Father Eric de la Pena

Huge Papal events like Wednesday’s Canonization Mass on the Eastern Portico of the Basilica, overlooking CUA’s lawn, can make the Holy Father seem more of a big time celebrity, and less of a messenger of Christ. Surely, everyone who comes wants to get a closer glimpse of him or a handshake if possible and even a Papal-selfie if ever allowed. Cameras will keep on clicking until the Pope is gone. While these gestures of excitement can be expected for a Papal event, the real challenge to everyone is the internalization of his words, during and after his visit. When all has been said and done and the campus eventually returns to its normal course, how many would really remember and care to practice what they heard the Pope preach? Pope Francis travels the globe not to promote himself, but to present Christ to the world.

Like St. Peter, Pope Francis had to leave behind his personal agenda in order to follow Christ’s, especially after he assumed the Petrine Ministry. There’s a beautiful tradition in the Church of the pope taking a new name at the time of his election. It symbolizes the new role that the pope undertakes in serving the Body of Christ. In the Gospel, we see Jesus changing the name of Simon, which means reed in Hebrew—a grass that easily bends and sways with the wind—to Peter, a name that signifies rock—something solid, upon which one can securely build a house. For Simon to become Peter, he had to leave behind everything to follow Christ. Peter’s personal wisdom and prudence are no longer enough. He must rely upon the grace which God provides as Christ indicated, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father” (Mt. 16:17). Let us therefore, heed the Pope’s message and keep it fresh in our hearts and minds as proof that we have not only welcomed him to our campus but also in our hearts.

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena

Since the Holy Father is also scheduled to arrive here shortly, the volunteers found another motivation to generously serve the community. This year’s day of service was named “Serve with Francis Day.” It is indeed a fitting gift to the Holy Father who has the noble title of Servus servorum Dei, that is, the “Servant of the Servants of God.” This designation is certainly more than just a nice appellation added to the already long list of honorific titles given to the pope. It truly denotes his position in the Church – that is that the Pope is here to serve all of God’s people. He is to live the words of Christ in the Gospel, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:26–28).

Pope Francis has certainly taken the role of serving God’s people to heart very seriously. As “the slave,” he prefers not to live in the luxurious Apostolic Palace but at the modest Santa Marta Guest House of the Vatican where he can dine with the rest of the Vatican employees and visitors. This pope’s Holy Thursday foot washing service is not just a symbolic gesture. Pope Francis has truly sought out the lost and outcast. This year he washed the feet of prisoners in Rome’s Rebibbia prison. Last year he washed the feed of the elderly and disabled at a rehabilitation facility. In 2013 he washed the feet of twelve young people at juvenile detention center.

Pope Francis also has a reputation of making surprise personal calls to troubled folks who could use his fatherly advice – like the one he made to a pregnant unwed mother in Italy and another one in Spain to a struggling homosexual. The stories of Pope Francis placing himself at the feet of God’s people goes on and on.

As we get closer to meeting the Pope next week, let us pay close attention not only to his words, but to his great example as well. If there’s anything constant in his message, it is his call to exercise mercy and compassion. Our world needs to halt its self-destructive path fueled by self-centeredness and lack of concern before it is too late. Pope Francis challenges us now to have that kind of magnanimity of heart which can say with St. Peter, “What I have, I give you.”

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena, associate chaplain for the University, was the celebrant for the Mass, which honored Our Lady of Sorrows.

“In the spirit of Blessed Junípero Serra, who embraced another culture out of love for Christ, I think this sensitizes us to the reality that we have neighbors who may not speak our language,” he said. “I think it’s more than just getting familiar with the prayers. The experience of meeting another culture widens your world and widens your vision of life. Our prayers become richer by involving other cultures.”

Father Eric de la Pena, associate chaplain, celebrates a Mass in Spanish Sept. 15.

Those who attended the Mass also had the opportunity to venerate a first-class relic of Junípero Serra: a piece of his bone. Father de la Pena obtained the relic for his personal collection after writing to the Shrine of Blessed Junípero Serra in Carmel, Calif.

“When you look at a picture of the saint, you almost feel like they are three feet above the ground, but the relics give us a sense that they were flesh and bone just like us and give us a sense of hope,” Father de la Pena said. “As a sacramental of the Church, they remind us of everything good that God has promised to us, that even in our frailty as human beings we can aspire to something good as these holy men and women.”

