This Week in Campus Ministry

Justice Walking Intro Sessions

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:29:00 +0000

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

-Mahatma Gandhi

Want to make a difference in the community by helping others?

Then come be part of our Justice Walking Intro Sessions to learn more about this opportunity!
You will get a taste of what happens in a Justice Walking session to help you decide if this is something you would like to experience.
We will have registration forms available

Where: Brennan Lounge
When: Thursday, October 11th
Time: 12:20pm- 1:15pm
Bring your lunch and join us. If you can't make it to this session, no worries!
There is a second opportunity

Where: McLean Chapel
When: Thursday, October 11th
Time: 8:00pm
See you there!

Posted by Carolina Vargas, Campus Ministry Graduate Assistant, Coordinator of Justice Walking

Justice Walking Public Dialogue

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 05:11:00 +0000

Come be part of our Justice Walking Public Dialogue. HNU J-Walkers will talk about Justice Walking components, share how Justice Walking touched their lives and share their experiences serving at Catholic Worker, Oakland and Berkeley.

Where: Paul J. Cushing Library
When: Monday, October 8th
From: 12:20pm-1:15pm
Bring your lunch and join us!

We would love to have some of our faculty and staff present too. Everyone is welcome!

By Carolina Vargas, Campus Ministry Graduate Assistant & Coordinator of Justice Walking

AN EVENING WITH FATHER GREG BOYLE

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:42:00 +0000

AN EVENING WITH FATHER GREG BOYLE

Founder of Homeboy Industries and author of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

7pm-9pm

Holy Names University

Valley Center for Performing Arts

3500 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94619

$10-$25 . . . $©??? Suggested Donation.

Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Free.

Proceeds go to Homeboy Industries.

Sponsored by Campus Ministry, the Office of Alumni Relations,

and the Catholic Identity Committee

Father Greg Boyle was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1982, moved to Boyle Heights in 1986 to become the pastor of Dolores Mission, and in 1988 he founded what would eventually become Homeboy Industries. Homeboy Industries provides at risk youth and former gang members with job experience, positive communities, and a second chance. Father Boyle draws on his 20+ years of stories and experiences in Tattoos on the Heart, telling the stories of LA's gangs with unmatched love and compassion.

“Kinship– not serving the other, but being one with the other. Jesus was not 'a man for others'; he was one with them. There is a world of difference in that.”
― Fr. Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

Acoustic, Candlelight Welcome/Back Mass

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 04:30:00 +0000

All are invited to gather at the table

this Sunday, September 2,

at 7PM, in the McLean Chapel,

for a Candlelight Mass

with acoustic music

(5:30PM choir rehearsal, before the 7PMMass)

May Day! Study Day!

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:13:00 +0000

for May Day and Study Day...
Campus Ministry presents…

Words of Inspiration, Hope, and Gratitude

for and from Your Community

Interactive Prayer Stations

in front of the library, on the balcony outside the Chapel,

and in the Public Market and J.M. Long Lounge,

throughout Study Day

Words of Inspiration:

What was some of the most helpful advice you received when you were facing a daunting task? What words most inspire you? You are invited to offer words or prayers of encouragement and inspiration to your fellow classmates on one of the chalkboards. In this way, we can draw inspiration from our own community. Know that you do not struggle alone, but are held in your community.

Words of Hope:

What are your dearest hopes for yourself, for your friends, for your family, for your community, for your country, for your world? You are invited to put words to these hopes and dreams on the chalkboards provided. Especially as some of us graduate, may we hold each other’s hopes and dreams with compassion and excitement, and look forward to the unfolding of our lives together.

Words of Gratitude:

What are you thankful for? Who in this community brightens your day? You are invited to write “warm fuzzies”, anonymous or not, to those people in this community who make your life better. These can be affirmations, words of thanks, words of encouragement, or whatever else you can think of that might be nice to hear at this hectic time of year. Please leave your note on the table for that person or people to find here.

Mass, 5:00PM, the McLean Chapel

Today is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.

May we remember all who labor, the under employed, and the unemployed.

We also hold in gratitude all who offer their gifts, talents, time, and love in service of our students, especially the Holy Names Sisters.

The J-Walkers also invite you to contribute your gratitude to the cards for two groups of people without whom our quality of life would be majorly affected: Campus Services (please sign card in the J.M. Long Lounge) and Epicurean (please sign card in the Library). Please thank these folks for all their hard work.

