Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

The return of students to classes in the fall, at least as I know it, to a residential college, is for many, both students and professors, an exciting time. Add the more energetic and crisp fall weather in this part of the world and you have a vibrant mix. This year, of course, there is so much that is new. Many of the expressions of camaraderie and friendship will have to be muted.

Nevertheless no matter how muted, students are happy to see each other, to get away from an often tedious summer job (mowing lawns, cleaning up at a nursing home, folding boxes or in some other way competing with robots); some are even excited by the prospect of new classes, new material to study and think about! And there's, of course, the resumption of athletics, the football season, for instance, after a year without it.

But the happiness and excitement of even these privileged young people has its down side. One was burnt over his whole face and body, hospitalized for nine days injecting morphine into himself in order to tolerate the pain and two months spent in recovery; another at twenty has chronic back problems requiring continual treatment; another speaks of having to move out of the house along with his mother and siblings to get away from an abusive father, of restraining orders and an impending divorce.

Others have broken up a relationship and are still smarting from that; even though that may pass, at the time it is often dangerously crushing. The carefree days of college (“the best years of your life” the older always tell students) are often also punctuated with tragedy and agony. All the more reason to cherish now the joys and excitement.

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!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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