American poet Dana Gioia received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame this weekend, and his acceptance speech (found on “Whispers In The Loggia” and worth listening to) highlighted the role of others in making us who we are: God, parents, teachers, friends…
It’s a wonderful exercise (and probably done by most of us too infrequently) to take the time actually to write down all those persons who had (to our memories, anyway) a major influence in the ways we behave, or think, or love, or believe. It involves those who nurtured us, or challenged us, or engaged us, or taught us, or inspired us: those who encouraged us to be who and what we are, and to dream of being even more than we were at that time. The influences never really end; we can be “re-formed” at 70 just as well as at 20.
Who made you? This time, the Catechism answer is only the beginning!
It’s a wonderful exercise (and probably done by most of us too infrequently) to take the time actually to write down all those persons who had (to our memories, anyway) a major influence in the ways we behave, or think, or love, or believe. It involves those who nurtured us, or challenged us, or engaged us, or taught us, or inspired us: those who encouraged us to be who and what we are, and to dream of being even more than we were at that time. The influences never really end; we can be “re-formed” at 70 just as well as at 20.
Who made you? This time, the Catechism answer is only the beginning!
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