A friend of mine recently reminded me of a quote that he heard an old professor recite. It came from the Newman Center’s namesake, Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman. The quote I forget exactly, and I cannot find it online, but it went something along the lines of “Man is not so much convinced by arguments as he is by his sympathies.” In other words, though arguments and reasons for why any given person ought to subscribe to the philosophy or religion someone presents are essential -and I stress, essential- we still are much more convinced through our human sympathies, our emotions, our “feelers”.
I introduce our blog with this idea (and this video) because I think that it is necessary to recognize that a vital facet to our Gospel-spreading efforts is whether or not the relationship with God which we propose to people will be something they think applies to their humanity. Our God became a man, and so entered into our humanity. In doing so he didn’t leave behind Divinity, or drag it along begrudgingly with his human frame and human mind. Both natures were present in a full and vibrant way in Jesus Christ as he walked the earth, and even still as he reigns in Heaven! He lived out his humanity so well that there were none except the hard of heart that he could not reach. A ministry needs to know and live out its “humanity” really well in order to have its best chance at leading others to an encounter with God, with Divinity.
When you watch this video of the first big event of the 2016-2017 school year, it is evident that these people are human, striving to be fully human. Many of the students pictured have “put on the New Man” (EPH 4:24) which is Christ. They have become disciplined disciples. They are more repentant and more open to the action of God’s grace than they were before growing on this campus. They have taken ownership and pride in what they have received through Baptismal rebirth and the strengthening and commissioning received in their Confirmation. They desire constantly to be molded by love and charity with every reception of the Flesh and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. All of this being said, they recognize that they are prone to fall without the friendship and Lordship of Jesus continually recognized and nurtured in their lives.
Therefore, we open this blog in order to tell an ongoing story. Jesus Christ has begun the story. He initiated it through becoming man and through his sacrificial death and triumphant Resurrection. He established a Church in His authority and it survived the world, as promised, making its way across the globe and through time. It now exists on the campus of Bradley University through the ministry of St. Joseph Newman Center, where Christ writes the continual story of his life, death, and resurrection in the lives of the students who desire to live in him.
Stay tuned for future posts…the pages of that story