This week the University of Wyoming is on Spring Break. Laramie streets become much safer to navigate and life just seems to slow down. I've been reflecting about mission and about refreshment. Every significant pause in the academic year for the University of Wyoming, the Laramie campus of Laramie County Community College, and Wyo Tech is felt by all in Laramie. Jokes are made about how much slower Grand avenue traffic is or about how quiet things seem to be. But the experience is also one of displacement. Though Laramie wasn't originally founded for the sole purpose of hosting the only four year institution of higher education in the State of Wyoming, now Laramie is primarily known for the University of Wyoming (UW). When the students, professors, and staff are "off" Laramie seems somehow incomplete. This has been a reminder to me of our Catholic vocation, that is, to be proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a member of the Church. Each of us, like UW, exists for a purpose. When we are inattentive, lax, or not giving our all toward this vocation something is missing in us and in our world. Jesus used the image of "talents" and "light" to articulate this in His ministry. The Church exists to complete Jesus' ministry and that of the Holy Spirit. Each of us is called to "give our lives" in service of this mission. This requires prayer, courage, the help of good guides, and healthy community: our families and our parish. When we discover our vocation, be it to priesthood, diaconate, marriage, religious life, or the single life for the Gospel we are "complete" in the sense that we are "doing" what we are meant to do! Though this may involve the cross, and calls for perseverance it also allows us a tremendous sense of satisfaction, joy, and meaning! This led me to think about what brings us refreshment and renewal. 10 of our students and our campus minister are on an "alternative Spring Break" in Los Angeles, ministering at a Catholic Worker house then will be attending the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. Fr. Carl Gallinger the Pastor of St. Paul's Newman Center as well as many members of our parish community will be attending. When we do things that are related to our vocation we experience refreshment and regain our center and focus for joyfully continuing the mission entrusted to us. This calls for prayer and creativity. As a Vocation Director I took a couple days off to be with my family, to spend time in prayer, relaxation, and reading. As I experienced daily life with my parents, my brother, my nieces and nephews, and friends I realized anew the gift of the priesthood and also the challenges so many face with health, worries about jobs, homework, the joy and stress of relationships, and the hope of the Gospel. For instance, My brother had recently been notified that he would be laid off at the end of March, yesterday just before returning to Laramie he told me he had been offered a job! Another dear friend of mine let me know of a new difficulty in his life. I also had dinner with my goddaughter who'll be receiving Holy Communion for the first time in April. In the midst of the Paschal mystery as it is lived daily in the lives of ordinary people like me, I was renewed and refreshed by God's constant love and movement in so many ways. Now it is back to what I've been given to do at this time and in this place for the People of God in Wyoming and I am glad for it!
