Hi, my name is Cynthia Psaradellis. I am a McGill student who was born and raised here in Montreal. Growing up, I have received many skills and support from my Italian Catholic community.

Last year I became involved in the Newman Catholic Students Society Centre where I enjoyed attending the Newman ball, Friday You Cat sessions with yours truly Terrel, Saturday masses with Father Greg, Eucharistic adoration, BBQs, visits to the Oratory, watching soccer games, playing soccer, visits to the planetarium and so much more!!! Cardinal Newman wrote in a letter, “The best preparation for loving the world at large is to cultivate an intimate friendship.” I have created intimate friendships with Jesus and other people from various cultures.

I also became involved in Montreal Challenge Catholic Movement. In simplest terms, Challenge is a group of 18 to 30 year old Catholics who meet up to support each other. Thank God, for the support of the Challenge community, I am able to overcome my problems. Challenge has also allowed me to deepen my faith. As a young adult, I enjoy singing praise and worship songs among a multicultural community of young Catholics.

The skills and the support that I receive from the Newman, Challenge, and my community has allowed me to continue to pursue my studies in University with faith, hope, and love.

I challenge you to attend Challenge 31, which is September 26 to 28, 2014 at 351 Willibrord Rue, Verdun, QC. For more information, please visit:

https://www.facebook.com/events/556303341162384/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

God bless,
Cynthia Psaradellis

Every year when Lent begins, that first Sunday begins with the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.  Every year it is repeated in different words – those of Matthew, and Mark, and Luke.  We know the story of Jesus going up into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, of him resisting the temptations, and coming back ready to preach and begin his mission.  But does that mean we actually know the story?  While I was preparing myself for the Lenten journey this year I was struck by the realization that, while I knew the story, in many ways I no longer did; I no longer had let it penetrate into the depths of my heart to move me, calling out to me to re-orient my life back to Whom I owe everything.  If you will, allow me a few moments to try and articulate some of that re-orientation that I think is valuable in this Lenten season, but also all year long.

The story begins, after Jesus is baptized, that he goes off into the wilderness, Matthew noting that he fasted there for 40 days and nights.  There are other 40s in the Bible that earlier readers would immediately pick up on, two in particular.  When God sent the flood, it rained for 40 days and nights.  Noah and his family were alone in the Ark upon the wilderness of a tumultuous sea, trusting that they would finally find a safe harbour and journey to a renewed land.  The Israelites, having been led out of slavery in Egypt, wandered and were tested in the wilderness for 40 years before being led into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is often described.  The number is not new, but then neither is the wilderness, it is a place of testing, of trial, of purification, but not of home.

Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tested and to focus his thoughts on the task ahead; it is a way station, but not the destination.  After 40 days of fasting, the Tempter comes; “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves a bread.”

There is an old understanding that in the temptations we see a prefiguration of the temptations that we humans face, and that in Jesus’ response are the responses that should be on our own lips.  Jesus answers Satan by saying, ‘It is written: you shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God.”  It answers the temptation by quoting from the Bible.  If one ever needs a reason to know and read the Bible we have it here: when Jesus is tempted, his first thought is to go to the Bible, which records the history of the interaction between God and humans.  It is interesting, too, that the words from Jesus’ lips are the words spoken by Moses during that other great period of trial and testing in the wilderness from the Bible, the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness.

There, in Deuteronomy 8, the words that seem to slip so easily off of Jesus’ lips, Moses is telling a story to the assembled people of Israel.  It is their story; the story of them and God.  God took them out of Egypt, the land of slavery, fulfilling his own promises to their ancestors, leading the people into “a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and undergrounds waters welling up in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack for nothing”.  That was the promise, but they got there because it was God who fed them, gave them water and shelter, along the way providing for them not only materially but also spiritually.  It was in the wilderness, afterall, that God gave the 10 commandments.  It was in the wilderness that God gave them bread from heaven, the bread of angels.  God provided for them, so they could turn their thoughts and hearts to God.  Humans shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God.

So, Jesus is not dismissing bread, but putting it in its proper place: God will provide.  I have trusted Him in the past, other people have trusted Him in the past, and we have not been disappointed; in what we have needed, God will provide, so trust in him and allow yourself to turn your attention to hearing God, listening to his Word.

