Spring in Minnesota
I just came in from wrapping up the fifth round of interviews with seminarians who are completing their formal education and moving toward ministry. We held the interview at the Collegeville Institute adjacent to the campus of St. John’s Universityย in Collegeville, MN.
The skies were a beautiful deep blue today. But temperatures were freezing and the ironies of spring in Minnesota were everywhere. Notice the bikes and snow shovel propped out front at Butler Center. In the background to the left is a sliver of the frozen lake.
Just because the calendar says “spring” doesn’t mean everything will be blooming or green. Just because much of life seems to go on about its business doesn’t mean your heart will agree. Just because the sun shines doesn’t mean the ice will melt.
Still students learn. Work goes on. Ministry unfolds in creative and life-giving ways. Minds stretch. People change. The rhythms of life carry us into each new moment and day. Songs make their twists and turns.
It is a beauty and a joy to hear deeply into the stories of another. I am grateful for this work to which I’m giving myself of understanding the lives of others in their complexity and simplicity, power and vulnerability, fragility and hope. Wonders keep spilling out all around me, and I’m touching gratitude this night.
Blessings and may you find some small feast amid your Lenten fasting.
