30 Years in the Journey from Baptism

Just about 6 weeks after my birth, about 3 miles west of Swedish Covenant Hospital where I was born, and just west of the first home I ever lived in with my family, I was born again into a new life at my baptism at St. Cornelius Parish in the early afternoon of Sunday, April 28, 1991.

Based on my understanding of faith now, I recognize my baptism was not a one-time event of the past, but a new reality into which I entered and in which I still abide.  That's where the calling comes in to make something of my baptism.  Even though I was too young to remember my baptism, it has attained great importance because of what I've done with this gift of faith.

It's poignant this year to recall my baptism because it's the first time I mark this occasion since St. Cornelius ceased regular parish functions, including Masses, as those functions have been transferred over to a new unified parish.

When the news was announced about this merger back in November 2019, I made it my business to attend Mass at St. Cornelius as often as I could in the final months before Masses ceased there.  And so I was there on August 16 for the final weekend of regular Masses.  The pastor, Father Dan, had petitioned Cardinal Cupich to celebrate the Feast of St. Cornelius in lieu of the prescribed Sunday liturgy for that weekend, and the petition was granted.  So Father Dan spoke about St. Cornelius, one of the early popes, in his homily.  At one point, St. Cornelius was sent into exile, and was unable to minister to His flock in the usual way.  Yet he still carried on faithfully in his ministry.  And so the community of St. Cornelius continues on, even if it doesn't exist in the official sense anymore, as its members continue to live out the Gospel.

While I haven't been an active part of the St. Cornelius community for years, the community continues to exist in me as I live out my baptismal calling, as they were faithful in doing their part to bring me to the waters of baptism for rebirth.

In baptism, God bestows His graces upon us, as we enter into the Paschal Mystery, dying to ourselves and rising to New Life in Christ.  Indeed, God has given a great gift to each of us who has been baptized, and such a great gift calls us to live in a more abundant way.

I have attained the purpose realized in abundant life in teaching Religious Education.  There was something absolutely providential that when I turned 30 on my birthday last month, it fell on a Tuesday when I had Religious Education class scheduled, and I offered tribute to my students for being such an important part of my life, along with all my former students in past years.  Teaching RE has been an extraordinarily important part of my life in my 20s, and it was profound that I started a new decade engaged in the same work.  I have learned to give of myself in tending to the souls of my students, to lead them to encounters with God, and so I have discovered who I am truly called to be.

It's also profound that I hand on this gift of faith, which is a significant part of my life, onto my students, and to be part of their lives as middle schoolers, which was the time of my life when faith first became important to me, with the hope that abundant faith would be spawned in the way they live their lives.  I never realized growing up and having major events like Confirmation that the journey launched by these sacramental encounters with God would lead me to give of myself this way, and that I would discover my ability to so powerfully support others.  It's been an incredible discovery to find such purpose in life by teaching RE as I seek to inspire a new generation to grow in faith.

During that class on March 16, I gave a short introduction to Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body teaching.  The main premise I sought to convey follows this line of thought: We are created in the image of God, which means we reflect something about God.  God is love, which means He is Gift, giving of Himself totally to us.  We are therefore called to reflect God by being a Gift, giving totally of ourselves in that same love of God.

Indeed, God has created us, and by the Paschal Mystery, we are restored to the glorious purpose of living life to give of ourselves so that God's life may abound in the world.  Recently, while listening to The Cale Clarke Show on Relevant Radio, Cale talked about a homily Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave in 2012 on his last birthday before he retired as Pope.  In this homily, Benedict talked about how God gives us the great gift of biological life, but then adds to it rebirth, which grounds us in a promise that is stronger than anything evil in the world.  It is such a marvel that God would add to the gift of life to make it something more awesome through rebirth into newness of Life.  It is through faith that we come to live a more abundant life.

As I planned for the 2020-21 RE year, I decided to reach out to various people I have known in my life to share their perspectives on faith.  Because we mostly met online, I could seamlessly bring in people to join class from all over, and many of these guest speakers were from outside Illinois.  Manywere people I met during my years at Valparaiso University, which shaped my faith in very significant ways.  As I think back upon the classes with these guest speakers, I recognize how blessed I am that in my journey of faith over these past 30 years, from the very start, I have been in the company of some amazing people who are truly devoted to God.  Their presence certainly invigorated my faith journey when I was regularly interacting with them in the initial years after first meeting, and it invigorated me in these past few months when I could reconnect with them when they joined my class to share with my students.

I marvel when I realize that my baptism 30 years ago was an extraordinary time when I entered into a community of faith, and how that sense of community would expand to include so many others on my journey.  And it was so wonderful that I was able to bring all these meaningful parts of my life in contact with my RE class during the course of our year together.

Providentially, the RE year concluded yesterday evening, when we gathered together in Church to spend time in prayer and reflection, as well as to recognize and bless the 8th graders and bestow gifts on them.  As I told my students, even though our time together in class has reached its conclusion, we  go forth into the rest of our lives still remain connected as part of one Church.  I know that these 33 students, along with all my other 178 former students, won't fade into the background.  I've invested so much in them, and I know that my life has not been the same because they have been part of it.