But above and beyond that, as Deuteronomy makes clear, do not forget that the Wilderness is not the Promised Land.  This is easy to forget.  I had forgotten it for a very long time, or at least did not let it impact me in the way it should.  We are in the Wilderness.  This is not the Promised Land.  That is why Jesus can easily say to not store up treasures here on Earth: it is the Wilderness, and we do not know when we will have to leave them behind.  It then makes sense when Jesus says that he is going away to prepare the mansion, our home, for us, and that he will be waiting for us there: this is not the Promised Land, our homes here are temporary.

If this is the Wilderness, a period of testing and trial, then many things make sense.  In the Wilderness, we must take care of one another, we must lift up the community and protect it against those forces that would destroy it.  We need to be community, to love one another, but also it becomes each person’s responsibility to protect that community from those both within and without – to stand up, with the Word of God by your side (a triple meaning there if ever there was one), and speak truth to power, for the good of the community, and not for oneself, clique, or ideology.  We are travelling in this Wilderness together; we need to help one another.

But that also means a relationship with the Earth as stewards, for in the desert you protect the watering holes, the oases you find.  If you do not, then they are ruined for others, and for yourself when you might need them again: they are not yours alone, but serve all.  And the stranger you find, wandering alone in that wilderness?  The laws of the wilderness, the real deserts of the earth where people roam, insist upon hospitality.  You must open your home to the stranger, feed them, let them drink, for you never know when it might be you who is buffeted by storms, finding yourself alone, thirsty and hungry in a dry land.  After all, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

We are in the Wilderness, as Jesus was 2000 years ago.  But what he recognized in the temptations was that it was not only the physical wilderness of desert, but the Wilderness of the human condition, longing and thirsting for something more, which was the true state of that Wilderness.  The Israelites did not despise the earth, nor did Jesus, nor should we, but rather recognize in this Wilderness its proper place.  It is not the Promised Land, the land we are journeying toward.  Jesus’s response in each of the temptations makes that well known.  Each response harkens back to the story of the Israelites in the Wilderness.  Each of them is a call to trust in God, yes, but not just an abstract, amorphous trust.  Trust in God because he has proven Himself trustworthy, in your own life, in the life of the Church, in the life of the Israelites.  Trust in God because he is trying to teach us trust so that we may reach the Promised Land and enjoy the goodness and bounty that He offers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

That is very nice in the abstract Nathan, a thought might be, but how does it look – can it look like anything – in the practical?  Well, here is how it is helping to change my own perspective.

This last year has been a hard one.  Being Director of the Newman Centre is always a challenge, not because there is no joy to it, but because it means opening your heart and keeping it open to every criticism, every concern, every harsh word, because the alternative is a hardness of heart that makes the heart a stone.  If it is a stone, how can I move through the Wilderness to the Promised Land?  This land is not my permanent home, but I must be for others – I must be for His People – helping all those others that are joined with me in community journeying through the Wilderness: I must constantly be open to changing, leaving behind those parts of me that do not help the community but harm it.  I must do everything I can so that my People, His People, all that God has chosen, reach the Promised Land.

I do not know what will happen after July 31^st, there is a blank, nothingness that I cannot see beyond.  My path is obscured by the uncertainty of really not knowing where I will be – a darkness many of you might be facing – but then the Israelites didn’t know where they were going either, only the destination, and that along with trust in God is what sustained them: God, who is trustworthy, is taking them to the Promised Land; “I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.”

I am married to an amazing, wonderful wife.  We are a family.  But … there is no third that seems to be the promise, seems to come so easily to so many, of the Christian family.  It is hard.  We do not know why.  Except, this is the Wilderness, not the Promised Land.  This is a period of testing, of leading us in ways known only to Him, so that we might find the Promised Land together.  So I will trust in Him.  He is worthy of trust, and this testing is but one part of the journey – it is not the destination.

There are many others, but hopefully you get the picture.  This is Lent.  It beckons up with opportunities.  It beckons us forward into the journey of a lifetime, but that means it is a journey: we are not yet home.

Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th’encircling gloom,

Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home,

Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.

