Choose Hope

 This week's reflection comes to us from Professor Carol Cross. Carol is an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Mount Mercy University.

As we head into Lent this year the thought came to me that it has never felt like Lent of 2020 ended. The past year, due to the pandemic and derecho, has been a year filled with sacrifices and struggles – almost as if Lenten practices were handed to us one after the other. Lent is good, and good for us, but Lent is tied intimately and necessarily to Easter. Easter is a time of feasting and celebration, a time of hope and happiness. Easter did come in 2020 yet found us dealing with the overwhelming struggle of the pandemic. For me, celebrating Easter was difficult while facing our strange new world.

During Lent of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, my daughter and I did what a lot of people did and cut out dozens of paper hearts to put up on a front window. This started as a game, “heart hunting,” for people who were out on walks. These hearts were intended to be a sign of solidarity with our neighbors, with essential workers, with doctors and nurses, with anyone who was struggling through the pandemic. To our hearts we added the words, “keep HOPE in your heart.”  Eleven months later, the hearts and words on my daughter’s bedroom window are very faded and a bit tattered, but still up. We decided we won’t take them down until there are no Covid related deaths in Iowa for at least one week.

Along with teaching at Mount Mercy, I am the primary caregiver of my youngest daughter who has significant physical disabilities.  My day fully kicks in with a call from her that she is awake. The first thing I do when entering her room is open the curtains to the big window in her room – the window that has hearts taped all over and big letters spelling out the message, “keep HOPE in your heart.” Initially, as I mentioned above, this message was for anyone walking or driving by our house. But after a few months, I knew that our neighbors, the mailman, and anyone passing by probably didn’t even notice the window anymore. After a few months, I started to get a bit irritated with the need to look around all the hearts to see out the window.

But then, at some point, when I opened the curtains one morning it occurred to me how much I needed this message – how much I needed to be reminded to keep hope in my own heart. As the pandemic grew worse, as the derecho devastated our city, and as protests, hatred, and division dominated the news in our country, I struggled to continue hoping that things would get better.

Reflecting on my struggle helped me better understand the two different types of hope – natural hope and divine hope. Natural hope isn’t some vague sense of optimism or a feeling that we create but is a disposition of our will by which we desire a difficult, possible good. Natural hope has an end in sight – an object that is good and valuable that we confidently look forward to and seek to attain. When I say I am hopeful that the end of the pandemic will come, I am saying this based on my rational evaluation of the reality of the situation – we now have good vaccines and they are becoming more readily available, we know what we need to do to keep each other safe (masks, hand washing, social distancing, etc.) and it seems that more people are doing this, and so on.

But what if the reality of a situation doesn’t give us a rational basis for hope? Sometimes we must acknowledge that the object we wish for is unattainable and so we can’t justify our hoping. Because this can happen, we ought to be thoughtful about the object of our hope.  Surely the end of the pandemic would make us all happy! But if the pandemic stretched on for many years and the pandemic’s end was our only hope for happiness, we may fall into despair and depression.

Our faith helps and guides us as we determine what will bring us true happiness. And our faith gives us more than just things in the natural world to choose from as the object of our hope. This distinguishes  divine hope from natural hope.  When the object of our hope is to be with God, then we have not only chosen an attainable end but also the highest and greatest end. Our faith teaches us that, “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817). So natural hope and divine hope differ not only in the object desired but also in the fact that divine hope is a gift of God’s grace.

By living lives of faith we surely have good reason to be persons of hope. When the world around us is difficult and we are struggling, we can still have hope in knowing that the object of our hope never changes or leaves us or fails in His love for us. And continuing daily to live a life of faith in a state of grace, we have good reason to hope that someday we will be with God, the source of true happiness.

And so divine hope gives us perspective, brings peace, guides our activities, and sees us through difficult times. Lent is a good time to practice divine hope. Here is a simple prayer of hope we can say each day.

Act of Hope

O my God, relying on your infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon for my sins, the help of your grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

Open Your Heart: Lent 2021

 This post is by Michael Beard, Campus Minister at Mount Mercy University.

For those looking for the resources they can be found halfway down the entry; for those unaware of the resources, there are resources and info to share, so heads up! This is a longer entry!