Justice Walking Updates

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:34:00 +0000

Leading Justice Walking with Tere Hernandez (Freshman) has been a great experience. I am going to miss going to Catholic Worker with the Justice Walking members. We were able to offer our service to Catholic Worker in Oakland and Berkeley, while also deepening our relationships with one another. We were able to deepen our relationships by sharing our stories and listening to eachother during every Justice Walking session. Our final session for this academic year was last Sunday, April 22nd. We served the homeless with the Catholic Worker in Berkeley.

Freshman, Maria Fernanda Cuevas, wrote the following reflection on Justice Walking:

"... J- Walking has been a great way to get in touch, not only with your self but I have learned much about others and the world sufferings. I have had insight into the many ways that a simple gesture of kindness can make a big difference in an individual life. Not only that but I have come to appreciate the continuation of doing good. Justice Walking really brings you back to remember that you must have a beginners mind when looking at any angle of the world. As you view the world learn to look past the surface without judgment. While discussing and sharing readings with the group, we came to the conclusion that to have this beginners mind we should never to be afraid of change but instead embrace the future whether it brings good or bad, Endurance is part of the experience. This is probably one of many impacts that J-Walking has had on me. As we meet we grow, as individuals and as a group, and I am very grateful to be part of this group!"

If you are interested in being part of Justice Walking during Fall 2012, I will be sending an email for the date for an information meeting.

We also invite you to celebrate our journey with us at the 7PM Sunday Mass. We will hear from and bless the current Justice Walking members.

Justice Walking Mass and Blessing
McLean Chapel
Sunday, April 29, at 7:00pm

We will also be showing a movie of the Justice Walking experience that our current members lived this semester.

The members are:
Tere Hernandez
Maria Fernanda Cuevas
Rafael Martinez
Jolleen Corner
Megan Lopez
Jennifer Santisteban
Zachary Kaneshiro

Thank you J Walkers for a great experience!

(Posted by Carolina Vargas, Graduate Assistant for Campus Ministry)

Commencement Mass Planning

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:03:00 +0000

Are you graduating this May?

Join Campus Ministry
in planning a very special liturgy in celebration of the Class of 2012!

Our planning session will take place
this Thursday, April 19,
at 11AM,
in the McLean Chapel.

The Commencement Mass
will be celebrated
at 5PM,
on Friday, May 11,
in the McLean Chapel

Hula Mass, this Sunday, April 15

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:45:00 +0000

"From Desert to Paradise!"

Alleluia!
Alleluia!

Join the Pacific Islanders
in celebrating Easter
at this Sunday's Mass,
April 15, 7PM,
in the McLean Chapel

Interdenominational Praise Night!

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:03:00 +0000

"Moving Forward"

Young Men and Women Empowered

through Hope, Identity and Direction!

PRAISE NIGHT

Interdenominational, student-led worship

to relax and renew you before finals!

Monday, April 23rd, 2012, 8pm

in the Public Market

Refreshments!

Free!

at the Residence Hall or Student Success Center front desks:

-singing

-dancing

-spoken word

-poetry

-all types of worship welcome

At this event we will also be honoring the victims of the Oikos University shooting

Pesach (Passover)

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Begins at Sundown on April 6, 2012

Jewish 8 day pilgrimage festival celebrating the Exodus from slavery to freedom. Also known as Passover.

"And this day shall become a memorial for you, and you shall observe it as a festival for the L-RD, for your generations, as an eternal decree shall you observe it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your homes ... you shall guard the unleavened bread, because on this very day I will take you out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day for your generations as an eternal decree." - Exodus 12:14-17

http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm

Part of the Relationships, Boundaries, and Sexuality Series

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Sex sells, but what’s the payoff?

Navigating sex in the media and your own life

How do media images of sex and sexuality shape our lives as college students?

Join us, and discover your values and voice!

