Spring 2011 Newsletter- Caught Up in the Faith

Volume 6, Issue II April 2011

C AUGHT UP IN THE F AITH V OLUME 6, I SSUE II

D ECEMBER 2010

H APPY E ASTER !

“J OY

CANNOT BE

COMMANDED .

IT

CAN ONLY BE

T HE

GIVEN .

RISEN

L ORD

GIVES US TRUE JOY : NEW LIFE ."

P OPE B ENEDICT XVI

F OCUS C ONFERENCE B Y B ETH S TRADER ,

CLASS OF

2014

On a whim, I signed up for this conference but never thought that the weekend would ever actually arrive.

The morning of, I tried to think of excuses not to go but, as fate would have it, no roadblocks popped up; I had no choice but to go on this trip. After coming to terms with it, I began to look forward to the conference. The other freshmen took care of me and we all started bonding immediately. By the time we went to the first all-conference meeting, I was jazzed to be there. I can’t do that night justice; it was incredible to be in a room with a thousand other college kids that fought this fight of faith every day; who struggle to find time to pray among all their schoolwork, who try to remain strong at parties on the weekend, who have felt this raging in their heart for a God that others told them isn’t real. My doubts were their doubts and my convictions were their convictions; for the first time in a long time, I found myself singing praise and worship music with the full power of my spirit behind it.

The next day, we went to impact sessions and heard a couple of amazing talks about what it meant to be Catholic in a modern college context. We spent time together as a group, melding more and more into a cohesive cohort of believers, our own little GW church. But the experiences of the weekend become dwarfed when compared to the power of Saturday night’s adoration. I had never been to adoration, had no idea what to expect from the experience. However, the moment I looked at the monstrance, I knew exactly what the whole event was about. My words cannot do justice to that hour; I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully wrap my mind around what happened that night.

Continued on page 2

C AUGHT

P AGE 2

UP IN THE

F AITH

My whole life, I’ve been told to spread the love of Jesus Christ, to blindly show His great power through everything I do. I’ve gone to mass every Sunday since before I could walk or talk, I went through the ritual sacraments as rites of passage to my adulthood, I’ve served the altar, proclaimed the Liturgy and even handed out the body of Christ. Yet it wasn’t until this FOCUS conference that I understood what I was actually doing. I always thought that the love of Jesus was something I was called to give yet never receive; I had long since resigned myself to empty smiles and hollow Hallelujahs. But then I went to Adoration and I became a new person. Sitting there in the dark, listening to the stories of Pope John Paul II and seeing the monstrance in front of me, I felt a pressure in my chest that I’d never felt before. I began to sob uncontrollably, every tear carrying with it another dimension of my long-since broken faith. Then the pressure grew, swelling to fill my whole chest, pushing against my ribs, fitting to burst right out of me. At that moment, I felt the love of Christ that had been missing all these years. Smiling ear to ear through my tears, I wept bitterly, letting every shred of my fake belief leave my body forever.

Time passed by uncounted; God only knows how long my personal transfiguration took. But in those moments, God raised my broken heart, a heart that I had considered hopelessly mangled after years of emptiness, and mended it, resurrecting my spirit into this new, beautiful life of true faith and passion for the path of Christ.

A LTERNATIVE S PRING B REAK B Y C HRIS C RAWFORD ,

CLASS OF

2014

On Monday we woke up early to be greeted by Dan who spoke to us about the United Methodist Relief Center and then accompanied us to our worksite. The family’s name was “Gant”. We didn’t interact with them much, but I’m convinced that we had a large impact on their lives. When the UMRC started the work on their home, it was so bad that they couldn’t even stand on the roof. The walls were in horrific condition. But by the time we left Wednesday, they had a finished roof and finished siding on their small house. We didn’t see them much, but we did see people honking their horns on their way past the home which was located on a busy street. Their pastor stopped by, too. And we can be certain that the pastor and all of the Gant’s friends will remark to them how beautiful their house is. A home is a sense of pride, and we were a central part of restoring the pride that they have in their home.

For dinner on our last night we went to a classic, local southern eatery called “See Wee’s”. It was southern in every aspect you could think of. One of the joys of being with a priest during Lent is that he knows all the loopholes. Since Saturday was the feast of St. Joseph, after sundown on Friday we were allowed to eat meat. Huzzah. The dinner was kind of sentimental. We toasted to the great week and sung along to the music that was playing. It was Christina’s birthday so she got cake and we sang to her. It was really nice bonding with everybody for one last hurrah.

