"Let your heart delight in the love
your God has for you, personally, individually."
-St. Katharine Drexel
It was a bright and early Saturday morning in late August. Many new students had just moved in the day before and were still exhausted by the amount of activities from the previous night. Although it was 8:00 AM, a time that many new students would need to get used to come Monday morning, it was still a bit too early for most. I boarded a cheese-yellow school bus with a good number of my peers and took the seat behind the nun (shocker). I stared out the window as we drove to our destination. Finally, we arrived and what did I see but the name of the church which I would be cleaning: St. Katharine Drexel in Chester, PA. That was four years ago.
This past Saturday, the scene was very much the same. While I wasn't a new student this time, plenty of students in the class of 2017 boarded eleven different yellow school buses to head out to ten different parochial schools and one high school in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to do various service projects. Of course, this time I didn't take the seat behind the nun. I have gained much confidence in the past three years. This time, I sat next to one. And while I wasn't headed to St. Katharine Drexel Church in Chester, Katie D was still following me. I found myself at Our Mother of Sorrows/St. Ignatius of Loyola School, part of which was (is?) run by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. That is, the Sisters founded by St. Katharine Drexel.There is nothing like my life of service at IU coming full circle.
I've been a part of the FYE (First Year Experience) program for all four years at IU. My first year, I was a student in the class, and after that, I've taken on the role as Mentor. Although this year I am not helping out with a class, I still have a nice mentoring job. It is appearing to be that while taking on this different role in the FYE program, I often get to stand in, which is what I was blessed enough to do on Saturday. My personal destination for Saturday's Service Project had been debated quite a few times, until finally I got placed at OMS/SIL. I wouldn't have had it any other way.
We arrived, after a nice hour long bus ride, with my personal seat next to Sister Elaine. Our group split up between weeding and outdoor work and inside, classroom cleaning. I found myself outside, on my hands and knees, yanking and pulling up weeds from between the bricks in the sidewalk with my new peers. There was quiet conversation amongst us for most of the first hour as many of us were still waking up. But sooner or later, our students started opening up and having true conversation. At one point, my new peers even convinced me that some weeds were poisonous. So, I pulled them up anyway. Good news: they weren't. We worked hard for a good 3.5 hours and were so spent by the time we got on the bus for the journey home.
The entire day, while it seems like it happened so quickly, was certainly a beautiful one for me. Of course, I couldn't get over how much Katie D had visited me just in those few hours. She was quoted all over the walls, present in the entire spirit of the school and definitely walking with me as I worked with my peers. There wasn't a moment I forgot God's presence throughout the day. Truly it was so beautiful and all day, I found such a reflective spirit in my heart. I remembered back to my Freshmen Service Project with Sister Cathy. I remembered so vividly how so convinced me to get on the shakiest and most unstable ladder ever in history just to clean around some candle light holders. I recalled the conversation on the bus that morning with her when I gave myself away by asking very "nunly questions." I remembered how my eyes almost filled with tears at the very mention of Katie D being the patron of the church. So many parallels.
There were no ladders, but there sure was lots of dirt and dust. I found myself conversing so easily with Sister Elaine on the bus to and fro (God bless that woman for having to deal with me), recalling so many parts of my own story. Of course, the moment I saw Katie D quoted on the wall, I cried. My tears fill up now as I remember all the good, so far back and so recent. There are just so many blessings that I have been given and I know it, oh how I know it. Where would I be without my God and the blessings He has bestowed on me?! Oh truly, where would I be.
At the end of the day, I can say I once again found myself doing something I so often enjoy: service to others. We were made to service each other, and we must all play our part. I can truly say that this service trip, though short, will remain as vivid a memory as so many. Of course, I blame one person for this, for always following and for always watching over me: Katie D.
No song this time, but rather, a video. As if I couldn't brag about my school anymore:
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