We’re at a time of transition. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s summer or fall:
- Kids back into school mode? Fall
- Stores setting up fall and Halloween decor (even though we’re about a month away from the official change of season)? Fall
- Summer passes still valid at your entertainment destination of choice? Summer
- Weekend forecast 108 degrees or above? Summer
- Still collecting Fry’s Summer fuel points? How about those late night deals at Sonic (which end Aug. 27)? Fall
- Has the calendar reached Labor Day Weekend yet? Summer
- Launching the catechetical year of parish life at the adult/teen/children level? Fall
A U.S.-based Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus feels caught in a similar quandary.
I find that this season always feels like something wonderful is finishing, and something new is beginning all over again — yet to be revealed as wonderful, joyous, painful or scary — but certain to demand much in terms of my energy and time.
In retrospect, that’s kind of what the whole summer was like for me this year: frequent experiences of joy in the present moment, insistent reminders not to cling to what is but to gracefully let it go its own way, deep hope for the blessings that have yet to come, and a kind of hunkering down for what the “next thing” will require.
Student production teams at a couple of our Catholic high schools are trying to prepare their peers to both pursue and accept whatever God will require of them for the “next thing” in life. For us adults, it’s a trip down memory lane. It’s also a call to prayer.
As you enjoy these student promos/newscasts, pray for students at those schools, those in your own home, your godchild(ren), foster children and anyone else in your life that they embrace this new school year with grace.
(The Catholic Sun sat in on part of this recording on the first day of school)
