The paradoxes of Christianity

Christianity is kind of crazy.

Don't believe me?  Just read the Beatitudes.  The meek shall inherit the earth.  Huh?  The meek?  Yeah, them.

Jesus tells us:
Become a slave to find freedom.
Die to be born anew.
Suffer to find deeper joy.
Give yourself away to be full.
Find joy in persecution.

Weird.

But really, it's not weird.  It's just greater than me and you and greater than human instinct and desire and wisdom.  It's beautiful, really, what the Lord does:

For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. (1 Corinthians 1:21)

He makes worldly wisdom worthless, so that man should not boast.  He makes His wisdom (the cross) seem foolish so that faith is necessary to believe.

And St. Paul gets it.  He says, For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17).  The Cross of Christ speaks for itself.  No need for fancy rhetoric or eloquent wording.  It's quite easy to get caught up in that stuff, though, especially here in the Ivy Leagues.  Blah.


For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2: 2)

Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  Nothing else matters if not for Him.  And because of Him, we can find joy in suffering, we can find freedom in conforming (to His will), we can find new life in death to ourselves.

Thank you, Jesus!

Birthdays, Booths, and Bible study

Today is my teammate, Justin's, birthday.  In celebration, my team woke up at 5:30am and walked around Columbia in the dark while we prayed all 20 decades of the rosary (as we do every Wednesday).  Then we ate breakfast.  He had a cupcake.

This is what happened when I tried to take a picture of him and his cupcake.

Justin is a great teammate and brother.  Sometimes he gets a little too excited about being the "annoying little brother", and so I have to remind him that I already have one of those (sorry, Daniel!).  Anyway, I am very thankful for Justin and what he brings to our team.

In other news, I recently went to Washington, D.C. to represent FOCUS at a long-term service fair at Catholic University.

Keegan, a Regional Director, and Dan, a missionary at George Washington University, talking with a CUA student

It was a great trip because I got to talk about my awesome job, AND I got to see some family.

My wonderful cousin, Lauren, and my loving Uncle Mark

And did I mention Frannie Boyle?

Frannie Boyle. 'Nuf said.

Then I came back and made autumn wreaths out of ribbon and styrofoam with my Bible Study girls.  Ashley decided hers looked more like a lion's mane than a wreath.

Isn't she cute?

Thank you for your prayers!  Please pray for my new Bible Study that I'm starting with some upperclassmen women.  To Him be the glory!

Hello, again

Oops!  I forgot about this thing!

Actually, it's just been rather busy.  Lots of this:

And lots of this:

pretty

Hiking with the CFRs and some other young adults

Tough life, I know.

This is probably my favorite:

Jesus

Also, this last night:

 

Michelle, Ninoska (a missionary at George Mason), and Julia

We made caramel apples.  Yummy.  And messy.

Not to mention donor events, concerts with students (my friend Emily is on tour with Jars of Clay!), a new graduate student study, bike riding in Central Park, rosary vigils, Sunday brunches, blah blah blah.

I hope you are doing well, too!

Bible Study!

New Yorkers love to try to shock you.  The thing is, everyone has been shocked so much, nothing is shocking anymore.  What would be considered appalling, weird, wrong, backwards, inappropriate, or stupid in other places is just considered normal here.  In fact, if you give anything a second glance, then you are labeled as being judgmental.  Well, call me judgmental, but yesterday, on the Subway (aka Sway),I stood next to a man who looked like he had just had his head cut open with an axe.  Blood was running down his face and had stained his shirt, and he was just chatting with some lady who looked as if she had just been clobbered with a bat.  Of course, I realized they must have been actors coming home from a show, but you never know in this city.  Why didn't they clean up before they went home?  Were they trying to shock me and all the others whom they encountered?  Maybe.  I don't know.  I don't really care, either.  It was just weird, and I'm sticking to that.

Anyway, I had my first Bible Study on Wednesday!  I've never lead a Bible Study before.  I'm leading a group of freshman girls through a new FOCUS study called, The Crux.  The study presents the basic Gospel message in 5 short weeks, exploring how Scripture reveals to us the person of Jesus Christ and discussing why He is relevant to us today, with the purpose of inviting the students to make Christ at the center of their lives at the end.  We'll then continue on with another study of choice.  I'm pretty dern excited.  The girls seemed to click!  It was great!

On Thursday Team Columbia got to take a day of reflection with Father Gabriel of the CFRs.  We went upstate a couple hours (read: trees, grass, hills, lakes, peace and QUIET!!!!!!!!) to attend a Mass of Thanksgiving for a Sister that Father knows who recently made her final vows with the Monastic Family of Bethlehem.  She grew up in the Maronite rite, so the Maronite Bishop of the Eastern United States came and celebrated Mass.  It was so beautiful!  Most of the chants were in Aramaic or Arabic.  Then they gave us cake and wine.  Yes, please!

And then yesterday, I got to spend an hour with my sweet cousin, Lauren, in Central Park.  (Why her parents named her Lauren, I still don't know.  Talk about confusing when we have the same last name...)

That's all for now.  Ready for another week!