This Wednesday marks the formal beginning of this year's Lent. Before flooding you with opportunities for engaging the season, just a few simple thoughts around this theme Campus Ministry has adopted for Lent: Open Your Heart. In the Catholic cycle of liturgy readings, Ash Wednesday always has the same set of readings every year. Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51: 3-6ab, 12-14, 17; 2 Corinthians 5:20--6:2; and Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18. You can read them here. 

The second sentence of Joel's passage is a command: "Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God." In Joel's time and culture, tearing garments was a sign of mourning, loss, grief. However, God did not want a gesture that was all flash and no substance; God wanted them to open their hearts, acknowledging their sin, feeling genuine remorse for it, and a desire to walk with God once again. The act had become so removed from the internal disposition that was supposed to cause it! Joel's audience is a people who had suffered an agricultural crisis in the form of poor winter rain and a locust infestation. They were dealing with the logistical concerns of this without realizing that perhaps God was taking advantage of the moment to communicate a message to them: come back! Little by little, the community and the individuals had wandered away from God by degrees. 

In our tradition, lament and contrition actually give way to hope. God calls the people (and us): tear your heart open that God may enter in. Have hope that God will heal you, sustain you, and lead you where you need to go. 

Every year we ought to take time to examine how we've drifted off-course and prayerfully discern how to adjust back to where/how we're called to be. This year in particular, though, merits some real reflection. Uncertainty, stress, and deprivation of sources of renewal may not always be at the front of our mind, but they eat away at us, much like an app consuming battery life as it runs in the background. In stressful times, we may well start thinking in purely material, physical, logistical terms and not take a moment to discern how God might be speaking to us in the storm. Even those of us who are faring pretty well might not realize that we might not have taken a jump or a leap away, but rather some simple quiet steps away from God's lead. What blockades have we set up? What reasons have we used for shutting God's voice out? For shutting others out? The Christian heart is one that is striving to be open to others through God's means, not set up barricades of our own making. 

This Lent, open your heart! Open it to God, be transparent and candid in conversation with God. Unpack your heart to Him. And in doing this, the hope is that you'll discover your heart is more able to be open to others.

Below you will find some concrete resources for those of you who are part of the MMU community. I hope they are of help to you. Prayers as we make our way through Lent; may your heart know God's healing and love, and may you share that with others sans reserve.

Resources for Lent 2021:

Open Your Heart 

For Christians, Lent is a special season of repentance in anticipation of the sorrow of Christ’s crucifixion on Good Friday and the joy of the Resurrection at Easter. Living in hope, we have the courage to examine how we fall short of how we are called to live and love in this world, acknowledge our sins, and take action to make amends and correct course. In the Catholic tradition (as well as other Christian traditions, too!), there are three main areas of focus for that examination, repentance, and action. These are Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. Whether you are well-traveled through the Lenten journey or are a relative beginner, we hope these resources will help you find ways to live out a meaningful and fruitful Lent.

Prayer

-Communal Prayer: All are welcome! Our Lenten Activities sheet (found on our page) has all the dates and times (except for small groups)!

·         Small Groups – Our Residential Peer Ministers each lead a small group throughout the semester. Contact Michael (mbeard@mtmercy.edu) for more information.

·         Stations of the Cross (see our flier, linked above)

·         Praise and Worship (see our flier, linked above)

·         Mass – Mass continues at 7:30 PM on Sundays and 11:30 AM on Wednesdays in the Chapel.

-Personal Prayer

·         The Chapel is open at most times for your personal prayer and reflection. Aside from your ID to get in the office door, you don’t need to bring anything except yourself!

·         Eucharistic Adoration - on Tuesdays this semester, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed from 9 AM to 1 PM. You are welcome to come for as long or as little as you wish for silence, prayer, and rest in Jesus’ presence.

·         Stations of the Cross - There are opportunities to pray the Stations on your own as well as in a group. Booklets are available in the Chapel as you come in (look to the bookshelf). You can also check out video versions of the Stations here:

o   In the style of St. Francis of Assisi

o   In the style of St. Alphonsus Liguori

o   A shortened version if you only have 10 minutes

·         Scripture – Praying with Scripture is a classic prayer form in Christianity. If you are unsure how to begin, Fr. Mike Schmitz has a podcast that offers reflections and gives an outline for Scripture reading every day. To get the outline and a link to the podcast, click here.

