Why a Fashion Show?

To the Ladies of Franciscan University,

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. You are. And I know you know that, but do you believe it?

That is the reason we wanted to have this Fashion Show. At the beginning of the school year the Women’s Ministry Core Team was on retreat and we got into a really deep conversation about the fact that we sometimes struggle to see our own beauty because we get trapped in webs of lies, negativity, and comparison. Fighting those lies and negativity has been the theme of our mission this year, and we wanted that to culminate in this final event. Our goal with this Fashion Show is to empower you, in a fun and engaging way, with the truth, knowledge, and understanding needed to embrace your body and fight the lies of comparison and negative self-image. By providing some practical tips about how to best fit and flatter your unique and beautiful body, we hope to help you begin to feel fabulous in your own skin.

I know that some might be skeptical of our choice to have a Fashion Show because they might think it is either too superficial an approach or too patronizing to judge some clothing as being better than others. Allow me to briefly address both of these concerns, because I believe them to be valid ones, and explain why we still chose to have this event.

It is true that our clothing is NOT US. We cannot be superficial and think that it is. Yet why does it hurt so much when someone criticizes our choice of clothing? Why do we take that personally? If there was no connection between our personhood and our clothing, then this would not be the case. But it is. The reason why is that our clothing does say something about us, even if our clothing is not us.

It is because we recognize this truth that we believe a Fashion Show is a worthwhile endeavor. We want to give women the tools to say with their clothing the truth about who they are, and that truth is that they are BEAUTIFUL. This desire to express in a visible and material way a deep and profound truth is an extremely CATHOLIC notion. One might even call it sacramental. It is why babies are given white garments when they are baptized or why religious sisters wear veils.

St. Gianna Molla says that, “We must be living witnesses of the beauty and grandeur of Christianity,” and yes, we witness to others in a profound way with the clothing we wear. But we also witness to ourselves. We know that we are beautiful but we can forget this, just as we can “forget” that Christ is present in the Eucharist. That is why the Church helps to remind us, with outward signs like kneeling, of the reality before us. Just as the habit of kneeling reminds us that the Body of Christ before us deserves our reverence, so can the habit of dressing ourselves in beautiful clothing remind us that the body before us in the mirror deserves our reverence too.

It is my greatest hope and prayer that you would come to know and believe that you are beautiful, and if anything that is done or said in this Fashion Show helps you to realize that, I praise God for it.

In the Fire of Christ’s Love,

Alyssa Snyder

Student Head of Women’s Ministry, 2016-2017

Please join us for our Fashion Show Wednesday April 5 at 8pm in the Gentile Gallery! Snacks and alcoholic beverages will be provided (with ID).

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Alyssa is a Junior at Franciscan studying Humanities and Catholic Culture, Theology, and Philosophy. She is a native of Texas where she lives with her family in a blue-roofed house on top of a hill. She is passionate about the Truth of the Lord's Incarnation and loves spending time discovering and discussing ways in which others have incarnated the Gospel in film, history, literature, politics, and art. Her favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena because they both personify St. John Paul II's "feminine genius" in her mind.

Your Will, Your Way

“It will be my joy to say: Your will, Your way.”

-Lay Me Down by Chris Tomlin 

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  Sitting in the Portiuncula Chapel today, I prayed a rosary.  While meditating on the sorrowful mysteries, it really hit me how much Jesus suffered for us.  He was reduced to almost nothing—physically, mentally, and spiritually.  He was separated from who He is, so that He could be with us forever and ever because His love is THAT STRONG.

Meditating on Christ’s suffering, I started thinking about myself and how often I say “Jesus, I Trust You” and then a few minutes later go back to chasing my selfish dreams and participating in the “world.” Or how often I tell Him “I surrender to You” and then start making my own plans.  How often do I speak words to the Lord of my Life, unaware of their weight, their truth, their meaning, and most importantly their promise.  But as I sat in the Portiuncula and took in all the hurt He went through for me, for you, for us—His children--I started to reflect on the idea of truly, truly surrendering. 

Why would I ever want my life to be in my hands, the hands who nailed Christ to the cross through my sin, my fallen nature?

Why would I want my life to be in my hands, hands restricted to time and the limits of human nature? 

Why would I want my life to be in my hands, when I can barely figure out what to wear or what to eat for breakfast?

 No, my life should be in His hands, the hands that were pierced for me and still looked at me with love; the hands that gave me His body to hold and consume; the hands that hold me when I can barely make it through the day.  Those are the hands, the loving, beautiful, healing, eternal hands that my life should be in.