Wednesday, April 11^th

8:00 PM

in the Hawk’s Nest

Presented by Kelly Ryan, Graduate Intern for Spiritual Formation

Co-sponsored by the ALIVE Club

Justice Walking

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:18:00 +0000

We have all learned a lot on this Justice Walking Journey, especially about service. On Saturday, March 17th we had our Justice Pilgrimage, we went to help feed homeless people in Berkeley at People's Park with our friend JC Orton, from the Berkeley Catholic Worker/Nights on the Streets. We got up at 6:30am. It was a cold day. As I was getting ready, putting on a long sleeve shirt, then my sweater, and another layer, I could not help it but to stop and reflect on how the people we were going to serve did not have that option. They do not have a roof over their head, and some even do not have the warm clothes to cover themselves on cold days. Then all of a sudden I forgot about being cold. My heart got warm, and made me feel warm all over, and gave me extra energy to give my best service and love to the homeless people we were going to help. Leading Justice Walking has been an amazing experience, I have had the opportunity to get to know the students better and learn about their stories and also learn along the Justice Walking Journey with them. We have about three sessions left and I would not like to see it end. What excites me is that we have next semester, so if you are interested, look for Justice Walking information next semester.

Here is what Jolleen Corner (Justice Walker member) has to say about Justice Walking:

"Justice Walking has been an exciting adventure for me. I have learned more about God and how to serve others. Helping at Catholic Worker is a blessing to be a part of and I enjoy seeing the people's faces light up when you give them food. I have learned that I need to get out of my comfort zone and open my eyes to the hurting world around me. We are called to be servants just like Jesus was, to be his hands and feet to a dying world. I have enjoyed hearing people open up and share the depths of their hearts. We all have a story, a testimony, that God has given us to help others who have gone through similar situations as us. Justice Walking is helping me have a 'Beginner's Mind' and to not judge others. I have grown so much in Justice Walking and I cannot wait for what more is in store for us."

By Carolina Vargas, Campus Ministry G.A. and J-Walking Coordinator

In sympathy & prayerful support

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:06:00 +0000

HNU Campus Ministry

extends our deepest sympathy

and prayerful support

to the victims, families, and friends

of the Oikos University tragedy.

Palm Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:55:00 +0000

This Sunday, April 1, 2012, 7PM, in the McLean Chapel

Please join us for the Commemoration of the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem

& Blessing of our Candidates Preparing for
Confirmation: Yadira Munoz
&
Confirmation and First Holy Communion: Caitlin Knight
(weather permitting, we will begin our procession from the outside balcony of the Chapel)

Presented by those who participated in the Religious Education Congress, March 22-25

Please join us, and HNU Candidates,

at St. Lawrence/St. Cyril for the Easter Vigil

Saturday, April 7, at 8PM

3695 High Street
Oakland, CA 94619-2105
(510) 530-0266

In observance of the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday), as well as on Easter Sunday, the McLean Chapel will be closed.

Relay For Life Mass

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:12:00 +0000

Relay For Life Mass

& Sending Rite for Religious Ed Participants

This Sunday, March 18th @ 7 PM in the McLean Chapel

Join us this Sunday for a mass of spirit, awareness, and support in honor of the Relay For Life cause. Please come with your team and try to wear as much purple as possible!

CUPCAKE FUNDRAISER BY PANDYCAKES!!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PandyCakes/235791243144204!

Donations for Relay for Life are suggested and accepted.

(posted by Misty Martinez, ALIVE Club President, Relay for Life)

Lenten Reconciliation Service

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:10:00 +0000

This Wednesday!
Lenten Reconciliation Service
Led by Kelly Ryan

Join Campus Ministry and the ALIVE Club
for examination and reconciliation as part of our Lenten journey "From Desert to Paradise."

This will be a time of reflection, song, and prayer in sacred and safe space.

Our service will be followed by opportunities for individual Confession with priests. Peer ministers will also be available to pray with you or on your behalf.

May this time of clarifying and contemplation be a source of joy and peace for you on your Lenten journey.

Where: The McLean Chapel
When: Wednesday, March 14th, 6:30-7:00 PM
followed by opportunities for individual Confession and / or Prayer with Peers

Justice Walking Updates!

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:29:00 +0000

(Our only photo to-date, taken with my phone-more to come!)

“BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD”- Mahatma Gandhi

Justice Walking is a unique discipleship process that brings young adults into a small, committed community. Over the course of one semester, J Walkers dialogue, reflect, and apply to their lives what has been learned along the J-Walking
Journey.

The J-Walking journey includes the following components: seven sessions (every other session is at a local social service agency. This semester we are volunteering at the Oakland Catholic Worker); opening and closing retreats; group reflection on a few selected texts (this semester we are reading A Monk in the Inner City by Mary Lou Kownacki and With Open Hands by Henri J.M. Nouwen; a Justice Pilgrimage; and, spiritual practices that apply gospel teaching to life choices.

