Happy Lent!

Why happy Lent?  Because, as St. Paul says: now is the day of salvation.  Woohoo!

So many Catholics come to Ash Wednesday Mass!  It's wonderful!  It's even more than usually come to Sunday Mass.  I'm not quite sure why it's that way.  But it's an amazing opportunity for us as missionaries to reach out to those who may not be practicing regularly.  Father Dan gave a killer homily in which he invited people to restore and rekindle their relationship with God.  He echoed the words of St. Paul in the second reading: We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Ash Wednesday is not even a Holy Day of Obligation, yet it seems like the chapel is overflowing with people.  And it's the only time of the year that, for the rest of day, you're walking around with a very obvious mark on your forehead.  You're basically waving a sign around that says, "I'm Catholic".

Ergo, we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.  The team, my disciple Rosie, and I made it a point to meet every ash-marked student on Columbia's campus we could find.  We got to introduce ourselves in a pretty natural way, let them know we are available to them as support, and even invite a few people to Bible study!  It was fun.

I pray that you really dive into this Lenten season and accept the forgiveness the Lord offers all those who call upon Him!

Article

Hi!  Happy Advent!  Team Columbia was recently featured in Catholic NYC, the city-wide Catholic newspaper.  To see the article, click here.

Ready, Set, Go

This weekend the Columbia Catholic Ministry undergraduate board went on a retreat and invited us along.  I was all for it, since it was an opportunity to get out of the city and a great chance to spend some quality time with students and get to know them.  The retreat took place at the residence of Father Benedict Groeschel, well-known writer, speaker, and founder of the awesome religious order, the CFRs.  We got to spend some time with him at meals, which was super cool.  It was also nice to fall asleep to the sound of trickling water, rather than screeching tires and car horns.

While on the retreat, Leah (our Team Director) had the chance to share with the students a little bit about Salvation History and our role within that story.  In short, that Christ died for all, restoring our relationship to God the Father which had been broken by the sin of our first parents, and that He left us a mission here on earth, namely: Go and make disciples of all nations.  Since not everyone has come to believe in Him, then that mission is not yet complete and we still have a job to do.  She then explained in more depth how FOCUS answers Christ's call to evangelization, why we do it on the college campus, and how they could be a part of it if they wanted to.  Our students are awesome, and the response was positive.  We are so excited as missionaries to get to teach them how to be missionaries themselves!

The steps

Today our team did outreach on the steps.  The steps is the area in the center of campus where students hang out or do homework.  We handed out ice pops, which we've done before, but this time we did it simply to hand out ice pops and nothing more.  It was a hot day, you see.  And who doesn't like a free ice pop on a hot day?  Many people did not come up to us because they assumed we wanted something from them, which is true for most things people are giving away for 'free', especially in New York City.  We just chatted with people and, if they asked, we told them we were Catholic missionaries.  Some people were skeptical, but many were appreciative.  We even made it onto the campus blog, Bwog, which keeps students updated on what's happening and where they can get free food.  Here's the link, with our picture.  The girl on the left is one of our students, Jen.  Unfortunately, some people took us to be "ingenuous" when they found out we were missionaries, but I guess that's to be expected.  I had a lot of fun and met some really cool people.

All in all, a great couple of days.  Busy, but that's the way I like it!

Blessed

I am sitting now at my kitchen table, in a dark red and tan colored room, listening to the sounds that float through my window - cars honking, tires screeching, motorcyclists showing off.  But louder still is the sound of music.  Someone is playing a saxophone from a random rooftop nearby.  He plays a beautiful, jazzy melody and reminds me of my home.  It's a quiet, confident song he plays.  He plays every night.  Sometimes I am not as content to listen, such as when I am in bed and have to wake up early the next morning.  But right now, it's peaceful.  It's beautiful.  It's relaxing.

We have nearly completed our first week of outreach at Columbia, and it has been a period of incredible sanctification.  In this week alone I have learned approximately seventeen new ways to swallow my pride, and I have seen the devil in action.  I have begun to realize the magnitude of the task God has laid before Team Columbia, the necessity of prayer, the weaknesses of my heart.  I have been stretched and stomped on and blessed and blessed and blessed.

I am learning more and more the importance of faith and how easily it can be broken and shattered, and how necessary it is to prevail.

It's been a tough week.  It has hurt.  Praise God.  Thank you, Jesus, for loving me in this way.

Hurricane Irene

Bad weather follows me around.  Katrina senior year of high school, the Great May Floods of Nashville senior year of college, and now... and earthquake AND a hurricane.  Irene hit the city early Sunday morning.  It was crazy!  Not the hurricane itself, but the hype all around it.  Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated the city, the Subway shut down Saturday at noon until Monday morning (that is unheard of), the streets were completely empty, and nothing was open!  It felt like post-Katrina New Orleans for a day, just with much less water and not as hot.  All the craziness caused Columbia to change their orientation week schedule, which led to the cancellation of our first official event on campus - the activities fair.  So instead of standing by a table with 14 other religious organizations yesterday like we were originally supposed to, our team instead mingled around with the freshman first-years new students (seriously, this place is more particular than Vandy!) as they unloaded their cars and got acquainted with the campus.  It was fun, but definitely a challenge for me.  Today we go back to campus for round two.  Pray for us and all the students we will meet!