My sisters, surrender is not a trap, but rather a beautiful source of freedom.  It is a freedom in which we are able to lay down at the feet of our Lord and give Him everything.  It is a freedom in which we are truly allowed to live our lives the way the Father has designed them to be—in the fullness of truth.  In surrender, we have freedom from fear, from worry, from anxiety.  In surrender, we can be full of joy and peace.  In surrender, we need only follow His sweet voice and the rest He will take care of. 

As I sat and stared at Jesus in His most beautiful form, He gave me the words to live my life by forever and ever: “Your will, Your way.”  Since this night, I have felt so peaceful because I wake up each day and whisper these words to Him.  I will never take them back because the truth is, I know that Jesus will lead me where He wants me to be, and for the first time, I am completely willing to go wherever that may be.  For the first time, I am fully ready to be the woman He designed me to be, and that, that is the source of my peace and joy.

So where are you?  Are you holding back that little piece of your heart because you’re scared to give it to Him?  He loves you…

Are you worried He is calling you out of your comfort zone?  Think about St. Peter…

Do you fear He will lead you far from the person you once were?  He might, but in order to transform you so that you might grow.  He’ll be with you the whole way…

Are you afraid to let someone love you because you’ve only been hurt by love?  His love is perfect…

Do you think you’ve sinned too much, that there is no way the Father could ever use your life and make it beautiful?  He hung on the cross for the sole purpose of mercy and forgiveness.  He forgave the soldiers who beat His very flesh.  Nothing you could do could separate you from His ocean of mercy…

Do you fear a lack of control?  But control is stressful! Give Him a chance…

The things holding you back from Him are all the more reason to let Him in.  He is Truth.  His plan is so much greater than you can even begin to imagine, and not a single one of these reasons could ever be great enough to hold you from surrendering everything.  Look at the saints, look at priests and religious, look at Pope Francis.  Look where these people have come from.  They are just like you and me…they each had a past.  The reason their lives are beautiful stories is because they let the author write the story the way He planned to. They surrendered.

Let Him write your story.  Hand over your fragile heart, and let yourself become His.  Set yourself in the arms of Love.  He will not disappoint you.  Whisper this to Him: “Oh Jesus, I surrender myself to You.  Take care of everything.”  And trust that He will.

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Shelby Hawks is a freshman at Franciscan from the sunny state of California.  She enjoys long walks on the beach (like for real) and could sing you every word to every Taylor Swift song if needed.  Shelby can be #spotted in the library, in the Portiuncula, or drinking Chai tea in the JC Williams Center.  She loves to write (especially about Jesus) and is so excited to be sharing her passion with the readers of this blog.  She gives all glory to God for her talent to share His love through her writing.

Finding a Light in the Darkness: My Battle with Depression and Anxiety

You’re worthless. You’re a burden to everyone. No one is ever going to love you.

I’m sure some of you have been a victim to these lies. Throughout much of 2016, these were the thoughts that attacked my mind regularly. I’ve battled with anxiety and depression for years; however, during the first half of this year, the battle was vicious, and I often was left bleeding and broken, desperate to escape these illnesses that haunted me.

Some days, life simply felt dull, gray, and joyless. Other days, I felt immense pain and grief so strongly that it felt as if someone had died. But really it was just a part of myself that felt as if it had perished: the part of myself that could feel happiness and joy.  I no longer saw the worth in myself or in living. With the waves of intense panic attacks and deep depression, simply being alive felt like a daunting task. Everyday felt like I was walking around with a weight on my chest, endlessly trying to catch my breath.  Being alive hurt.

I know some of you, if not many, can understand what I am describing. But many people I opened up to couldn’t seem to grasp what I was experiencing. When someone explains that they are having negative thoughts, people always preach to look at the bright side and think positively. But there was no bright side in my head. No ounce of light could penetrate the darkness that clouded my mind. My depression and anxiety affected me so greatly that I could not differentiate between the lies that they fed me and my reality. Sometimes it was obvious that these lies were not the truth. But other times they came shadowed in thoughts that seemed perfectly normal. The lies merged and weaved themselves throughout the inner workings of my brain so seamlessly that these twisted and dark thoughts appeared to be perfectly sane.  I was no longer apart of reality. I was completely drowning in my darkness, and it felt like no one would ever save me. I decided that, at some point, I was going to end my life.  If I could describe myself in one word, it would be hopeless.

