Waking Up!

Every single time we wake up to experience the beauty of a new day, we should see it as something worth appreciating.  Fulton J. Sheen once said, “There are two ways of waking up in the morning.  One is to say, ‘Good morning, God,’ and the other is to say, ‘Good God, morning!’” Sheen pretty much summed up my thoughts on waking up in the morning and considering the semester starting up again; most of you reading this should relate well!  But, how common is this?!  Saying, “Good morning, God with a hint of appreciation followed by either a sarcastic, ‘Oh God… It’s morning already?!’  or perhaps, the uncommon, ‘Oh God!  MORNING! YES!!!!! (If you are a morning person, please give the rest of us some tips!)”  I was always told that winning the morning meant winning the day.  However, the concept of winning the morning was pretty foreign to me!  I tried working out in the morning, which left me exhausted the rest of the day; I tried eating breakfast, but that was constantly interrupted by the dreaded morning rush of a commuting college student, thus leaving me incapable of focusing on the morning, let a lone appreciating the morning.

Interesting enough, many Sundays ago, the head pastor at my local parish shared his specific struggles in his homily, and I must say… he gave a beautifully humane homily on the crosses that we are all called to carry. He proceeded to quote Eric Clapton… I know pretty awesome, any Clapton fans?  For the sake of the awesomeness of the quote.. I want to share this rather lengthy passage from Clapton’s autobiography.

“I was in complete despair,’ Clapton wrote. ‘In the privacy of my room, I begged for help. I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether … and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered. Within a few days I realized that … I had found a place to turn to, a place I’d always known was there but never really wanted, or needed, to believe in. From that day until this, I have never failed to pray in the morning, on my knees, asking for help, and at night, to express gratitude for my life and, most of all, for my sobriety. I choose to kneel because I feel I need to humble myself when I pray, and with my ego, this is the most I can do. If you are asking why I do all this, I will tell you … because it works, as simple as that.”

Clapton beautifully saw what he needed as a human being, and what he needed was just a relationship with God through a simple morning prayer.  Winning the day… seems to be impossible, but with our God and His mercy, victory is assured.  Praying in the morning asking for God to be our shield and thanking him at night.  It’s an extremely difficult task though!  I’m ashamed to say that I find it difficult to pray, for my own personal reasons, but the fact that God has granted me a new morning, it’s never too late!

As we are tasked to wake up for either work, school, or that New Year’s resolution to hit up the gym every morning, let’s remember one simple yet extraordinary fact:  God has given us the gift of an new day, and to give thanks through prayer is the least we can do for such an amazing chance at a better life.  

(This was an excerpt from a longer post on my own personal blog.  Link to full entry, http://clorigenes.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/1-in-10/)

And the New Semester Commences!

Greetings, all!

I hope you had a wonderful winter break, loaded with a heartfelt Christmas and a happy New Year. Sadly, as the new year is now in full effect, we must cease the festivities and put our working pants back on. You know what I'm talking about: the spring semester beckons us forth.

So with school starting up again and stress kicking into high gear, we just want to help you ease your way back into the college life.

For one thing, we're changing some things up this semester. The next few months will consist of talks from guest speakers, nights cooking dinner with friends, many opportunities for prayer and adoration, a retreat with the colleges of the archdiocese of Newark, fellowship in small groups, lots of community service, and a week of Jesus Awareness with our fellow Christian groups on the Rutgers campus. Boy, is there a lot in store!

So sit back, relax, and make the most of this semester :)

The Dignity of Women and Our Role in Society

A word about modesty from our Evangelization Coordinator, Joselina.

Modern day modesty. What the WOW (Woman of Worth) group is about is everyday college women speaking on topics such as the importance of a women in society. The difference that a women make in society and how the way we carry ourselves impacts not only the way we are treated individually, but also the way women are treated as a whole. The purpose of this group is to discuss topics such as modesty, femininity, fashion and professionalism, and relate it to how woman are what give society value in the sense that, however much of a lady we are is however much of a gentleman men will be.

We are the clay and you the potter: We are all the works of your hands. 

- Isaiah 64:8

I Found the Meaning of Real Joy

This past weekend, the Newman Catholic Club joined the Rutgers-New Brunswick Catholic Student Association for their bi-annual retreat. The following is a heart-felt account of the incredible experience that John Lombardi, a student at NJIT, had over those three days. 

I have never had the slightest interest in going on a weekend-long retreat such as the one we attended that weekend, but I was told that the retreat was nothing to be afraid of. It was just going to be three days of not doing schoolwork, not having my cell phone, and just 150 good, faithful, Catholic people all together praising the Lord. So I decided to give this one a shot. On the car ride over, I still wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. When we arrived, we all gathered in the tabernacle [main hall] and heard witnesses and priests briefly talk about different parts of their lives that related to the weekend’s main focus: infinite joy.

As I was sitting next to my friends from the Newman Center, I really listened to what all these people had to say. It was actually uncanny how accurately the stories I was hearing pertained to my life. Almost every witness’s story had the same prologue: “I was raised Catholic. I went to mass every week just because it was kind of something my family just did. I never really connected with my faith at all.” The list goes on. And then each witness began talking about when they found Christ. Some of them, I would really relate to. At that point of the weekend, I knew that this wasn’t something I could idly watch from the sidelines, but I could actually get involved and make the best out of the weekend.

