Dear 1036: May Flowers and More that Bloom

Dearly Beloved 1036 Clarence,

The adage states that April showers bring May flowers.  I have such fond memories of the flowers that bloomed there in the month of May.  The lilacs have such a lovely white/purplish shade of color. My favorite flowers are the peonies.  They last for a short time, yet their bloom gladdens my heart, as does the beautiful scent when I place my nose against the soft petals.  The peonies are primarily white, but sometimes we'll get a pink peony.

2022 peony

first 2023 peony bloom

2023 lilac bloom

The spring rains also give the grass a gorgeous shade of green--as in the photo below.  When I arrived home for summer break from Valparaiso University, I was so glad to be back and the green grass further gladdened my mood, especially 10 years ago when I was finished with college and returned home upon my graduation on May 19, 2013.

And the end of May is Mom's birthday.  We had so many great celebrations for her birthday there over those years.  Typically, we had a cherry pie in the house to celebrate, Mom's favorite dessert.

Today, May 28, is Pentecost Sunday.  We celebrate the birth of the church.  The domestic church is the family.  I rejoice in the love I shared with my family there for 30 years.

With fondness

With joy,

Ever connected through these memories:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

Post-College: 10 Years

I have so much to celebrate today as I mark the 10th anniversary of my graduation from Valparaiso University, so many reasons to party like it's 2013 all over again.  Following the ceremony, when I was gathered with my family and guests at La Cabaña for a celebratory dinner, I thanked everyone for coming and being part of the celebration of what I had recognized at that time as the conclusion of an extraordinary experience in my life.

I definitely sense that my graduation is still having an impact on my life 10 years later as its effects are dispersing throughout the various parts of my life.  Writing about and reflecting on my life with this blog has made me more aware of the significance of what's happening, which is more reason to celebrate as I mark 10 years since the event that inspired the launch of this blog.

Attending Valparaiso University was the first time in my life that I seriously considered the idea of vocation, and how it brings immense purpose to my life.  I'm glad that I was in an intentionally faith-based environment that helped me put my pathway to a career in the context of fulfilling my vocation.  Surely that mindset was at play when I discerned attending graduate school.

A sense of spirituality pervaded my ValpU experience, even my meteorology studies.  While my science and math-driven classes helped me better understand what happens in the atmosphere, I still had a sense of looking up in wonder at the sky and marveling at what it does.  Studying meteorology in a liberal arts unviersity also helped keep me aware of how it impacts society.

It's been great over the past month to reconnect with my ValpU experience with visits back to campus, coming after attending an event with alumni and admitted students in Chicago at which I had my first opportunity to meet President Padilla.  I've reflected so much on what was meaningful about my ValpU years, most especially the people.  Visiting former professors has been great as I share about what's happening in my life and hear about what's going on with them.  I was intrigued that the day I visited my meteorology professors, the department was gearing up for the annual Great Lakes Meteorology Conference, which was always a meaningful experience for me as a student.

My conversations with Christ College professors during these recent visits were aptly stimulating.  Professor Upton told me that I'm now part of Christ College lore, as he shared a story about me with his students about how I analyzed the text of the Gospel according to St. Mark in the first-year program.  When I talked with Professor Smith, he posed a couple of questions: What I have in mind for the next 10 years and what I'm reading.

Christ College is the component of my time at ValpU that speaks to how something in me got awakened more strongly than ever before in my life:  I describe it as a yearning to ponder more profoundly the meaning of my life's circumstances.  As a way to keep connected with the people I knew back home as I responded to homesickness, I wrote a weekly e-mail describing what was happening with me, and then I would conclude it with a reflection--and some of you reading this blog may remember reading those messages.  They became a way for me to reflect more deeply and be aware of how extraordinary my college years were as they unfolded.  I'm glad that this blog has been an opportunity for me to keep up that spirit of reflection.

When I was headed into college, I regarded it as the next level of schooling, much as I had with every other transition to a new school.  College meant I was entering a new multifaceted world, including components outside of the classroom.  St. Teresa's was an enormously significant component of my ValpU experience.  I was delighted earlier this month to be back for a visit at St. Teresa with the purpose of assisting with preparing and serving the meal following the evening student-geared Mass.  

It was the final student Mass of the academic year, and among those in attendance were 2023 graduates wearing their brown robes and other attire.  I was glad to congratulate them on behalf of the class of 2013 from 10 years prior.  While the faces that are part of the St. Teresa's community today are largely different from 10 years ago, the presence of the Holy Spirit is still at work edifying the community and bringing it alive.  It was special to be there to offer something back to edify the sense of community gathered there that has done so much for me.  And through the Holy Spirit, I continue to be connected with St. Teresa's even as I live out what I have gained from being part of this community.

