Updates

The Joy of Easter

Written by Fr. Ben Hawley, SJ on Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of the Lord

So, go to Walgreen’s and look at the Easter cards. I bet that some will say “Happy Easter!” and some will say “May the Joy of Easter be yours!” I will also bet that the “Happy Easter!” cards have bunnies, green grass, flowers, and jelly beans on the front. And the “Joy of Easter!” cards will have the Risen Jesus, perhaps with some disciples, in the foreground and the hill of Calvary with its three crosses silhouetted in the background against the rising sun.

Well, maybe I am wrong about the cards. But the happiness that we can experience in this human life comes and goes, often because the circumstances around us change. We respond to those changes with the wide variety of emotions that are a natural part of our lives. But the joy of Easter is unchangeable because it is independent of our circumstances. It is a gift from the God who loves us. It is a gift from Jesus who was once a human being like us, who faced unbelievable suffering and whom the Father led through that suffering into a new way of being that transcends human suffering.

When Jesus completed that transformation, he felt the joy of the Father’s divine love and shared it with his friends. They of course did not feel the joy immediately. They were too astonished, too unable to believe, too caught up the trauma they had so recently experienced. But the joy dawned on them – like the dawn after a dark night, like the coming of spring after winter.

Once they experienced that joy, though, their lives were transformed. The external circumstances of their lives may not have changed – the poor were still poor. But they knew inside themselves that their lives now had meaning and that they had worth in God’s eyes and hope in their own future.

The joy of Easter may not remain with us as joy as a permanent emotion. But it will remain as a deep assurance, a deep affirmation to which we can return at any time, especially in time of need. So, I hope your Easter Sunday and Easter Season will be happy. But much more I hope that the joy of the Risen Christ will continue to be your lifeline and inspiration today and in all the days to come.

*************************

Fr. Ben Hawley, SJ
Fr. Ben, as Jesuit priest, has served as Pastor and Director of Catholic Campus Ministry since August 2010. As pastor his ministry focus is helping the parish be “the field hospital for the wounded,” per Pope Francis, where people discover Jesus’ liberation and healing. He also leads a communion service each game day for UM players and coaches of the football team. Following his ordination in June 2000 Fr. Ben served as President of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School of Indianapolis until 2006. Prior to becoming Catholic in 1988, Fr. Ben worked for the Agency for International Development, the foreign assistance program of the US Government.
Email: [email protected]

Out of the Tomb

Written by Rita Zyber on Holy Saturday

Today I’m feeling the paradox of Lent – there’s so much joy amid the sorrow of the paschal mystery.

I can see this in our RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) group. For months, they have been preparing with joy for the Easter Vigil Mass. Tonight, we’ll sing psalms with a huge choir. We’ll bless the fire and the water and unwrap a brand new paschal candle. Once again, I’ll be in tears as these new members of the Church hold out their hands, becoming part of the Eucharist for the first time.

But first, we stand in the empty church for rehearsal. The lighting is low and it’s quiet as we pray together. It feels still, like the tomb that held Jesus’ lifeless body for a short time.  Today, on Holy Saturday, we can imagine the pain and sorrow his followers – and especially Mary – must have felt as everything seemed to be over. On that Saturday so long ago, there was nothing but the tomb.

Fortunately, we know the tomb was not the end.  Death did not prevail and it doesn’t for us either. Tonight’s reading (one of many) assures us: We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. (Romans 6: 3-11)

But the disciples did not yet know this, so they waited, confused and afraid. They waited, until Jesus, himself, came to them and said, “Peace be with you.”  That’s the peace we feel this Holy Saturday. Together, these 30 people have given great effort to their faith. They’ve all prayed and bonded and laughed together. They’ve experienced reconciliation and great emotion.

Now the peace comes.

This group understands that Easter Vigil is just the beginning. Already, they are looking for ways to live out their new faith – to be fully part of the Body of Christ. They want to be liturgical ministers, participate in service and share their new faith with others.

That’s what Jesus wanted. As he healed and served others, he also celebrated life with his friends and loved ones – the savior who fed people, changed water to wine and told us he would never leave us alone.

“With Christ joy is constantly born anew.” Pope Francis

Questions for Reflection:
Am I waiting in confusion, or am I seeking to learn and deepen my relationship with God?
Do I approach the Eucharist each week with as much enthusiasm and desire as our newest members?

