Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - September 22, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”
Early in this new semester an admissions counselor introduced me to a new student and his mother, both from Sweden. The student (Vard) bowed deeply from the waist. (I doubt that this will catch on among first-year students.) The student and his mother were not your stereotypically blue-eyed, blond Nordics, nor was their name.
The family had emigrated to Sweden from Iran a couple of decades ago. If the “Father” part of the introduction triggered the bow, it was more likely of Iranian origin than Swedish. Subsequent elegant manners on the part of the student added to my impression that I was witnessing an example of multiculturalism on our campus.
Vard is one instance of a much more diverse student body than 20, even 10 years ago. Current students have the advantage of sharing dorms, classes and social life with students of Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and even Communist background, students of color from inner-city Los Angeles and Dallas, students themselves immigrants or of immigrant parentage.
The student directory now includes besides names like Peterson, O'Brien, Kowalski, Winthrop, Onofrio and Coulumbe, new names such as Cheung, Cortez, Duong, Fujita, Gao, Jayasooriya, Zhang and Kimeu. If we, students and staff of the University, are open, this new reality can build bridges and cancel racism, intolerance and discrimination.
Francis (aka the Pope) told the young people in Krakow on Youth Day, "We adults need you to teach us how to live in diversity, in dialogue, to experience multiculturalism not as a threat but an opportunity. Have the courage to teach us that it is easier to build bridges than walls! You will be our accusers if we choose the walls of enmity,
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