 By Nathan Gibbard, Director of the Newman Centre

A THINKfast participant shares a reflection on what they learned from the experience of a 25-hour fast in solidarity with the world’s poor and hungry:

ThinkFast gave me some needed insight on the state-of-being that is hunger, and the relationship between the giving of food and a relationship with God. Reflection with my compatriots brought me to the conclusion that in the eating of food, you give blessing and thanks to the Lord for providing the sustenance you need to live. As an agent of Christ, therefore, everyone is called to spread that extraordinary love that God has for all creation, especially those who go without food on a daily basis. Every single person is a part of this closed, complete, and complex system, and no one is above that framework; we must all act as agents of this profound love in order to keep the balance of this system in equilibrium. In the end, in the act of denying your sister or brother in Christ a simple meal, you are in some sense denying Christ himself. The fate of the gospel, let alone the world, rests in this simple truth.

Benjamin Miller

As nominations open for the 2014-2015 NCSS executive, it may be helpful to know a little more about what each portfolio does, plus what the new portfolios will be all about, so without any further ado, I present to you…

What exactly does that portfolio do?!

VP Social Justice

Your position works with other Newmanites and external groups to raise awareness about social justice issues and provide material support to the poor in Montreal and around the world. Each year, the VP Social Justice may choose to focus on different activities (ex. clothing drives, sandwiches for the homeless, THINKfast etc.). Some more permanent projects include our partnerships with a parish in the Philippines and setting Newmanites up with volunteer opportunities. If you have a heart for the poor and disadvantaged, then this is the job for you!

VP Social Activities

When it’s time to ‘let off some steam’ during midterms or after exams, you are the one that we will turn to! Whether it’s pumpkin carving, or planning  a trip to play laser tag, you infuse our community with fun activities! Your biggest responsibilities will be planning each semester’s coffee house, and the Newman Ball in March… which is no easy task, but totally worth the effort!

VP Saturday Night Suppers

The name is pretty self-explanatory. Your job is to organize weekly SNS. At the beginning of the semester, you put up a sign-up sheet and ask your fellow Newmanites to sign up to cook each Saturday. Each Saturday your role could be as little as, just checking in to make sure they know where the frying pans are, to helping them lug groceries back to Newman, to emergency cooking if no one signs up. Your role also includes planning special meals (like the Advent dinner, Thanksgiving etc.) and doing other acts of hospitality around the centre (ex. tea and cookies for after an adoration evening).

VP Outreach

NEW POSITION – This new portfolio contains two major parts: evangelization and interfaith/ecumenism. The Evangelization side of things revolves around actively sharing the faith with McGill students. This needn’t be intimidating, we have events such as 60-second surveys at orientation events, Fish Frosh, activities night, and Catholic Students’ Week to give you a head start. You will also take the lead on welcoming students to Newman and following up with them at the beginning of the semester. Regarding interfaith/ecumenism, you (or your designate) will be the NCSS representative to interfaith council and chaplaincy. You will also be called upon to find opportunities to share in prayer and service activities with other Christian groups.  It’s a big job, but also super rewarding!

VP Spiritual

NEW POSITION – This new portfolio will be responsible for running the NCSS Faith Studies program, which currently has about 10-15 groups each semester. You will also be called upon to liaise with the chaplain and priest on our student-run liturgical ministries (ex. choir, lectors, acolytes) and think of ways for Newmanites to enter more fully into liturgical seasons with as lent and advent.

VP Communications

NEW POSITION – Your portfolio will include the former jobs of webmaster and publicity, which will include monitoring our social media presence, updating the website, coordinating mass announcements and sending the weekly listserv. But don’t worry, you can appoint up to three coordinators to help you out!

VP Finance

You can’t actually run for VP Finance this year, because a deputy treasurer was already selected under the rules of the old constitution last fall. But come 2015, the position will be up for election, so if you are great at keeping track of money, doing audits and fundraising, then stay tuned!

President

As president, you coordinate with SSMU, the Newman Centre and its board, you call and chair meetings and you put out fires when necessary. It takes a special individual with a servant’s heart to be the president, but we know you are out there somewhere!

You might be thinking that I’m getting this entire Lent thing confused with Valentine’s day. Let me assure you, that it is not so, and that at the end of this article you will find that God is a mad lover and that Lent is truly a season to love.

My memories of Lent from the time I was an altar boy eons ago, has a very gloomy and melancholy disposition. It was a period of penitence, reflection and reconciliation. There were special prayers in the church, the jesuit friars conducted weeklong retreats, the bells were replaced by wooden clappers , Holy mass was followed by stations of the cross and the entire community was submerged in a milieu of lamentation. For us youngsters, this was not a fun time. We couldn’t make merry, there won’t be any festivities and our kitchens won’t see meat or desserts for many weeks. If we could, we would have fast forwarded the time to Easter vigil.

