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Check-in for Lent

Written by Courtney Lambesis on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Take a minute and think about how you would answer this question:

What things do you do to know God?

I’ll bet that your answers sound a lot like this:

• Read your bible
• Go to church
• Keep His commandments
• Pray daily
• Spread the news of the Lord
• Ask for forgiveness from sins

The list goes on and on… and that’s the problem. For many years I believed that to be close to God I had to follow a checklist of things that would please God. If I skipped church, sinned, or was judgmental about someone, I had disappointed Him. In order to make things right with God after I messed up, I believed I had to reverse these habits and be perfect. Someone in my Small Church Community called this mindset an attempt to earn ‘Jesus points.’

Go to church= +2 points

Say something mean to someone= -3 points

Pray= +1 point

Etc.

This is an exhausting cycle that causes us to feel unloved, and causes our desire for God in our lives to diminish. If we feel we can never please Him, it extinguishes our desire to try.

While I’m sure God is pleased when we do decide to read our bible, pray daily, or be kind to others, these things aren’t conditions for His love. In fact, His love for us is unconditional! There is not a single thing we can do to make His love for us less than it is!

So knowing that we don’t have to earn God’s love, how does God call us to live our lives?

The answer is simple: Love.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us: that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” -1 John 4:7-9

Jesus died for our sins in the ultimate act of love; He IS love. Therefore no matter what we say, do, or believe, we cannot possibly know God unless we love. That “checklist” I believed was necessary for God’s love should not be done out of fear of disappointing the Lord, but instead be viewed as graces from God that allow us to grow closer to Him. This Holy Week, may our goal be to love God and love others as unconditionally as God loves us.

Questions for Reflection:
Are there ways you in which you feel you have disappointed God that you need to let go of?
In what ways do you show love towards God and others best?

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Courtney Lambesis
Courtney is a sophomore majoring in Microbiology at the University of Michigan.  She serves on the lead team for Small Church Communities at St. Mary Student Parish.
Email: lambesco@umich.edu

Peace Is Only Found In Yes

Written by Elaina Jo Polovick on Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

As the semester is coming to a close (more quickly than I want to accept) I have started seeing deadlines approaching. I think about all the events I need to plan and decisions I need to make about choosing which graduate school I’ll attend next year. I know that now is the time to say yes, but I’ve been struggling to find peace in my yes. I was struck by today’s reading from Ezekiel where we are called to say yes to the covenant that God offers us:

 I will make with them a covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Unlike many things in our busy lives there is no deadline to respond to this offer from God. When I reflect on this covenant in which God offers us peace and unconditional love, I find myself feeling more open to saying yes. In saying yes to God’s promise of peace I have begun to find peace in my yes to the graduate school I’m being called to. As I struggled to pray about my yes, I came across this prayer: Peace is only found in yes.  (Anthony de Mello, SJ)

This resonated deeply with me. I found myself saying yes to God’s covenant, and finally to the graduate school I believe I’m being called to. As I say this yes, I feel a peacefulness within myself. Peace is found in saying yes.

Questions for Reflection:
What are you called to say yes to?
How can we enter into God’s covenant of peace more fully as we prepare to enter into Holy Week?

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Elaina Jo Polovick
Elaina Jo is one of the peer ministers at St. Mary Student Parish. She works with the special events team as well as a smattering of other programs.
Email: epolovick@smspnewman.org

Taking a Leap of Faith

Written by Chandler Missig on Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Have you ever felt that you live life on the safe side? Do you go through daily routines without ever stepping outside of your comfort zone? This is the way I have always been. I have always found comfort in the predictability of my life, even in terms of my faith. However, when I went on my Alternative Spring Break trip to Nicaragua, this all changed. I have finally learned the value of getting out of my comfort zone in order to say yes to God and His love.

One “yes” I said was when I applied to be a site leader for Nicaragua. Although I was slightly nervous to lead a group in a foreign country, I felt a sense of empowerment that allowed me to say yes without much hesitation. When I received news that I was chosen to site lead, I knew that God was saying yes right back to me.

Another “yes” I experienced occurred on the third day of my trip. My group spent the week in Nicaragua constructing a house for a single mother, Angelica, and her three children. Every day, a different group of us was able to spend time tutoring Angelica’s children in English. When it was my group’s turn to do this, I felt slightly distant due to the language barrier. I was sitting next to Angelica’s 14-year-old son Sandro and as the minutes ticked by, I began to feel the Holy Spirit working on my heart. Barriers seemed to fade away and be replaced with intense feelings of joy. I was convinced that I saw God through Sandro’s smile and enthusiasm. Later that day, he untied a bracelet he had on his ankle and retied it onto my wrist. Tears filled my eyes and joy filled my heart. Sandro’s love and selfless act enabled me to break through barriers I had placed around myself and wholeheartedly say yes to God’s presence and love.

In order to experience the unconditional love that God desires for us to have, we must be willing to step out of our comfort zone, take a leap of faith, and allow his love to change our hearts.

Questions for Reflection:
Is there a time you can think of when you took a step outside what was comfortable to experience God in a new way?
How can you try to have an experience like this during Holy Week?