It's just like how I still remain connected with my baptism and St. Cornelius Parish as I continue to grow in relationship with God and put faith into action, being a gift that brings new life into the world.  In the sense of Kairos time, these experiences continue to exist.

Above is the scene of St. Cornelius during the Easter Season 2020.  There are flowers blooming on the Cross in front of the Church, a sign of how in the Paschal Mystery, from death springs newness of Life, as happened to me in the baptismal font inside, which is shown below..

The Paschal Mystery in 2021

God prescribed several feasts for the Jewish people, in which they would remember what God did for them in the past.  At one point, Jewish men were expected to present themselves before the Lord in Jerusalem for certain feasts.

I often have that idea in my mind when I go to Church on Sundays, or even other days during the week, as I am presenting myself before the Lord to honor Him for the occasion at hand.  That sense of my presence before God speaks to my attendance at Triduum liturgies for 2021, which ties so closely into the Jewish Feast of Passover.

Starting when I walked into Church for Palm Sunday Mass on March 28, it felt so good to be back inside Church for these high holy days of the liturgical year, gathering again after such large gatherings for the Triduum were unavailable in 2020.  As I look back at what was unavailable to us then, I realize that the meaning of these days is so deep that it still stood even in the midst of those challenging circumstances.  I also take comfort in how these holy days are observed yearly so that we have the chance to come back to them, and we find new meaning year after year.

There is something very exuberant about the start of Palm Sunday Mass, as we hold our palms and recall the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, with the grand music to set the tone.  As the liturgy continued into the Passion narrative, I recognized that throughout it all, Jesus continued to assert His Kingship, although it would happen in the midst of great suffering, culminating in His death, which caused the centurion to declare He was the Son of God.

Indeed, these Holy Week and Triduum days are all about embracing the reality that Jesus Christ alone is the Source of our Salvation.  That idea was embedded well in the entrance song at Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper, that we praise and adore Christ forever because of how He gave Himself for us, as part of a New Covenant that He established in the midst of the Passover celebration of God's deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt.

And in pouring Himself out for our salvation, we are called to pour out ourselves for others in the same way.  During the time we had in the midst of Mass to reflect when, at the altar, select congregants poured water into basins, I thought about how I've answered the call to give of myself in Religious Education class for my students.

I felt the power of the immensity of Christ's sacrifice when Mass concluded with the hymn "Pange Lingua".  It's a soul-stirring scene as the lyrics draw us into rendering high praise to our Savior Who gave Himself totally for us.  That feeling lingered after Mass, and I felt the urge to linger at Church, even if the usual nightly adoration wasn't happening at Ascension.

The next day, on Passion Friday, I sought to draw myself into the Passion of Christ by attending Stations of the Cross prayer at St. Bernardine Parish.  There's an intensity to this prayer as so much is packed into each of the Stations as we recall what Christ did for us, and how it compels a response from us.  I had participated in Stations of the Cross a week prior, right before Holy Week, at St. Odilo, and the prayers there, based on the writings of St. Alphonsus, captured that same sense of intensity in many words giving us much to ponder regarding Christ's Passion.  The Stations we prayed at St. Bernardine were driven by lots of Scripture passages.

Later that day, I attended the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at Ascension.  I proclaimed the opening part of the Passion Narrative according to St. John.  This Gospel emphasizes how Christ was fully aware of His purpose in obedience to the Father's will and accepted it fully.  So the opening scene doesn't mention His agony in Gethsemane, but says Christ went out to meet those seeking to arrest Him, and they even fall back at one point.

Later in the liturgy, even with the modification, the Veneration of the Cross was very profound, as we processed to the altar to acknowledge, with gestures, that upon the Cross, Christ became the Source of our Salvation.

Signs of lovely spring weather were taking hold the next morning as I walked to Church, and there, I assisted with the Easter Season decorations.  I couldn't help but think about Jim Wojcik, former Ascension Parish staff member, who dearly loved being at Church, and did so much good work overseeing the decorations.  As we collaborated in a sense of community in the decorations, we made the Church look splendid for the Great Feast of Feasts.

Even with all I had going on throughout the rest of the day, I still was in a sort of reflective mood about what I had experienced during Lent, and how it would culminate in the night to come.

The scene was set as I walked into a darkened Church that evening, which magnified the splendor of the Paschal Candle as it was processed forth to the front of church.  Then came the magnificent Exultet.  It's notable that we would recall how God has been at work throughout history to save His people as we celebrate the most important event of His work of salvation.  Notably, at Ascension, parts of the Exultet involve the audience participation with chants that break in the flow of the Exultet, like "This is our Passover Feast!"  Indeed, the celebration of Passover was made new in Christ our Savior, an idea that is very much part of the Triduum.

And then we went in-depth with some of those stories, like the Creation account in Genesis, and God's deliverance of the Hebrews through the waters of the Red Sea, followed by the exuberant psalm hymn, "I Will Sing".