Not only do I celebrate the graduation of 10 years ago, but I also delight in what has become of it.  I have often written about how extraordinarily meaningful it has been for me to teach Religious Education.  I have done so each year since graduation, which has been an intentional way for me to live out what I gained from my college years, an abundant new understanding of faith.  I feel it's been a constant answer to a calling to act upon my faith for the good of others.

It's amazing how the most important parts of my life converge in teaching RE, including what I gained during my college years.  I felt like I brought RE full circle back to my college years at the recent Confirmation Mass last month.  I wore the same suit and tie that I first wore at my college graduation 10 years ago, and which I have consistently worn for Confirmation Masses.  The Holy Spirit has truly been at work in that suit, especially considering that my ValpU graduation was on Pentecost Sunday.  (Here's a link to view the Confirmation Mass.  I come in around the 15:00 mark.)

Here I am proclaiming the first reading at the Confirmation Mass from Ephesians 4, taken from a screenshot of the Mass video.

 

When it comes to occasions like Pentecost and Confirmation, I sense how they live on as we continue moving with the spirit.  They are nexus points, as the preparations lead to these Kairos encounters with God and send us forth, much like my ValpU was a nexus point.  It was inspiring to be present with my students at an important moment in their lives, recognizing how I've made much of my faith experiences by passing it along to them, just as I proclaimed a Scripture passage at Mass from Ephesian 4 that speaks about our one faith, which we are called to uphold.  Indeed, I could truly celebrate with them because I was part of their journey to this moment.  Furthermore, I could be renewed in all that Confirmation means through the process leading to the sacramental encounter with God, even in refreshing myself on what faith is about while teaching it.  

It's like how I came to St. Teresa's knowing lots about faith, and then having the opportunity to get a refresher in it while building my faith thanks to the support of the community there.  All of that was very much at work while I taught class all through the year and then leading to Confirmation.  This year was different because Confirmation just past the end of the year, and during the Easter Season.  The timing was a way for us to celebrate Christ coming alive in us.  Bishop Birmingham's imagery of the warm weather pastime of kite flying was apt in thinking about the bloom of springtime:  He described how we might want to cut loose from the string, yet it helps us soar, like a kit.  And the Master of Ceremonies for the Mass, Deacon Francisco Pagano, is scheduled for ordination on May 20, 2023.

Much as my Julian years brought me alive in faith, ValpU built upon what was there and shaped it even more.  From the start of my time at ValpU, it was clear that college would be largely about getting an education, and so much more.  I experienced an intersection of studying, vocation, and faith on the fields of Valparaiso.  I'm glad that I chose to attend ValpU because the atmosphere was focused on faith, more so than my public K-12 schooling, although certainly the atmosphere at Julian during my time there helped support me in faith.  So when I graduated, I had lots to celebrate.  It was so fitting at the Baccaculate Service in the Chapel that morning to hear the spirited "Baba Yetu", the Lord's Prayer in Swahili.  (To continue that sense of celebration, I have customarily played this song as the opening prayer for RE class for the past 5 years.)

I was glad to celebrate it in the company of a great group of my family who came, and also Dan and Ann Ruggaber.  My relationship with the Ruggabers is just one of many I forged during my years there that continues, reminding me of how I'm connected with relationships and experiences of that time, much as I kept close to family and friends back home during those four years.

While I'm celebrating my 10th anniversary at ValpU today, the students I've taught over all those years are very much a part of my anniversary celebration, because they benefit from the blessings of that time.  Teaching RE has been about so much more than class, as it reminds me of how very much connected I am with my past experiences, and how they continue to inform my present as I live out my vocation.  It was only appropriate that my college years, touched by faith all over, would conclude on Pentecost Sunday:  I could celebrate the role of the Holy Spirit's working through those four years, and graduate with a sense of being sent forth to do what Jesus described in the Last Supper discourse in the Gospel according to St. John as the greater works.

Above, I am posing in the St. Teresa's parking lot.  The Chapel of the Resurrection appears behind me off in the distance.  Below, I'm in the St. Teresa's kitchen awaiting the start of serving the students their dinner.  I thank Carolyn Mikovich for getting these photos of me.

Lifelong Learning at 7 Years

My MLIS education formally and ceremoniously concluded 7 years ago today at the graduation ceremony on Sunday, May 8, 2016.  And my lifelong learning has continued in all those years since I officially finished my time in school.

