Dear Valpo Community, Valparaiso University has a long-held tradition of celebrating All Saints Day, in which we remember those who have passed away in the last year.  Names are read on All Saints Sunday (November 5, 2023), including the names of those who have died from our university community, whose photos are displayed all year on the third floor of the Christopher Center Library.  Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Latin American tradition to honor and commemorate the lives of the loved ones who are no longer with us, and to welcome acknowledging their continuing presence in our lives. The main part of this cultural-spiritual tradition is the ofrenda, an ornamental space dedicated to honoring our relatives. This year, Valpo wants to bring this important tradition to four key locations on campus to celebrate Dia de los Muertos in the university community. We want to invite you to join us in […]

By Kat Peters, Assistant Director of the Institute for Leadership and Service Calling and Spiritual Life Newsletter, October 11, 2023 My friend Julio is a rapper in Costa Rica – he comes from a Nicaraguan immigrant family that lives in a precario (what we call in the English translation a “shantytown”).  He raps about social issues that he sees in his community, an active place filled with the noise of life – music, conversations, construction, cooking, playing, vehicles, and more.  In order to hear himself think and without having regular access to a recording studio, he regularly records in his car, where he can have some quiet.  In both literal and artistic ways he’s trying to cut through the noise to help us listen to his message. As a staff here at the Institute for Leadership and Service we have been talking a lot about listening this semester.  ILAS thinks […]

September 25, 2023  Kat Peters (on “How I Sabbath, or Try To”) Text: Genesis 2:4-7 How is your breathing today?  When was the last time you took a deep breath?   Several people have already spoken about the story of Creation as a place for us to ground our thinking about the Sabbath.  Today we return to Genesis to look for more clues on how our identity as creatures of God connects us to God’s life-giving self.  God breathed into the first human’s nostrils the breath of life. Breathing is something that we don’t often think about, at least not on a day-to-day basis.  If you do yoga, you might remember that you are often asked to return to your breath as you deepen a stretch or a pose.  People who are giving birth are coached to breathe as a way to focus through intense pain.   But on a day to […]