Justice Walking has been an amazing journey! My name is Carolina Vargas and I am the Graduate Assistant with Campus Ministry. I am facilitating Justice Walking, along with the help of a friendly, hospitable, cheerful, and helpful Tere Hernandez (freshman). Six additional students, along with Tere and myself, comprise our team. They are: Jolleen Corner, Rafael Martinez, Maria Fernanda Cuevas, Megan Lopez, Zachary Kaneshiro, and Jennifer Santisteban.

One student reflects: Jolleen Corner, Maria Fernanda Cuevas, Zachary Kaneshiro, Megan Lopez, Rafael Martinez and Jennifer Santisteban.

We have met for four sessions and have enjoyed every single one! We started with a retreat where we learned more about each other and ourselves. During the retreat we also saw a very touching film by Gerard Thomas Straub, with images of global poverty, called: When Did I see You Hungry? It inspired us to make a difference in the world, starting with our community of Oakland, with the Catholic Worker.

At the Catholic Worker, we help serve meals to people who are homeless. In every session our teams get to know each other better, and we learn that we all have an important story to share. We all take turns, and we listen to and learn from each other. We also focus on forming relationships with the people at the Catholic Worker; they are very inspiring and have amazing stories to share.

We are now planning our Justice Pilgrimage for this Saturday, March 17th. We are going to begin by helping the Catholic Worker in Berkeley feed people who are homeless; then, we are going to visit a mall as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; we will conclude our pilgrimage at Redwood Regional Park. In these different locations we will have time to reflect and notice the signs of contradiction or paradox at the different sites as well as within ourselves. We are really looking forward to our Justice Pilgrimage and to the rest of our Justice Walking journey.

Here is a reflection written by one of the students on our team:

The Justice Walking program has made a huge impact on me so far. I never thought that I would learn so much about God and the people around me. At first, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. However, Justice Walking has taught me to see the world from another person’s perspective. For example, it’s practically never a person’s fault when they end up in the streets. If you learn to put yourself in their shoes, then you’ll understand their position in this world. I’ve had friends who told me that street people “don’t contribute to society” and should “just die.” It really hurts to realize that there are many people to think like that. However, Justice Walking is teaching me that actions speak louder than words and that I can do something to change the injustice instead of fighting. For example, volunteering and donating what you have sends a message that “I care for God’s people.” Arguing won’t solve anything. Indeed, Justice Walking is changing me for the better so far. I can’t wait to see what else Justice Walking can do for me.

We will be posting more reflections on Justice Walking,with some pictures, along our journey, . Hope you can join us next semester.<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

If you would like to be part of Justice Walking, we are planning to facilitate the program next semester. If you also want to form relationships with other students on campus, get to know more about yourself and others, and share your gifts with others, look for information on Justice Walking next semester. Si se puede!

Lenten Relay for Life Service Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:34:00 +0000

What are you doing to get involved on campus?

In observance of the Lenten season, Campus Ministry and the A.L.I.V.E. Club invite you to participate in our RELAY FOR LIFE service opportunity.

Lent is known as a time of prayer, penance, and almsgiving. Throughout the season of Lent, it is common to give up something or to do something to better your life for those 40 days.

For example, if you really love chocolate and sweets, it would be difficult to go without it for that long period of time, right? Well this is more of a reason to give it up.

To take this process one step further, we are inviting you to:

(1) Write what you are giving up on one of the paper leaves in the basket in the Chapel or in the Brennan display case and tape your leaf onto image of the tree.
(2) Make a personal commitment to make a small donation towards Relay For Life when (or if) you slip up on your Lenten promise, such as eating that piece of chocolate you promised you wouldn’t.
(3) To show your solidarity with Relay for Life, wear one a purple strings (also at the Chapel and in the Brennan display case) on your wrist during Lent
(4) Bring your donation to the Relay For Life Mass in the McLean Chapel on Sunday, March 18th at 7 PM.

Relay For Life is an event to commemorate those who have fought the battle of cancer. As some of you may know, Relay For Life will be on the Holy Names campus March 20 to the 21st. If you would like to sign up for a team or start your own team, please visit www.RelayForLife.org/HNUCA

Written by HNU Sophomore, Misty Martinez

Black History Month, Continued

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:02:00 +0000

HNU Freshman Morgan Butler writes:

In the mid 1800s, one of the most famous leaders of the black women’s suffrage movement was born under the name of Isabella Baumfree. Later, after a spell-bound religious conversion, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. Although born a slave she was blessed enough to be born in the liberal State of New York. Among the many scholars, freedom fighters, religious leaders, and artists of the black community, Sojourner Truth stands as an individual. Being both a freedom fighter and religious leader, Sojourner Truth delivered a sense of pride to her people and uplifted the spirits of women to this day. She is the symbol of self righteousness for both women of color and of other backgrounds. During her lifespan she gave her time and devotion to her church and to women. With her quick-witted tongue and hot-tempered speeches she helped pave the path for the both the women’s suffrage movement and the African American struggle to freedom.