How do we go from Lent as a portrait of lamentation to a season of love ? For many of us it is difficult to comprehend the necessity of God sending his only begotten son to die on the cross. Yet without Christ’s death and resurrection there won’t be Christianity.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” [John 3:16]

The crucifixion of Christ is the ultimate symbol of God’s love for humanity. It is perhaps the best example of irrational and illogical nature of God’s love, for which we find other abundant examples in the Gospel passages (viz. the parable of the prodigal son, parables of the lost sheep and that of the lost coin [Luke 15:1-32] ).  God is definitely not a vulcan.

Scripture characterises Love as God’s defining property.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” [1 John 4:8 ]

So while Lent is a season of reflection, reconciliation and penitence, it is also an apt time to reflect on God’s abundant love for us, to ameliorate his pain and suffering caused by our transgressions and to reciprocate his love, carry that cross and bring forth joy. Our trespasses afflict our relationship with God, who like a lover abandoned by his soul mate suffers pain and agony. Through penitence and reconciliation we mend the broken relationship, reciprocating God’s love, who now like a lover finding his true love, rejoices. Thus it’s written

“ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” [Luke 15:7].

Christ doesn’t call us to rent our garments and wear sack cloths as an act of penitence, in fact he is very explicit to criticize any visible gesture of the act.

“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I assure you, that is the only reward they will ever get.  But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.” [Mathew 6:16-17]

Christian life is also incomplete without a cross, Jesus reminds us in the Gospel passage that our calling to follow includes a cross, a burden and sacrifice.

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” [ Luke 14:27 ]

In other words, he asks us to endure the suffering with a smile on our lips.

We can take a cue from Christ’s sacrifice to emulate in our own lives this season of lent. What gave Christ the strength to carry the cross ? it was his unbounded love for us.Though we let go of some of our indulgences as an act of penitence, we often find it hard to carry the burden. What makes a mother’s suffering from birth pangs suddenly change to burgeoning joy on seeing the face of her baby ? it’s her bountiful love for her child. In other words love is the key ingredient in taking suffering and pain away from sacrifices.

Scripture exhorts us the importance of love persistently.

“He said to him.’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. “ [ Mathew 22:37-38 ]

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” [ John 15: 12-13 ]

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”[Colossians 3:14 ]

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” [1 John 4:7 ]

“Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.”[1Peter 4:8]

Perhaps my favorite of all is St. Paul’s first epistle to Corinthians where he affirms the importance of love to a divided church community.

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.”[1 Corinthians 13:1-8a]

He then goes on to proclaim

“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”[1Corinthians 13:13]

There’s no better gift for a father to have but to see his children love their siblings.This Lent, let us reconcile with our Heavenly Father, give forth from the bottom of our hearts, love and cherish the joys of sacrifice, part take in God’s merciful and unbounded love and complete the circle. So love one another, sacrifice your indulgences with a smile as  prayer offerings for people whom you love and cherish,  and you will find the amazing strength to carry them all the way. Just remember to wrap it all in loads of love.

Boyzone had it just about right when they sang, “Love me for a reason, Let the reason be Love”.

Dear friends, have a blessed, loving Lenten season !

By: Joseph D’Silva

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE TWENTY-NINTH WORLD YOUTH DAY 
2014

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3)

Dear Young Friends,

How vividly I recall the remarkable meeting we had in Rio de Janeiro for the Twenty-eighth World Youth Day. It was a great celebration of faith and fellowship! The wonderful people of Brazil welcomed us with open arms, like the statue of Christ the Redeemer which looks down from the hill of Corcovado over the magnificent expanse of Copacabana beach. There, on the seashore, Jesus renewed his call to each one of us to become his missionary disciples. May we perceive this call as the most important thing in our lives and share this gift with others, those near and far, even to the distant geographical and existential peripheries of our world.

The next stop on our intercontinental youth pilgrimage will be in Krakow in 2016. As a way of accompanying our journey together, for the next three years I would like to reflect with you on the Beatitudes found in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (5:1-12). This year we will begin by reflecting on the first Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). For 2015 I suggest: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). Then, in 2016, our theme will be: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7).