I think about the learning that was part of the process of getting to my current new job in cataloging work at the Addison Public Library.  I attended meetings and met with coaches who, besides helping me with applications, guided me to reflect more on who I am.  I came to embrace that I have much going for me in life.  I have been driven by a sense of purpose ever since I graduated from ValpU, especially in living by faith and exercising my relationship with God in the community of His Church.  In the light of faith, I've sought to realize my God-given vocation in my work, which was a motivating factor when I discerned enrolling in graduate school for my MLIS degree.  With an awareness of myself and my skills came a better sense of how to express what I'm capable of in the workplace, based on what I've already accomplished.

One story I've often told about my work is that I've been in several different library settings, each of which uses a different integrated library system, a type of computer system geared for libraries to have records for all their items and patrons.  I've been able to readily learn each new system and be well on my way to using it for getting work done because I can draw upon previous technical knowledge and keep building upon it.

This example speaks to what lifelong learning is about:  We attend school to establish a strong basis of knowledge, and then we go into post-school life to gain more knowledge, because there's so much out there.  We can gain new ideas as knowledge builds upon knowledge.  It's something that can constantly motivate us and give us purpose as we use what we've gained especially in serving others.  

On the eve of my first MLIS graduation anniversary, I visited Frederick Douglass's Cedar Hill House in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C.  As an enlsaved person, once he learned how to read, he recognized its power.  It is only fitting that he had a large library of books in his study at his home to continue fostering lifelong learning.

I've found it meaningful to be in an environment that focuses so much on lifelong learning, for both patrons and employees.  Along the way, I've had some fun.  I recall 5 years ago when I helped carry Bubba, the 300-pound alligator start of Jim Nesci's cold-blooded creatures, into the Orland Park Public Library for a program.  Toward the end of my time there, I agreed to dress in a Woody costume as part of OPPLCon, the library's version of Comicon Fan Fest.

Talk about "other duties as assigned": I thank my co-worker for photographing me as Woody--I think it was Dianna.  

I certainly seek to emphasize the important of lifelong learning with my students in RE class, that there's so much to learn about faith, and as we continue doing it beyond formal Religious Education classtime, it helps us grow in relationship with God, inspiring us to put faith into action so that we can be a blessing to others in the world.

Just over a week ago, on the evening before Confirmation was a prayer vigil.  Diane, the RE coordinator for sacraments, asked the 8th grade teachers and catechists to offer remarks of affirmation for the students.  I spoke about how the students in my class asked lots of good questions.  As a librarian, I enjoyed answering them, because I was helping my students in the process of finding the answers and to be impacted by that process.  I encouraged them, upon the start of their lives as Confirmed Roman Catholics, to keep asking the questions that would deepen their relationship with God and inspire them to put faith into action.

It's a great gift that we can acquire knowledge and then use it to achieve higher purposes.  While wearing my Dominican University socks today, I have much to celebrate on this anniversary as I've seen this process at work in my life.

Paschal Mystery Version of 2023

As typical, the Triduum 2023 was a whirlwind of a weekend, with the additional time I get to spend at church for the special liturgies.  Even though the Triduum happens year after year, the changing circumstances of our lives give us different experiences of it each time and the same goal of seeking to join with Jesus in this Mystery of salvation as it works into our lives.

I knew that this year's Triduum would offer me something to make sense of the season of change happening in my life over the past few months.  It's been an adjustment transitioning to my own place along with my parents' transition to a new place hundreds of miles away.  And then, in a rather unexpected turn of events, just two days after getting ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday, my career turned to ashes.  Indeed, with all the adjustments and challenges, I knew the Triduum would be an opportunity for me to merge my life's circumstances with Christ's Paschal Mystery, looking for His power of redemption to work in my life.

Throughout Lent, with extra time on my hands, I engaged in a variety of prayer experiences: I went to different churches for Stations of the Cross on most Fridays.  I went to Eucharistic adoration for extended periods of time each Thursday--and on one of those Thursdays, coinciding with my birthday, was a special prayer liturgy for Vicariate IV as part of the Eucharistic Revival.  I took up a cue from my Dad, and I attended Mass each day throughout Lent upon being thrust back into looking for work.  I also appreciated the opportunity to read the reflections of Ascension-St. Edmund parishioners in the Pilgrimage of Prayer, and I contributed a reflection on March 11.

On Palm Sunday, there was a grand feeling in Church as we acclaimed Christ as our King, with palm branches in hand.  The liturgy makes a sudden shift in tone to recalling Christ's Passion with the "horsepill" Gospel reading, as Father Hurlbert would call it, though the Gospel readings for the 3rd-5th Sundays of Lent certainly have a "horsepill quality" to them with in-depth stories.  Yet the long Gospel reading of the Passion speaks to the intensity of what Christ endured in obedience to the Father's will to bring about our salvation.

