Reflecting on the Word

By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

Excitement is in the air. It is the season of freshman move-in  weekend at the University of Notre Dame, where I teach. New friends,  new campus, and new experiences begin a whole new chapter in a  young person’s life. Beneath the exuberance, there is also worry in  the air: Will I fit in? Will I find a solid group of friends? Will I miss  my family? Fear of rejection is well-buried amid the sea of smiling  faces. Projecting self-confidence is mandatory here. 

As I look around at the fresh faces, perhaps a few are asking,  “What about my faith?” Parents of deep belief may ask, “Will my  child walk out of here in four years with his/her faith strong(er)?” 

I have seen yes. I have seen no. Most of the undergraduates I  teach in my prayer class are last-semester seniors. They still project  confidence. But from their written reflections, beneath the smiles, they  have struggled with anxiety and depression, broken relationships, an  insufficient self-reliance, the death of friends and grandparents and  sometimes the loss or deadening of faith. Others whom I do not see  in prayer class have simply walked away. 

Jesus asks, in today’s reading, “Will you also go?” 

Peter answers, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words  of eternal life.”  

Notice his very small two-letter pronoun: “We have come to  believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” We. I have seen yes—students who are healthy and flourishing in  faith at the conclusion of their college experience. They have found  “we” of some sort: brothers and sisters who support each another  when life pulls them under, those with whom to rejoice and praise  and exalt God. Context matters. When you’re eighteen, you’ve got  life under control. Until you don’t. College years are not easy years. God grant these fresh faces the humility to seek out the context  of “we.”

Consider/Discuss 

There is a pervasive but largely unspoken grief among those who believe:  the faith that means so much to us does not matter to those whom we love.  Brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews—they  have walked away. This living God who is our center, this Jesus of Nazareth  who has made our lives worth living, this Holy Spirit who bubbles within us  and brings us such peace— we cannot share that richness with those who do  not believe, or with those who find us naïve and simple for believing. Find a  friend in faith and speak that unspoken grief to each other. Sometimes we move away from a context in which we have been loved and  supported and we cannot figure out what is the matter with us. Having  friends matters to our health and flourishing. If you are missing friends, how  can you find some? If you are awash in friends, how can you reach out to  someone who is new and lonely? How can we strengthen the “we” of faith in  the context in which we live? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, we pray for those who are making transitions in life at the  end of summer—kindergartners going to school for the first time,  new freshmen in high school and college, and those who are moving  to a new place. Grant them friends of faith, an environment in which  they are loved, and a context that glorifies you. Jesus, Bread of Life,  you nourish us with yourself. You fill us with everlasting life, your everlasting life, even here, even now. To whom else can we go?

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