Thankfully Blessed

I must thank my parents for visiting this weekend! What a wonderful opportunity to spend time with them and frolic around Chicago. I am thankful because...

1) I have great parents.


2) My parents came to me this time - I got to host!


3) We got to eat stuffed spinach pizza on a Friday during Lent.


4) The new chapel at Loyola is amazing, and we got an impromptu concert by the organist.


5) Sipping coffee at the Metropolis Coffee shop never gets old, its even better when you have great company.


6) All you can eat fish & chips at a Scottish pub called Duke of Perth is worth the wait.


7) Duplicity the movie is good, not great, get it when it comes out on DVD. My Dad commented how it was like James Bond in genre.


8) Come rain or shine (and in this case snow in late March!) Chicago can still be fun.


9) Rock it out to Jersey Boys the musical, you won't regret the investment.


10) Appreciate Sunday morning mass and brunch, its the best way to end a week and begin a new one.


Snow aside, does it get any better than this? I am thankful, extremely blessed.

Sham what!? Wow!

I'm sitting here in my lounger waiting for a Thursday night rendition of American Idol. I wonder who's getting voted off this week? I can't cry - not this time! As the results are shared I sit firm, grasp the chair, my heart pounding and my breathing heavy. After all these weeks, a new friend is voted off and sent packing. It's starting. I can't cry - not this time.

The results don't come in until the end of the hour, so while performers parade on and off the stage I've decided to continue blogging. Don't hate, I know it's been awhile.

I'm also sitting here looking around the apartment and marveling at the cleanliness. My parents are in town this weekend so I've taken the opportunity to do some spring cleaning this week. I'm not talking about some small scale dusting and picking up - I moved the couch and chair, wiped down the walls, and dusted every nook and cranny. When some of my friends heard I did this with a bucket of water, some dawn, and a rag they quickly made fun of my process. Water? Dawn? It works in the dishwasher, can't it wipe clean some cobwebs and dust balls? Apparently I flunked cleaning 101 somewhere, apparently there is a cleaning culture and rule book by which I didn't abide. They talked as if the cleaning cops were going to screech to a halt outside and revoke my cleaning license. No more cleaning credentials - there is a right way to dust they insist. Who knew? I ask - who cares?

As I sit and glance over the room things are glistening and popping, clean and tidy. The next time I get the motivation to clean they suggest pledge and shamwows (it really is one word!). Sham what!? Wow! They are for real - sham wows exist (excuse me, shamwows), it's the new "in" cleaning tool. Check that - the next time I get the motivation to clean I'll go for a walk and let my friends clean away - sham wows (excuse me, shamwows), or whatever the "in" "device" is then, sweep and wipe until there heart's content. Shammer (this is the verb form of the noun sham wow - I mean shomwow - not to be confused with the plural shamwows) it up gals! Wow me!

Results are here. Breathe in. Breathe out. No crying. Not tonight.

Shook the Shamrock

Being in Chicago for St. Patrick's Day is special. The dying of the river happened early yesterday morning, followed by a parade downtown followed by green beer and Irish cuisine galore. I missed the dying of the river and the parade, but I made sure to partake in afternoon festivities. For someone who is about 40% Irish, I had to make sure I got at least that amount of cheerio good times in amongst the Green clad rushing from bar-to-bar. And we did.

I'm not usually the "bar-to-bar" type. St. Patty's day is different. Whether you are Irish or not, you join in the festivities of celebrating the Mighty Green. I don't doubt many join in just for the fun of it all, but there is another element at work too - the awareness of and recognition around a certain culture, a certain population of people proud of who they are and where they came/come from. If only all nationalities celebrated the rituals and traditions (and not just drinking!) of their respective social location - I think pride in this sense is a good thing - serving as a sense of community, highlighting the positive, noticing their interdependence, common background, and unique bond.

And so we did. I met a couple friends downtown, had a few drinks with them as they finished their lunch. We traced on via Taxi to another bar to engage the Irishness there, and went on to yet another bar to be special and take part in the specials. While at this bar we made out with green flashing necklaces and of course the standard green beads - and no, nothing immoral was done for such festive garb. Finally, we ended the afternoon (evening?) at our final bar, partaking in the last of the green beers of the day, toasting an afternoon well attended. If you know anything about the over-consumption of beverages - and of course Irish people as well - you know by this point in the evening a meal was much in demand. With the monte cristo scarfed down, I headed north towards home, full of beverages and food, full of Irish cheer and proud of my heritage.