One Sojourner Truth’s most famous speeches, “Aint I Woman,” was given at the Women’s Rights Convention in 1850. Here is an excerpt from that speech:

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

Ash Wednesday Reflection, by Kelly Ryan

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:55:00 +0000

Leaving Behind Easy for Good
Kelly Ryan
Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Holy Names University

Beloved, remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Our lives are fleeting. They’re like remnants after a consuming fire. We are blessed today by our own mortality, as ash is wiped across our foreheads and falls dusty onto our nose. We are reminded that we are fleeting on this earth, among billions of others who are just as fleeting. Just like everyone else, we were born, there was a time when we did not exist, and there will be a time just like for everyone else when we will stop breathing, and die, and become dust again. This is deeply humbling, and I think it is also good news—almost a relief. We are in control of only a small portion of our lives, and God holds the parts which we do not.

The theme during this time of Lent in our community here is “from desert to paradise.” In the scripture from Joel today, we’re in a land that is beyond the control of its people, and is becoming a desert before their eyes. A cloud of locusts blackens the sky. They eat everything. Every aspect of life and livelihood, the locusts have decimated. Vegetation, crops, and fruit-bearing trees have been stripped to the whiteness of their bark, farm animals have no food to eat, and even the grain brought in arms to the temple to burn as an offering to worship God is gone. Before this destruction, the land is like the Garden of Eden, but after it is a desolate wilderness. Unknown, harsh, and disorienting.

This is a hard God to look at. A God whose coming day brings destruction and fear. Who brings natural disaster upon a people who do not fulfill their end of their promise between them and God. Whose anger becomes like an attack. How do we meet a God who does this? How do we love a God, and trust a God who does this?

Notice though that the focus turns to repentance, not the sin itself. In this story, God shows more interest in the response of a people before God rather than on the sin itself they committed that distanced themselves from God. While the sin, the estrangement, still happened, the point of the story is how we return to God.

Further, this story, like so many stories in the Bible, points out a hard fact: we’re not in control. We’re not the masters of our fates. In times like the story of Joel, that’s really scary. And even while its scary, it can also be good.

I can’t help but think of this moment in the Narnia series, in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where Aslan, who appears as a Lion, is a majestic and mysterious creature. Right before Susan is about to meet Aslan, she asks tentatively of another character, “Ooh, I thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
The other character says, “That you will dearie, and no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or just plain silly”

“Then He isn’t safe?”

“Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

I have thought a lot about what it might mean if God isn’t there to make us just feel good and easy, but is the fierce source of goodness itself. It’s hard, because I’ve so often heard watered-down versions of the story of following Jesus. Things that make people who already feel pretty good about themselves feel better.

Like, God loves everyone just the way they are.

God wants us to be nice.

In his teachings, Jesus shows us a better example of how to live.

Yes, these are all true, but they are far from the end point. God absolutely loves you just the way you are—and loves you too much to leave you there.

Sometimes God wants us to be nice, but moreover God wants us to be bold, and sometimes rude, in matters of life and death.

Jesus shows us a better example of how to live—but inescapably, it ends at the cross.
When we follow Jesus, parts of us die. In Lent, we die little by little to ourselves. But we accumulate a lot of junk on ourselves, and I think it’s a gift of Lent to be able to slough that off. To gain clarity as layers fall away. And when we develop a physical practice like the fasts and commitments in Lent, our spiritual practice is developed as well. To clean out the house of our heart, so that there is space for us to receive God. It’s not always safe, or popular, and it’s usually not easy, but it is so. good. Because it calls us back to the source of all goodness, the source of goodness we were created in, and the essence of love.

And so, with a God who is infinite good in our court, the fact that we are not in control can be the best thing—we aren’t in control of our lives by ourselves. We have an infinitely good God working with us in our lives.

