Food for the Back-to-School Journey

Our younger son starts high school this year, and I find myself sitting with the realization that time is truly flying. I thought his older brother started high school just the other day, but now he’s looking at colleges. I want to hold onto these last days of summer and slow everything down. I want to keep our sons young a little longer. But the days are zipping past, and the children are growing, and there is nothing I can do to hold them back.

Here we go.

When our children were younger, I always spent time talking with them before the start of each year. I would tell them everything I knew about their teachers and what the school day would be like. We would pick out their lunchboxes carefully, with just the right characters or designs to show their classmates who they were and what they liked.

Today, it’s a different story. I don’t need to tell them because they already know—or they’ll know soon enough. They don’t need their mother to fill in the gaps. They’re already on their way, ready for whatever they’ll encounter. I just need to remember to buy the right foods for their lunchboxes and to make sure everyone has a water bottle. These days, they need a different kind of support from me.

At Mass this week, our homilist spoke about food for the journey. Each of us needs nourishment today and tomorrow. We need something to sustain us through the challenges and obstacles along the way. We need the Eucharist as our food for the journey. We need Jesus.

Even when we feel ready, when we think we know what lies ahead, we still need to be fed and supported and loved. We need guidance and assurance and accompaniment. We need Jesus to walk with us each step of the way.

“Christians must lean on the Cross of Christ just as travelers lean on a staff when they begin a long journey,” St. Anthony of Padua said. “They must have the Passion of Christ deeply embedded in their minds and hearts, because only from it can they derive peace, grace, and truth.”

As we prepare to begin another school year, I know that I cannot provide and be everything for my children. The truth is that I have never been able to be. But I pray that they will find their path, that they will know they are loved—by their parents, by so many, and by God.

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok

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