A detour from parish work
Monday, September 17, 2012
*Father Luis A. Rivero
It has been a while since we last met…hope all is going well. Ironically it was a year ago since we last encountered each other on the road, and I shared with you the amazing encounter I had with Sandi. Many things have happened since then. The road has been pleasant and at times, when it is not all that pleasant, the hope it gets better pushes us all to continue on the journey.
Since we last met the most obvious change is that after two years sharing the road with the good people of St. Agnes in Key Biscayne I was called to focus on another area of ministry. Archbishop Wenski called and appointed me to assume the responsibility of director of campus ministry for the Archdiocese of Miami. Part of that responsibility involves being the director of campus ministry for our archdiocesan university of St. Thomas. Talk about detours! You see, in the seminary —10 years for me — we are formed to be parish priests. We are educated to become faithful servants in caring for the many souls that are entrusted to our care, as I have shared with you before. While I always envisioned myself in the parish setting the Lord had other plans. As they say, “You want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans…”
So I began my work at St. Thomas University at the end of August. I had never been in a regular college setting—apart from a year I served in the Newman Club at FAU for pastoral work. Therefore, I had never experienced the “college/university life.” I had no expectations and everything has been relatively new for me. While the newness can sometimes catch us by surprise and place us in a state of uncertainty I cannot say it has been my experience. Quite the contrary! I have met wonderful people who form part of the university parish. I have met wonderful faculty, staff, and students who share the same desires you and I have. Namely, we search daily to encounter the true and living God. To recognize Him in our very midst in the many things we do.
While this experience is new—a beautiful detour the Lord has gifted me with—I know that there is something which we all long for regardless of age, major, profession, creed, race, sex, or diversity: We all long for the Way… We long for the Truth… We long for Life… (cf. Jn 14:6) We are a people of hope — something I saw vividly in the parish and continue to see at the various colleges and universities in the Archdiocese of Miami.
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