There’s something captivating about the season of Fall. And before you think it’s because of the cooler temperatures, pumpkin spiced lattes and a football season in full swing – it’s not.
There’s this one aspect of fall is exciting every time I see it approaching on my calendar – Homecoming. The occasion is just as it sounds, Merriam-Webster defines it as the act of returning to your home or to a place that is like your home.
My definition is slightly different, I believe that it is an opportunity to see how your past has shaped your future and to reconnect with those who have helped you along your life’s journey.
Perhaps this grandiose sense of nostalgia towards my time at college stems from Baylor University’s homecoming festivities. Sandwiched between the parade (boasted as the oldest collegiate homecoming parade in the country) and the evening football game was an opportunity to return to St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center to celebrate Mass and reunited with fellow friends.
During his homily, Fr. Daniel Liu, spoke of the bonds that connect us here on earth. Most recognizable is the bond of family, featuring those who we have been born and raised with, our parents and our siblings we have experienced life with from the moment of our birth. We also have the bonds through our respective cultures that influence what we identify with and how our view of the world is shaped. And lastly, we have the bond of our faith.
I think why my time at a college Catholic ministry stands out so much to me is this. As teenagers and early twenty-somethings, we found ourselves away from home on the same journey. A journey to identify what our faith meant to us without the constant guidance of our parents. We sought the knowledge of the truth to experience first hand at the steps of the Catholic church.
By now way am I confining an experience like this to Catholic ministry. There are so many defining places and moments in our lives that have a definitive impact on our faith journey. It can be a youth group, a bible study, a retreat or simply a group of friends who are working together to seek out the truth faith. No matter what our story is, we cannot deny how these places and times in our lives have shaped us into who we are today.
While I am no longer a university student, I am still a student of faith and life. My time spent at St. Peter’s at Baylor has allowed me to carry the lessons I’ve learned in faith and life as I start the next chapter of adulthood in my life. Each of us carries that glimmer of our own faith into the world, wherever it takes us.
That’s why I love the fall.
