The Challenge to Love

In my intro post, I mentioned that I'm a member of Catholic Campus Ministries here at Rowan, and have been blessed more times than I can count since transferring here and finding them six weeks ago.

Our Wednesday night meetings often feature guest speakers, and we were joined last night by Andres Arango, the Director of Campus Ministries for our diocese. (A diocese is a geographical area used for Church government; they're headed by a bishop.) After opening the meeting with prayer, Arango told us a little bit about himself; originally from Colombia, he was an industrial engineer who moved to the United States in 2001. Eventually, he left his engineering position behind to pursue his real love: serving Jesus and His Church. It was that love he planned to discuss with us that night, and the conversation took us in directions we would have never expected.

"Who is Jesus? Go on, just say what you think," he told us encouragingly. There were a few minutes of silence, then words came from around the group. Confidante. Savior. Security. Inspiration. The list went on this way.

After a while, he stopped us, throwing out a second question: "How do you know Jesus is God?"

We all stared at him. "How do you know He's real?" Clearly, this wasn't going to be a normal meeting. We went on to talk about how God isn't some sort of far away deity who remains detached from our lives, but rather one who wanted to be so involved that He became man. While present on earth, Jesus shared every pain and temptation that we experience today. After His resurrection and ascension into heaven, we were sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us; this means that God is always with us, and alive in us. It also means that we act as instruments of God's love to others.

Andres told us of an interesting encounter he had about five years ago that exemplifies this perfectly. Out late after a long day, he stopped at his favorite Mexican place and found a homeless woman there who called to him. Guilt-ridden, he tossed her a few dollars and started to walk away, feeling very holy and righteous. For a second time, the woman called to him. "Hey. Can I...have a hug?"

"The ten seconds I spent thinking felt like ten hours," he told us, laughing. "You know, a million things went through my head. 'Does she have a gun? Is she gonna take my wallet? I wonder when was [sic] the last time she took a shower...what got me to do it had nothing to do with me. It was the Holy Spirit. It was the love of Jesus alive in me. As soon as I hugged her, she started to cry--it was probably the first time in a long time she felt connected to someone. But, you know, that moment changed both our lives."

There were more stories like this one, and perhaps I'll retell the other in a future post. What we learned tonight was that we need to get out of our comfort zones and allow God to use us to reach the poor in both body and spirit. "The challenge tonight is to believe that Jesus is here, right now, in us...and to develop a personal relationship with Him," Andres said.

That's a challenge, for sure. But "nothing is impossible for God" (Luke 1:37).

Andres Arango with Ann Polo, director of the Newman house.

Photo courtesy of Dana Douress.