The reading from Romans started me thinking about what the Triduum means, going back to something I heard years ago: We don't just stand on the sidelines as Christ goes through the events of His Passion and Resurrection. We join with Him in them, as we live His Risen Life.  Indeed, we are tied into the Paschal Mystery, which transforms us.

Following the epistle reading from Romans, David Anderson led the stepped Alleluia, which set the tone for another truly soul-stirring scene.  In singing the Alleluia, I came to recognize anew that Christ has truly risen.  His Resurrection is better than a fairy tale, because He has truly triumphed, and demonstrates God has power over all that is wrong in the world.  Even as we await the final defeat of it all, we have hope that He has secured the victory.  It's a meaningful gesture that the Gospel reader, Father Bob, carried the Gospel book open through an extended procession, emphasizing this event as central to our faith.  During the procession, we sang the Alleluia with the words of Psalm 118, proclaiming how God's love endures forever, demonstrated so powerfully in the Resurrection.

The exuberant feel continued for the rest of Mass, especially with the chant "Be Not Afraid, Sing out for Joy!" and then the concluding hymn "Jesus Christ is Risen Today".  I swelled with the celebratory spirit as I chatted with people following the end of Mass and then headed home, eating a few treats before bedding down for the night.

The splendor of the Resurrection was very much present the next morning when I attended 10 AM Mass, upheld even more palpably by the lovely spring weather, which became quite warm later in the day.  The church looked marvelous in the morning light.  One part of the prayers on Resurrection Sunday and throughout the Easter Season that stands out is in the Eucharistic Prayer, when the priest says this season is a time to be filled with great joy and laud God even more gloriously because Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed.  We truly rejoice because Christ, once dead, is now alive forever and ever, in a more glorious way.  And we know that His new Life is in us who have joined Him in baptism.  

Notably, later in the day, I gathered with family, and we had quite a feast at my Uncle Bernie's house, which included lamb.  Besides the meal, it was a great joy to have a larger family gathering, with both my grandmas present, another sign of hope that we're moving closer to the end of this pandemic.  Indeed, hope springs eternal deep within us, as we yearn for an end of all that is wrong in the world, and the triumph of all that is good.

I sat in the north transept of Church, from my seat, I was in full view of the Paschal Candle.  Right behind it, from my perspective, I saw a stained glass window image of the victorious Lamb of God.  And I thought about how what I saw speaks to a major theme of this occasion: Christ is truly victorious, and we can rejoice in that victory.  By the Resurrection of Christ, He demonstrated that He is more powerful than death, sin, and evil, because none of that could hold Him down.  Furthermore, He took the Cross, once considered an ignominious symbol, and transformed it into a powerful symbol of redemption.  When we weren't able to overcome our defeats, God came in and did it so gloriously.

As people of faith, we live in this victory day by day.  Even as we tread the path to Eternity that God has won for us by the Resurrection, we have the deep joy of this victory even now.

Alleluia!

Above is the view I had from my seat during Resurrection Sunday Mass.  Below is a close-up of the top of the Paschal Candle by the image of the victorious Lamb.

P.S. You can read my previous Triduum reflections for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.  The 2014 reflection has a list of my favorite moments during the Triduum liturgies.

30 Experiences in my 30 Years

Turning 30 recently has gotten me thinking about the experiences of my life so far.

Here is a list of 30 of them, in no particular order. I'm sure I could think of more to include, but the ones here cover much ground.

1. Visiting Independence Hall, the Old Pennsylvania State House, in Philadelphia

2. Visiting the Grand Canyon

3. Assisting with a flag-lowering ceremony at Fort Sumter

4. Seeing the Christmas/Decembertide decorations at the White House

5. Walking across the Mississippi River on the Chain of Rocks Bridge

6. Wading across the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park

7. my MLIS degree

8. my practicum at Argonne

9. Attending the Illinois Bicentennial Celebration at Navy Pier on December 3, 1818

10. Summitting Charles Mound, the highest point of elevation in the state of Illinois

11. Meeting Tom Skilling

12. Meeting Ashley Bratcher

13. Visiting the Panama Canal

14. holding a tarantula at the Field Museum Members' Night

15. Meeting Brant Miller

16. the 2005 National Geography Bee, school and state rounds

17. Becoming the All-School Spelling Bee Champion at Julian

18. Visiting Pike's Peak

19. Visiting Santa Fe

20. Going up in the Space Needle

21. Ron Chernow's autographs on my books

22. 6th grade essay assignment with Harriet Gillem Robinet

23. Learning to operate a train engine

24. The semester in History of Chicago class with Ms. North

25. Sitting in the NBC5 Studio during a broadcast

26. the Great Train Trip of the West in summer 1997

27. Oakwoods Confederate monument essay, and later presentation

28. Serving in the Compass Educational Program

29. Serving on the staff of the Jawhawk Flyer, Julian Middle School's student newspaper

30. Serving on the Julian Middle School Student Council