The Gifts of May

This Sunday we celebrated my son’s first communion. BOTH sets of grandparents flew in, and the joy was just palpable as we shared meals (including the Eucharistic one!), went out for walks and hikes, put on our fanciest clothes, and watched our sweet boy positively beaming. So many gifts. (We never tell our kids their grandparents are coming—it’s an epic surprise every time, and even WE were surprised last week when my sweet father-in-law, who thought he couldn’t make it, hopped on a plane and through our door!)

At our parish, each child receiving first communion paints a tile with their own design, and they are cemented to the outside wall of the church. What a beautiful, tangible way to tell our children, “You belong here! You are the church!” Who knows where our children will live twenty years from now, but I love the idea that they could come back and find this little piece of themselves, surrounded by so many others, all building something beautiful that is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s the miracle of community, isn’t it? (My son’s is the middle tile on the bottom!)

May is full of sacraments and graduations, and I hope if any of those have touched your life this year, they’ve been joyful.

And then there are the everyday gifts, the ones that take my breath away after a long, cold Seattle winter: wisteria and lilacs, redbuds and cherry blossoms. Hummingbirds hovering in the trees, rabbits hopping across our yard, rhododendrons about to burst into bloom. It feels like a miracle every year, a resurrection on a grand and gradual scale.

I know many of you are about to kick off summer, but our school year will run almost all the way to July this year (I know!!), so I’m still in early-spring mode here, feeling grateful for every day the thermostat approaches 70 degrees. (I am typing this on the front porch under a giant hanging fuchsia plant that I am doing my very best not to kill. Not-exactly-green fingers crossed.)

It was my honor to be asked to lead a retreat on parenting and caregiving for the Ignatian Spirituality Center here in Seattle on May 20th called Nourish and Be Nourished. If you’re in the area, please come join us! I think it’s going to be a beautiful morning of reflection, prayer, and sharing together the joys and challenges of life with our little ones.

The ISC also has a wonderful resource called The Ignatian Family Handbook, and in the latest installment I’m talking with the lovely Maria Ochoa Vasquez about some beautiful ways to experience God with our children through the natural world. Scavenger hunts, photo safaris, and home altars galore! You can access it here.

I know that many of you know my incredible friend Laura Kelly Fanucci, who has recently received a difficult diagnosis. Laura touches so many of our lives with her beautiful writing, deeply grounded theological insights, and fierce and tender love. Her GoFundMe is here, along with more ways you can pray for and support her family and her work.

If you aren’t aware of Laura’s latest project, it’s called Mothering Spirit, an ecumenical collection of beautiful essays, prayers, and suggestions for welcoming our families into prayer and spirituality. You won’t want to miss it. The last essay I wrote for Mothering Spirit was about encountering the comfort of God as Mother. I confess, this is the same soothing Mother I turned to when I heard the news of Laura’s diagnosis. Thank you so much for joining me in praying and supporting Laura and her family.

Wishing you a radiant spring,
Cameron