1. The revolutionary power of the Beatitudes

It is always a joyful experience for us to read and reflect on the Beatitudes! Jesus proclaimed them in his first great sermon, preached on the shore of the sea of Galilee. There was a very large crowd, so Jesus went up on the mountain to teach his disciples. That is why it is known as “the Sermon on the Mount”. In the Bible, the mountain is regarded as a place where God reveals himself. Jesus, by preaching on the mount, reveals himself to be a divine teacher, a new Moses. What does he tell us? He shows us the way to life, the way that he himself has taken. Jesus himself is the way, and he proposes this way as the path to true happiness. Throughout his life, from his birth in the stable in Bethlehem until his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus embodied the Beatitudes. All the promises of God’s Kingdom were fulfilled in him.

In proclaiming the Beatitudes, Jesus asks us to follow him and to travel with him along the path of love, the path that alone leads to eternal life. It is not an easy journey, yet the Lord promises us his grace and he never abandons us. We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give.

The Beatitudes of Jesus are new and revolutionary. They present a model of happiness contrary to what is usually communicated by the media and by the prevailing wisdom. A worldly way of thinking finds it scandalous that God became one of us and died on a cross! According to the logic of this world, those whom Jesus proclaimed blessed are regarded as useless, “losers”. What is glorified is success at any cost, affluence, the arrogance of power and self-affirmation at the expense of others.

Jesus challenges us, young friends, to take seriously his approach to life and to decide which path is right for us and leads to true joy. This is the great challenge of faith. Jesus was not afraid to ask his disciples if they truly wanted to follow him or if they preferred to take another path (cf. Jn 6:67). Simon Peter had the courage to reply: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). If you too are able to say “yes” to Jesus, your lives will become both meaningful and fruitful.

2. The courage to be happy

What does it mean to be “blessed” (makarioi in Greek)? To be blessed means to be happy. Tell me: Do you really want to be happy? In an age when we are constantly being enticed by vain and empty illusions of happiness, we risk settling for less and “thinking small” when it comes to the meaning of life. Think big instead! Open your hearts! As Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati once said, “To live without faith, to have no heritage to uphold, to fail to struggle constantly to defend the truth: this is not living. It is scraping by. We should never just scrape by, but really live” (Letter to I. Bonini, 27 February 1925). In his homily on the day of Piergiorgio Frassati’s beatification (20 May 1990),John Paul II called him “a man of the Beatitudes” (AAS 82 [1990], 1518).

If you are really open to the deepest aspirations of your hearts, you will realize that you possess an unquenchable thirst for happiness, and this will allow you to expose and reject the “low cost” offers and approaches all around you. When we look only for success, pleasure and possessions, and we turn these into idols, we may well have moments of exhilaration, an illusory sense of satisfaction, but ultimately we become enslaved, never satisfied, always looking for more. It is a tragic thing to see a young person who “has everything”, but is weary and weak.

Saint John, writing to young people, told them: “You are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 Jn 2:14). Young people who choose Christ are strong: they are fed by his word and they do not need to ‘stuff themselves’ with other things! Have the courage to swim against the tide. Have the courage to be truly happy! Say no to an ephemeral, superficial and throwaway culture, a culture that assumes that you are incapable of taking on responsibility and facing the great challenges of life!

3. Blessed are the poor in spirit…

The first Beatitude, our theme for the next World Youth Day, says that the poor in spirit are blessed for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. At a time when so many people are suffering as a result of the financial crisis, it might seem strange to link poverty and happiness. How can we consider poverty a blessing?

First of all, let us try to understand what it means to be “poor in spirit”. When the Son of God became man, he chose the path of poverty and self-emptying. As Saint Paul said in his letter to the Philippians: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness” (2:5-7). Jesus is God who strips himself of his glory. Here we see God’s choice to be poor: he was rich and yet he became poor in order to enrich us through his poverty (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). This is the mystery we contemplate in the crib when we see the Son of God lying in a manger, and later on the cross, where his self-emptying reaches its culmination.

The Greek adjective ptochós (poor) does not have a purely material meaning. It means “a beggar”, and it should be seen as linked to the Jewish notion of the anawim, “God’s poor”. It suggests lowliness, a sense of one’s limitations and existential poverty. The anawim trust in the Lord, and they know that they can count on him.

As Saint Therese of the Child Jesus clearly saw, by his incarnation Jesus came among us as a poor beggar, asking for our love. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “man is a beggar before God” (No. 2559) and that prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst and our own thirst (No. 2560).

