Spirituality

Another World is Possible

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Even amid feelings of despair, there is always a way toward a new reality where life can triumph and flourish.

I know that I am not alone in finding myself stuck in some confusion and despair over the troubling conflict in the Middle East. These events are a stark reminder of the pain and destruction that violence and injustice can breed. Most of us learn about the harsh realities there primarily through shocking videos and images, leading to feelings of powerlessness and anguish because we are oceans away. Yet it is important to be aware of these realities rather than to avoid them, and to center our compassion and concern on all the people impacted. It would be inhuman of us not to do so.

As a Catholic Christian, I am steeped in a narrative of resurrection and the eternal possibilities of life and light present in the face of darkness. I find hope in knowing that another world is possible other than one filled with violence and destruction. I have learned repeatedly in my life that in moments of despair and helplessness, we can always regain some sense of agency by beginning with the reality immediately before us, with the people around us, and with the vision of life that we believe we must help create, enable, and sustain. The road ahead can be long, hard, and complex. Yet if we are open to it and courageous enough to pursue it, it is always possible to work toward a justice and peace that enables all life to flourish, reflecting the creative dream and intention of our God.

I am certain that we, at DePaul, can create a kind of community that does not replicate the harm of the broader society. Because our walls are porous by design, we cannot help but be influenced in powerful ways by the injustices that surround us in our world. Yet, with careful intention, we also can work toward a different way of being together, one that accepts deep difference and conflict while being open to deeper understanding and change. We can model among us what we hope to create.

Vincent de Paul’s spirituality is what Catholic Christians speak of as “incarnational.” That is, Vincent believed that faith is ultimately made evident in concrete action. He spoke often of virtues, which are essentially the consistent embodiment of our aspirational values and ideals. In fact, this is what Vincent de Paul saw and most revered in the example of Jesus, who incarnated the presence and love of God. Vincent de Paul believed we are called to do the same. Furthermore, Vincent suggested, God supports and accompanies us in the process, helping us toward the realization of an integral human development and flourishing.

Inspired by our Vincentian mission, we always strive toward larger goals, such as the sustainability of our planet, an end to violence, and the alleviation of poverty and injustice. We act for systemic change that can make the flourishing of life possible for all, with particular attention to those who have been marginalized or abandoned. We work to bridge the gap between what is and what we dream of.

The way to that desired end may best be achieved by seeking to create locally the human community that we feel called to bring into being globally. If it is ever to come about, the larger change we seek must be accompanied by change within and among us.

Reflection questions:

What is the human community and the world you believe we are called to help bring into being here at DePaul? How can your actions reflect the end that we seek?

Reflection by: Mark Laboe, Associate VP for Mission and Ministry

Seeing the Dignity of Every Person

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“Please continue to serve … with gentleness, respect, and cordiality, always seeing God in them.”  — Louise De Marillac[1]

One of the things I got to do over the summer was offer a few words of welcome and a prayer for incoming students at the Premiere DePaul orientation. I once heard a colleague observe that just as youth is wasted on the young, orientation is wasted on the new people. Without enough context to know what is important and hit with so much information in a short amount of time, it is not always clear how much information is retained. Having said this, I think orientations are wonderful. Being a part of them always awakens the hopefulness in me. While I may not remember the information from my orientation (to be fair it was over 30 years ago now) I still remember moments and emotions from it.

Perhaps that is why Premiere hits me differently. There are times when the thousands of students are numbers to be managed, event attendees to plan for, or, as the first day of class, when they are minds to be engaged. When I look out at Premiere at these students and their families, I just see hundreds of hearts: nervous, excited, playing it cool, bored, unsure, lost, confident, or triumphant. Like young plants, they seem so fragile yet so full of potential. It really calls out my desire to nurture, support, and protect them. I’m ready to be amazed by who they will become.

We are very familiar with the expression that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.[2] One contention here is that beauty is a subjective perception more than an objective reality. Our understanding of this can vary from simply acknowledging that people will differ on what they find beautiful to a suggestion that how we look will affect what we see. Irish poet and spiritual writer John O’Donohue suggests that “if our style of looking becomes beautiful, then beauty will become visible and shine forth for us.”[3]

O’Donohue goes on to say that beauty in fact is “present secretly already in everything” but one needs to beautify one’s gaze to see it. O’Donohue expands on this concept in his work Anam Cara, where he argues that our “style of vision” affects everything we see. To the fearful eye, everything is threatening, to the greedy eye everything can be possessed, to the resentful eye everything is begrudged and so on.

