FEEDING THE SPIRIT
“Life has a way of throwing us challenges. I have gratitude for my family, my friends, and the communities I lean on, including NPM! ”
Sonal Blumenthal, Ph.D. Biological Sciences curriculum writer
& volunteer violist, Tucson, Arizona
Before she died, my mom had Alzheimer’s. I called every night, but when I hung up, she’d forget I’d called. But she knew I’d call every night. Once, she told me, “I don’t need to remember, I have you to remember for me.”
Tat’s what family is. Tat’s what community is. Many of us also share different circles of communities that often overlap with each other to become something bigger.
Each of our parish choirs is a community. Anywhere I go in the United States, I like to think that I can find a musical family to join in.
When COVID-19 began, and it felt like ALL the choirs shut down, that was hard. I would go on Zoom or watch live streams from my old churches. Tat was fun . . . until it wasn’t anymore, because I was on the outside, not the inside. Tere was a deep sense of loss.
So I made up for it. I did virtual choirs. I took classes and workshops by Zoom. Our professional friends depended on students for income, but we depended
on them to get us through tough times with music, art, and a sense of community. Life has a way of throwing us challenges. I have gratitude for my family, my friends, and the communities I lean on, including NPM! Tank you!
Tom Andino Director of Campus Ministry, Liturgy, and
Music, LeMoyne College, Syracuse, New York
When we onboard college students at LeMoyne, it takes five days of orientation. But there’s no leave- taking at the end of college. It’s like a light switch: there’s graduation, and by 8pm you have to be out.
Graduation feels like a loss, and it is a loss. But it really isn’t the end. Tat’s why it’s called commencement: it is a beginning, a commencing. Te same people walk out of LeMoyne that walked in. Students need to be loved through the transition of graduation. One student told me, “I was doing fine when I put on my cap and gown, but when I got home to Long Island, I broke down in my driveway.”
I told him: “When tears come, they’re appropriate. Tey’re necessary. You earned those tears. Tose tears mean you loved well and that you were loved well.”
“When tears come, they’re appropriate. They’re necessary. You earned those tears. Those tears mean you loved well and that you were loved well.”
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