Saint Francis of Assisi understood perfectly the secret of the Beatitude of the poor in spirit. Indeed, when Jesus spoke to him through the leper and from the crucifix, Francis recognized both God’s grandeur and his own lowliness. In his prayer, the Poor Man of Assisi would spend hours asking the Lord: “Who are you?” “Who am I?” He renounced an affluent and carefree life in order to marry “Lady Poverty”, to imitate Jesus and to follow the Gospel to the letter. Francis lived in imitation of Christ in his poverty and in love for the poor – for him the two were inextricably linked – like two sides of one coin.

You might ask me, then: What can we do, specifically, to make poverty in spirit a way of life, a real part of our own lives? I will reply by saying three things.

First of all, try to be free with regard to material things. The Lord calls us to a Gospel lifestyle marked by sobriety, by a refusal to yield to the culture of consumerism. This means being concerned with the essentials and learning to do without all those unneeded extras which hem us in. Let us learn to be detached from possessiveness and from the idolatry of money and lavish spending. Let us put Jesus first. He can free us from the kinds of idol-worship which enslave us. Put your trust in God, dear young friends! He knows and loves us, and he never forgets us. Just as he provides for the lilies of the field (cf. Mt 6:28), so he will make sure that we lack nothing. If we are to come through the financial crisis, we must be also ready to change our lifestyle and avoid so much wastefulness. Just as we need the courage to be happy, we also need the courage to live simply.

Second, if we are to live by this Beatitude, all of us need to experience a conversion in the way we see the poor. We have to care for them and be sensitive to their spiritual and material needs. To you young people I especially entrust the task of restoring solidarity to the heart of human culture. Faced with old and new forms of poverty – unemployment, migration and addictions of various kinds – we have the duty to be alert and thoughtful, avoiding the temptation to remain indifferent. We have to remember all those who feel unloved, who have no hope for the future and who have given up on life out of discouragement, disappointment or fear. We have to learn to be on the side of the poor, and not just indulge in rhetoric about the poor! Let us go out to meet them, look into their eyes and listen to them. The poor provide us with a concrete opportunity to encounter Christ himself, and to touch his suffering flesh.

However – and this is my third point – the poor are not just people to whom we can give something. They have much to offer us and to teach us. How much we have to learn from the wisdom of the poor! Think about it: several hundred years ago a saint, Benedict Joseph Labré, who lived on the streets of Rome from the alms he received, became a spiritual guide to all sorts of people, including nobles and prelates. In a very real way, the poor are our teachers. They show us that people’s value is not measured by their possessions or how much money they have in the bank. A poor person, a person lacking material possessions, always maintains his or her dignity. The poor can teach us much about humility and trust in God. In the parable of the pharisee and the tax-collector (cf. Lk 18:9-14), Jesus holds the tax-collector up as a model because of his humility and his acknowledgment that he is a sinner. The widow who gave her last two coins to the temple treasury is an example of the generosity of all those who have next to nothing and yet give away everything they have (Lk 21:1-4).

4. … for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

The central theme of the Gospel is the kingdom of God. Jesus is the kingdom of God in person; he is Immanuel, God-with-us. And it is in the human heart that the kingdom, God’s sovereignty, takes root and grows. The kingdom is at once both gift and promise. It has already been given to us in Jesus, but it has yet to be realized in its fullness. That is why we pray to the Father each day: “Thy kingdom come”.

There is a close connection between poverty and evangelization, between the theme of the last World Youth Day – “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations!” (Mt 28:19) – and the theme for this year: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). The Lord wants a poor Church which evangelizes the poor. When Jesus sent the Twelve out on mission, he said to them: “Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the labourers deserve their food” (Mt 10:9-10). Evangelical poverty is a basic condition for spreading the kingdom of God. The most beautiful and spontaneous expressions of joy which I have seen during my life were by poor people who had little to hold onto. Evangelization in our time will only take place as the result of contagious joy.

We have seen, then, that the Beatitude of the poor in spirit shapes our relationship with God, with material goods and with the poor. With the example and words of Jesus before us, we realize how much we need to be converted, so that the logic of being more will prevail over that of having more! The saints can best help us to understand the profound meaning of the Beatitudes. So the canonization of John Paul II, to be celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter, will be an event marked by immense joy. He will be the great patron of the World Youth Days which he inaugurated and always supported. In the communion of saints he will continue to be a father and friend to all of you.

