Mass of the Holy Spirit

Tuesday afternoon, I attended the Mass of the Holy Spirit on Healy Lawn. For the past 7 years I have attended this Mass - four years at U of D Jesuit High School and now three years at Georgetown University. What a great way to start of the year - asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and be with us as we end our summer months and begin a new academic year. It was not only a gorgeous day on Healy Lawn, but add the music and the liturgy and it made it even better.


Just as I know my week begins when I attend Mass on Sunday morning or evening, so too does the Mass of the Holy Spirit mark the start of my academic year. There is something about Mass that invokes in me a desire to do more, to do something better, and to do it well. It allows me to take a step back and bring my entire being to God. To place my thoughts, goals, fears and frustrations aside (at least for the hour that I am in Mass!), and know that everything is ok, all is well. I find it remarkably easy to get caught up on the day-to-day activities of life, all the studying, writing papers, watching my weekly TV shows, etc. However, once I enter those doors of Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown, or a parish in Detroit, or, in this case, the fresh blades of grass on Healy Lawn, I am reminded that I am called to love and serve God to the best of my ability.

So as I begin a year of overseas studies, I pray and ask God for patience as I enter a new environment, a new region of this vast world, a new language, a new culture. I ask for help to not rush into everything - to take a step back and look in awe at the University of Jordan, the city of Amman, and the family that I will be living with. To realize that this year abroad will be a period of growth, successes and failures, exiting my comfort zone, and so much more that I cannot wait to fully embark on this journey.