And it is no coincidence that Lent is 40 days. Jesus also wandered for forty days in the wilderness, and the Israelites wandered for forty years in the desert. Like Jesus, and like the Israelites, we may be tested. We may be faced with our own limitations. Our own failures. Our own finitude. Our moments of distrust, and of longing for places that were more comfortable, broken-in, easier, but not better for us. And in this time and these tests, the answer is “God.”

These forty days are a journey that reconciles the points where we get off track. In Lent, we tune parts of our lives to make the call of God come in a little clearer. It is a journey of our intimacy and estrangement with God. Many theologians over the centuries have defined sin as estrangement from God. Where God seems far off, and things make less sense. Sin is a terribly loaded word, but I think it boils down to: What makes you feel stingy with love? Do less of that. What makes you truly love more? Do much, much more of that.

And the gospel passage reminds us true intimacy is not just acts you do, or looking like you have a relationship with God; it is sharing your soul, counting on God and knowing you can, feeling that nothing is too ugly or shameful to bring before God, because in the end you are held in unconditional love. So this love gives us room to admit when we fall short of all we could be, because those shortcomings are still not the final word. And we have value not because of the things we do or do not do, but because God loves us first.

So I hope that this is a time when we are bold to rend our hearts, not just our garments. To brave the parts of ourselves that we feel ashamed of, that we keep hidden in darkness, that we deny are parts of us. It’s safe and easy to leave these places stale in darkness, but I want to encourage you to be bold and hold them up to the light. I hope we can notice these places and bring them before God. Because no matter what ugliness we dredge up, God’s steadfast love is the final word.

This is a hard time, a trying time, but God is with us, reminding us that in all times, we are held in an eternal, unconditional love. We are mortal, just dust, but dust animated with the breath of God and loved with a love that existed before time and will after. We belong to an existence that is so much bigger than just one person.

And in this time that calls for self-denial, I cannot still in good conscience preach self-denial to anyone who already denies themselves in ways that are damaging. Lent is getting to the core of who you are and whose you are in God, and for many people that entails giving something up. But for someone who struggles with anorexia, or is the primary caregiver to your family, taking care of everyone but yourself, or someone who works two jobs, too many hours a week, I want to implore you to add self-care on. Give up self-defeating thoughts. Give up self-harm. Give up apologizing as a reflex. Give up silence.

We all come from different places, and may have different ways to grow closer to God during Lent. The whole goal is intimacy with God, at the end, not pure self-denial. Self-denial is often the means, but the end is relationship. Authentic, intimate relationship. I encourage you to think thoroughly and prayerfully about what practices, in your own circumstances, will open your heart to God.

And I invite you, with words from artist Jan L. Richardson,

Rend Your Heart
A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

To receive this blessing,
all you have to dois let your heart break.
Let it crack open.
Let it fall apartso that you can seeits secret chambers,
the hidden spaceswhere you have hesitatedto go.
Your entire lifeis here, inscribed wholeupon your heart’s walls:
every path takenor left behind,every face you turned towardor turned away,
every word spoken in loveor in rage,
every line of your lifeyou would prefer to leavein shadow,
every story that shimmerswith treasures knownand those you have yetto find.
It could take you daysto wander these rooms.
Forty, at least.
And so let this bea season for wandering
for trusting the breakingfor tracing the tearthat will return you
to the One who waitswho watches
who works withinthe rendingto make your heart
whole.

Documentary: Our Right to Sing

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:12:00 +0000

Join Campus Ministry on:
Friday, February 24th
in the Sophia Room
from 12:15pm to 1:15pm

Director Carolina Fuentes will be present for discussion and questions

Our Right to Sing explores the role of music in the resistance movement of El Salvador during two decades of military dictatorship

Director Bio:
Carolina Fuentes holds a Masters Degree in Social Documentation from The University of California, Santa Cruz and is an award-winning radio and television journalist spanning a lengthy career with PBS Radio Billingue and Univision. She is twice winner of the Golden Apple Media Award, granted by the California School Boards Foundation; and Emmy nominated for her investigative report exposing the abuses against undocumented immigrants at an INS facility in Harlingen, Texas. In a collective award to journalists for the national news coverage of September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Carolina was recognized for her reporting contributions, by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Her most recent work is the documentary film titled, Our Right To Sing. The project examines the role of music in the resistance movement of El Salvador during two decades of military dictatorship. Fueled by her research at the University of California, Santa Cruz, , the documentary project has won a prestigious fellowship from the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently being screened internationally.
Fuentes’ thesis documentary project, Our Right to Sing, is the first of its kind. Until now, there has not been a film on the musical byproduct of this collective experience – something Fuentes witnessed first-hand as member of a musical group inspired by the principles of Liberation Theology and with the arson of the San Jose Catholic Church, where she was parishioner. After the assassination of friends and classmates – Fuentes fled from her native El Salvador to Mexico where she lived seven years and completed her Bachelors Degree in Social Psychology at The University of Queretaro.