This month of April marks the thirtieth anniversary of the entrustment of the Jubilee Cross of the Redemption to the young. That symbolic act by John Paul II was the beginning of the great youth pilgrimage which has since crossed the five continents. The Pope’s words on that Easter Sunday in 1984 remain memorable: “My dear young people, at the conclusion of the Holy Year, I entrust to you the sign of this Jubilee Year: the cross of Christ! Carry it throughout the world as a symbol of the love of the Lord Jesus for humanity, and proclaim to everyone that it is only in Christ, who died and rose from the dead, that salvation and redemption are to be found”.

Dear friends, the Magnificat, the Canticle of Mary, poor in spirit, is also the song of everyone who lives by the Beatitudes. The joy of the Gospel arises from a heart which, in its poverty, rejoices and marvels at the works of God, like the heart of Our Lady, whom all generations call “blessed” (cf. Lk 1:48). May Mary, Mother of the poor and Star of the new evangelization help us to live the Gospel, to embody the Beatitudes in our lives, and to have the courage always to be happy.

From the Vatican, 21 January 2014
Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

Francis

 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/messages/youth/documents/papa-francesco_20140121_messaggio-giovani_2014_en.html

We started out Catholic Students Week this year with our Concordia friends, celebrating an opening mass at Loyola campus of Concordia (and in solidarity at our regular Sunday mass at the Newman Centre of McGill University).

On Tuesday we were fortunate to have Deacon Brian Cordiero visit Newman to speak on the Joy of the Gospels, using Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium as a guide. Those who attended agreed it was a powerful talk!

On Wednesday, we braved the cold and snow to proclaim the Gospel of Mark at the Roddick Gates (the entrance to McGill). Hot chocolate was a necessity to make it through the blustery afternoon – thanks to our campus minister for keeping us stocked!

On Thursday, we invited a number of guests to Newman – alumni (and friends) living a variety of vocations here in Montreal, including married couples (and children!), single lay persons, consecrated women, and religious sisters! The women enjoyed treats and 7 kinds of tea in the coach house, while the men drank beer in the 3rd floor residence.

On Friday, a number of students headed on to campus to pray the Rosary for students. In the evening, we went to LaSalette Church for our second Montreal Night Fever! During an evening of adoration and music in the church, we  invited Montrealers in to the church to light a candle and pray if they liked.

We closed off the week with mass and the most beautiful (home-made by our very own Rebecca) cross-shaped cake a Catholic Students Week has ever seen!

Thanks for being proud Catholics on Campus!

On Wednesday, January 29th, we had a lovely bunch of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary for lunch. The FMM sisters are involved in missionary work around the globe and have a (large) house right here in Montreal, not too far from McGill. We got to know the sisters when they first came to join us for daily mass. Since then, they have become our new friends (especially Sister Marianna!).

Over lunch, they shared with us their lives and experiences as religious sisters. We cooked the lunch ourselves, so we were able to raise $141.53 for their Canadian northern missions just from lunch contributions from Newmanites!

On Saturday, Fr. Rosica from Salt + Light, came to cook a very special Saturday Night Supper in honour of our favourite returning NSS President (Julian had worked at Salt + Light with Fr. Rosica for two summers). It was a surprise for Julian planned out by Fr. Roscia, Holly and Ana. He treated us to a wonderful Italian meal and celebrated mass for us Saturday evening!

This week, we were excited to have Father Jake, former pastor of St. Padre Pio Parish, our partner parish in the Philippines (now a missionary priest to Regina, Saskatchewan) come visit us at Newman! He was here visiting his classmate and friend, our very own Father Gregory! We now know where Fr. Greg gets his sense of humour from!

During lunch on Tuesday, Father Jake shared with us pictures from the children’s feeding program we helped to fund in the community. It was remarkable how far our donations were able to go in the Philippines. They have held three feeding programs (one at Christmas, one in the schools, and another recently in the parish). They were also able to purchase school supplies for each child! We look forward to continuing our relationship with St. Padre Pio in the future!

When I was first approached to be a lector in my second year of undergrad, I had already been contemplating the idea. It had been in the back of my mind for a while. I always wondered whether I have what it takes to be a lector: to be confident in speaking to a large group, to have a calm, clear voice. These were all the physical or technical aspects of being a lector; I had not even considered the spiritual and religious aspects of it.