Fasting

There are a couple of practices involving fasting in Lent:

            -Fasting: this is the reduction of our food intake. On Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics are called to fast, that is, eat one meal and two smaller snacks that do not add up to a meal. It is a recommended practice throughout this season, though, to remind us that we don’t live on bread alone, but on God’s Word. It helps us put things back in the proper tiers of priority.

            -Abstinence: This means avoiding eating some particular thing. For Catholics in Lent, we give up meat on Fridays. Many people also “give up” or try to reduce something: sweets, snacks, swearing, Snapchat, fast food, etc. There will be meatless options on Fridays during Lent in the MMU Dining Hall, as well.

Besides Fridays, Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday, we encourage you to try practicing both fasting and abstinence during Lent. Just remember: Lent is not meant to be a dieting program; be open to fasting helping your relationship with God and those who go without food; abstain from things/actions in such a way that they connect you more richly with the Lord and with others.

Almsgiving

College students aren’t exactly known for having lots of cash to spare, but here are a few ways you might be able to give:

-40 Days of Kindness: You can find this here and here. These are simple actions you can take each day to engage with Lent!

-Fasting money. If giving something up this Lent translates to having more spending money, consider giving that money to a good cause:

-Food for Mustang Market: Just drop off food donations to Campus Ministry any weekday-Give your new money to your favorite charity.

-Buy someone you know is struggling lunch or coffee.

            -Families Helping Families Clothing Drive

                        Check out how you can help foster kids this Lent through this flier!

Lessons Learned and Relearned

Michael Beard is the author this week. Michael works as the Campus Minister at Mount Mercy University.

I’ll get a bit personal this week. This Tuesday marks 10 years since I arrived back in the United States after 18 months of volunteering in Lima, Peru. Every year around this time I reflect on the craziness of time passing, but when it hit me that a decade has passed since this critical time of my life, it hit me in the gut.

Since I got back to the States, people have asked, “How was Peru?” A perfectly legitimate question. I’ve struggled to find responses that are concise and sincere; too often I struggled to find ways to summarize the experience in its totality. Often I simply responded, “Amazing,” “Really great,” etc. I never quite figured it out.

Don’t worry: I’m not going to use this entry to try and find the right way to answer.

I signed on to be a volunteer with Capuchin Franciscan friars after graduating from college not knowing what I hoped to get out of it, what I’d be able to do with it, or even what I was going to be doing. I arrived in Lima with 2 other volunteers from the States to work at Ciudad de los Niños de la Inmaculada, a residence for boys aged 3-18 whose families were in dire economic straits. Ciudad offered education and formation in addition to shelter, a fairly healthy community, and good nutrition, while also making sure parents didn’t jump ship. I got assigned to work with the 13-15 year-old boys.

Come by my office sometime; I have many stories to share with you from the absurd to the somber, profound to inane. I will wax with (maybe) eloquence about the diverse and amazing cuisine, the raw aching beauty of the geography, the complexity of marveling at colonial architecture and influence. I can tell you the misadventures of being far taller than standard Peruvian size (I hit my head a lot), of being a suburbs/city boy who’d never killed livestock in his life having to kill chickens and manage a henhouse, of playing, “Let’s eat something outside of our comfort zone” and getting a big mouthful of what’s colloquially known as the “vomit fruit”. It was only 18 months, but what a vivid and full 18 months it was.

For the purpose of this blog, I’ll forego those and dive into a different story. Before going to Peru, I usually knew what to say, having a firm grasp of language and a variety of words to get the exact shade of meaning I wanted. I was a very good student. Suddenly I was thrust into an environment wherein I had rudimentary language skills, and my wanting the exact right word suddenly became an impediment to communication: imagine talking to somebody self-correcting every other word. I felt like an idiot. The kids would good-naturedly laugh at some of my fumblings, which made me all the more frustrated. I felt unable to be heard. And, as an added blow to the arrogance of my ego, I felt unable to be recognized as intelligent.

The lessons learned from this experience came both internally and externally. Externally, I encountered great love from a community of people who didn’t know much about me. They didn’t know about my life as a student, or any wit, and they certainly didn’t know about my linguistic skills. They knew I was there. They knew I was trying. Both because of that and because of just how magnanimous they all are, I was welcomed and loved. Without having “earned” it, I received love. It was a true moment of encountering God’s love through others’. So externally, I learned firsthand that God’s love is gratuitous, and that is how I’m called to love.