Needing to Exhale!

I got home last night from a busy day. I woke up early yesterday and got started - morning emails and phone calls, faculty/staff meeting from 1230-300, enrollment meeting from 300-400, and class from 415-645pm. I walked in the door and exhaled, grateful to be home!

I reflected last night on my past couple weeks. As I exhaled from a long day, I knew it also came as a relief to be done with a couple crazy weeks. My trip to LA, a busy week at work stuffing packets and mailing them, hosting a friend of mine in town, and with every other"free moment" working on a lengthy midterm for my Church & Mission class. I got in touch with my desire to emotionally and spiritually take a break, sit in silence, and turn my attention back toward the simple and small of life. With my introverted warning bells ringing loudly, I carved out some time to be - be silent, be grateful, be appreciative, be hospitable, be loving and love-able.

I've missed being the past couple weeks. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the adventures that came with traveling to LA, or the fun had when my friend was in town. I loved it all! Yet, I think we all get to a point where we need to empty out, be with ourselves and present to our tiredness, hectic life, and the myriad of other emotions and insights garnered from the fast and furious life. It's a good time to be exhaling - the Lenten journey will sharpen as the death and resurrection of Christ nears and as the renewal and re-growth begins to cultivate itself with spring. Breathe in. Exhale!

Lenten Reflection

Loyola University Chicago put together a Lenten reflection booklet authored by university faculty and staff. I wrote today's entry and have posted it here for your perusing.

Today's readings critique something that comes somewhat naturally and quite easily to us as humans - the urge to judge others. If we are honest with God and each other, we are all guilty.

The skills of critique, judgment, evaluation, etc. are not bad in itself. It is perhaps a gift well used in analyses done in work settings, education venues, through critical thinking aimed at improvement and betterment. Yet, these readings seem to serve as a reminder to temper such impulses when it comes to the relational as God implores us to love (and maybe only that!) by being with the broken and hurting, the marginalized on the periphery, the outcast and unfit.

If we take anything away from this collection of readings, I might suggest reflecting on our (humanity's) retrieval of a basic characteristic of Jesus, one wrote about and witnessed over and over in scripture; mainly, that the commandment to love one another is primary and central to what we are about as Christians, providing vision and substance to the reign of God. This is especially vital when flooded with urges to become judge and jury, to place our social location and intellect above others. God knows differently, as do the evangelists writing for us today; their experience of God and Jesus spoke to them a different way, one grounded in mercy, compassion, good will and love. This is what Daniel is referring to when he states, "we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws" (Dan 9:5).

Where have we individually, and collectively as a society, departed from God’s love? During this holy season, what would a ‘path of retrieval’ to God’s Grace and love look like?

Our writers today encourage retrieval of Christ's, and the early Yahwistic community's, vision of love for all and action on behalf of all. As Lent unfolds for us this year, may we be able to center ourselves in the authentic and original transforming Christ.

- Ryan Hoffmann
Enrollment Advisor, Institute of Pastoral Studies

Sunny California

I write today sitting in sunny California. I have the privilege of attending the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress every year for work. It's a wonderful event, capitalizing on the immense diversity and energy of God's people.



I arrived Thursday evening and am waiting for my shuttle back to LAX. I've found the culture and people here extremely hospitable, warm and friendly, and incredibly diverse. One can't help but sense the residue of a vibrant Latino/a culture, in-culturating itself in the American landscape as rich tradition and promising future. The colors, dancing, Spanish language, and the like have left me feeling a new appreciation for global church, one that stems from and takes root in the local integrity of the faithful. The universal church's hegemony can sometimes dominate a faith so needing local energy, perspective, culture - and even theology - that Church becomes structure and institution, an ideal existing beyond human reach. I say it's the opposite: Church as a community of communities, as a manifestation and incarnation of God in the here and now. The people I witnessed, the conversations I engaged, the culture I saw, the energy I felt all pointed to a Church not so much lost in distant decrees and formal leadership but in the everyday, ordinary life of those gathered around the table of plenty. As I often insist, and as this trip confirmed - God is good, all the time!