When we talk to students about our Vincentian mission and the legacy of Vincent and Louise, we focus on their honoring of human dignity. There are many profound implications to recognizing human dignity in all those whom we encounter. For Vincent and Louise there was no more profound way to express this in their Catholic Christian conviction that they saw the Divine in those whom they encountered. That was the style of vision they brought to their mission. This is captured in the advice in Louise’s letter to Sister Jeanne-Francois, who in difficult, lonely circumstances was serving the sick poor and orphans left as a consequence of civil war in seventeenth-century France. For some of us, this incarnational theology remains resonant today.

For others, we may find very different ways of capturing the dignity of every member of our community, as I did when I saw the students and families in front of me at Premiere as “hearts” and remembered how I felt when I was in the place they are now. Whatever ways in which you are moved to this recognition, my advice is to make it concrete as opposed to abstract. As we shape the vision with which we see each other, we will surely transform the ways in which we act toward one another and bring forth the beauty that is present all around us.

Reflection Questions:

  • How do I make the dignity of others in the DePaul community concrete for me?
  • How do the ways I see things affect what I see around me?
  • What are practices that shape my style of vision?

Reflection by: Abdul-Malik Ryan, Assistant Director, Religious Diversity and Pastoral Care

[1] Letter 361, “To My Very Dear Sister Jeanne-Francoise,” (June 1653), Spiritual Writings, 421. Available online at https://via.library.depaul.edu/ldm/.

[2] This wording comes from the 1878 novel Molly Bawn by Margaret Hungerford, but phrases with similar meanings go back very far and can be found in the writings of many including Shakespeare and David Hume.

[3] Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), 19.

Moving Beyond Temptation

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Christians throughout the world are entering the first full week of the season of Lent, which stretches this year from last week’s Ash Wednesday through to Easter Sunday (April 17th). These approximately forty days (about six weeks) invite Christians to a time of profound reflection and honest life assessment, as well as to return to a deep trust in and fundamental dependence on God’s provision and care, especially where they may have gone astray. The readings in the first week of Lent draw from the scriptural stories of Jesus’s forty days of temptation in the desert, as well as to the Hebrew people’s forty years of wandering in the desert before reaching the promised land. The number forty in Hebrew and Christian scriptures is shorthand for “a very, very long time.”

The season of Lent corresponds this year to an apparent relief from our very long journey through the COVID pandemic, as infection numbers and deaths continue to drop and hope rises for a return to seeing each other’s faces and smiles more regularly. Like the scriptural stories, after this very long and challenging period of time, we hunger to feel wholeness again individually and collectively. Yet just when we begin to feel some hope about that, we must confront the daily realities of war and death in Ukraine. The brutal violence and abuse of power manifest there is deeply troubling.

The challenges that life brings us can feel relentless. Sometimes, the world’s harsh realities can overwhelm us and tempt us to forget the truth of who we are and what we stand for. Into the midst of these challenges, the season of Lent enters, inviting all to remember what is most essential and who we are called to be.

In times when we are troubled or driven by our deepest longings—for love, for peace, for attention, for recognition, for pleasure, for self-expression—we can also be most vulnerable to the tendency to satiate our hungers with a quick and easy fix. Our desperate desire to be rid of our hunger pangs for moments of rest and peace can lead us to seek satisfaction in short-term or even harmful solutions. This tendency can occur with physical hunger, but it is also true with emotional, psychological, and social hungers. Over time, we can easily fall into habits that orient our minds and actions toward easy solutions, rather than toward that which is good.

Jesus’s forty days in the desert serves as a scriptural entry point into the Lenten season. Presented with the opportunities for comfort, power, and an easy fix to his troubles, Jesus withstands temptation because he is rooted in his fundamental identity as the beloved child of God who is filled with the Holy Spirit and called to be the Prince of Peace and the embodiment of love. Regardless of one’s religious, spiritual, or philosophical background, this Christian narrative and the season of Lent offers an invitation to all of us to reflect on our own life temptations and fundamental sense of identity.

Over these next forty days, how might you make the time and space to reconnect to the deep roots of who you are and what you seek to stand for in your life? As you do so, how might you identify and move away from any habits of mind and living that have taken you off course?

