Lent 2009 - Beginning in the Middle

Today is Monday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent. It's cold and a bit windy, but the weather seems to desire to become more Spring-like as we head further into the week. Well, for the first time this Lent I actually got to school on time for daily morning Mass. It's never too late to turn around and begin anew. I have wanted to go Mass, but either traffic, late-nights, or total laziness have kept me from changing my heart and experiencing God's love for me every morning during the first few weeks of Lent. My prayer for everyone for the next couple weeks, as we journey toward the most sacred time in our Church year - Holy Week, is that we wake up each and every day to experience God's love and life in our lives.

As the psalmist proclaims in this morning's Responsorial Psalm (Ps. 30:2,4,5-6,11-12a,13b):

I will extol you, O LORD,

for you drew me clear

and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;

you preserved me from among

those going down into the pit.

Sing praise to the LORD,

you his faithful ones,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in,

but with the dawn, rejoicing.

"Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;O LORD, be my helper."

You changed my mourning into dancing;

O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

Looking for music to enhance your journey through Lent, try Spirit and Song on Demand (http://www.spiritandsong.com/musicondemand) from Oregon Catholic Press (http://www.ocp.org/). It's a great place to help you to turn around and begin again.

Faith and Media - Finding Christ in Popular Culture

Well this is it. I am actually creating my first blog - thanks to my Faith and Media students. I figured it was about time that I use the same technology that I require them to use in class. I adapted the class this year taking it beyond the mediums of music, movies, and television to include Ipods, the Web, Blogging and Pod-Casting (both audio and video). A real challenge for me to learn as I hit my mid forties. But I caught the bug to become more media savvy or literate in graduate school last semester at Seton Hall. The course just got me thinking. How can faith reflect what we find in contemporary media today? And that's where I begin today...

How can I (and my students) use contemporary media to help us find Christ in the popular culture of today?

There are four sites that I am encouraging my students to look at and explore over the next couple of days: Jesus Goes to Disney Word (http://jesusindisney.blogspot.com/) by Fr. Austin Murphy - a priest/campus ministry from the Archdiocese of Baltimore); Catholic Youth Ministry Blog (http://www.dscottmiller.com/) by Scott Miller - Office of Youth Ministry from the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Cardinal Seán's Blog (http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/) by Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap, Cardinal-Archbishop of Boston; and Theology of the Body Taught at the Street Level in Six Lessons (http://tobonthestreet.blogspot.com/) by Father Samuel Medley.

Look over these sites. See what they have to say about faith, social justice, the dignity of life, the dignity of the human person, media literacy and how your can relate to them. And tomorrow in class we will take it from there.

BRIDGES OUTREACH - Midnight Run

Nearly 10 years ago, students and faculty wanted to reach out and help in some small way those who were homeless and those living in the shelter system in NYC. So they teamed up with the Bridges Outreach, Inc. in Summit which has been serving the homeless for more than 20 years (http://www.bridgesoutreach.net/). From there a bond was formed that would transform the lives of many- students began to develop relationships with those who worked for Bridges, but also with those who lived in the shelters and on the streets. Throughout the years they encountered children, teens, adults and the elderly who were in need of help.

But it wasn't just the people that they served who benefited. Very often those whom they served who shared God's love and grace with them.

Each "Run" students gather to make about 600 sandwiches, box up clothing, toiletries, blankets and coats and head off to the city from Bergen County to share a little goodness with those they meet. Students have life changing experiences working with their homeless friends. I remember the story of one student.

It was a frigid day at the beginning of December. It had to be about 10 degrees. We were at our final stop and had given out all the coats and blankets that we had. And it still wasn't enough. One of our students had disappeared behind the bus to make a phone call. He called home to ask his mom if it was okay to give the coat away that he was wearing that night. Later his mother recounted to me how this changed his life and hers. They began to view homelessness and poverty in a whole new light. It was no longer an us or them world. But a world where WE all worked together to help each other.

How has Bridge Midnight Run changed your life? Post a response...