Contemplative in Action

Today, a group of PC students are traveling to New Orleans to embark on an incredible week of service, community, and solidarity. I was one of those students a year ago, and it's because of that trip that I am a JV.

I first went on the NOLA immersion program in January 2010, where I was introduced to JVC, New Orelans, and a future career in service. I made some amazing friends, gained some mentors, and fell in love with a city and an idea. I returned in 2012 with another incredible group, including my boyfriend and some of my best friends. Our relationships only grew stronger, and it solidified the idea that I wanted to be a JV.

Today, I was on retreat with my colleagues at Cristo Rey Jesuit, learning and reflecting upon what it means to be "contemplatives in action," something that is a motto of the Jesuit order. My first NOLA trip was organized through a group called Contemplatives in Action, and I loved realizing how appropriate it was that these two worlds would come together today, in my newest service experience.

We reflected on other Jesuit mottos- "men and women for others," and Ad Memoriam Dei Glorium, "for the greater glory of God." Fr. Brian Reidy, SJ, our retreat director for the day, mentioned how those two things might seem contradictory- that we are supposed to be working for others and for God simultaneously, but that in reality, those two things are the same.

We practiced prayer in the style of contemplative imagination, and while I had read much about this Jesuit tradition, I hadn't ever practiced it. I'm very happy to say that I really enjoyed it, and I think I learned a lot about prayer and myself. I read a passage from scripture, and tried to imagine myself IN the story.

I chose the passage where Jesus encounters the woman who is an adulterer, with the famous line "let he among you without sin be the first to condemn." I imagined the passage from the perspective of the woman, of the guards, and of the people in the crowd. I struggled at first to bat the distractions of other thoughts out of my head, but I was eventually able to focus and journal a lot.

We also discussed what it meant to be a contemplative in ACTION- that we have a call to pray and have a close relationship to God, but also to do His work. This year is all about me as a contemplative in action, and I am realizing that it's all rooted in my time in NOLA.

I realized today that while I'm not getting on a plane for a week of life-changing fun in New Orleans, I'm doing the things that NOLA taught me. I'm serving with my whole heart, and I'm becoming a better person for it.