Vincent de Paul’s advice to his followers included the encouragement to be faithful to the practice of daily mental prayer, spiritual reading, or quiet solitude.[1] Vincent understood that without such time and space, we are more prone to seeking easy solutions to the challenges that face us rather than following the lead of Providence.

If making such time and space regularly seems impossible right now, perhaps begin with just thirty seconds of deep, restorative breathing, maybe even multiple times a day, and build from there. In doing so, we can grow more attuned to our emotions and anxious thoughts or reactions that can become patterns or unhealthy habits in our lives. And we learn the patience to sit momentarily still before our anxieties and impulsive desires, thereby becoming more intentional and authentic in our response.

As you remember most deeply who you are, what do you feel called to stand for in your life? What values do you seek to embody as you face life’s challenges and temptations?

What are the times, places or situations when you are most prone to pursue mental or life habits that draw you away from what you know to be best for you and for others?

What would help you in this season to be rooted again in what is most authentic to who you are?

Reflection by: Mark Laboe, Associate VP, Mission and Ministry

[1] See for example: Conference 25, “Love of God,” n.d., CCD, 11:33; and Conference 67, “Meditation,” n.d., CCD, 11:76.

 

 

 

Resolutions for the New Year

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Vincent de Paul suggested that we focus our resolutions on those that help us acquire the spirit of the mission entrusted to us.

“Let’s take renewed resolutions to acquire this spirit, which is our spirit; for the spirit of the Mission is a spirit of simplicity, humility, gentleness, mortification, and zeal. Do we have it or don’t we?” (CCD, 12:251.)

Mortification doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, and today, humility and gentleness may not be the virtues to which we aspire above all others. However, Vincent’s wisdom may serve us well as we face the New Year, and perhaps as we commit to renewed resolutions for the time ahead. Vincent suggested that our lived values should be those that ultimately enable us to serve a bigger mission or purpose, our calling, or that which we are seeking to fulfill. He believed that his commitment to serve those who were in need required an imitation of the virtues he recognized in Jesus. A contemporary translation of Vincent’s characteristic virtues suggests that we must strive to be honest, approachable, self-disciplined, realistic, and hard working.

As you pause to consider your own personal sense of mission and the mission entrusted to us here at DePaul, what do you believe are the primary values essential for us to make real in our daily decisions and actions during the year to come?

We will be focusing Mission Monday reflections on these Vincentian virtues in the coming weeks as we begin the New Year. For more on a contemporary interpretation of the virtues, see “Our Good Will and Honest Efforts,” by Edward R. Udovic, C.M.:

Article: https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=vhj

Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YG1viPqRnw

 

Reflection by:

Mark Laboe, Associate Vice President, Mission and Ministry

Quiet awaits you!

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St. Vincent once said to Saint Louis, “It seems to me that you are killing yourself from the little care you take of yourself.” (Vincent de Paul , n.d. [c.1632], CCD 1:145.)

As the quarter comes to an end it is important for all members of DePaul’s community to be mindful of taking care of themselves. Solid and significant rest, a healthy diet, exercise, and hydration are all essential to one’s well-being during the stresses of finishing up the quarter.

But, equally important is making time to simply be still. The Division of Mission and Ministry (DMM) staff know the importance of quiet reflection, prayer, and meditation—especially in the midst of hyper busyness. And, so DMM invites you to stop the madness and enter into stillness by visiting the Interfaith Sacred Spaces.

 

 A newly blessed Sacred Space just opened in the Loop and is located on the 11th floor of the Student Center, room 11008.

If you’re in Lincoln Park, please feel free to stop by the Sacred Space located on the first floor of the Student Center, next to the chapel. In this season of finals, may you find your quiet space and engage in caring for YOU!

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Information on the Interfaith Sacred Spaces on campus:

DePaul University is a school not only dedicated to celebrating diversity, but it also encourages students to develop their full selves while on campus.

In order to support religious diversity on campus and provide students with space to develop their spirituality, faith, or purpose, the university has several places set aside for prayer, worship, reflection, and study. In addition to two chapels as well as the Lincoln Park Interfaith Sacred Space, an Interfaith Sacred Space was recently dedicated in the Loop. The Loop Interfaith Sacred Space is located in the Student Center, room 11008, and is available to any member of the university community  (university ID card necessary for swipe entry) seeking an oasis for reflection, prayer, and quiet. All are welcome to stop by and use the space on a first come, first served basis or information on reserving the space for recurring prayer, reflection, worship, or study can be obtained by contacting Diane Dardón, ddardon@depaul.edu.

