Thoughts on Guest Lecturers

In lieu of this week’s emailed questions, I am going to talk about our recent guest speakers, Father Wildes and Sylvester Tan, S.J., and my impressions of them and the impact their words had on me. 

What struck me most about Father Wildes is how normal and human-like he was. Now obviously he is human, but how I feel about many priests (and I don't think a lot of people would disagree with me on this) is that they seem to the rest of the world to be very noble and perfect, simply because of their place in the Church and their relationship with God. I believe it is simply an image that the rest of us create in our head about those who have dedicated their life to the service of God, the Church and the rest of humanity. Father Wildes even alluded to this a little bit when he spoke about growing up around priests; they had always been normal humans to him and not untouchable, intimidating people. I'm not sure how well I am explaining myself, but I have just always felt something very intimidating about those who are very high up in the Church. Anyhow, Father Wildes was just a very easy-going, relaxed and fun-to-talk-to person, completely the opposite of a stuffy priest. I have even commented to my friends that he even sweared while speaking to us! It was just a very nice change of pace to have the president of my university conversing so easily with a class of college students. It was also very nice of him to make the time for us and I sincerely enjoyed his visit.

As for Sylvester Tan, I found that I quite identified with his experiences growing up; a few things he said even made me feel as though he were talking directly to me. He spoke of always being concerned with having more; more money, more power, and more recognition and of being attached to material things. I know many people struggle with this, but I can definitely identify. He also said that he always felt God was calling him to do something else, but he didn’t want to address the situation while in college so he just told himself he could live now and deal with it later. Some nights at the Boot, I’ve often had this same attitude; “I will live now and make things right with God later,” I’ve thought. His words definitely had an impact on me and have forced me to think a bit more critically about my life in the past few days.

Overall I really, really enjoyed the guest speakers and felt God was trying to say something to me through them, though right now I’m praying that God helps me successfully make it through this exam tomorrow. 

There is evil in this world.

Like I said in last week’s blog, I am going to address my view on evil spirits in the world. Now, I don’t believe that demons roam the earth causing terror and destruction, yet I do believe in evil. Perhaps I don’t believe in evil demons because I am scared and wouldn’t sleep as well at night if I imagined demons roaming around. However the presence of evil, and the devil in the world, in my opinion, is undeniable. There are so many horrific things in this world, how can it all be explained other than Satan’s presence? Why else would 2 planes, hijacked with crazed terrorists hell-bent on killing innocent Americans, have crashed into the two World Trade Center towers? Why else do innocent children suffer at the hands of cruel parents or child molesters? There is just too much terror in this world and for me to be able to sleep at night, I have to believe that it can be blamed on pure evil.

Now it may seem that there is no upside to a world full of evil, but to me, the presence of evil in the world also proves the presence of God, who delivers us from evil. Heros like Welles Crowther are proof of God’s existence and God’s ultimate good plan for mankind. There may be horrific suffering in this world, but as we have seen, there is also unbelievable heroicism and mercy at the hands of the Father. My approach may not be the most theological, but it is what helps me to keep my faith in this oft-terrifying world. 

Response to "Man in the Red Bandana"

First off let me say that I am one of those people who sees footage from 9-11 and all of the memories of that horrific day still come flooding back. I remember finding out at school, and sitting on the floor of my 6^th grade choir room, watching the events of that morning unfold. Later I sat in my grandparent’s living room and watched news updates all afternoon and into the evening. Even though I was thousands of miles away in Texas when it happened, and have still never even been to New York, things like “Man in the Red Bandana” still bring me to tears, ten years later and I did in fact, have very wet eyes watching it that day in class.

Now, if I were to write in this blog that I would have had the courage to do what Crowther did that day, I would be flat out lying, and that would be dishonorable to the brave men and women who died that day.  The truth is that if I had been on one of the top floors of the World Trade Center, had I been able to bring myself out of hysterics, I would have run for my life down the stairs and hopefully to safety. I have often made my blood run cold thinking about what horror the people in those doomed planes must have experienced, and also the people in those doomed towers. The images of people jumping to their deaths are haunting. People like Crowther humble me, because I know that I couldn’t have done what he did. They also make me believe that no matter how much evil is in this world (because I do believe in evil as I will talk about in next week’s blog) there is still a God, who gives us people like Welles Crowther to give us great hope in times of such despair. 

If I could live anywhere...

When I studied abroad in France last semester, I knew that I would learn a great deal about another country and another culture. However what I didn't expect was to learn so much about my own country and my own culture once I was so far removed from it. Yet I did, and after having lived in another country for 8 months I don't know that there is any other country in the world where I'd be more suited to live. 

Ignatius felt God was calling him to live in Jerusalem. He probably felt this because he knew he could be more devoted to the life work God had called him to in Jerusalem, far removed from his native Spain. After my time adjusting into a new language, culture and country, I don’t believe that I could do my life’s work better than here in the States. I still love traveling, learning and exploring new cultures and I always will, but I don’t believe God wants me to assimilate my life into a new country.

The American city where God has called me to live, work and raise a family someday has yet to be revealed to me, but I am so glad for the past 4 years God called me to live in the amazing city of New Orleans. I have learned so much about myself living here and attending Loyola. Perhaps he even has it in his plans for me to become a permanent citizen to NOLA, I just don’t believe he wants me to become an American expat. 

My First Blog

On why I enrolled in IL- I am not Catholic, I am Protestant, yet I was drawn to the Jesuit dynamic of Loyola. Finding God in all things, leaving a mark on the world, a strong emphasis on a well rounded education; all of these things attracted me to Loyola. Once at Loyola, I began hearing about a class, with a Father Dziak, about the life of Ignatius Loyola. I kept hearing how interesting it was and some people told me it was the best class they'd taken at Loyola. I also heard how hard it was to get in to as it usually had a waitlist soon after enrollment began. So last semester, from my French dorm room, I enrolled on LORA as soon as I could, not even knowing if I would be able to work it into my schedule but knowing I didn't have many chances left.

On what I hope to get out of IL- So the fall of my senior  year I am finally in a class I have heard about since freshman year and am determined and excited to take something valuable away from it. Someday, when people ask, why Loyola, why a Jesuit school? I want to be able to tell them about the founder of the Jesuits, and his life and his ideals, and how I found his spirit nurtured in me at Loyola. I mean really, how many universities have entire classes about that? How many universities care about forming the whole person, not just handing someone a diploma after four years. I want to know as much about Ignatius's life as I can and see how I can apply the way he lived to my own life. In addition to learning about Ignatius's life, I am looking forward to learning about my faith, myself and my university through the study of the life of an extraordinary man.