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As we near the month of May, and the end of another spring semester, many of us will experience a flurry of emotions. This time of year always brings with it a sense of finality.
Another school year come and gone, and with it, a whole journey of new experiences and changes and friendships and love. Some of those experiences have been great, others maybe not so much. And each May, we close this one chapter and prepare to open the next. Some of us will be graduating, others will soon be preparing for internships and summer jobs. We’ll move back home, or move in with friends, or pack up our dorms and move into whatever comes next.
The closing of this chapter can be a difficult one, even if it is filled with excitement. This is perhaps most especially seen in those of us who are saying goodbye to St. Ambrose and the relationships we’ve built along the way. Saying goodbye can be hard, and stepping into a new chapter without all the familiarity we’ve built can be hard, too.
Back in 2019, the bishop asked me to move from my first parish to become pastor of a new one. While I knew this day would eventually come, it didn’t make it any easier. Saying goodbye to my home and the people who had helped make it my home hit harder than I thought it would. I remember emailing the bishop late one night and sharing that, after all this, I didn’t think I wanted to leave. I didn’t want to say goodbye. He called me, we talked about it - about how goodbyes are hard and sad, but we also talked about how goodbyes can be the avenues for new grace and new life and, perhaps most importantly, new love. The last thing he said to me that night was, “Such is the life of a priest. And it is a good life.”
It is a good life. Life is good. And while goodbyes and new chapters can difficult and daunting, there is new life and new grace and new love that exists in each chapter of own journey. Whatever comes next for you, knows of my continued prayers - prayers as you prepare for your final exams, prayers for your goodbyes, and prayers for whatever adventure is in your horizon.
There will be a Peaceful Vigil, "For Human Dignity" at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church on 417 N Main St. Davenport Iowa at 6:30 P.M. on May 1, 2024 in response to the anti-immigrant bill signed into law by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, SF 2340. Organizations and community members across Iowa are coming together to challenge this injustice and support our immigrant brothers and sisters.
Inspired by Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, the Evicted exhibition brings visitors into the world of low-income renter eviction. The exhibition challenges visitors to face the enormity of one of 21st-century America’s most devastating problems while providing context for the crisis and a call to action.
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.
As we near the month of May, and the end of another spring semester, many of us will experience a flurry of emotions. This time of year always brings with it a sense of finality.
