It has been 8 days since we as a universal Church entered the Sacred Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday. For the most part life has returned to seeming normalcy here in Laramie. Mass attendance at daily mass has all but returned to pre-Lent numbers and stress levels are up due to the nearness of the end of the semester. I have been pondering what has changed for me this Lent and now into the first week of Easter. Initially I have been very moved and challenged by the generosity of Fr. Carl Gallinger, the Pastor of St. Paul's Newman Center, who allowed me to preside at Holy Thursday and at the Easter Vigil. As the Vocation Director I am based out of the Newman Center so I am not a pastor of any parish. I've been richly blessed by Fr. Carl and the Newman Center Community as I exercise quite a bit of priestly ministry here. This is humbling in that when I was a Pastor in Lander and Pine Bluffs I used to be possessive and really excited about these holy days! I hope that I can realize a wonderfully liberating truth: it's not about me but about God! I am only a humble instrument along with all those around me. So it is not so important that I "do" everything rather that I prayerfully allow God to work through me. The latter allows me to let go and let God. I am hosting the three seminarians from Vietnam this week. They are on Easter break and are not able to return home or take trips like the seminarians from Wyoming, with the exception of Brandon Halvorsen who is studying in Belgium. Hiep, Linh, and Duy are terrific examples of generosity, joy, and humble service to me and to all they meet. They remind me a lot of Jesus' incarnation: His willingness to "leave home" that is to become fully human that we might become one with the Father by baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, and lives striving for holiness. The Vietnamese seminarians are willing to serve in Wyoming the rest of their lives! As the Easter readings suggest to us, Easter is about new life! Nothing went back to the way it was after Jesus' resurrection, in fact in many ways things got more difficult and exciting! All but one apostle was martyred, the Church struggled for the first few hundred years with persecution and in coming to understand the mystery of God and the mystery of the Church itself. The days after Easter are called mystagogia, a time of profound reflection upon the mysteries of our faith as we encounter them anew in the renewal of our baptismal promises. These are vocation days too, days to be attentive to God's call to us and to be generous in our yes! The foot washing was not a once and for all activity but marks the character of our lives as disciples. Lucky for us, we have almost 40 more days to celebrate Easter and to allow the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our faith and service to God and the Church!
