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Reflection

A Fundamental Contemplation

Let me walk you through a brief contemplation of this truth of our lives, [the fact of who I am and whose I am]. It is a vision and a practice worth returning to again and again…

Imagine yourself on the bank of the Jordan River. What does the scene look like? Who’s there? Is it noisy or quiet?…What does the air feel like on your skin, in your hair? Then look into the river and let your eyes rest on the figure of John the Baptist and whoever else is there. But ultimately, let your gaze focus on the person of Jesus. Behold his face and sense his presence. Once you’ve “composed the place”, as Ignatius describes that use of imagination in prayer, let Jesus call you into the river. How do you feel when he locks eyes with you and beckons you to come join him?

Allow yourself to wade into the water. You’re side by side with Jesus. Maybe you have a brief talk with him. Do you want to say anything to him about how you’re feeling? Or maybe you just want to take a moment or two in quiet being in his presence. Soon, though, let Jesus show you how to go down under the water, to descend. Surrender while you descend. While under water, start letting things go. Let go of any uncertainties or anxieties. Let go of fears. Let go of memories of regret, of shame, of inadequacy. Acknowledge places of weakness and let those go. Also. Let go of the things you’re proud of. Of your accomplishments. Your talents, your strengths. The things that you want other people to know about you and think about you, let those go too. Let go of all the good and the bad and the ugly within you. Empty out until you have nothing to show for yourself.

Now let Jesus show you how to rise up out of the water as he stands shoulder to shoulder with you. He too is emptied out. Quiet. Open. Listening. And in that openness, you hear a voice from above, the Father saying to Jesus and through Jesus to you too: “You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. In you, I am pleased.” Let the Father keep saying those words. Try to stay open to hearing them. Let those words penetrate not just your mind, but deeper, into your heart. Let them resonate. Try to stay present and open and receive what the Father says about you and what he says directly to you.

This is a go-to contemplation for us, an image for us to remember and to return to again and again…Our feelings about how those words resonate in us might come and go. The truth remains the same, though. What counts is what God says, how God sees us.

Excerpt from the book Habits of Freedom by Fr. Christopher Collins, S.J,

June 15, 2023 by ksalvatore

Reflection

The Eucharist: Source and Summit of Our Faith

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops launched the National Eucharistic Revival last year, an initiative that will lead to the celebration of the National Eucharistic Congress in the summer of 2024.

The Eucharistic Revival is a movement to restore understanding and devotion to the great mystery and gift the Eucharist is for the Church and for the world. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. At his last supper with his disciples, Jesus gave us the greatest gift, the gift of the Eucharist, and he asked us that night to do it in memory of him. The Church has faithfully celebrated the Eucharist through two thousand years and all around the world, even the most remote of places because in the Church all comes from the Eucharist and all goes back to it. It was in the Eucharist that the early Church found its source and foundation, it is in the Eucharist that the Church today finds its meaning and its call to recognize the Risen Lord and be his witness in the world.

In the Eucharist we share in Jesus’ own offering and can offer ourselves to the Father. Through taking part of the Eucharistic celebration and receiving the consecrated bread and wine, we are strengthened in our life journey, are united in communion with the Body of Christ and are sent to witness God’s presence in the world being instruments of God’s peace, justice, and love to all. The Eucharistic Revival is an invitation for all Catholics to go deeper and to recognize the gift of the Eucharistic Lord, to allow ourselves to be amazed by his presence as the disciples walking to Emmaus did when they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread and to, like them, go with haste and joy to share the good news.

To learn more about the Eucharistic Revival and let the gift of the Eucharist transform your life, visit the Revival’s website.

Marta Pereira
Associate Director, Campus Ministry

June 14, 2023 by ksalvatore

Reflection

Building A Culture of Encounter

Pope Francis has continuously invited us during his pontificate to build a culture of encounter, addressing the United States Catholic Bishops in 2016, he said,

“Our great challenge is to create a culture of encounter which encourages individuals and groups to share the richness of their traditions and experience; to break down walls and to build bridges…We are called to be bearers of good news for a society kept by disconcerting social, cultural and spiritual shifts and increasing polarization.”

The call to build a culture of encounter is rooted in the Gospel and particularly in the fact that God became human. He “humbled himself,” becoming not only one of us, but one who showed himself vulnerable, from not having a place to be born, to his death on the cross. Christ emptied himself to embrace our humanity in the most ordinary and vulnerable way, encountering and inviting us to encounter others in the deep way he did with us, becoming vulnerable, embracing the other to be able to fully listen, touch and understand their experience.

Pope Francis reminds us that the Incarnation is the criterion for Christian love: “this is our truth: God sent his Son, who became flesh and who lived like us. To love as Jesus loved us… journeying along the path of Jesus. It is the path of Jesus that gives life. The only way to love in the way Jesus loved us is to cast aside our own selfishness and go out to others because Christian love is a concrete love.”

Speaking about the culture of encounter, Pope Francis remarked again this rootedness in the Gospel. Jesus lives and calls for an encounter that flows from his compassion. This compassion, the Pope says, “is not the same as what we normally feel “when, for example, we go out into the street and see something sad: ‘What a shame!’”. Jesus in the Gospel does not just say “poor people,” he “went further. He was seized with compassion” he “drew near, he spoke and he touched” the reality of each person and was moved by it.

This culture of encounter then is a call to deeply see the other, listen and touch their reality. This of course demands of each of us an openness to be vulnerable and compassionate, to immerse ourselves into other’s reality and circumstances to be capable to listen, dialogue and build bridges where each can share more deeply their own stories and experiences. A culture of encounter grounded in openness and vulnerability – like that modeled by Christ himself – leads to encounters that can be transformative for us and others.

As we respond to our own call to build a culture of encounter, let us consider the ways in which we can learn from the Gospel to go out of our comfort zone to be open to dialogue and embrace difference; to be compassionate, sharing in other’s joys and sufferings; to be open allowing ourselves to listen and be moved in ways that can be transformative and bear good news.

Marta Pereira
Associate Director, Campus Ministry

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2016/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20160913_for-a-culture-of-encounter.html

June 14, 2023 by Marta Pereira