I took this picture just outside of my office window. A robin made a nest there this year. It was fun to watch the little ones grow and become bird adults. But all of a sudden one day, they were gone, never to be seen again! Has this happened in your life suddenly? I know The University of Akron begins on August 26. Maybe your child is already off to college? Maybe you are sending your kids off one by one? Or perhaps you’ve been an empty nester for a while? On the other side, perhaps your child is just starting school and is leaving your home for the first time. Whatever it is, it is an emotional time. It is a time of letting go. It is a time of trusting, trusting in who you have raised them to be as well as trusting that Jesus is with them through it all.
Sending your children off to college can be challenging. As a parent, you ride the emotional roller coaster with your children. I know I put my parents through a number of roller coasters as I changed colleges so many times in my first few years of studies. But they kept loving me. They kept journeying with me.
In the gospel this weekend, we see how many of Jesus’ own disciples struggled with His teachings and did not believe. “As a result of this, many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” This experience can often occur in college days. Maybe it begins with stopping one’s prayer life because one is “so busy” with studies. Or missing Mass once on Sunday can turn into a habit real fast. Whatever it is, we need to realize the power of the Eucharist in our lives and how Jesus wants to love you in the midst of your life. While I was at Akron U, I found great peace when I went to daily Mass at St. Bernard’s. It was what I needed each day to keep going, to keep doing what I was called to do at the time. Take a moment and pray through the intercession of St. Augustine and St. Monica, who we celebrate this week, that our youth in college may find peace and find Jesus in a new way and come to the point where they too echo the words of St. Peter: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that You are the Holy One of God.”
Remain with Him,
Fr. Jeremy