Vinny Goes to the UN: What Must Be Done for the World’s Poor?

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Did you know there are faith-based NGOs at the United Nations …and that they include the Vincentians? As the Vincentians’ rep at the UN, Guillermo Campuzano, CM, discusses the connection between charity, political advocacy, and systemic change—what he calls the “Vincentian triad of justice.” In the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, this NGO asks “what must be done?” at the global level to uphold the dignity of the poorest and most vulnerable among us.

This is the opening talk for the 2019-20 Lecture Series, “Poverty: Vincentian Responses around the World,” hosted by the Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology in collaboration with the inaugural Dennis H. Holtschneider, CM, Chair of Vincentian Studies, Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée.
About the Speaker
Serving as the representative of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) at the UN, Fr. Memo coordinates the Vincentian International Network for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (VIN-JPIC) and also chairs the NGO Working Group to End Homelessness. Previously, Fr. Guillermo worked for eight years (2007-2015) at his alma mater, DePaul University, in all dimensions of ministry and as an adjunct professor.

About the 2019-20 Lecture Series,
“Poverty: Vincentian Responses around the World”
St. Vincent de Paul said, “Go to the poor: you will find God.” This charism is lived out across the globe in the work done by the hundreds of groups—both lay and religious—that comprise the International Vincentian Family. This lecture series brings to DePaul different members of the global Vincentian Family to share the ways they are serving and encountering the poor, and God, in their part of the world.

Questions?
Please contact CWCIT at cwcit@depaul.edu or 773.325.4158.

Parking at DePaul
Street parking (both free & metered) is sometimes available on campus, but there are also 2 parking garages available for visitors**:

~ Sheffield Parking Garage (2331 N. Sheffield Ave.)
~ Clifton Parking Deck (2330 N. Clifton Ave.)

**For a discounted rate, please ask for validation at the event’s information table. Discounted rates are as follows:

Entrance before 4:00pm = $10.00
Entrance after 4:00pm = $8.00

 Thursday, October 10 at 6:30pm to 8:30pm

 Cortelyou Commons
2324 N Fremont St

 

View the event

Glory to God

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What motivates your work of service?  Vincent de Paul’s guidance is clear: our work must be motivated by love of God and it is to cause others to love God also.

So, how do you respond when the result of all your efforts is a grand success?  Conversely, what if your project fails miserably?  Is either outcome important?  Vincent’s attitude is that neither matters.  What is important is the motive behind one’s work.  Is your action spurred on by selfless love of people, or by a selfish, self-congratulatory motive?

“Glory to God” is a chapter from the book Windows on His Vision (pp. 129-130) available at https://via.library.depaul.edu/windows/2/

It is also available as an ebook here:  https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/8/

Depaul 2018/2019 Interfaith Scholars

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Aliza (Max) Bromberg

Major: Psychology      Minor: Religious Studies

From: Bostan, MA

Faith Identity: Jewish/Spritual

Fav Junk Food: Salt & Pepper chips (the wavey ones!)

Fav Music: Regina Spector/ Bohemian Rhapsody (ALL of Queen!)

Person you’d like to chill with: Lenard Nemoy (but also Spock the character!)

 

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Name: Olivia Adams

Major: Psychology & American Studies

From: Indianapolis, IN

Faith Identity: Non-Religious/ Spiritual

Fav Junk food: Hot Cheetos dipped in Ranch

Albums on repeat: Remain in light – Talking heads

I’m in your mind fuzz – King Gizzard and the Lizard

Head Hunters – Herbie Handcock

Person to chill with: David Byrne or Jim Morrison

 

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Name: Fatima Mohammed

Faith identity: Muslim

From: Buffalo Grove, IL

Fav Junk food: Potato chips

Current Music on Repeat: Taylor Swift 1989

Dinner with Anyone: F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

 

Name: Pat Stienman

Major: Applied and Computational Mathematics.

Faith Identity: Catholic Christian

From: Winnetka, IL

Fav Junk food: Goldfish (…as long as it’s whole grain)

Fav Bands: Swans, Idles, Death Grips, Julia Holter, Pearl Jam

Fav Song: “words I hear” by Julia Holter

Person to chill with: Dany Carey (Drummer from TOOL)

 

 

Name: Jacky

Major: Media & Cinema Studies/ Film and TV

Faith Identity: non denominational Christian

Nationality: Tanzanian

Fav Junk food: FRIES!