Before her immigration to the US in 1989, she worked in Mexico City with Central American refugee children and families fleeing the horrors of war in their home countries. For the last seventeen years living in the U.S., Fuentes has continued to champion social change through her feature stories and now her feature documentary. At present, she is screening her latest work on the protest music of El Salvador, hoping to join with the efforts of human rights activists, in constructing a historical memory of the civil war in El Salvador.

“The San Jose church in El Salvador was one of the first Christian base
communities where from the inception of the theology of Liberation, young people
began to reflect upon our social reality. I was one of the singers in our musical group
called, “El Sembrador”. These were the seventies and my country was living under
a military dictatorship. In 1975 a provoked fire destroyed our church and although
the flames devoured our instruments, our voices were not extinguished.
“Our Right to Sing”, has taken me back to my country to collect the stories
of the young people from the 1970’s who denounced injustice by creating music,
poetry, and popular theatre. These individuals became the collective voice the
dictatorship could not silence. With the fellowship granted by the Berkeley Human
Rights center I have documented the role of music in constructing a historical
memory of the civil war, which killed more than 70 thousand Salvadorans. The film
explores the power of music in constructing a collective memory. Musicians tell us
how during two decades of military dictatorship terror and during the post war they
have defended their right to create popular art as a powerful voice in the struggle
for social justice.”
- C. Fuentes

Black History Month, Continued

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:31:00 +0000

Harriet Tubman
1820 – March 10, 1913

(Because she was a slave, and owners did not record their slaves' birthdates,

the exact date of Harriet's birth is unknown -- different accounts list 1820 or 1821.)

Campus Ministry continues to celebrate Black History Month by hearing the words and honoring the contributions of selected African-American women at the beginning of each Mass. Last Sunday we paid homage to Harriet Tubman.

"Born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Tubman gained international acclaim as an Underground Railroad operator, abolitionist, Civil War spy and nurse, suffragist, and humanitarian. After escaping from enslavement in 1849, Tubman dedicated herself to fighting for freedom, equality, and justice for the remainder of her long life, earning her the biblical name "Moses" and a place among the nation's most famous historical figures."

In her own words:

"I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other."

"I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land."

"We saw the lightning and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped."

"I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger."

Ash Wednesday Service of Ashes & Mass

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:15:00 +0000

"From Desert to Paradise"

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
in the McLean Chapel

Serviceof Ashes: 12:30-1:15 PM

Mass with Ashes: 5-6PM

Reflection: Kelly Ryan, Campus Ministry Intern

Please join us as we enter the blessed wilderness of the Lenten season

and journey together toward Easter.

Called & Gifted Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:05:00 +0000

Who Am I?
Why Am I Here?

Discover your unique spiritual gifts…

The Spiritual Gifts Discernment Program is specially designed to help us to discern the gifts of the Spirit, or charisms, that have been given to us, and to help us begin to learn how to use those gifts to serve God and others.

Take the Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory;
Learn the signs and characteristics of twenty-four of the most common charisms;
Learn the five steps of discerning your own charisms;
Begin your own discernment process;
Understand some of the implications of gift discernment for using your gifts in service of others.

Three Sessions:

Sundays: 2/12, 2/19, 2/26

8:15PM, in the McLean Chapel

Interested? Contact Carrie Rehak, Director of Campus Ministry
Founders' Hall C, Ext. 1081

Black History Month in the Chapel

noreply@blogger.com (HNU Campus Ministry) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:43:00 +0000

Maya Angelou
1928-

Black History Month is here, and this year's theme is "Women."
Campus Ministry is joining in the celebration by hearing the words and honoring the contributions of selected African-American women at the beginning of each Mass.

We opened yesterday by paying homage to poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou.

"I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition -- about what we can endure, dream, fail at, and still survive."

"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."

"The honorary duty of a human being is to love."

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

"Love is that condition in the human spirit so profound that it allows me to survive, and better than that, to thrive with passion, compassion, and style."

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."