Chandler Missig
Chandler is a junior majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience.  She is currently St. Mary’s intern for Family Faith Formation. After graduating, Chandler hopes to pursue a Master’s degree in Secondary Education.
Email: chanmiss@umich.edu

Journeying with God

Written by Elise Huber on Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

I have been hiking for a while on a trail through the mountains within a deep forest full of lush pine trees. The trail has changed from paved to gravel to dirt. I have gone up hills and slid down into the valleys. I have seen waterfalls and wildlife. The sun has peeked through the clouds, but is now hiding again. It looks like it is going to rain. I slow down because a fog is settling in and I lose my vision. Before I know it, this fog is surrounding me completely and I can no longer see the trail. I stop. Looking around and asking God to lead me, I see a hand reach out to me through the fog. I recognize that it is God’s hand and want to grab it immediately, but some fear inside of me holds me back. Where are you going to take me? Why can’t I see where I am going? Why do I feel so lost? I have to trust God and grab his guiding hand, but it is not an easy task.

We are all on a journey with God. You may be in the mountains, in the ocean, in a corn field, or on the beach. It might be sunny and warm, or rainy and cold. You could feel happy and adventurous or maybe you’re timid and scared and you have stopped walking. Where ever you are, God is always with you and is always asking for you to say “yes” to him in different ways. Maybe you need to go down the path to the left rather than the right. Maybe you need make the jump over a stream that may seem just a little too wide to make it across. Maybe you need to let someone join you on your journey. Maybe you see God’s hand and you need to take hold of it, trusting that he will lead you where you need to be. I invite you to imagine your journey with God. Imagine where you are, noticing what the weather is like, what you are wearing, and how you feel. Pray with this image and see where God is asking you to say “yes.”

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Elise Huber
Elise is a junior studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  She is recently back from St. Mary’s Alternative Spring Break trip to the Dominican Republic and hopes to one day become a physician.
Email: eahuber@umich.edu

Prayer and God’s Will

Written by Aaron Berkholz on Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)

My family has been blessed to have participated in the Family Faith Formation program for six years. It has provided not only a learning experience for my family, but the student catechists are an example of selflessness. I was once in college, enjoying all that Ann Arbor had to offer. Teaching religious education to a group of 3^rd graders at 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning would not have been high on my list of priorities.

As part of this year’s program, the parents were asked to read “A Well Built Faith – a Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe” by Joe Paprocki. A thought provoking concept in the book is that we do not pray to influence God, but instead to bring us into alignment with God’s will. This can be a difficult concept to recognize during those trying times in our lives; the loss of a job, the illness of a family member, or the passing of a loved one.

I personally think of the passing of my brother during my time in college, and my understanding of prayer as a younger person. I could not fathom why God had not answered all of the prayers that were raised on Ryan’s behalf. I was raised Lutheran, but we had Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists, and a variety of other faith traditions praying on Ryan’s behalf, just to make sure we were covered.

Looking back, now I consider the fact that while it was not God’s will that Ryan be miraculously healed, he provided Ryan with the strength to persevere, despite the serious health challenges he experienced. Ryan was an example of living the faith. Ultimately that was the Father’s will for Ryan, as it is for all of us.

Question for Reflection:
When we pray, are we praying for a specific outcome to a difficult situation, or for the Father to bring us into alignment with His will?

Aaron Berkholz
Aaron met his wife, Tina, during their college years at the University of Michigan. They were married by, and all three of their kids were baptized by Fr. Bill Lanphear at St. Mary Student Parish. He is a civil engineer, working at OHM Advisors in Livonia.
Email: harleyberk@hotmail.com

Now Is the Time to Say Yes

Written by Brittany Tobias on the Fifth Sunday of Lent

I can remember a time when I thought I’d have it all figured out by the age of 25. After all, my parents had met in college and wasn’t that just the perfect place to fall in love? By 25 I’d have my dream job, be married to my dream husband, and we’d definitely be living in my dream house. On my 25^th birthday I found myself recently laid off, broken up with, and living alone in a slightly charming, dilapidated vintage studio in Chicago.

It was easy to say, God why am I here in this place? It was easy to feel like I needed to be saved. I felt so alone, out of touch, and definitely overlooked. There was no possible way this period of utter despair could be part of a bigger plan.

Desperate to keep my life somewhat together, I quickly said yes to the first job I was offered. With that came new responsibilities, coworkers, and an increased awareness of self. At this point I was mostly going through the motions of daily life, hoping for more but knowing that I had missed my personal deadline.

Two and a half years later, at age 27, I had no idea my life was about to change. I had recently broken my leg and foot and was battling the 5 feet of snow on the narrowly shoveled streets of Chicago like a crab on crutches. My future husband Ryan walked into our office. We met and I learned we’d be working side by side and literally sharing a cube. As our friendship grew into something more, I realized that our shared Michigan roots and love of classic novels, boating, and traveling could be what I’d hoped to find by age 25.

At age 29 while overlooking Salzburg, Austria on a foggy afternoon, Ryan finally asked the question I thought I’d never hear. And I said yes. I still claim that he never actually said more than so will you, repeatedly, merely implying the marry me part. But he could ask a million different ways and million different times. I will always answer yes.