Eventually, I realized that I could not live this way any longer. Truly by the grace of God, I asked for help. Eventually, I was able to pull my way out of the darkness I was so entrenched in.

Since seeking help, I can already see the grace of God in my life. I’ve met so many beautiful people and had many beautiful experiences that I would have missed out on if I had taken my life in my own hands.

With depression and anxiety, and any other mental illness, almost every day is a struggle. Sometimes getting out of bed feels like running a marathon. Sometimes just sitting in class brings unbearable pain with the anxiety it causes me. Every day is a challenge, and I’m not saying that going to adoration or mass everyday will fix a mental illness. But the closer I’ve grown to God, the more I can see His hand in my life, the more I can trust that He has a plan for me, and the more I know that my suffering will not be fruitless. I still have days that I feel extremely depressed, anxious, worthless, inadequate, and that I just honestly would rather not be alive.

But I grasp onto God. I have to trust that I am here for a reason. Trusting in God is extremely difficult sometimes. To me, trusting God can feel like jumping off a cliff into a deep, dark abyss, and just praying He will catch me as I fall. A leap of faith you might call it. But that’s what God is calling us to do. To let go. To leave everything in His hands.

Maybe you aren’t dealing with depression or anxiety, but everyone is dealing with something. Everyone has wounds that are still aching, burdens that feel too heavy to bear. And sometimes the weight is so unbearable, we feel like it is too difficult to go on. That we should give up. That we are too weak, inadequate, or worthless. And, in extreme cases, that we simply cannot continue being alive.

No matter what you are struggling with, trust that God will reach through the thick of the darkness and hold you in his arms. Trust that when you let go, he will take control. He will never leave you. God never lets anything happen that would interrupt his divine plan for you. And no matter how hard it is to believe, he has a plan.  When the weight of the world is on your shoulders, know that you don’t have to carry it on your own.

Have hope. He has a plan for me. He has a plan for you. Trust.

“I plead with you—never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.” – St. John Paul II

If you are struggling with anxiety and/or depression, please do not feel like you are alone. There are many resources out there to help, some right here on Franciscan’s campus.


There are two groups here on campus sponsored by the Counseling Center that are designed to help students learn skills to manage depression or anxiety.


For depression:
Lifting the Spirit
7 week group
Tuesdays @ 6­-7 pm
February 7- ­March 28
Cost: $30
Interested in this opportunity?
Please contact Dan Pinciaro
DPinciaro@franciscan.edu

 For anxiety:
Quenching the Anxious Spirit
7 week group
Thursdays @5:30-6:30 pm
February 9-March 30
Cost: $30
Please Contact Dan Pinciaro
DPinciaro@franciscan.edu


I love you, and I'm praying for you. Remember--you are never alone

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Jacque Anderson is a Junior at Franciscan University majoring in English with a Writing Concentration. She has a passion for serving others, especially women, through writing and relational ministry. Some of her other passions include health and fitness, taking photos, and reading. Her biggest role models are JPII, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Fr. Michael Scanlan, TOR, and Father Mike Schmitz. You can learn more about Jacque here.

Repost: "To Pray Always Is to Desire Always"

      In the wake of Saturday's "Beloved" event, which brought hundreds of women together from across the campus of Franciscan University, and focused on the theme of "Desire," we thought it would be fruitful to share some of Christopher West's thoughts on desire. As we enter into the middle of the week, take some time to reflect on and pray with the words below.
  

Image source: here

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   "Luke tells us that the purpose of the parable we hear in this Sunday’s Gospel reading is to teach us “the necessity … to pray always without becoming weary.” Is this even possible? It depends how we understand prayer.  Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “The Fathers of the Church say that prayer, properly understood, is nothing other than becoming a longing for God.” Let that sink in. The Christian life is never a matter of annihilating our longings. It’s a matter of redirecting them towards their true object. It’s called prayer. To “pray always,” then, as this Sunday’s Gospel admonishes us to do, one must learn how to live within the painful “ache” of constant longing for heaven, for the Marriage of the Lamb. To the degree that we remain “attached” to the pleasures of this world, we have not yet learned to pray. “So brethren, let us long, because we are to be filled,” says Saint Augustine. “That is our life, to be trained by longing; and our training through the holy longing advances in the measure that our longings are detached from the love of this world.” How do we pray always? Augustine concludes: “Desire is your prayer; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” Lord, teach us to pray!"

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Christopher West's Blog, and this original post, can be found at:
http://corproject.com/cor-thoughts-173-to-pray-always-is-to-desire-always/