Those of you that were at Kean's on-campus Mass last night heard an awesome quote from Fr. Glenn's homily, and I'm pretty sure that it's going to stick with me for a while.
"Does Jesus cramp our style? Yes. Does our style need to be cramped by Jesus? Yes." -- Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Amen!!! I love this idea. And the thought that sometimes, it's such a good thing for the Gospels to make us uncomfortable. It brings you back down to earth - back from our tendencies to float along with the people around us, following the crowd of college students that isn't always wandering down the right path. It's a reminder of who we're really trying to follow, that we're living for more than just ourselves, and that truth brings so much joy! This really hits home for me...
The message that if a part of you causes you to sin, "cut it off" (Mark 9:38-48) is pretty hard for everyone to hear sometimes (not only for those of us that didn't choose a medical major/profession for a reason). We like being around people and having friends. We like to feel like part of a group. And it's easy to get caught up in the "typical" college lifestyle. It's easy to find out where the best parties will be this weekend. It's easy to get drunk, it's easy to make bad decisions -- because you don't have to think, you just follow the crowd and see where you end up in the morning. There's a reason why they call people that do certain things "easy" -- because that's what the decisions they make are.
But we're not called to be "typical." We're called to believe and follow the Truth, and to live for Christ -- even if that means swimming against the current (a lot). It's hard. It's hard to be straight with a friend and tell them that they're dragging you down with them, and you need some time apart. It's hard to cut bad habits out of your life. It's hard for us to see that some of the people we love or activities we have fun doing can be bad for us. It's hard to cut them out of our lives when they're making us sink and pulling us away from Christ.
I've made my share of mistakes in the past. My junior year of college, things went pretty downhill. I partied a lot, got involved with a guy that didn't treat me right, hung out with the wrong crowd. Why? I'm not sure I thought too much about that question at the time -- but I thought it would be fun and make me feel good. Instead, it just made me feel depressed and lost. Even though I knew I needed a change, acting on that feeling was much easier said than done. It was really, really hard to make the decision to turn around and run as fast as I could in the opposite direction (I'll always remember that night of an awesome confession, a few tissue boxes, and some wise words from one of my favorite priests, but that's another story for another day).
And while it was so hard, following Christ has brought me so much joy. It's hard to describe the difference between how I felt when I woke up most mornings back then, and how I do now... it's kind of like that feeling when you've made a really good confession and you can literally feel your soul being lifted during the absolution. It's like the difference between trying to run a marathon with a backpack full of bricks, and dancing around to your favorite song without the weight on your shoulders.
Did Jesus cramp my style in college? Heck yes, my style was cramped... but I needed it. I needed a God that loved me enough to tell me what wasn't good for me to do. I needed a Church with thousands of years of wisdom to teach me why what God was saying made so much sense. I needed to hear the truth, and to finally feel joy. Turning around made me see how much more love and joy there was in following Christ and the truth of the Church's teachings, instead of the empty promises and lies disguised as fun that I was finding in the things and people that were pulling me away from God.
The Holy Spirit works in funny ways, and as I'm writing this, the perfect song to describe this just came on my radio (go figure):
Don't you think your life's worth saving? Don't you know that love's amazing?
Don't you want to lay your troubles down?
Lay them down.
If I thought love was just a word, I might feel the same way too.
But theres so much more than that, And it's waiting here for you.
- NewWorldSon
Let's live this out. I'm challenging myself today to let Jesus cramp my style in some way -- and I hope you'll do that with me, too. Whether you need to make a big change and cut something or someone out of your life, or just keep some few choice words to yourself next time you get cut off on Morris Avenue, let Jesus cramp your style. I think we can all afford to be a little more cramped -- because we can all afford to be a little more joyful.