Since then, our journey has brought us much love and success as we start life together in Ann Arbor. I can easily cross off husband and job from my 25 year old self’s checklist and truly believe that the younger, naïve version of me isn’t disappointed but instead is my biggest fan.

This spring, as we begin to navigate the challenging Ann Arbor housing market, I can only hope to say yes again soon… all the while praying for patience.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCNhKS-SCo]

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Brittany Tobias
Brittany joined SMSP in September and enjoys living on the Old West Side and exploring Ann Arbor. Recently married, Brittany and her husband Ryan relocated to Ann Arbor from Chicago. Brittany brings eight years of marketing experience in commercial real estate and advertising to SMSP and is excited to enhance our communications platform!
Email: btobias@smspnewman.org

The Sun Still Shines

Written by Bill Alt on Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lent is not an easy journey to take. I find myself too often like the people of last Sunday’s gospel preferring the darkness to the light and yet, incredibly, the light still shines for me. It has been, unlike St. Paul’s sudden and blinding light, a steady beacon pointing me back to where I belong. My road to Damascus has been a slow and hesitant journey, two steps forward for every one step back. It is stumbling in fear and forgetfulness and it is long. But God finds me there along the way, brings me out of the darkness, and calls me home to be embraced by loving and merciful arms.

My friend Bill went home not long ago, dying on an early spring day when the creek was thawing. Though it sounds harsh, you couldn’t lay upon him the epitaph of a well-lived life. I loved him but Bill was a hard man to love. In his younger years, he drank and caroused. He could tell you wild stories of bar fights with miners or high-speed chases to elude the police. He had reprehensible and racist views and held onto grudges as if they were his only possession. He married twice but he never learned to love his wives and they left him. In his last days, he was living in a nursing home in a room by himself because any roommate he was given was driven away by his hostility and coldness. Bill was flawed and broken but God loved him and found him. His was a story of redemption, a story of Lent.

Now whether it is Bill’s redemption or mine or the hundreds of young people from around the country who met him, I don’t know. I like to think that in the end Bill found some peace with us, that the light slipped under the crack beneath his door and shined upon some small part of his darkness and he knew he was loved.

Every Tuesday, he came to supper with us at Nazareth Farm and no matter what the temperature was he always wore his farm hoodie. Bill was a master checkers player and well into his 80s he could beat any challenger regaling his opponents with a stream of smack talk. If you caught him in a quiet moment, however, he would reveal how much he needed us and how much he was afraid to die having misspent his life. He often said there was only one place better than Nazareth Farm and you had to die to get there.

I was not living at the Farm when Bill died, but I said a prayer for him. I prayed that whatever bound him in fear would no longer hold him. I prayed that in the end he knew that love is all that matters. I prayed that he knew he was a friend.

Bill rests today beside a little white church on a hillside overlooking the farm he loved. When the morning sun rises above the mountain it shines its light upon that hill. May Bill know, may we all know, that the sun still shines for us.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dz-hXCIWhU]

Question for reflection:
How have you been directed towards the light?

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Bill Alt
Bill is the coordinator of St. Mary’s Alternative Spring Break program. He lives with his wife Angie and two sons, Jacob and Patrick in Ypsilanti and they have worshiped at St. Mary Student Parish since 2012. They miss the mountains of West Virginia but have found a home in Michigan.
Email: walt@smspnewman.org

May the Force be With You

Written by Jimmy Butler on Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Jesus was a man who spoke often of light and darkness. In John 8:12 he says, “”I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus makes it sound so easy in this verse but I don’t think real life is that simple.

When I think about light and dark it reminds me of one of the great films of our age: Star Wars. The great Obi-Wan Kanobi says of the force, “it surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” The light side (God) is always around us yet there is also a constant voice in us that says, “come to the dark side” (Darth Vader).

The darkness is pressing in all around us, trying to come into our lives. Each of us sees it in different ways; pride, selfishness, greed, gluttony. Sometimes it is hard to tell where the light ends and the darkness starts, especially on a college campus. In my own life, I struggled to find friends my freshman year of college and this left me feeling isolated and lonely. The darkness for me was one of despair and loneliness. However, that year was still full of light. I enjoyed my classes and the newfound freedom in college. I had an amazing girlfriend who is now my fiancé. The light and darkness are never mutually exclusive, just as the light and dark side both exist in the jedi world.

Jesus calls us to move towards the light, towards him and away from our sin. This requires a sacrifice by us. We need to give up whatever it is that we are holding on to (for me it was the need to feel liked by my friends) and follow Jesus into the light. May the force be with you.

Question for Reflection & Suggestion for Prayer:
What are you holding on to that is keeping you from life with Jesus in the light?
Pray for God to lead you out of the dark and heal your pain

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Jimmy Butler
Jimmy is a senior at the University of Michigan studying Mechanical Engineering.  He currently serves as St. Mary’s Intern for Undergraduate Faith Formation.  Jimmy hopes to be a high school math teacher after spending several years as an engineer and after traveling the world.  
Email: jimbutlr@umich.edu