In the spirit of Holy Week and the upcoming Triduum, I spent time in Religious Education class on Holy Tuesday on the meaning of the Triduum, and lead a hands-on activity with matzah, drawing a connection between Passover and the Paschal Triduum.  I shared with my student that as the bread is broken, so Christ's body was destroyed so we could be made whole again.

The Triduum liturgies were scheduled to alternate between Ascension and St. Edmund Churches as part of the new configurement that took effect last July.  A severe thunderstorm with strong winds on Holy Tuesday in Oak Park damaged St. Edmund's, and prompted the shift of all liturgies to Ascension Church and a renewed call to support our new combined community while the St. Edmund's community addressed the storm damage.

Maundy Thursday Mass is special in commemorating the institution of the New Covenant in Christ's Body and Blood.  It's clear that in offering Himself to us, Christ commands us to offer ourselves to others, as illustrated in the Gospel reading of the meal from John, and then the footwashing rite itself.  The end of Mass once again offered the mystical hymn of "Pange Lingua", with its profound praise of Christ, Who offered Himself for us.  

After I assisted with purification of the sacred Eucharistic vessels, I stayed for 15 minutes of adoration in the quiet, still church, in keeping with my Lenten practice of Eucharistic adoration.  I then returned to my homebase, only to return to Church for Night Prayer at 11:45.  I had always seen the Night Prayer in the Triduum schedule, and this year, I decided to do it for the first time.  There were about 20 people gathered for prayer as we kept watch with Christ on this sacred night with Night Prayer lasting until just a few minutes past midnight.

On Friday morning, I did something else for the first time that I had my eye on for years:  I left my homebase shortly before 8 AM and rode the Green Line from Harlem to Morgan.  Then, I walked to Halsted and rode the CTA #8 bus from Lake Street to 18th Street, and then walked a block east to Providence of God Church.  I've seen this church from the Dan Ryan Freeway above it, and now I was below the freeway and going into it, down to the lower level where the annual Pilsen Way of the Cross began.  

The reenactment started with the Last Supper, the proceedings in Gethsemane, and then the trials before the Jewish leaders and Pilate.  Once Jesus was condemned to death, we emerged to street level, and processed west on 18th Street, periodically stopping for prayers for some of the Stations of the Cross.  Walking along 18th Street, I almost felt like I was in a trance as I sought to follow the way of Jesus, seeking to join my life's circumstances with His Passion, aware of everything going on in my life, with those I know, and in the world.

Last Supper Scene at Providence of God Church

At Halsted and 18th Street

At Loomis/18th/Blue Island

The Crucifixion scene

The crucifixion was staged at Harrison Park.  Then, as Jesus was carried, the procession went to St. Pius V Church on Ashland Avenue.  One of the priests offered a homily, talking about how Jesus's death was a seed planted in the ground from which came new Life.  That insight spoke powerfully to me:  Even in the midst of challenges, when things don't make sense, I have hope that God's power of redemption will work to wondrously sprout forth into New Life.

Later, in the evening, I was at Ascension for the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion.  Father John quoted from a letter written by Jacques Fresch, a prisoner in France, with an open cause for canonization, another example of how a person in dire circumstances looked to Christ and seeking to enter into His Paschal Mystery.

About 12 hours later, I was back at Ascension for Morning Prayer, a time quiet in mood as we recall Christ's sabbath rest in the tomb, anticipating His Resurrection, aware of what happens next.  We also prayed in blessing for the Elect at Ascension-St. Edmund Parish.  I stayed for a long time at Church to assist with placing decorations, including the flowers ordered for St. Edmund's that they sent to Ascension to display, resulting in quite a floral abundance.  At 11 AM, I joined a group out on the labyrinth for the blessing of Easter foods.  Most people had baskets.  I had a package of English muffins, wanting to eat something that my Mom planned to eat the next day.  Deacon Tom asked for my assistance.

After going to home base and tending to a few things, while also awaiting the shift in mood from Lent to Easter, I returned to Ascension for the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass.  I always appreciate the lengthy Liturgy of the Word that helps us see the context of salvation history, which is described so richly in the Exultet.  David and Michael, the two music ministers at Ascension and St. Edmund's, respectively, took turns chanting it.  