Senior Maria Thurber, a theology and Spanish major from St. Petersburg Fla., is a member of the Spanish Club, which worked with Campus Ministry to organize the Mass. As a heritage Spanish speaker — her mother is from Ecuador — she said she’s excited that the Mass honoring Junípero Serra will be in Spanish.

“I feel very proud that the first Latin American pope is going to come and do a Mass in Spanish,” she said. “For students, there will be nothing better than going to the Mass, knowing what they’re saying so they feel more a part of it. The language barrier won’t exist, or at least it won’t be so harsh.”

This summer, Thurber was in Ecuador during Pope Francis’s visit to Latin America. During her time there, she attended a papal Mass and held a sign that said, “Pope Francis, I’ll C-U Sept. 23 at Catholic University.”

“To see him there, it just made us Latin Americans all so proud,” she said. “The Catholic faith is so important to us, so to have our pope speak Spanish is just unbelievable.”

Students will have another opportunity to attend a Spanish language Mass on Sept. 22. That Mass, which will honor Our Lady of Mercy, will begin at 5:10 p.m. in Caldwell Chapel. Those present will once again have the opportunity to venerate the relic of Blessed Junípero Serra.

Father Eric de la Pena

We certainly live at an interesting time in the life of the Church in this country. The emerging religious landscape poses a challenge to those who still look to the Church for the proclamation of the faith. I also think that Pope Francis’s upcoming visit to the United States in a couple of weeks will force the American Church to ask, “Why still believe?”

Pope Francis’ vision of reviving the Church can help us a lot in making sense of how to practice the faith today. In Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope cautioned us to be careful in how we communicate the Gospel to others. He said that there is an “imbalance” when we speak “more about law than about grace, more about the church than about Christ, more about the pope than about God’s word.” In short, the Gospel we proclaim must embody the reality of God’s love which is revealed to us in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It is in the experience of Divine goodness and love,  that is grace, that people are drawn back to the practice of faith, more than by any Church law or dogma. It is this “hook” which Christ gave to Peter and to us that will bring others back to the practice of faith and the fold of the Church.

I think it is providential that when the Pope comes to CUA, he will also canonize one of the first men to evangelize the country. Blessed Junipero Serra, a Franciscan missionary from Spain, was known for his tireless preaching of the Gospel to the Native Americans. His work in California successfully established the first nine Spanish missions from San Diego to Sonoma which covered a vast area of 700 miles. Moreover, Blessed Junipero was credited for protecting the natives from the abuses of the Spanish Conquistadors. He was a true father to them, not only in preaching the faith, but also in caring for their wellbeing and in generously sharing his life with them.

We truly owe it to ourselves to make our Faith alive and relevant in the public sphere like the early Church. We do this by making known to others not only the content of our Creed but more importantly why we believe it. Pope Francis and Blessed Junipero are great examples for us as we engage in the New Evangelization.

At The Catholic University of America, we seek to learn from their example. As we prepare for the canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra, we are planning special opportunities for the community to venerate a first-class relic of Serra as a way to bring greater appreciation to our future saint. There will be veneration of the relic at Caldwell Chapel on September 15 and 22 after the 5:10 pm mass.

On our campus, we are also taking up Pope Francis’s message to return to the central message of the Gospel. The Office of Campus Ministry has a wonderful program of faith-sharing groups called RENEW. The groups foster evangelization among our students through weekly reflection on the Gospel—like the early Christians who came together in small groups in what were known as house churches. It is a great way for our students to become more committed to the faith by regularly pondering God’s Word together. It creates deep bonds of friendship and faith in the process.

May all our efforts to share the Catholic faith contribute to the new evangelization that we have been called to do.

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena

Moments of retreats are truly unique and graced encounters. They allow us to step out of the mundane, to refocus our attention on the essential things in life that often get sidelined because of our many preoccupations. Retreats are moments when we can re-prioritize our relationships both vertical — toward God — and horizontal — toward others. This has been the experience of our freshmen, and it is also the kind of experience that we foster in all the other retreats that we provide in Campus Ministry throughout the year.

Next year, another kind of retreat is being called for by Pope Francis. This one involves a pilgrimage for all the youth of the world. The 14th World Youth Day (WYD) will take place next year, during the Year of Mercy, July 25 – August 1. Pope Francis will lead this big gathering in Krakow, Poland. Providentially, the Shrine of Divine Mercy happens to be in the same city and that will allow many of the young pilgrims to visit the shrine and become acquainted with its beautiful message. Our university will take part in this pilgrimage as we have in the past. We will begin the pilgrimage in Rome and Assisi before proceeding to Krakow to join Catholic youth gathered there from around the world. I pray that moments like these — retreats, prayers, and pilgrimages — will keep us ever inspired and focused on the good work we have already begun.

