Every Sunday before our University Mass, the student and professional staff of Catholic Campus Ministry meet to discuss our plans for the upcoming week. It provides a great opportunity for us to get organized and spend some time making sure we are offering the very best for our small, but dedicated contingency of Catholics on campus.
As of late, I have been trying to compile different schedules and lists for all the opportunities and programs that we will be offering before the end of the semester. Between five different student leaders and two professional staff members, though, it can get a little chaotic.
At yesterday's meeting, I felt a little guilty as we went through the schedule for the rest of the semester. Like most weeks, the student staff and I will be seeing each other every day, but as the end of the semester approaches, our daily encounters will become more frequent. At one point, I found myself being relieved to discover an entire day in the midst of Lent when we weren't meeting or programming. It isn't that I don't love spending time with these students or that I am burdened by them. Quite the opposite. The success of this year and of our campus ministry program is a direct result of their tireless and selfless effort to give. Simply put, I wish I could give them more time to themselves and more opportunities to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
With all of this on my mind, I was touched by Fr. Matthew's homily at Mass. He said that anxiety and anxiousness are not really of God. If we are constantly worrying about tomorrow or how we are going to accomplish our plans in the future, we miss out on seeing God now; present among us today. I think that his words are very encouraging, but also very challenging. As I continue to schedule or as I continue to plan for the rest of the semester, it is hard not to get anxious about the workload ahead.
Throughout the course of this year, I have come to the realization that, quite truthfully, the students are the ones who best understand the need to enjoy the present and seek God throughout each day. Unplanned visits, concerns, worries, joys, prayers, messages and moments that I share with the students day in and day out are wonderful reminders that there is plenty to thank God for. My sincere hope is that they too are recognizing God in these moments.
So, my encouragement to anyone and everyone reading this, is simple: live each and every day with God in your mind and on your heart. Leave the worries and anxieties of the future where they belong: your desk calendar! I am confident that if we work towards this together, then these next few months will be a joyful and wonderful witness to the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Amen? Amen!
Meeting the students of the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown where they're at... one post at a time.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Ecclesiology
I have been thinking a lot about the Church throughout the world recently.
It astounds me that every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we do so with all types of people from throughout the world. At times, I think we limit ourselves by believing that our celebration encompasses only like-minded people either within our parish or dare I say, the neighboring diocese. Rarely, though, do we consider the international and multi-dimensional Church outside of our personal experiences.
What I have been "wrestling" with as of late, is the idea that the prisoner, the Chinese family attending Mass underground, the Haitian priest, the students of Pitt-Johnstown, the parishioners of thousands of parishes throughout the US, the drug addict, the Pope, the dying and the homeless of our society (just to name a few) are all celebrating the same mystery, the same Eucharistic meal day after day. In a certain sense, Mass is the great equalizer! We all come as sinners and offer what we have, but we do so as equals. It is beautiful to think that no matter our social status, political ideology, net worth or even our physical location, we are able to share in something greater than ourselves.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton said, "The accidents of life separate us from our dearest friends, but let us not despair. God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other. The more we are united to Him by love, the nearer we are to those who belong to Him."
I think that this is true not only of friends, but of all humanity. It isn't always easy, nor is it something we have to think about every day, but our faith calls us to constant conversion. It is a faith that draws the entirety of humankind to be "one, holy, catholic and apostolic," not just the people we remember or that we are alike.
So, next time we enter into the mystery of the Eucharist, we should consider the connection we have, not only with the Body of Christ present in our hands and on our tongue, but also the Body of Christ that is spread throughout the world. We are a universal Church; one Body in Christ and we do not stand alone!
It astounds me that every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we do so with all types of people from throughout the world. At times, I think we limit ourselves by believing that our celebration encompasses only like-minded people either within our parish or dare I say, the neighboring diocese. Rarely, though, do we consider the international and multi-dimensional Church outside of our personal experiences.
What I have been "wrestling" with as of late, is the idea that the prisoner, the Chinese family attending Mass underground, the Haitian priest, the students of Pitt-Johnstown, the parishioners of thousands of parishes throughout the US, the drug addict, the Pope, the dying and the homeless of our society (just to name a few) are all celebrating the same mystery, the same Eucharistic meal day after day. In a certain sense, Mass is the great equalizer! We all come as sinners and offer what we have, but we do so as equals. It is beautiful to think that no matter our social status, political ideology, net worth or even our physical location, we are able to share in something greater than ourselves.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton said, "The accidents of life separate us from our dearest friends, but let us not despair. God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other. The more we are united to Him by love, the nearer we are to those who belong to Him."
I think that this is true not only of friends, but of all humanity. It isn't always easy, nor is it something we have to think about every day, but our faith calls us to constant conversion. It is a faith that draws the entirety of humankind to be "one, holy, catholic and apostolic," not just the people we remember or that we are alike.
So, next time we enter into the mystery of the Eucharist, we should consider the connection we have, not only with the Body of Christ present in our hands and on our tongue, but also the Body of Christ that is spread throughout the world. We are a universal Church; one Body in Christ and we do not stand alone!
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