On Christian Joy

Dear Newman Community, 

​Greetings from Boston! I am feeling so grateful as I write to you from the campus of Boston College. I am here taking a professional development course so I can be renewed and continue to grow in my service to our wonderful community at the Newman Center. (Thank you to Fr. Alex and Sal who have been supportive in my taking time for this professional development). The course I am taking is titled "All Shall Be Well" and is focused on cultivating a theology of joy that leads to human flourishing. It has been incredible. We are reading about and discussing questions like: What brings true Christian joy? How is gratitude connected to joy? How can we learn to intentionally respond rather than simply react to the circumstances in life? What is God's vision for a human fully alive?
​
I am looking forward to sharing more about the experience when I return home. I suspect that, as with most profound learning experiences, it will seep into all that I do and am, especially my ministry with you all. In the mean time, I invite you to take a few minutes to reflect on one of my favorite quotes from one of my class readings, Pope Francis's The Joy of the Gospel.

Joyful blessings, 
Mona

"However dark things are,
goodness always re-emerges
and spreads.
Each day in our world
beauty is born anew,
it rises transformed
​through the storms of history."
               
-Pope Francis in The Joy of the Gospel