Christ – not the world – makes ‘all things new’

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Even now, as a woman religious in her early 40s, Holy Family of Nazareth Sister Josephine Garrett admits that she gets a charge out of buying a fancy new pair of tennis shoes.

While sharing her journey of faith with nearly 500 teenagers and adult youth leaders at the Sept. 24 NOLA Catholic Youth Conference at Jesuit High School, Sister Josephine traced her lifelong weakness for acquiring new things – from the time she was dazzled by the offerings of the Scholastic Book Fair as a child, to her craving for new party outfits and new ways of gaining popularity in college, to the beautiful home she was able to afford as the vice president of a bank in her native Texas.

“I had a fancy job, I made a lot of money, I changed my hair weave once a week. When I entered corporate America, all these new things were at my fingertips,” Sister Josephine recalled. “(But) in a lot of ways, I was really dying. How could new things bring about death?”

The answer would emerge gradually, after the Baptist-raised Sister Josephine began noticing the joy of the people of faith who surrounded her at the Jesuit-founded University of Dallas. Drawn in by their love for the Eucharist, she formally entered the Catholic church in 2005.

“It became shocking to me to miss the Mass,” recalled Sister Josephine, who continued to struggle in a way that’s familiar even to the most devout Catholic. She would go through a weekly cycle of  “confession on Saturday; Mass on Sunday; forget about it all on Monday.”

When she began unpacking the never-ending “ache” in her heart, she came to realize the truth behind the theme of the day’s conference, taken from Chapter 21 of the Book of Revelation: only Christ – and  not the empty promises of the world – can make “all things new.”

“We’ve always had a desire to be new, and it’s placed deep inside of us,” said Sister Josephine, who went on to profess her final vows as a religious sister in 2020 and works as a licensed counselor in private practice and at a Texas elementary school. “But if I look at TikTok more than I look at Scripture; if I stream far more than I pray; if I scroll far more than I listen to what God has to say about me –  the ‘fine print’ is that those things have become my author and my source of newness.”

When we choose instead to be made new in Jesus, even the “wreckage” of our lives will be transformed, she said. We will know a peace that is “eternal,” a love that “doesn’t age” and the hope that God’s kingdom is still coming, even when the world seems to be on fire.

“No one will have dominion over you, and no thing will have dominion over you,” Sister Josephine said. “And you’re going to have courage to run into the fire! When God is making you new, not even flames will consume you!”

Teen-friendly talks

The conference, the archdiocesan gathering formerly known as World Youth Day, resumed this year following pandemic-forced cancellations in 2020 and 2021. Open to young people in grades 8-12 who attend a Catholic high school, a Parish School of Religion or a Catholic homeschooling program, the all-day gathering also invited teens to attend two breakout sessions from three other presenters:

• Kayla Allain, a licensed counselor and the coordinator of diversity and inclusion at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, shared her personal story of resilience in the face of a physical difference and other health struggles. Allain encouraged the teens to practice empathy (actively feeling “with” and alongside a person) rather than sympathy (which enables one to disconnect from another’s struggles).

• Andrew Ferguson, a vocalist and musician from The Vigil Project (the event’s house band), shared his experiences of encountering Jesus through music in a talk entitled “Demystifying Prayer.”

• Claire Gallagher, a consecrated virgin who works as a religion teacher at St. Mary’s Dominican High School and a youth minister at St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie, explored the phenomenon of “cancel culture,” reminded the young people that Jesus is the very antithesis of cancel culture. One example: when he breaks with the prevailing Jewish norms and lovingly interacts with a “foreign” woman of ill repute – the Samaritan Woman at the Well.

Seek out your ‘Lazarus’

Calling teenagers not only the future but “the now” of the Church, Archbishop Gregory Aymond laid down a serious challenge before the young people during the conference’s concluding Mass: Identify the “Lazarus” in your life this week and reach out to that person.

The archbishop was alluding to the destitute man of the weekend’s Gospel from St. Luke – Lazarus – who despite being in grave and obvious need while living on the doorstep of the rich man, was never once acknowledged or helped by the man.

“Sometimes, my sisters and brothers, it’s not what we do that’s a problem; sometimes it’s what we don’t do,” said the archbishop during the homily inside Jesuit’s Chapel of the North American Martyrs.

“Sometimes, we say that the opposite of love is hate, (but) the real opposite of love is not hate; it’s being indifferent to the other person and not caring about them,” he noted.

Once we identify the Lazaruses in our lives, it is not necessary to become “best friends” with them, Archbishop Aymond told the young people. Often, we can bring healing to others simply by acknowledging the person, listening to his or her concerns and using our gifts to help the person to the best of our ability.

Here’s the kicker, the archbishop said: When we practice such authentic care for others, we are “seeing Jesus” in them and tending to the very wounds of Jesus.

“What I’m asking for in this Mass is for good eyes – eyes of faith – that  I can see whoever it is that God puts in my life this week, see the Lazarus who’s there and then reach out to them,” he said.

The Saturday gathering, coordinated by the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ CYO/Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office, also featured icebreakers, live music and sing-alongs with The Vigil Project, opportunities for confession with the many priests in attendance, and inspirational words from the day’s emcee, Father Andrew Gutierrez, parochial vicar of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Metairie and chaplain of Archbishop Rummel High School.

The day concluded with adoration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

bdonze@clarionherald.org