"Religion, What is it Good For?"

EVENING OF REFLECTION

“Religion, What is it Good For?”

Christ speaks to people in a multitude of ways. C.S. Lewis famously said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains.” This past year has proven that while pain has been on the forefront of the minds of many, God has not stopped speaking to us and bringing us closer to Him.

On February 25, 2021, Brandon Briscoe ’98 talked about another type of suffering: martyrdom. Briscoe led an Evening of Lenten Reflection that dug deep into the life of some of these witnesses of Christ. This reflection illuminated that, while these stories can invoke fear, God provides the strength to get through. After Jesuit president Fr. John Brown, S.J., celebrated Mass, Briscoe dove into the history of martyrs and our own calling to martyrdom.

“It is fitting that we are all gathered here in the early days of Lent in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs,” Briscoe said. “Because what is Lent if not a 40-day journey of martyrdom.”

Briscoe talked about people choosing martyrdom—and it choosing them. These paths require total dependence on God and grace that only He can provide. At the end of his oration, Briscoe reminded everyone that Lent is a time both to reflect on these difficult ideas and also to commit to action because we are all called to be martyrs for Christ.

On April 21, 2021, Brown led a reflection on the never-overstated importance of religion itself. By focusing on the importance of the sacrifice of the Mass, he emphasized that we should not go solely for self centered reasons; rather, we should go to the sacrifice of the Mass because we owe it to God.

“Religion, what is it good for?” Brown asked jokingly. “You owe it to God, but you also owe it to your fellow man.”

Brown related the idea of justice and according to St. Thomas Aquinas, how the practice of religion falls under that virtue. Religiousness itself, then is a virtue that everyone needs to strive to achieve. Whether he was talking about Rene Descartes, St. Thomas Aquinas, or St. John Bellarmine, the message was clear: sacrifice at the altar is our obligation.

“God is due all that we are,” Brown said. “We are a priestly people that are called to offer all that we have on that altar.” •