I Still Have a Mission

After a beautiful month at home in Missouri, it is time to head back out east and get to work on campus. It has been absolutely refreshing to spend time with family, friends, and mission partners in the great Midwest but I am continually reminded that the mission is always calling, not only for me, but all of humanity. It is great to see that at this point in my life, I have a clear mission field at MIT in Cambridge. However, it is so important to see that there is a mission field specifically designed for each of us.

I was reading a story shared in the bulletin of my home parish, St. Mary's, about a woman who had been in the intensive care unit for two weeks in a deep coma due to an infection. The doctors and nurses had informed her family that there was not much left they could do for her. One morning, the sick woman woke from her sleep. She said that all she could remember was traveling on an ocean filled with people who kept journeying on and on. Then she had a vision: a big cross. She embraced it tightly and the next thing she knew, she was back in her hospital bed. When asked why she came back, she said in clear terms, "I still have a mission." Our daily prayer is all the more meaningful if it finds us calling out to God, asking to be reminded of our mission. For me, I see the opportunity to reach out to the students at MIT, hoping that they too will see the abundant love they have been created to receive and share.

As I fly out of Kansas City this week I can look forward to being reunited with my team and the students, gearing up for another semester of life. This Friday a group of students will be traveling to Baltimore for a weekend conference, and then to Washington D.C. to attend the March for Life. After returning to Cambridge, there will be another couple weeks before spring term begins in February. Thanks for your support and prayers! I will be praying as well - that God will continue to open your heart to the mission created for you.