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena

Peter must have felt something like this in his encounter with Jesus. He was just beginning to understand and enjoy his friend’s company. The three years of being together on the road with Jesus with his band of apostles must have supplied Peter many good memories to cherish. But like any good party or vacation, even the time spent with Jesus had to end, and Peter had to move on with a new task. He was to lead the flock that Jesus entrusted to him.  It must have been a big change from Jesus taking care of everything for them. Now, as Jesus warned Peter, someone else would even tie a belt around him and take him to where he does not want to go. Ministry is not doing only those things that we enjoy, but doing what we are supposed to do.

Perhaps Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio felt a similar pain when he was elected to the See of Peter. As the leader of a billion Catholics worldwide, he no longer is free to leisurely roam his favorite streets of Buenos Aires, to visit the poor and ordinary folks who became his friends there, to take a more leisurely time for solitude and prayer. Like Peter, he has to go where he does not wish to go because he is keenly aware of a calling and a mission from God. Since he assumed the Petrine Office, Pope Francis has spent minimal time in the Papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo. Most of his summers have been spent working for long hours at the Vatican and living at the modest home of the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta’s guest house. Yet, Pope Francis seems to joyfully take on this yoke. He truly images a father who works hard out of love for his children.

As we all return to class and regular work this week the example of Pope Francis can inspire us. His dedication to his ministry calls us to see that God’s purpose and will is embedded in the daily fulfillment of our tasks. The student ministers whom we trained last week in the Office of Campus Ministry display that kind of enthusiasm as well as they prepare to share the joy of the Gospel not just through words, but also through the programs they will run and the personal encounters they will have with everyone they serve. If we can all acquire this gentle loving spirit of submission to God’s will, then we too can keep on smiling like Pope Francis despite the strains that we find in the duties of every day.

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena

Of course, this lake played a significant part in the life of the apostles who were mostly fishermen.  In fact, there is a fish in that lake that has been named after St. Peter, who once fished there. It was also on this lake that the disciples witnessed some of the awesome miracles of Christ: the miraculous catch of fish, Jesus walking over the water, and the calming of the storm. On this lake, Christ used the elements of creation to reveal himself to his disciples as the Son of God. It really is quite amazing to ponder how God uses all of nature to teach us about God.

In the Franciscan mindset, nature is the starting point of God’s revelation. St. Bonaventure calls creation the “vestiges of God” or simply the thumbprint of God. We cannot contemplate the goodness and pleasure that we find in nature without arriving at the Maker who designed it. Indeed, a certain respect and awe overtakes us whenever we realize the origin and purpose of the visible world. But this due reverence for God’s creation has often been trampled by human greed and contempt. We have seen enough forest devastation, animal abuse and global pollution in our life time to illustrate the point.

Pope Francis’ recent encyclical Laudato Si’ calls us back to our senses when he addressed the important issue of ecology. Unless we become responsible stewards of creation, Pope Francis warns, we will find ourselves regretting how much we have lost because we neglected to care for Mother Earth:

“We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world.” (161)

What can we do? Fortunately, we still have time to make the necessary remedies to our ecological problems. As the saying goes, “Charity begins at home,” so also is the work of repairing the environment. It begins with us. We simply cannot demand a clean surrounding, without first cleaning our own. At the same time, the enormous task of caring for the integrity of creation is more than just an individual homework assignment or a solitary concern. It requires a united effort from all sides.

In Campus Ministry we try to inculcate these important values in our student leaders and volunteers. One way of doing this is through service. During our Service Days in August and September, our students will be doing trash removal at sites across the city and on our own campus. The work may seem insignificant in the face of an enormous ecological crisis. But this is where conversion of heart truly begins. As Pope Francis insists:

“We must not think that these efforts are not going to change the world. They benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread. Furthermore, such actions can restore our sense of self-esteem; they can enable us to live more fully and to feel that life on earth is worthwhile.” (212)

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena

One of the greatest perils of our day is the escalation of violence surrounding us. At times we almost feel helpless to resist it: Violence is readily served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner every time we watch the news or read the newspaper. We get so accustomed to accounts of bloodshed every day that the staggering number of death from war and crimes become mere statistics. What has happened to us? Where are we heading?