I had to learn it in my heart, too. I had unwittingly placed conditions on my worth: my goodness is connected to intelligence or to measurable success. The blows to my ego made me re-examine that. The love others showed me at a vulnerable and exposed time made me realize I derived my self-worth (and probably others’, too) from the wrong places. For the Christian, DesCartes’ famous “Cogito ergo sum” is more, “God loves me, therefore I am.” My dignity and everyone else’s is not something we can dismiss on the merit of wealth, race, sex, mental or physical wellness, attractiveness, political position, nationality etc.

I have to brush up on these lessons every now and again. How do you evaluate your self-worth or the worth of others? Is it on merit? Intellect? Opinions? Grades? Attractiveness or weight? They may not be the sole metrics, but are they part of the calculation? Be loving to yourself and to others; strive to set these aside. Let God’s love meet you where you are, and rest assured it will not leave you there.

Take Care of Yourself

 Cara Reilly is the author of this post. Cara serves as the Coordinator for Service and Volunteerism in the Office of Mission and Ministry here at Mount Mercy University.

We live in a world where information is literally at our fingertips all day, every day. Want to know what beans Kim Kardashian had on her salad today? That’s easy, just look at Instagram. Instant answers, instant gratification. Want to know where you can get that fluffy red blanket you saw in Leonardo DiCaprio’s photo? No problem, there is a link to the website in the comments. That website has the fluffy red blanket, the striped blue one, and the extra-large blanket in 32 different colors. Yes, information is at our fingertips, but not all that information is helpful or easily understandable.

An excess of information can be overwhelming. It is not uncommon to be doing research and end up with information overload, which can lead to information anxiety. There are millions of terabytes of information on the internet. Some information in the form of data, facts, statements, reports, opinions and feelings. Information overload can make understanding and effectively making decisions extremely difficult.

Sometimes it is all just too much.

This world isn’t just informational, it is busy. I have found myself thinking that when I am busy, I am helping; when I am busy, I am working hard; when I am busy, I am achieving. I mean come on, haven’t you ever heard “the key to success is 1% genius and 99% perspiration”? It can get exhausting! Technology makes it easy to answer the work email that came in at 7:00pm. Or to continue the group project well into the morning hours. It feels like being busy is just a part of life. Do you know what is really scary? Feeling the need to stay busy during our free time! Have you ever found yourself watching The Bachelor (your current favorite show on Hulu) and reaching for your phone during the one-minute ad? Why sit still during a one-minute ad when you can catch up with your friend’s Snap Chat Stories? It isn’t enough to be streaming, you have to be scrolling as well. The need to stay busy is powerful.

Sometimes it is all just too much.

So what do you do when you realize you have been reading the same sentence over and over again? Your brain has been busy for 16 hours straight. What do you do when your eyes start to hurt from your screen light? You have been taking in information continuously for 14 hours. What do you do when you stand and your muscles ache, when you sit and your muscles ache? You recharge. You reset. You concentrate on your needs. Put your busyness aside, and take care of yourself.

You know your body better than anyone else. Your body will tell you what it needs, listen to it! Sometimes you have to put your needs first. Not convinced? Well, when you are on an airplane and the oxygen masks drop down, what do you do?

“First, place the mask over your mouth and nose. Pull the straps to tighten. If you are traveling with others, make sure that your mask is on first before assisting them.”

It is hard to help others if you cannot function yourself. Matthew 7:5, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Examining your own needs, and taking care of yourself first, will aid you in helping others.

What are some of the best ways to recharge you ask? Well, that all depends on you. Recharging looks different to everyone. Some people want consistency in their schedule or actions. Others recharge by going out on a limb and trying something new. Sometimes it is hanging out with friends, or sometimes it is being alone and rereading Little Women for the 20th time. Will eating a Dairy Queen Blizzard at 9:00pm help you recharge? If yes, then do it. Maybe it is time you finally take that vacation to Ireland you have been planning on Pinterest for 4 years. Do what you need to do. It is your body and your needs.

It is ok if this busy and informational world gets to be too much. You are not alone. Take the time to recharge for your mental health, for your physical health, and for your emotional health. Don’t let this crazy world consume you. Recharge so you can be the best version of yourself.