I had a realization over the break that I think will help me in my everyday life. In all of the hustle and bustle and stress of daily life, it is easy to forget to make space for Christ. And when we lose Christ, we lose our own way in the world. Being with such prayerful people all week gave me the realization that focus can be achieved simply by working prayer into our everyday lives. By praying three times a day, praying before meals, and praying in the car, we were constantly reminded of our central point in life, we were constantly shown our meaning. It is my challenge to continue doing this while back at school.

V OLUME 6, I SSUE II

P AGE 3 "Ask yourselves, young people, about the love of Christ. Acknowledge His voice resounding in the temple of your heart. Return His bright and penetrating glance which opens the paths of your life to the horizons of the Church’s mission.

It is a taxing mission, today more than ever, to teach men the truth about themselves, about their end, their destiny, and to show faithful souls the unspeakable riches of the love of Christ.

Do not be afraid of the radicalness of His demands, because Jesus, who loved us first, is prepared to give Himself to you, as well as asking of you. If He asks much of you, it is because He knows you can give much."

— Pope John Paul II

S KI R ETREAT B Y K EAGHAN A MES ,

CLASS OF

2012

Very rarely at a school like GW does a student really have time to relax and recharge their batteries. Between all the hustle and bustle of going to a school in Washington capped off with the constant pressure to succeed, it’s easy to forget that we’re still students and not adults quite yet. The Ski Retreat through the Newman Center changed that quickly, and ended up being one of the best days I’ve had at my three years at GW. The Ski Retreat was just what my friends and I needed. Oddly enough, I usually am the one dragging my friends to church, trying to get them into the pews every Sunday evening. When Father Greg made the announcement that the Newman Center was sponsoring a $20 all inclusive ski extravaganza capped off with visiting the Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary, it was a slam-dunk for 8 of my closest friends. I felt like I was the one who was being dragged by them to sign up.

We got on the bus and headed first to the Mount for mass and quiet reflection at Mary’s Pool. I had a Jewish and Protestant friend with me, so I really did not know how they were going to take to the Mass, but strangely enough they both were appreciative of the beauty that we Catholics get to enjoy when we receive our Lord at Mass.

After a good amount of quiet reflection praying on that sacred ground, it was time to pack up and enjoy some good old fashioned Christian Fellowship.

The skiing that followed, and the memories shared on the mountain were truly a blessing. God calls for us to do his work, but I found it so interesting that we had our retreat on the mountain. Jesus often retreated to the mountain and prayed to his Father, and in a way, we all went to that mountain not only to enjoy each other’s company, but to take time out of our lives to connect with our Father.

GW Newman Center 2210 F Street NW Washington D.C. 20037

Fr. Greg Shaffer, chaplain chaplain@gwcatholic.com Amy West, Campus Minister amy@gwcatholic.com

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GWCATHOLICFORUM . BLOGSPOT. COM

S PIRITUAL L IFE AT N EWMAN B Y P ATTY S ILVA , C LASS

OF

2014

I’m so grateful for the role that the community at the Newman Center has played in my freshman year- I can’t imagine what it would have been like without Tuesday dinners, daily Masses, Wednesday Adoration, and random moments cooking, studying and debating in the kitchen downstairs. At first, I had found it hard to believe that so many college students would really come out to the Eucharist in the middle of classes, jobs, internships, tests, and papers, but every day at noon Mass there would be four or five students, and a full chapel on Tuesdays, even before dinner. For me and so many other students, Mass and Adoration at the Newman Center have been central to my faith life at GW. The presence of so many students at daily Masses and around the Newman Center in general is a chance to give a powerful witness to the people who live and work in the area, and demonstrate that young people live lives of faith and fulfillment at college- as we show our faith at Newman, we also grow in it.

At GW, we’re blessed enough to have ten hours of Adoration every Wednesday. There are always students here, almost always at least two or three; over the course of the day, there are more than thirty or forty people in and out of the chapel. When things get really busy during finals and midterms the chapel empties out at least a bit, right, you’d guess?

Wrong- during the most brutal parts of the semester, daily Masses and especially adoration are packed. I can tell you from firsthand experience, most people there are praying for calm and wisdom during the period around exams.

And it works. You might come into the chapel right from the library or a study group, still kind of stressed and carrying a giant textbook. You walk in still thinking of equations and Modern European History and in desperate need of a study break, and in the presence of Christ you are home. You can lay down your problems, regain your strength, and leave knowing that He is constant and powerful. (Yes, even more powerful than the professor writing that final.). The community at the Newman Center and the constant opportunities I have had to grow closer to the Sacraments and deeper in prayer and faith have helped me to do just that this year.