A few weeks ago, we had our first edition of “Quarantined Catholics” the weekly “talk show” that our FOCUS missionaries conceived and launched when the viral pandemic and shut downs first hit our campus. Normally every Tuesday night our community gathers for a “Newman Night” which is a free meal, a talk and some fellowship – so this was a way of trying to continue that during these incredibly unique times. The first episode I was the “guest” in a “grill your chaplain” segment where they fired off a list of questions that they and our students (and viewers watching live) had submitted. One question was “What’s your favorite praise song?” For those who might not know what “praise music” it’s basically a type of hymn in contemporary music style. Anyway, the song that came immediately to mind is called “Do it again” by Elevation worship. The lyrics, the energy of the song have been on repeat a lot for me over these last 40 or so days of “quarantine.”
Walking around these walls
I thought by now they’d fall
But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle’s won
For You have never failed me yet
It’s never far from any of our minds how incredibly difficult a time this is for people not just in our local metro NY area – but around the country, around the world. Whether it’s people who are sick, people who are dying – their friends and families – dealing with this mysterious illness… or the people on the front lines (and every other line that follows) who are being asked once again to do so much… or just the effects all of this has been having on people who are “staying at home” and are depressed and lonely from this forced isolation…. or those who are understandably anxious about their finances right now or in the near future…It’s hard to remember a time where there’s been this level of universal suffering.
I know the night won’t last
Your Word will come to pass
My heart will sing Your praise again
Jesus, You’re still enough
Keep me within Your love
My heart will sing Your praise again
It’s easy – it’s understandable for us to yield to negative thoughts born of a lot of negative realities. It’s almost a daily battle – just dealing with all that we’re dealing with and then trying not to give into despair. When everything first started unfolding I couldn’t help but feel incredibly bummed out and down. Working in campus ministry is awesome, but it’s uniquely challenging. I’ve experienced more peaks and valleys in this work than in any other ministry I’ve ever been engaged in. After some real unexpected twists and turns the last couple of years that were constantly distracting and trying to throw me, throw us off track, we were really experiencing a tremendous year with some great momentum. This Spring Semester was probably one of our strongest starts ever – we had a sold-out, tremendously powerful retreat focusing on God the Father’s Love for us … Ash Wednesday which is always a great outreach day for us was one of our biggest ever – it was just amazing to see the crowds and how students were really entering into the season of repentance and renewal. And then it was like the plug just got pulled out from under us. The campus is shut down, the churches are shutting down, this job is hard enough with all of these things – how well – How the heck would we keep going with all this? Would we ‘lose ground’ that we worked so hard for?
Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed
Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
Praise God, quite the opposite has occurred. Our FOCUS missionaries that serve here and I all have separate apartments here on site at the Newman Catholic Center. So we’ve been quarantined together – which allows us to pray together daily, continue to meet, plan, prepare and brainstorm ways to continue doing outreach to the students we love to serve (and miss terribly). I’m so grateful for the missionaries commitment and dedication to this mission. They could have opted to return to their own families and spend this “lock down” time with loved ones and worked remotely. But they chose to stay here which has been a tremendous blessing to support one another and hopefully be a support to the students scattered as they are far from Montclair
I’ve seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
I’m so proud of our students – “my kids” – for really dealing with all these curve balls as well as they have. This generation is often times maligned as not being able to deal well with challenges or difficulties. And I have a unique vantage point of seeing students at their best and worst. Considering how sudden and disruptive this “change” occurred – they had simply left campus for Spring Break and within a matter of days were told they all had to vacate the campus for the remainder of the semester and finish course work online – I can’t say I’ve heard one student complain, or be hyper critical. They really seem to be rolling with things as best as they can, and have even been reflective, grateful, recognizing “what really matters.” None of us wanted a global viral pandemic to be the cause of it, but it’s beautiful to see them maturing and rallying the way that they have. Their engagement and commitment to Mass, Holy Hour, Bible studies and all the programs we’ve moved online have actually intensified under these difficult circumstances.
I’ve seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
I’m overwhelmed by the support of countless numbers of people – families of our students; alumni, parishioners from some of my previous assignments and just friends of Newman Catholic. The first night on a weekday when we first started live-streaming Masses from here, I was shocked to see the statistics after that nearly 2,000 people tuned in (which doesn’t account for how many of those “viewers” included more than one person as families were watching together) Those numbers have only continued to grow and expand in the days and weeks that have followed. Just downloading our statistics from our social media sites and seeing increased percentages that are astronomical. Again, no one would ever want to experience growth because of these circumstances – but it’s tremendous to hear how the Lord is able to utilize our efforts to continue to reach out to people, help them remain connected to Christ and His Catholic Church through our efforts.
I’ve seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
I’ve been particularly humbled and moved by the generosity of people who completely unsolicited have made donations to us during this time. As I’ve said to them privately, knowing how uncertain, how difficult, how challenging the circumstances are for everyone right now and how many causes are in need I have been reluctant to even consider asking for any support.
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
I’ve seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
I’ve seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
I’ll see You do it again
Its been about 40 days now… there’s still not clarity when or if things will be returning to “normal” or if the word “normal” even applies anymore. But may we be confident in God’s faithfulness… how He is continuing to make a way when there doesn’t appear to be a way… That He can and will move mountains as we stand firm, stand confident in His faithfulness, trust in His goodness – believe that we have seen it before and will see Him do it again..