The part of the retreat that made the difference was the incredible music that was provided. Singing has always been my favorite hobby, and it is truly something I can connect to on a spiritual level. Having those songs play in the background while I was praying, either standing up or being down on my knees, was almost surreal, as if things could only be so ideal in the midst of a dream. The words to the songs are more real than any of the pop or rock I'm used hearing on the radio. 

There were times throughout the weekend when I would break from my concentration of prayer, stop, look around, and to my delight, I saw one of the most promising things I had ever seen. I saw over a hundred devout, Catholic people praising the Lord (Like, really praising the Lord.)  I didn't know that there could be a place where I could truly express everything I was feeling because, normally throughout the days of my life, I have to be cautious of how I come across to others that don’t share my faith. It gave me hope that I don’t have to settle for friends that lead me to sin rather than embrace my desire to lead from sin and actually receive help when I am struggling.

The most powerful and revealing part of the retreat was undoubtedly Saturday night’s focus on the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It was good to hear the real reasons why going to a priest is so much more effective than keeping my sins to myself. The priest is there to guide me and coach me through my weaknesses, teaching me how I can fight temptations and eliminate sin from my life. It revealed to me how important it is to do penance and go to confession as often as possible. God wants me to live eternally by His side, and every time I sin, I’m telling him that I don’t want to take Him up on his offer. And as a logical guy myself, I realized how little sense it makes to sin. Granted, that doesn't mean I won’t ever sin again, (I am only human), but I am going to try my hardest to lead by His example. When I do fall to temptation, I will reconcile, and hopefully I will eventually live with Him eternally because the more often I go to confession, the less and less I am likely to sin and therefore will not have to go to confession as frequently!

In relation to the focus of the retreat which was infinite joy, I can describe it with one final story. I met this boy (who will remain nameless) while waiting on line for confession, and we struck up a conversation. He explained to me how he wanted to believe in Christ so much; logically, he couldn’t just lie to himself and say he believes, when deep down he really didn’t. He asked me why I believe what I do, and I couldn’t put it into words very well. What I could say though was that, without Christ in my life, I wouldn’t be as joyous of a person. The secular world likes to tell us what joy is, but until you are sitting in that main room, looking around, and seeing the smiles on people’s faces as they sing praises to our God, you simply don’t know what real joy is. To a kid like this who was very analytical, I tried to keep it relative. I said to him that when you find $5 on the sidewalk you experience a certain level of joy. When you get a 100% on a seemingly impossibly-difficult exam, you experience a level of joy much greater than that of finding $5 on the sidewalk. But when you find God, and you believe Him, and you experience all of His fulfilled promises, there literally is no higher high. 

Return of the Prodigal son!

How to Throw a Catholic dinner:

1. Buy Bacon     

2. Invite Friends 

3. Cook Bacon   

4. Feast                

Those are the 4 simple steps to throwing a party, and the Newman Center has mastered the technique. Last night our Metropolitan Emeritus hosted a dinner feast for the students of Newark. The fattened swine was slaughtered and the bacon was cooked. Last night's dinner was a collaborative effort by everyone in attendance (yes, even Katie). Steve and Delix executed the main course, a divine Bacon Mac 'N Cheese while Julian, Rhea, and Sherin created a delicious Chicken in spinach and rice. 

Conversations were constant throughout the kitchen, but once the food hit the table and grace was said the room went silent. Not a sound was heard as the crowd devoured the feast we had all worked hard preparing. The silence soon ended, and the steady roar of good friends conversing after a long week continued into the night.

Nights like this remind me of how fortunate we are to be blessed with such a great community here in Newark. Not many people think of Newark as a place where one finds friends, let alone a community to be supported by. But here at the Newman Center, we are single-handedly disproving Newark's reputation of being the least friendliest place in the world. 

God Bless,

Johnpaul 

Metropolitan Emeritus

Pray Hard. Play Hard.

This past Friday, the Newman Catholic Club attended the kick-off for the monthly Catholic Intercollegiate Adoration event. Our Fellowship Coordinator, Julie, recapitulates the wonderful evening.

Hey, Everybody!
What is CIA? It stands for Catholic Intercollegiate Adoration. Basically, the student ministries of the Archdiocese of Newark all come together once a month for a night of Mass, confession, and adoration. Yup, a triple threat of excellent prayer! Each month, one of the schools from the diocese will host this awesome gathering. Kean University was our gracious host on the 26th. We capped the night of with a huge game of "Prop" from the show Whose Line is it Anyway?. 

Pope Francis even made an appearance. #PopeSelfie

It feels good to see that, as a college student trying to live out my faith, I'm not alone. There was plenty of time to mingle with the students from around the diocese: Montclair, Stevens, RU-Newark, NJIT, and the hosts from Kean. I had a blast meeting other students who search  for more out of their college experience and choose to grow closer to God. 

UPDATE: New Archbishop in the Archdiocese of Newark

A message from our executive coordinator:
Dear all,
Today it was announced that the Archdiocese of Newark will be receiving a 'coadjutor' bishop, Bernard A. Hedba. Archbishop Myers is 72 years old and nearing his mandatory retirement age of 75. Hedba will replace Myers upon his death or retirement (and let's pray that it is his retirement). As of now Hedba will be called 'archbishop' but so will Myers until he retires. In the meantime Hedba will learn the inner workings of the diocese from Myers so the transition can be smoother.
Peace,
Nick