Fav Band: The Neighborhood

Celeb to chill with: Jesse Eisneberg or Theodore finch (All the Bright Places)

 

Name: Sofia Kroll

Major: Fiance

Faith Identity: Orthodox Christian

From: Cary, IL

Fav Junk Food: Hersey Kisses

Fav band/album: Meaning of life (Kelly Clarkson)

Dinner with anyone: Ryan Gosling.

 

 

 

 

Colombia – a Reflection

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Our Catholic Interfaith Scholar, Justine Carlson, traveled to Bogotá in December 2016 through the University Ministry service immersion programs. The following is a reflection of her trip.

Human dignity is not negotiable. This was a nugget of wisdom that I learned back in December while I was in Bogota, Colombia. It speaks volumes as to how one would answer the Vincentian question; What must be done? There is more that needs to be done than I realized. I was catching up with an old friend the other day and he asked me about my trip to South America a couple months back. I was taken back to the place where forgiveness, human dignity, reconciliation, faith, education, and power were normalized and brought into a new light.

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One of the several greatest lessons I learned in Colombia was how education, religion, politics, and social justice can be intersectional. I am still trying to figure this out today as I witness several minority groups suffering and not provided with the same rights as the majority. As a Roman Catholic, my continuing question is how can I be an ally? How can I help? My time in Colombia has made me appreciate religious diversity, even more so than I did before. While most the country identifies as a Catholic/Christian country, how one lives out their faith there is different based on the individual through education, political participation, giving back to their local communities, and many other ways.

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Another highlight that I took away from this experience was their approach to nonviolence. In Colombia during this time, part of the national peace agreement had passed, which grants equitable and equal human rights for all. This was a true historical moment for them. One last piece of wisdom that I’ll never forget is that faith is about uncertainty. Similarly, to the United States, many are uncertain of what their future will hold for them. It is not as easy as it sounds, but having a small bit of a hope and/or ounce of faith is how the people in Colombia that were experiencing trauma, homelessness, violence, whatever it may be, continue living the fullest life. Faith through resilience.

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Perseverance and Faith: A Hindu Perspective

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By Priyanka Patel

“Work hard” they say. “Everything will work itself out”.

Phrases every individual has grown up hearing. They’re the same phrases Michael Jordan’s mother told him when he didn’t make the high school basketball team. They’re the same phrases that J.K Rowling told herself when publishing companies closed their doors to her. They’re the same phrases that Thomas Edison heard each time he invented yet another lightbulb that just wouldn’t work.

We know that perseverance is the key to success, yet we fail to recognize what it is that allows one to persevere in the face of failure. “It’s not about how many times you’ve failed, it’s how you many times you get back up that matter”. As a senior about to complete her undergraduate studies and prepare for the next stage of life, it is not graduating or being on my own that frightens me, it is having to persevere when I am unable to achieve my dreams that scares me the most.

Don’t get me wrong – I know that hard work is the key to success. But what happens when you try your hardest and it just isn’t good enough? How come there aren’t stories about those that tried their hardest and had to settle for average? Are those people not worth learning about?

Test anxiety is a common experience, especially for those that are familiar with the LSAT. I’m surrounded by great role models that have persevered through their failures and are now living their dreams. I want nothing more than to be one of those people.

mountains

As my Law School applications begin to come together, these are the questions that linger on my mind the most. It is in times like these that I turn to my one constant in life. The outlet that never seems to falter. The rock that never withers. My faith.

My guru (spiritual leader) tells me, “Do your best. Leave the rest.” As I open up my exam results, these are the words that spring to mind. I may not be happy with the results, but I am content with myself. At the end of the day, a person is not measured by their successes, but rather the way they make others feel. My religion has taught me that. And during these moments when I feel as though my dreams are too far out of reach, I find comfort in knowing that I have already achieved what matters to me the most – living a life of sacrifice and service of others.

Perseverance comes in all shapes and sizes. My faith has taught me that. A Hindu perseveres on a daily basis by controlling their mind, the hardest battle to win. Having the strength to refrain from indulgence is what perseverance means to me. My guru teaches me that. When I think of my faith, I know that there is no end to what I am able to accomplish.

With this in mind, I stop staring at my LSAT score, and remind myself that I’ve already accomplished what so many others are unable to, and my life is a strong testament to that.

Failures will not define me. Numbers will not define me. A career will not define me.

My faith is what will define me.

Hinduism will define me.

I am a Hindu.