Why we suddenly have a group name, and where it came from

Those of you who have already been participating in the youth group at St. Patrick's may be looking at this website and wondering, We have a name? Rooted? Did I miss something??

So, here's how it happened. The idea for the name "Rooted," based on the idea of our being rooted in Christ and in His love, came to me a little over a year ago when the group had not officially started meeting yet and I was still in the planning-and-preparing stage. I pictured a logo with a tree or some other kind of plant, I started thinking about T-shirts... and then I thought, don't get ahead of yourself. I set the idea aside, thinking that a group name might be a good thing to work on during the summer.

The meetings started in mid-January of last year, only to end abruptly six weeks later along with everything else in the world. We were able to restart again at the end of the summer, but by then I had already completely forgotten about the whole name thing... until a few days ago when I was showing some of the other staff members the under-construction website and one of them said, "You know, you really should think about having a group name instead of just St. Patrick's Youth."

Others agreed. The momentum of the idea was building. I started to feel a little panicked--I didn't have the slightest clue what I would name the group. It was a really intimidating task.

But then I remembered: Rooted.

It's even more clear to me now, after all the upheaval of the past year, how important it is for all of us--not just young people, but everyone--to have strong roots. A plant's roots not only nourish it with water and nutrients from the soil, but also give it stability so it doesn't fall over or blow away.

Native prairie plants, which once covered most of Iowa, have extremely long roots (some reach as far as 14 feet!) so they can persevere through the long, harsh Midwestern winters. The earth looks dead during winter, but it's not--just like the Resurrection promise of Easter, every spring the grass and the perennial flowers grow back again because all along, despite how hopeless things appeared, there was life in the roots, hidden, waiting for the right time to reemerge.

That's what our relationship with God is supposed to do for us. It is meant to nourish us, sustain us in hard times, and give us inner strength and stability even when life feels chaotic or is constantly shifting.

But connecting with God can sometimes be hard to do, and the same goes for living a holy life. We need the Eucharist to strengthen us. And we need each other.

St. Paul wrote in his letter to the early Christian community in Ephesus that he was praying for them to be "rooted and grounded in love." (That's in Ephesians 3:16-19, a really great passage to read and even memorize--click on it in the website header and you'll see the whole thing pop up!) This is what I hope for the youth of St. Patrick's, and for our whole parish.

Now, what do you think... T-shirts?