Christina McKnight's Witness--13 April 2014

            Hi everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Christina McKnight and I am a sophomore Actuarial Science major.

            Well friends, Holy week begins as of today. The end of Lent is upon us, and soon we will all be able to eat ice cream and watch television and do whatever it is that we used to do before Ash Wednesday. Holy Week also means that we will be reading the Passion (aka the longest Gospel that you will ever hear at mass) twice this week. Twice will you have to stand for an extended period of time to hear the story of the crucifixion. Twice you will probably zone in and out of consciousness as the Passion is read because you have heard the passion twice a year for at least 18 years, totaling to at least 36 times in mass alone.

            This is the attitude I usually have when it comes to the Passion during mass, but after taking some time to reflect on the Passion, I found that this was a great time to reflect on my Lenten experience. The different people that interact with Jesus really jumped out to me; three people in particular when presented with a chance to grow with Jesus respond in completely different ways. After reading it a few times, I mentally created a Buzzfeed Quiz: “Which figure are you from the Lord’s Passion?”

            The first person that stands out to me is Simon of Cyrene. Here is a dude who’s just going about his merry way, when all of a sudden these soldiers tell him to help Jesus carry his cross. It’s a guy that he’s never even met before, he looks a little worse for wear, and he’s obviously very weak so he won’t be much help in carrying the cross at all. But despite all of those factors he says yes to help this stranger carry his cross. Did I say yes to Jesus in this regard? Did I take up my own cross with my Lenten sacrifice to stand in solidarity with Jesus? I would say that while I was very gung-ho at the beginning of Lent of giving up desserts and journaling every day, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t sneak a dessert every once in a while and that I didn’t skip a day of journaling my prayers. I can’t quite say that I’m a Simon of Cyrene.

            Perhaps I’m a Judas. Judas has been hanging out with Jesus and traveling with him all over the Middle East for years. Despite all of the time they’ve spent together, he deliberately turns Jesus in to the authorities for a few pieces of silver. His act of betrayal eventually drove him to kill himself in regret of what he has done. I know I haven’t been the best with my Lenten resolution this year, but I wouldn’t say that my actions are worthy of being compared to Judas (at least a hope not).

            No. Not Simon, nor Judas. Then who? There is one last person who plays a significant role in the Passion: Peter. Peter clearly desires so badly to be in the company of Jesus. Listen to him as he talks to Jesus, “Surely it is not I who will betray you?” The idea that he would betray Jesus, one if his best friends, is absurd. Yet when the time comes for him to declare his ties to Jesus, he denies it. Not once, but three times. When Peter realizes that he acted just as Jesus had predicted, he weeps in sadness. I would have to say that I can relate with Peter’s plight. At the beginning of this Lent and every Lent I have the intention of carrying out my resolution for the whole 40 days, but this year I would have to say that I was probably not the most dedicated person to my cause. Like Peter I have missed out on a chance to grow closer to God.

            However I don’t think I’m a completely lost cause. Like Peter I realize that I have missed out on a chance to say “Yes” to God. But like Peter I will do my best to improve and to be ready to say “Yes” the next time I get a chance. Friends, Lent is a time of year where we are supposed to slow down and turn inward to deepen our relationship with God. However, we aren’t limited to only 40 days a year to deepen our prayer lives and grow closer to God. No, we are invited to this opportunity 24/7, 365 days a year. As much as I would like to live exactly as God wants me to, sometimes I just fall short. That is the beauty and the sadness of the Lenten season. God loves us so much, that he died to save us from all of our sings. I’ve heard somewhere, “When Jesus is on the cross with his arms outstretched, he seems to be saying ‘This is how much I love you,’” and I’ve always liked that imagery. So friends, even though the Lenten season is almost at an end, let us continue to pray and grow closer to God. Thank you all, and I hope I’ve given you all p-LENT-y to think about J

           

            

Maggie DiRenzo's Witness, 6 April 2014

Hi. I’m Maggie Di Renzo. I’m a Junior Pharmacy Major and a member of the leadership team with the BCC.

I’m not gonna lie. I have been dreading this moment for the last 2 weeks, maybe even the whole semester. Let’s just say the whole year. I tried to hide and hope I would slip through, but alas here I am. So here we go:

When I first looked at the readings several ideas jumped out at me, but the over-arching theme of all 3 readings is really what struck me the most. The purpose of life. Now before you go and role your eyes, and think to yourself, “Self, there is no way she found the purpose of life just from reading today’s scripture.” Think again. From what I have gathered, our purpose here in this life is to make it to heaven and take as many people along the way with us. I mean the road to get there is rocky and bumpy, but overall it is just one “simple” task. 

When things get rough or I lose focus in my life I try to remember where we are all headed. Yes we have to make it through school and yes we have to get a job and yes we have to accomplish other tasks throughout our life but when things go askew just ask yourself once again, “does this glorify the Lord with my spirit or does this please the flesh?” In the first reading, the lord promised to place his spirit within us so we may live whole fulfilling lives that glorify the Lord.  So have no fear, it is in there somewhere helping you make the right decision. You just have to listen and feel as difficult as that may be at times.

Jumping to the second reading, it gets kinda mushy with all the words having a deeper meaning. You just hear: Alive, dead, sin, spirit, flesh and then flesh again and I’m not a fan of that word so I get kinda grossed out. But the meaning behind all of this is so beautiful and rich in symbolism. You may be physically alive but does that mean you are alive in spirit? And who just wants to be a blob of humanity? God reminds us that through his spirit that he places within us, we can be alive with him but (there’s always a but) we have to die to ourselves, our earthly ways, and our physical bodies in order to better our spiritual bodies. In the gospel, we hear the story of Lazarus raising from the dead. When Jesus gives a little lesson about the different type of dying: flesh vs. spiritual, Thomas, maybe a little naively, get excited and says, “Let us also go to die with him.”

I know when I hear this I think, “ok great idea, but how are we actually going to do that. The science part of me wants to know the process and exactly how we are supposed to accomplish this?” That’s when I realize there isn’t a process or a step by step lab manual. It also reminds me, I am by far not the expert in this field as I feel like we are all striving to better. But I simply remind myself what the ultimate goal of this life is: It is to get to heaven and take as many people along the way with us. So hold we each other accountable, we try our very best and follow what we hear the spirit saying to us in our conscience.

When I fall, I am lucky enough to be reminded often by someone that we are not perfect and never will be perfect so we will fall to our human ways every so often, but that isn’t a reason to give up or use it as an excuse to keep doing what we know is wrong. It also means that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we fall. Just brush yourself off and keep on truckin.

So in the words of Thomas from the gospel, “Let us also go to die with him.”