Greetings from the Campus Ministry Department!

We are continually praying and planning to make Campus Ministry programming more and more available during this pandemic. As I sat down to write this message, I remembered the reflection I shared during Frosh Overnight, 2018, which centered on a verse from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household. I felt inspired to draw a connection that at Jesuit – we are called to be members of one household.

I thought about songs and the use of the word home or house in the title. There is a “house of the rising sun” in New Orleans, pink, Lego, card, and paper houses. Some people are “burning down the house.” In some cases “everybody’s coming to my house.” One artist sang that he was “homeward bound.” There are songs about searching for a home, building a home, coming home, carrying me home, my hometown, and being home alone. Then there is the song that says, “Home is wherever I’m with you.” How about “our house in the middle of the street? Our house here has a crowd, there is always something happening at our house in the middle of the street.” Sounds like Jesuit pre-Covid 19. 

The opening prayer to the Frosh Overnight Mass that day was: O God, who caused the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found. This prayer is needed again today. 

Amid all the uncertainties of this world, the Campus Ministry Team is trying to provide opportunities to help hearts be fixed on a place where true gladness is found. Kelly Barnes, Fr. Perry Petrich, S.J. and I are adapting almost everything we do in Campus Ministry. During these uncertain times, here is what we are doing to help make Jesuit a home for our students.

The 28 members of the Senior Retreat Team (SRT) have excelled. They have done more this year than in any other year, beginning with several of them meeting during the summer to get the ball rolling on planning in a Covid-19 environment. We continue to meet with them as they lead our Sophomores and prepare to lead our Juniors on retreat.

The words of a song by Phillip Phillips describe the brotherhood at Jesuit quite well, “Hold on to me as we go, as we roll down this unfamiliar road. And although this wave is stringing us along, just know you’re not alone, ’cause I’m gonna make this place your home.” We are on a very unfamiliar road, yet we need to know that we are not alone—reach out to someone if you need help. We need to all continue making this home in Carmichael, California, a home where love is found, where all are accepted, where forgiveness reigns, where we reach out to others, where we imitate Jesus.

 Let’s make Jesuit the House of the Rising Son – Jesus the Christ. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving on November 26th, the first Sunday of Advent on November 29th, and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, let us be grateful people and imitators of Christ. 

Let us live as beloved children of God, and live in love, as Christ loved us. 

Paul LeBoeuf
Director of Campus Ministry

Next Week’s Calendar At-A-Glance