EVENING OF REFLECTION
Suffering
& Hope
I
gnatian spirituality is a major emphasis of study at any Jesuit school, and two events that delved into this importance were the Evenings of Reflection. The first reflection night, held in September, started with a Mass celebrated by president Fr. John Brown, S.J., who then turned over the reins to Fr. Stephen Kramer, S.J., to lead the reflection. Fr. Kramer began his oration by speaking about suffering during a pandemic and where to find hope in a time when all else seems lost. Kramer, who brought his usual exuberance to the pulpit, shared multiple anecdotes of suffering and redemption. He told a true story of two women who never backed down from their faith. The two women, Maryam and Marzieh, were both Iranian prisoners arrested for converting to Christianity. The judge for their trial, knowing the punishment was death, gave them a way out: deny the Lord. Without hesitation both women continually professed, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The judge did not have a choice, so he put them back in prison. Despite their captivity, these two righteous women were able to sneak letters out to their local church, and several made the news. The letters depicted two women who were scared not of the suffering but of the fact that people would see their suffering and lose faith. Due to the circulation, they were let free to keep spreading their message of faith and hope even during a time of suffering. “It’s a beautiful story,” Fr. Kramer said, “a beautiful story of facing our own deaths and suffering for Christ.” He went on to describe an alcoholic
Jesuit priest. He always ate alone in the dining hall in New York, had no ministry, and had no church. When he passed away, the Jesuits organized a small funeral in their chapel but were surprised to find over 2,000 people standing outside in the cold waiting to get in. These people told stories of a man who organized one of the first Alcohol Anonymous groups in New York—a man who, for the past decade, had gone into bars to save alcoholics from themselves, a man who found purpose from helping others like himself. Through those experiences, he found sobriety by finally giving control over to God and asking for mercy. Both of these stories shared a theme: life is suffering, but not all hope is lost. “There is an answer to this suffering,” Fr. Kramer said. “It is Christ. He is our redemption.” On December 8, Jesuit celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the Chapel of the North American Martyrs followed by a reflection by school chaplain Fr. Kevin Dyer, S.J., on Living and Dying During a Time of Pandemic. While brilliantly intertwining the gospel story of Lazarus, Fr. Dyer
described multiple anecdotes from how Br. William Dardis, S.J. ’58 was the heart and soul of the entire Jesuit community to Dyer’s time assisting at University Medical Center, where he prayed and spent time with the sick. “When I was asked if I wanted to lead a night of reflection,” Fr. Dyer said, “my mind went to one topic: death and life. And this year began with the death of Br. Dardis.” “One of the first rooms that I walked into at the hospital was one of the most intense,” Fr. Dyer said. “The man just broke down, and I was taken aback. As soon as I finished praying with him, I stepped out and said, ‘If they are all going to be like that, I do not know if I’ll make it.’ Holy cow, what a privilege it was to be among the sick.” After meeting so many different people throughout the process, he found that the faith was immensely strong from patient to patient and that hope brought them to a comforting place before God. Even in times of hardship and suffering, Jesus is there transforming that situation. “We should always keep our death before our eyes,” Fr. Dyer said, “not as an exercise, but just as a reality that this life is short. We only get one, do the best with it.”
JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL | NEW ORLEANS |
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