Weekly Update from CCM: Snow edition!

February 24, 2015 by Deacon Matthew Newsome

Dear Students,

We woke up to a winter wonderland in Cullowhee today! Enjoy the snow, stay safe, and be warm. Because of the weather, I will not be able to drive in to campus today, so our usual Tuesday noon Adoration time is cancelled. Also, Community Table is closed today, so there will be no volunteer service there this afternoon.

There is snow in the forecast again Wednesday night. So all of our events this week are “weather permitting.” Please keep an eye on our Facebook Group or Facebook Page for updates as to whether a particular event is happening or not. If you are not already aware, the best weather service local to the Cullowhee area is Local Yokel Weather, so I recommend that resource to you for regional specific weather news.

TUESDAY (Today)

As mentioned above, Adoration and Community Table service have both been cancelled due to weather.

WEDNESDAY (Tomorrow)

Evening Prayer in the chapel at 6:00pm
Supper @ the Center at 6:30pm. Jessica Keene is cooking this week. Our after dinner program will be led by Katelyn and Shawn and will be all about the saints!

THURSDAY

Adoration from noon to 12:30 in the chapel.
Small Group scripture study from 5:30-6:30 on the 2nd floor of the UC.
Simply Stitched meets at CCM from 8:00 till 9:30 or so.

FRIDAY

Adoration in the chapel from 3:30-4:00.

SUNDAY

Confession/Rosary at 3:30
Mass at 4:00
Credo from 5:15-6:30. Our discussion topic this week will be on the Sacraments. What is sacramental theology? What does it mean to have a sacramental world view? What role do the sacraments have in our faith? Come with your questions!

NEXT MONDAY

Small Group scripture study from 6:00-7:00 in the Balsam Lobby.

SPRING LAKE RETREAT!

The dates for our spring retreat at the Lake House will be March 27-28. The cost to register is $20 and space is limited to 16 students. There will be a sign up sheet at CCM this Wednesday night, when we will begin taking registrations. The theme this year is “Reasons Why” and we will be looking at some of the many reasons why it’s great to be a Catholic. We hope you can join us!

FAITH FACTS

Speaking of “reasons why,” many questions Catholics get asked have to do with our prayer tradition. Why do we pray to saints? Why pray the rosary? Why do we pray formulaic prayers at all? Most of the Catholics I know with solid prayer lives pray both using their own words and formulaic prayers. Why pray using someone else’s words? Because often those prayers come to us from the saints, from scripture, or even from the Lord Himself (the “Our Father”) and can express the thoughts we wish to express in words much clearer and more beautiful than we can manage ourselves. Also, it is nice to have certain prayers memorized as an aid to us to be able to pull them out at a moment’s notice and go to in a time of need.

Today’s gospel reading is from Mt 6:7-15, and is where Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer. It’s also the passage in which Jesus warns us not to “babble” in our prayers “like the pagans.” Some translations use the phrase “vain repetition,” which often gets brought up against Catholics, as many of our prayer practices involve repeating the same prayer multiple times. Does this Bible verse mean we are wrong in praying the rosary, the divine mercy chaplet, or other forms of repeated prayer?

The answer is no, of course. Praying the rosary or other forms of repeated prayer does not violate scripture. For an in-depth look as to why, here is an article by Tim Staples, “Do Catholics Pray Vain Repetitions?” that goes into more detail about this question.

If you are unfamiliar with the rosary, we invite you to join us any time. We pray the rosary half an hour before Mass each Sunday (3:30pm in the chapel). There is also a group of students who have been meeting to pray the rosary Tuesday afternoons at 3:30 by the Catafount in the center of campus (though I don’t know is that will happen today in the snow). Come by, introduce yourself, and ask someone to show you how to pray the rosary. It’s a simple prayer that can draw you closer to our Lord through His Blessed Mother, and be a great comfort in times of need.

A young priest once saw John Paul II praying the rosary so devoutly that it really impressed upon him the importance of this devotion. He began praying the full rosary every day, all four mysteries. He still finds the time to do so today, even though that priest is now Pope Francis!

Have a blessed, snowy day!

Pax Christi,

Matt

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