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  As we enter the season of Advent, we’re invited into a time of hope, quiet preparation, and joyful expectation. These weeks leading up to Christmas offer a meaningful space to slow down, reflect, and open our hearts to the promise of Christ’s coming. We’re grateful to share several opportunities for prayer, ���Ҵ�ý, and spiritual renewal across campus. Seasonal Reflections Throughout Advent and Christmas, Campus Ministry offers a series of eight short reflections delivered straight to your inbox. Written by members of our ���Ҵ�ý, these reflections offer simple moments of grounding and prayer during a busy season. This year, subscriptions follow a two-step process. After signing up, you’ll receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription—be sure to click that confirmation link to begin receiving the reflections. We also welcome you to share the signup with alumni, family, and friends. It’s a great way for them to stay connected to the season and helps us rebuild our mailing list. Sign up to receive the reflections or visit the Seasonal Reflections page to read them online.

Readings: The Resurrection of the Lord | USCCB  Today’s Gospel reading has always captivated me because it is so detailed and realistic – making the point more than once, for example, that John ran faster to the tomb than Peter did. The passage even inspired a bit of envy when I was younger. If only I could have lived while Jesus walked among us, and I could have run alongside the disciples that morning to bear witness to the empty tomb with my own eyes. Perhaps then faith would come more easily, and doubt would be kept at bay by what I had seen directly and could never forget.  My envy was misplaced, of course. The vast majority of those who encountered Jesus during his life did not drop everything and follow him. Great crowds were not rushing to check the tomb that morning. Most who saw Jesus with their own eyes had turned away and moved on with their lives.  And from the vantage point of today, my faith is strengthened by all that followed from that empty tomb: a ragtag, fear-filled band of disciples transformed into a world-changing movement of missionaries and martyrs. The impact of the empty […]

Readings: Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion | USCCB As we move into the annual celebration of the holiest of weeks, we are invited into the experience of redemption for all of humanity that God desires for each of us. In a world marked by sin and division and separation among God’s children, we are called into communion with one another and with God.   In a Christian worldview, we wonder at how God accomplishes this in the person of Jesus. Jesus is “from the Father and for the world”. And this world and the human family in it is divided. The wonder is that God enters into this division and brings about unity and redemption by way of the cross.   God doesn’t just wave a wand and ignore the sin and division and say “all is forgiven”. Rather, in the person of Jesus and his suffering and death, we see God allows that sin and division to take hold of him and we watch him give back nothing but love. The power of this love is the only thing that can conquer these wounds in humanity.   One would think that humanity would be grateful for this gift of love, but […]

Readings: Fifth Sunday of Lent | USCCB  The account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in this week’s Gospel is so wonderfully human.  Mary and Martha are mourning the death of their dear brother after he fell gravely ill.  The disciples fear for their and Jesus’ safety.  People are concerned about the stench that a body may have after four days in a tomb.  Jesus himself weeps.  There is sadness, anxiety, and loss.  It’s all very tactile and messy.       Through this story Jesus makes something clear – he does not diminish the human experience.  On the contrary, he embraces all that it is to be human and shares it with us.  He does not begrudge our emotions or require that we suppress them to draw near to him.  Upon Jesus’ arrival to their home, Mary and Martha were consumed with grief and lamented that their beloved brother would not have died had He only come sooner.  Even while knowing the miracle that he would soon perform, Jesus did not cast off their suffering or shame their sorrow but was deeply moved by their pain.    Yet Jesus did not go to Judea to simply comfort mourners.  In the midst of […]