Miracle FYSH swim upstream

“FYSH groups this…” “FYSH groups that…” Join FYSH. Sign up for FYSH. Get a free FYSH. FYSH. FYSH. FYSH. Is this what you think when you hear the term “FYSH”? It seems we’re always talking about FYSH. Well, after today that is all going to end…at least for a little while. That’s because, today, at the FIVE, we will be marking the completion of FYSH groups for the class of 2010 with a brief ritual during mass. Completing a semester in a FYSH group is no small accomplishment. The men and women who will be recognized today are worthy of being applauded for the commitment they have made to grow in faith during their first year in college. Think about that for a moment – “during their FIRST YEAR in COLLEGE”.

Let’s be honest, “Grow in faith” is not exactly at the top of the typical list of things to do of your average college freshman. For that matter, it barely cracks the top five on most of our lists. It’s somewhere down there after “Go skydiving” and before “Clean out closets.” Therefore, for more than 40 first-years to choose, of their own free will, to get together on a weekly basis during their first semester at SMU and talk about their new life in college in the light of their Christian faith borders on the miraculous.

Calling them a miracle may be overdoing it a bit (I don’t want it going to their heads), but acknowledging these men and women for the blessing and the gift that they are to our community is the least we can do. Their gifts are as diverse as their personalities and as rich as the questions they bring. Their desire to search for where God is in their life –friends, school, parties, family - through honest questions and authentic friendship is an example to me of what our life together is all about.

So on this first Sunday of Advent, as we begin a season of anticipating the miracle of God in our midst, join me in thanking these special members of our SMU Catholic community for putting “grow in faith” at the top of their lists – along with all the other things college freshman do these days.