2019 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award will be given to Bishop Munib A. Younan, the former President of the Lutheran World Federation. Bishop Younan will receive the award on September 24th, 2019, at Augustana College.
Front L-R:Jenny Dickes (Hagen), Jess Mendenhall (Davis), Emily LePretre (Rohlman), Andrea Adam (Tiedemann), Kelli Kluever (Bechtel), Alyssa Duran (North), Riley Beltramea (Franklin) Back L-R: Jacob Braun (Cosgrove), Kaitlin Enright (Cosgrove), Claire McCarthy (McCarthy), Alberto Vargas (North), Johnny Callahan (Townhouses)
Do you want to get involved in Campus Ministry? Take our interest survey!
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
Follow us online for news, events, prayer and spiritual resources, plus much more:
Well, it’s official: it is now technically fall. Personally, I’m a big fan. It is probably my favorite season. I love the cool, crisp air, the fall light, the changing colors of the leaves...just as long as winter isn’t too close behind. I could do without the pumpkin spice craze that hits right about now (pumpkin spice deodorant anyone? - yes, it actually exists), but other than that I really do love this season. There is something invigorating about fall. At the same time, I have always found that there is something melancholic about this season too. I suppose it is the combination of seeing what was not long ago so lush and green begin to wither and fade, and the turn toward hearth, home and family that the cooler weather and the anticipation of holidays brings. Perhaps more than other seasons, fall invites us to consider the big questions of life. The readings this Sunday correspond nicely as Saint Paul urges to “lay hold of eternal life,” and Jesus offers the parable about Lazarus and the rich man, these two men in very different circumstances and the eternal consequences of their actions (or inactions) in this life. I don’t think this season needs to depress or make us dour in our outlook. Rather, I think it can give us proper perspective on the meaning and beauty of life, even in its brevity, and with that comes authentic joy. So, enjoy the beautiful fall weather, and give a thought and a prayer to what this life is all about in the end. --Fr. Thom