Pope Francis — whose namesake, St. Francis, was known as peace maker — certainly remains a prophetic voice in these turbulent times. When many have given up on the slow and difficult task of dialogue and reconciliation, Pope Francis insists that there can be no other alternative to secure the world’s future other than the path to peace. We saw this in action during his second apostolic journey to the Holy Land in May 2014.

Speaking before the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, the Pope offered them these challenging words:  “All of us want peace.  Many people build it day by day through small gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere in their efforts to be peacemakers.  All of us — especially those placed at the service of their respective peoples — have the duty to become instruments and artisans of peace.” Then, in an unprecedented act, the Pope invited the two presidents, Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine and Shimon Peres of Israel, to pray with him in Rome. This invitation was accepted a month later as the two leaders met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Who would have thought that two opposing leaders, from different faiths, could agree to pray for peace? At least, the Pope did!

Like Pope Francis, I don’t think that we have exhausted the path to peace locally and internationally. This is why we never tire of building bridges among peoples at Campus Ministry. Just this May, more than 50 of our students went on to a mission trip to Belize, Jamaica, and the Texas border. There they painted school buildings, played with the kids, served the undocumented immigrants, fed the hungry — they brought smiles to the people they met and served. I’m proud to say that our CUA students were true ambassadors of peace and good will — a great relief from the usual fodder found in newspapers. While the student volunteers sowed seeds of love through their simple acts of kindness, we hope that someday these same seeds will bring about a great harvest of justice and peace.

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.

Father Eric de la Pena

Pope Francis was visibly moved by the human suffering he found in Tacloban. Wearing a yellow plastic raincoat like the rest of the people during the Eucharist, he very compassionately told them, “We have a Lord who is capable of crying with us, capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of life. So many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you. But the Lord does know what to say to you. Some of you have lost part of your families. All I can do is keep silent. And I walk with you all with my silent heart.”

The words of Pope Francis echoe Peter’s sentiments to Jesus in the Gospel, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” When tragedy strikes, when plans fail, when hopes are dashed and we feel down, Pope Francis gently reminds us to come to Jesus. He is the true Friend who will never let us down no matter how bad life situations may turn out to be. But in order that God’s compassion may not be just sympathetic words, Pope Francis made sure that his prayers were followed by action. After celebrating the Eucharist, he then welcomed the survivors to a luncheon with him where they meet him personally. Beyond that, the pope also gave $150,000 to an emergency fund to help the victims. For Pope Francis, word and action are two sides of the same coin, that is, the Gospel.

At CUA, we too try to follow along the pope’s compassionate footsteps. Just a few days after the typhoon, a campus Mass was offered for the victims and fund raising events were organized to contribute to the needs of Tacloban. In fact, Campus Ministry continually looks for ways to bring God’s love to the needy not only during moments of calamity but throughout the year. On September 13 of this Fall Semester, for example, we will sponsor a service day to honor the Pope in the days leading up to his visit. We pray that more students will participate in this joyful experience of sharing their gifts and blessings so that others may know that God loves them. Life can surely get tough, but as long as “charity and love prevail, there God is ever found.”

Father Eric de la Pena

One of the greatest challenges for the Church today is to prove Her credibility once again to a world where truth is often compromised. Our people’s awareness of clergy abuse not long ago has certainly made preaching more challenging for those who work in the pulpit. Speaking in the name of God no longer brings de facto allegiance of the listeners to the speaker. There are more than words of preaching that must be done if the Word is to become flesh (Jn 1:14). The history of the popes is a testament to everyone that God does not abandon the Church, even when some of Her shepherds have betrayed the sheep multiple times. In Ez 34:15 we hear of God’s promise: “I myself will pasture my sheep.” Thus even when the ship of Peter appears lopsided and seemingly ready to sink, this earthen vessel continues to sail along miraculously above the waters because of the treasury of grace it contains.

Grace, however, is not magic nor is it automatic, and if God’s grace is to take its effect, it will require a genuine cooperation from us. For this reason, our present Pope strains hard to call everyone back to a deeper conversion, repentance, and practice of humility. He calls us to be merciful and to demonstrate our faith in God not just with words but by the fruit of our actions. This is why at Campus Ministry we strive to combine the word of preaching with works of faith. While we do our best to instill faith in what we say, we also want to see that faith expressed in the loving service of others. Anyone who comes to our office can see that there are tons of available opportunities for students to serve and make a difference in the lives of others through volunteer work and faith development. This is what Pope Francis calls the New Evangelization — it is that credible preaching once again as witnessed by word and deed.

— Rev. Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.