Sunday afternoon, around 2 pm, the doorbell rang at the rectory. Now, we have front and back doors that are relatively distant, and the doorbells sound the same. So, when the bell rings, it’s a toss-up about which door I should answer. It’s not unusual that an adult experience of hide-and-seek occurs. I go to the wrong door, then run to the other, only to have the person ringing the doorbell do the same in reverse. It’s a bit embarrassing as I wonder if the person trying to get my attention probably thinks I’ve been napping in the middle of the day or avoiding the personal encounter.
The person ringing the bell last Sunday came to have a medal blessed for her grandson leaving for college. She was excited for him but missing him already. She was anxious that he’d have a difficult time, be homesick, or make poor choices as some young people do on their first time away from home. She hoped the blessed medal would remind him of her love for him and his responsibility to live as she had taught him. Another friend was preparing to drive her youngest child to begin his college experience and struggling with the thought of the empty nest syndrome.
Francis de Sales spoke of this experience in a homily to the first group of Visitation sisters as some left the community to begin a new Visitation foundation in Paris. They had been through the struggle of starting the new Order of the Visitation, discovering as they went along all the nuances of religious life and living in a community. It was a time that bonded them together in the Salesian spirit of gentleness and love. Their identity was rooted in their relationship with one another. And, now, they were separating from one another.
Francis, in his homily, spoke to this imminent separation knowing their sense of loss and heartache. He firmly believed that, “Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off.” I’m sure this sentiment is true of the familial love between a parent or child or grandparent and grandchild. Francis sees that our love for one another reflects the love of God for his Son and is, therefore, eternal and sacred.
In the next few weeks, thousands of young adults ready to discover themselves in new ways, and find futures that are as yet unknown, will be leaving family and friends as they move into college dorms. While the separation may be difficult for both parent and child, keep in mind the beauty of the love you share and the eternal grace that nurtures it. In his homily to the Visitation sisters leaving for Paris, Francis said, “Those who go stay, and those who stay go.” True love is eternal, never to be broken by time or distance. True love is sacred, rooted in the love of God.
Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
