RBWords

     A new academic year is beginning here at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, where  I live with my brother Dominican friars who serve the Catholic campus ministry for this university.  Having spent many years in campus ministry myself, I still can feel the excitement that is part of this time of year.  There are the freshmen, full of both excitement and trepidation.  There are the sophomores, for whom things are not new anymore and there are still years to go.  The juniors are beginning to realize that the carefree days of undergraduate education are halfway over.  The seniors are dealing with the great "What next?"  The graduate students, last year's seniors, are wondering why the freshmen look so young!  It is for these wonderful students that I especially join St. Paul's words in today's first scripture to my own.

     Many of my Beloved Congregation were in the same position as these students, only 40 years ago at the University of Arizona or even 20 years ago at Tulane University.  St. Monica's worries about her son, St. Augustine, were echoed in the worries the parents have for their sons and daughters entering university life now.  But Augustine didn't do too badly once he got his life turned around.  His feast day is tomorrow!  That may be small comfort to parents, but it's all part of this stage of life.  They are praying their sons and daughters will be spared the mistakes their parents made, and that prayer is an important one, but not always answered the way the parents would like! St. Monica's tears are well-known.

     Last but not least, for me, there are the missing faces.  These include last year's seniors who have graduated and moved on, or the familiar faces that transferred to another university or learned the hard lessons of too much of the wrong kind of fun with the academic consequences that followed.  All of these folks come into my prayer at this time of year.  God bless them!  AMEN