About the Newman Center’s theme this year
By Fr. Ryan Kaup
“May they be one.”
This is the cry of Jesus’ heart. It’s a desire He expresses to the Father the night before His crucifixion. He looks out at humanity – at all of human history, at every soul that is to exist – and desires that we all be one, just as He is one with the Father. It is the desire of God and it is theme that is guiding our new academic year at the Newman Center.
There are plenty of places to look for division in the world. There are plenty of ways that Jesus’ desire is not coming to fulfillment in the here and now. The recent news cycle includes senseless murders, never-ending wars, and increased political violence. It can all be disheartening, scary, and overwhelming. Solutions are thrown around like candy at a parade, but the cycle of evil seems to continue.
Yet, in the Church in the United States, this is a moment of great hope. There is new energy flowing from campus ministries throughout the country. Young people are joining the Catholic Church in record numbers. The world looks to an American pope with great expectation for continued renewal. How can these two realities – great evil and great hope – coexist in our hearts and minds? I don’t think they can – because light casts out darkness.
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we have a choice: to focus on the divisions or turn our eyes to the places of hope, where the Spirit is moving to bring true unity. We need to believe fully in the power of the Gospel to set us free from sin and death. We need to know who we are and who our God is – what He has done and what He continues to do. If we are to be one as Our Lord desires, it starts with each of us having a deep, intimate communion with the Holy Trinity. We will only truly be one with each other when we are one with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We don’t ignore evil, but rather cry out to God that He may bring good, either directly or through us.
At the Newman Center, we are consciously fighting, and asking for the grace, to keep our eyes fixed on God – striving for new and deeper unity each day – so the abundant fruit we pray to see this year will always flow from our relationship with Him.
When the Lord put this theme on my heart this year, I didn’t know how we would be challenged, but I knew that it wouldn’t be easy to live out. Indeed, it hasn’t been easy to fight for this unity in a divided world, but with the Lord all things are possible. The Gospel continues to set us free each day and we are sent out and called to live Jesus’ mandates: to baptize all nations, to love our neighbor, to pray for those who persecute us, and to live in the power of the Resurrection flowing from life in the Holy Spirit.
In a particular way this year, I want our students to know that they have everything they need to live as disciples of Jesus. If they stay in close friendship with Him, he will give them every grace they need for mission. I’m so proud of them already, because they are not afraid. They have been a bright light on campus in a few short weeks – praying with other Christians, inviting believers and non-believers to Bible study, and staying close to Jesus in the Eucharist, their source of strength. They inspire me each day, because they see very clearly the importance of our having a relationship with Jesus. They see their friends and fellow students without a faith life slowly falling into darkness and despair. For young people, it’s not hard to see where the evil in our world comes from and the only lasting solution is Jesus Christ.
And so we pray, “May they be one. May we be one.”