Hearing the stories in the Liturgy of the Word definitely leads us to appreciate the glorious reality that emerges when, for the first time since before Lent began, we hear the Alleluia ring out as we acclaim the triumph of Christ.  The spirit of joy that pervaded the rest of the Easter Vigil Mass powerfully spoke to me, as it does each year, about the unchanging reality of the Resurrection.  It's better than a fairy tale, because it really helped, and meets the deepest longing of our hearts for the triumph of good over evil.  As a way for us to experience the reality of the Paschal Mystery in our lives, we renewed our baptismal promises and processed to the font after the baptisms took place for the Elect.  Our participation speaks to what Father Rex said in his homily that night:  The Empty Tomb is proof that Jesus is Risen, but we must go beyond having faith based on an Empty Tomb to faith that shows He is alive in us, and has transformed the way we live.

With last-minute pivoting, Ascension took over hosting the post-Mass reception from St. Edmund's.  I sat with the Robinet family, including Harriette, a children's author, and her son Stephen, who was one of my co-workers at the Oak Park Public Library.  I had sat behind them at Mass.

The spirit of great joy was evident the next day on Easter Sunday at Mass.  It was nice to leave the car behind at homebase and bike to Church.  The Church was filled with people, although I managed to find a good seat even though I arrived just about 15-20 minutes before Mas.  Seeing the Church filled with light, accompanied by the pleasant springlike temperatures outside, and all the decorations, including the flowers added a special touch, awakening us to the glory we celebrate on Easter Sunday.  That's a big idea in one of the 2nd reading options, in Colossians 3:1-4, in which St. Paul writes that because of the Resurrection, we look upwards now, following the path to join Christ in His Heavenly glory.  Even as we journey to that glory, we experience a taste of Heaven now.

In that light, it brought me great joy personally to see so many of my current and former students at Mass, feeling enlivened by a sense of community.  Experiencing the joy of faith in my life has motivated me to share it with my students as I participate in the work of handing on the faith to them.  I can tell that my students sense that joy radiating from me, even those who have ended their time in class with me.  At least a couple students saw me at communion time when I served as a Eucharistic minister and delightedly acknowledged my presence.  Visiting with some of the families after Mass was a great way to share the joyful reality of the Resurrection in community brought together in faith.  Father Bob spoke in his homily about how we are the church and we bring life to the world, because Christ rose from the dead:  He didn't merely become resuscitated, but rose to a new form of life, and that life now abides in the Church.

It was wonderful to go out later in the pleasant spring day to have dinner at my uncle's house.  Later, back at homebase, I shared the song "Amen" from Lilies of the Field with Mom, which seemed to really fit the mood of the day, and speaks to the reality of what we celebrate on Easter Sunday, and which touches all other days.

As I think of the Triduum 2023 in its entirety, I am drawn back to the homily at the conclusion the Way of the Cross in Pilsen, and the idea of the seed sprouting to new life.  Even with the present challenges of my life, I see that seeds are planted, and in the process of dying, something new will emerge.  That is the hope we have in faith, because in the Paschal Mystery, God has demonstrated His ability to overcome evil and bring good out of it through His power of redemption.  This victory is so powerfully represented by the Paschal Candle.  At the Easter Vigil Mass, I saw it tower above the altar from where I sat, demonstrating that Christ victoriously offers His Living Presence to us from His sacrifice that we re-present on the altar.  At Easter Sunday Mass, I saw the candle rise up beside the ambo, where the Gospel is proclaimed that tells the reality of the Resurrection alive among us.

Being part of church community throughout the Triduum brought me a great sense of consolation and belonging.  I have invested so much in contributing to the community, and the strong sense of community came through for me with its support in the current circumstances of my life.  At Easter Sunday dinner, I mentioned the quotation of Cardinal George: "The only thing we take with us when we die is what we have given away," and then I reflected on how I saw it at work.  It's like I had built up treasure in Heaven, investing in relationships within the church community, and that helped me at this time.  I felt that especially at Easter Sunday Mass, seeing so many of my students, past and present, with their families, which brought me great joy.

Indeed, because of the Resurrection, we are now bound for Heaven, and we can experience that joy now.  It's wonderful that we can continue the spirit of joyful celebration for 50 days after Easter/Resurrection Sunday, which represents how the joy of the Resurrection brings meaning to all days of the year, even as they point back to the importance of the Resurrection.  Surely, on our way to Heaven, we can experience Heaven now, living with purpose and great joy because He is alive in each of us.  And we share this reality joined together as One Church, in which Christ is alive, even as we live our mission, in this world in our day and age, to make real the Paschal Mystery.

Inside Ascension Church on Easter Sunday, full of flowers and the Living Presence of the Risen Christ

P.S. I annually post a Triduum reflection.  You can read my previous Triduum reflections for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.  The 2014 reflection has a list of my favorite moments during the Triduum liturgies.