Are You Doing All That You Can?

I grew up in a town 40 minutes north of Boston. Outside of Catholicism, our religion consisted of any professional sports team based in Beantown.

Tom Brady felt like a distant cousin. Larry Bird, an uncle. You get the point.

Having followed the New England Patriots for a long time, I've come to appreciate the ways in which the team promotes its values. When a player leaves the practice facility, he walks through a door which has a sign that reads, 'Ignore the noise."

The point is simple enough- lots of people talk. Your job is to do your job and ignore what others think about you. A priest friend of mine puts it another way, "Do what you can. Forget the rest."

This isn't to promote a willfull ignorance of the world or the very real circumstances that cause others to suffer. Rather, it's to own our place in God's plan and to remember our call to everyday holiness.

In other words, ignore the noise.

This past week, the preacher to the papal household, Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa continued his preparation to become a cardinal. At 86, he's ineligible to vote in the next conclave. His apointment later this month is largly symbolic. His attitude towards it is anything but.

He's asked Pope Francis to let him remain a "simple priest". When asked about his approach to preaching, he recommended that one "ask God what is the word he wants to make resound for his people.” And, one ought to do this on his/her knees. Start with prayer and the rest will follow.

There’s a lot of noise as we wrap up 2020: the pandemic, vaccines, politics, higher education enrollment… the list goes on. The key is to ignore what you can’t control and focus on what you can. That starts first thing each day with your daily time with the Lord.

Are you starting each day in prayer? Are you doing all that you can to make your campus ministry the best it can possibly be?