************************

Rita Zyber
Rita joined the St. Mary’s staff in 2014 to serve as the RCIA Assistant/Coordinator. Rita has previous staff experience at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Ann Arbor, as well as years of volunteer service in religious education, stewardship, music ministry and RCIA. She is also a freelance writer. She and her husband, Frank, have two college-age daughters, Claire and Lauren.
Email: [email protected]

Accepting Grace

Written by an undergraduate student on Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

This past spring break, I traveled to Guatemala on a medical mission trip. The organization that I traveled with had many projects in this country, and one of them was constructing wells in areas that desperately needed them. After hearing all week about how amazing this well was, I developed pretty high expectations. When my group finally visited it, I was a bit underwhelmed. This well was simply a concrete cylinder protruding from the ground with a metal spigot covered by some plywood and cloth. Initially, I failed to see what all the excitement was about. Then, a member of my group explained the massive impact that this well had. Built on the property of a woman and her son, this well had transformed the lives of hundreds of people. The family and the surrounding families had received a long-lasting, sustainable source of clean drinking water, which had the power to free them from the water-borne illnesses so common in this area, the long, arduous trips to wells much farther away, and the poor hygiene that is a side effect of living in certain conditions.

Jesus is the water of life that rejuvenated a dry, sin-ravished world. He cleansed us from the sins that tarnished and wounded our souls. He was human, He was tempted, and He was afraid, but He never sinned. Full of trust, He followed His Father’s will, and in turn, was exalted.  In an awe-inspiring fulfillment of God’s plan that began with that original Good Friday and culminated three days later with the Resurrection, Jesus was the atonement for a fallen world.

However, even 2000 years later, many of us still feel the pain and burdens of sin. Caught up in our failures, it’s easy to forget that Jesus already carried the Cross and reconciled us with God. He is like the well in Masagua, Guatemala: a never-ending source of renewal, healing, and life. The cool thing about wells is that they can be built wherever there is need, since groundwater is present beneath virtually all land on earth. If you dig deep enough, you will be able to find clean water. In all areas of our lives, this “living water” is present just below the surface, found with just a bit of digging. Jesus is standing with open arms, ready to take us into His embrace, forgiving and healing us. All we have to do is to accept His grace.

“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” -John 4:14

Questions for Reflection:
In what areas of your life can you open yourself up to God’s mercy and healing?
How can you better trust in the Lord’s will, even if the current road is difficult?

Given up for YOU

Written by Kelly Dunlop on Holy Thursday (Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper)

On an exceptionally warm Friday afternoon in December, I crossed the street from the historic hotel where I had gathered to get ready with my girlfriends to the Newman Center to marry my best friend. The church was beautifully decorated with poinsettias and greenery from the Christmas celebrations just days before as I linked arms with both my mom and dad to walk down the aisle. When the doors to the chapel opened, I was moved to tears to see this space that I loved and had worshiped in for many years filled with our friends and family from across the globe, each who we held precious memories with and shaped our experiences in diverse ways.  Despite the hundreds of times I had previously walked down that exact same aisle I would not be able to ever do so again without some recollection of this moment- one of my most favorite from our wedding day.

Celebrating Holy Thursday at St. Mary’s for me taps into a similar experience. Regular 10 o’clockers, it is rare I get to celebrate mass with a majority of the students, grad students and residents I serve and work with in other capacities of parish life. Holy Thursday feels like a fantastic family reunion as I get a moment to catch up with a few of our alum who have traveled in to celebrate the Triduum with St. Mary’s. Some of our snowbirds have just landed back in Michigan after months away in various warmer climates. Many of the youth we have watched grow up are home from college to celebrate Easter with their families. Rather than 6 different liturgies as is our Sunday practice, we are gathered as one community.

I imagine Jesus experiencing some of these same feelings as he gathered his dearest ones around him in gratitude and love for this precious meal. “This is my body, given up for YOU.” Period. Without conditions. Not when you are pious, perfect, compassionate, generous. Not you who are religious, Christian or Catholic. Just YOU- as you are. And if that weren’t enough, following the institution of the remarkable gift of himself Jesus drops to his knees to wash the feet of his disciples. He sets a model for all of us of what self-gift really means.

In December, my husband Paul and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and if there is one thing we have learned thus far it is a life promised is not the same as a life practiced. When the wedding day and honeymoon are over, one has to choose daily (sometimes multiple times within the day) to love. It is much easier to say I do to “in good times and bad; in sickness and health” on your wedding day than in the messier parts of life. As a Eucharistic people, we are sent out to serve, to love, to struggle with. As each of us walk down the aisle this weekend to receive Jesus, may our “Amen” resound as our commitment to love and serve in good times and bad.

Questions for Reflection:
Within hours of his beautiful and intimate gathering with friends, Jesus is in agony, terror, pain, physical distress and eventually dies. Can you and I love so deeply as to enter into those places with another? To care without curing? To love without judgment? To allow parts of ourselves to be broken?

************************

Kelly Dunlop
Kelly was delighted to join the campus ministry staff at St. Mary’s in 2011. Before coming to St. Mary’s, Kelly was the associate director for social justice at the Newman Parish at her alumnus the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she studied psychology (’02) and social work (’05). While her heart still bleeds Carolina Blue, she and her family (husband Paul and children Conor and Erin) have truly come to find a home in Ann Arbor.
Email: [email protected]