After finally deciding to join the new lectors’ group, I realized that the organizer at the time, Benjamin Gordon, and Father Gregory had a lot more in mind for the lectors than merely showing up on Saturday or Sunday to do a reading. Instead, they planned to create regular, weekly meetings for the new lectors’ group that would initially involve some explanations about the role of the lector in the liturgy, followed by a run-through and personal reflection and prayer. This concept was very new to me. Sharing my thoughts and feelings about the readings in a group setting had never exactly been my idea of being a lector. However, I quickly learned how important these meetings were.

The lector, as I learned, is part of the ministry of the Church. I remember Father Gregory explaining how priests and other students in the seminary, in the early days of the Church, were the only ones to do the readings. After this ministry was extended to laypeople, the same idea for preparing to read was followed. Father Gregory also shared with us certain passages from the Catechism that explained the ministry of the lector. I also learned that preparation for reading required more than a technical understanding of the words and pronunciations of the passage; a key part of preparation includes a spiritual understanding. This is where the weekly meetings come in.

The outline of a regular meeting is first, deciding who will read the first reading, responsorial psalm, second reading, and gospel. Then, we begin with an opening prayer, a run-through of the passages, and followed by a sharing of our reflections on the readings and a closing prayer. Father Gregory, in the initial meetings, would start us off by asking if there were particular words or phrases that stood out to us or reminded us of something. Then, we would try to make some connections between the readings, responsorial psalm, and gospel. While it is important to note that there is not always a clear connection, there is definitely some reason that the Church decided to place these passages together for the particular week. Some of my favourite spiritual discussions have come out of these reflections, including reflections on our own baptisms and the meaning of Christmas in today’s society. However, for my first year being a lector, I was very shy with sharing my reflections; I would go through some meetings without even talking once! This was mostly because it was not something I had done before. A combination of these meetings and joining faith studies (shout out to Discovery and Source!) built my confidence in sharing my thoughts on spiritual topics.

These regular meetings are open to all lectors – not just the ones reading that weekend, as well as anyone who would like to join us. They are scheduled on an ad hoc basis, based on the schedules of the lectors for that week, but we have a Facebook group to coordinate that, if you are interested.

Beyond the meetings, another part of becoming a lector that I did not consider was the orientation and installation. The orientation is a meeting we have near the beginning of each semester to encourage new lectors to join as well as have a refresher for old lectors on certain procedures during the mass. These orientations would usually end with the readings and reflections for the week. This semester, the orientation meeting is Sunday, January 26^th at 1:30 PM. Anyone interested in learning about or becoming a lector or acolyte (altar server) should attend.

The installation is a yearly event to install new lectors and re-install old ones. It is during a specific Sunday mass, in which the celebrant presents the lectors for the year to the rest of the assembly and does a blessing for each lector. This year, our installation mass will be on Sunday, February 2^nd, so please join us for this special day!

Although I’m in my last semester now, I can still remember one of the first masses I attended at Newman Centre in 2010. It was a different kind of experience from the masses in my home Church in Mississauga, Ontario. Newman was much more intimate, friendly, and welcoming. While my home Church was friendly and welcoming, it was a big Church and I didn’t know most of the people there, even though I had regularly attended mass there for over 10 years. I found that the intimacy and closeness at Newman made the difference for me. It was in this intimacy that I discovered my mission or calling, at least for now. (It helps to read in front of a smaller group when starting off as a lector). Being a lector now means more to me than just completing the reading in a correct technical manner; instead, it means learning how to better serve the community through scripture. Lectors have a more important mission than merely reading during mass; they are conveying messages from God through Bible passages. It is important for lectors to understand what they are reading, to reflect on it, and to share these revelations with other lectors and members of the community.

Your mission (should you choose to accept it) may not be to become a lector, though I would encourage you to give it a try. Regardless of what you think God is asking you to do at this time in your life, I would most definitely encourage you to listen to Him. A lot of our lives are based on unreflective action: okay, I’m in university now. That means lots of reading and studying to build a good foundation for My Future. Like my reflection here about how I became a lector, our ideas about certain “missions” should not only include the technical aspects (like grades, etc). Instead, make a point to reflect and pray when you’re thinking about your mission in life. These have helped me begin to direct my life, with God’s guidance, and I hope it helps you too.

Best wishes,

Victoria Wan