Go Forth and Set the World on Fire

It is quite amazing that when I walk the graduation stage in a few weeks, every single person in the audience has somehow shaped the experiences of each graduate. I find the interconnectedness of humans to be so beautiful. That no matter how big or small, each and every person who will gather at commencement has influenced my experience and all of the graduates experiences in some way and in turn have influenced this world. Maybe they have inspired someone or guided them, and that person in turn has touched my life and the lives of others. They have raised us, given us life and molded our paths and we have taken that forward, spreading who we are into the lives around us. Life has a ripple effect. I wish that I could personally thank each person who will sit in Sunken Gardens in just two short weeks. Thank you for pouring into and enriching my life these last four years, even when you didn't even know it.

There are many things that I have learned in the past four years. And there are two realizations I reflect about often.

The first, is the power of individuality and the uniqueness of each human soul. A dear friend to LMU, Sister Peg Dolan R.S.H.M. said in Loyola Marymount's 2008 commencement address, "Each of us is a word of God, spoken only once."

I find it very powerful to believe that each one of us has a heart, a mind, and purpose unlike any other person. Our strengths, weaknesses and passions are unique and important to who we are. I've learned that this uniqueness of the human person is the beautiful thing that allows us to work together, filling in the spaces, so that we all may fit. It allows us to lean on each other.

Your purpose is specific to who you are at your core. When we embrace this truth and accept who we are, we can live our lives to accomplish that purpose and accept the people around us, just as they are.  As a word of God that the world needs to hear.

This act of simply being ourselves is what will inspire and light up the lives around us. It will lead us to learn and appreciate not only our similarities, but our differences. Experiencing this is what brings us to witness just what a wonderful world we live in - thriving with stories just waiting to be heard.

LMU has certainly showed me the strength in each person's story. In those people who have offered me kindness and  support. To those people who constantly inspire me with their lives. To the people I have learned from and grown with. To the people I have struggled to understand, the people I have served, the people who have walked alongside me. To the people who have given a piece of themselves to me.

This place and journey has showed me the importance in who each person is, the important in speaking our word of God and more importantly, listening to others speak theirs.

I could go on for pages, listing the moments where the authentic truth of who the people I've met in my college journey are, at their core, transformed me and my view of the world. Thank you to those who have spoken their word of God into my life. I am forever changed by the impact of those people that I now consider my family.

I've realized that in the last four years, I have done a lot of traveling. I would really say that travel has been the theme of my college experience - to Peru, India, Mexico, Tanzania, Rwanda, Spain, France,Belgium, etc. I feel so lucky that I've gotten to experience these incredible places.

More so though, I've come to find that traveling isn't always just visiting a destination. Adventure isn't just an outdoor exploration.

Adventure exists for each of uniquely each day. Our adventure has already begun and continues on in every moment. When I cross the graduation stage, I'm not entering the "real world". Right now, I am alive - I am here and I am living. This is my adventure.

Pico Iyer wrote in his book The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere,

"One of the beauties of Nowhere is that you never know where you’ll end up when you head in its direction, and though the horizon is unlimited, you may have very little sense of what you’ll see along the way.  The deeper blessing is that it can get you as wide-awake, exhilarated, and pumping-hearted as when you are in love."

There is a profound adventure in the smile of each person you encounter and adventure in each daily opportunity we face. I've found adventure in the friendships I've created, the empathy I've shared, the stories I've learned and the lessons I will take with me. Be in love with life, be in love with who you are, with going nowhere, and be in love with every single minute of it all.

As my favorite author Shauna Niequist puts it,

"This is it. Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidewalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets - this pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience."

We travel through this adventure called life, as it ticks by - to create our own personal journey. Every moment is so special to that.

I read this quote by Mark Jenkins during my trip to Tanzania and Rwanda last summer and it has stuck with me,

"Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way, you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black and white."

Through my adventure, I believe LMU has shown me and so many to choose that "limitless kindness" and as St.Ignatius of Loyola says, "go forth and set the world on fire" with it.

I think we've already started. When people say they have lost faith in our generation and in the youth of today's society, I think of the incredible students who will sit beside me on commencement day. The LMU Class of 2016. I have seen burning passion and inspiration in the hearts around me, kindness and compassion, strength and resilience. I see life and courage. I see hope.

That passion and life will carry us all through the next steps of our personal journey, as we embrace that kindness that the world has to offer.

So find what sets your heart on fire - where your greatest passion meets the worlds greatest need - and continue to spread that fire within yourself, and when you burn brightly, the world will catch along with you.