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SPRINGFIELD 150^th CELEBRATION

Thank you for your thoughtfully kind invitation to share a congratulatory word of encouragement on this your 150^th celebration. In these surreal and uncertain times, it easy to allow the devastating events and consequences of a pandemic to engulf us and diminish our desire to celebrate this milestone accordingly. Yet, a message of hope and exhortation allows us to resonate hope despite the troubled times we find ourselves in.

I hope that the following words from Fr. Henri Nouwen will infuse the Springfield Family with persevering hope in the pursuit of truth and optimism in living faithfully with life’s inevitable ambiguities:

Our hearts and minds desire clarity. We like to have a clear picture of a situation, a clear view of how things fit together, and clear insight into our own and the world's problems. But just as in nature colours and shapes mingle without clear-cut distinctions, human life doesn't offer the clarity we are looking for. The borders between love and hate, evil and good, beauty and ugliness, heroism and cowardice, care and neglect, guilt and blamelessness are mostly vague, ambiguous, and hard to discern. It is not easy to live faithfully in a world full of ambiguities. We have to learn to make wise choices without needing to be entirely sure.

May all learners who at present benefit from a Springfield education and those who will follow them, be formed in this subtle nuance to truth and learning. In doing so, they will be nurtured to discern and discover their own inner truth.

Rev. Fr. Ricardo Smuts PhD SSL STB

St. John Vianney Seminary - Pretoria

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