My fifth Freshman Retreat was special because year five felt like I was stepping into the spaces God was inviting me.
With the pace of the semester, the retreat did not arrive, it showed up. I felt I was the least prepared, yet, as it went on, it was all hands-on deck.
It was weird.
Part of me was terrified as I stepped on stage to give a reflection on the theme, lead prayers for meal, or stepped away from being only with the grounds crew. but the invitation was presented.
Nunc Coepi
Now I Begin.
You do not just accept God's call once and find eternal rest. Each day is a new invitation: and each invitation is followed by another. I do not think November 18, 2023 or November 19, 2023 are the days I proverbially began my walk in the service of God, but this retreat made me aware that in each day is comprised of micro-invitations that, together, call us closer to Him.
Each day is a day to begin a new: and each moment the same.
Just as we are invited to begin anew, we are called to invite those around us into this journey. We are called, each day, to be a witness to those who do not know Him or are afraid to return to Him. I am not sure that I necessarily thought that I was beginning again but, in a sense, with the fifth time doing this retreat, yes I did: we did.
Each year my four colleagues, myself, the sophomore grounds crew, junior and senior student leaders, faculty, staff, and parent volunteers, security, and maintenance all begin again. We all undertake our specific roles to create a space, removed from the day to day, for the freshmen to encounter Christ in this new community they have found. Each part of the retreat being a separate invitation for the students to call a deeper awareness as to what God is inviting them to at Jesuit.
Each day is a day full of moments where God calls us to enter in relationship with him, and that can only be done in relationship with those around him.
Even when it may seem hard or far from what you want, you are invited. He knows you more than you know yourself. He calls you, invites you every day to take another step toward being that person he knows and loves: loves so much He was willing to die to see you become all he knows you can be.
But He will never force you to accept his invitation. The moments he invites you, moments that you will grow, learn, and find true grace, you must be willing. Though he knows where to lead you, you must want to be guided.
So as we head to Thanksgiving, Nunc Coepi: truly begin again.
Should you have denied an invitation in the past, or come to realize a moment has just slipped away:
Do not keep stopping to look back, because he who looks back cannot hasten forward. Do not content yourself with beginning this year... If I should fall even a thousand times a day, a thousand times, with peaceful repentance, I will say immediately, Nunc Coepi - Venerable Bruno Lanteri
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