On Love Stories

                Several months ago, a few members of the Core Team here at St. Mary’s and I got in a slightly heated discussion about the merits of Disney Princesses. Several male members of our team took up the offense, while me and the lovely Sara Bushland, the defense. They claimed that all they were about was finding the perfect man, moving into his castle and living happily ever after. We countered that they were in fact about finding yourself, and also, that there is no truly great story in our world that does not feature love in some form or fashion. Even the dude-liest of dude movies has some semblance of love. Naturally, Sara and I emerged victorious.

                Thanks in large part to a weird memory that brings up the most pointless of thoughts, this discussion came up in my head during prayer recently. I was praying through the sorrowful mysteries when all of a sudden, it hit me. There is no truly great story in our world that does not feature love, and the greatest of stories our world has ever heard has love at its absolute core- the story of our Lord, on the cross.

                See, crazy as it is, I never really thought about why Jesus pushed through all of those stations we now pray through. I never really consideredwhy he endured the tortures of the cross. Ultimately, I already knew it was for my salvation. For the forgiveness of my sins, He took the weight of them onto His holy shoulders. I knew those things in my head. But what always stood out in my mind, however, was how wickedly high Jesus’s pain tolerance was. I was so focused on the pain He bore that I never truly saw the purpose of why he bore it.

                I admired Christ’s patience, His courage to go through with it all, even His humility in accepting the torment and torture of those He came to save. But what was revealed to me while praying the rosary and meditating on the same mysteries that I have a million times, is something I thought I already knew. True patience, courage and humility are born from the same mother- Love.

Love is something that seems so supernatural and yet so earthly at the same time. It is something no one but Christ and His mother can do perfectly, and yet, we all do to some degree love something, or someone. Love pushes us past our limits, to the very edge of human capabilities. Love has transformative properties in us. I think about those experiments done during World War II, how love shown through just holding an infant for fifteen minutes a day can make or break their lives. I think about how love can push mothers to lift cars over their children. And I think about how love pushed the God-Man to bear insult, injury and death with patience, courage and humility.

It was love that motivated Him to rise up out of the Garden of Gethsemane and face his captors, and love that helped Him forbear whippings that tore his skin to shreds. It was love that let Him sit in silence while he was mocked and crowned with thorns, and love that made Jesus stand up and continue on the road to Calvary. It was love that came pouring out when he begged for forgiveness of his own murderers. And it is love that will bear us through this world.

Without love, there are no truly great stories. Without love, there are no stories at all. Love is such a key element of the human experience, our hearts burst with it so much, that it inevitably pours out onto paper, into ears and hearts, who crave more of it. That is why the great stories all circulate around love. We crave it, because it is a critical and necessary part of us. And we will keep craving it until we find the source of all love and rely on it. God himself, in the Holy Trinity.

I now understand what Saint Augustine meant when he said “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Our hearts need His love, and they won’t rest until they do, so give your hearts a break already and find what you seek in Him. Become one of the great stories (we just call them saints). 

Keara King gets excited about the little things in life-like bagels on Friday, swinging on swing sets, and Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. She is a senior student at SFA, from Flower Mound, Texas. She is a social work major, and a member of the Core Team at St. Mary's Catholic Campus Ministry. 

"Riding With the Waves" By Sara Bushland

                Stressed. Once I heard that stressed spelled backwards is desserts, which is ironic because all I crave when I’m feeling overwhelmed is some fresh chocolate chips cookies with a tall glass of milk. Lately,

though, that word has become infectious and has caught on to the vocabulary of every person I have come in contact with. It seems that we have accepted stressed as the automatic answer whenever anyone looks depleted, lethargic, or even when they act out in an inappropriate manner. We are all just trying to work off some stress.

                In a sense, it’s great. We all relate to each other, and stress has a way of lighting the fire beneath our feet. Plus people in high stress scenarios tend to bond more easily with each other. Stress’ dark side is better known to most of us though. It can be debilitating, causing your heart to race and filling your stomach with those ghastly butterflies (definitely not the nice kind, we’re talking more like moths for most of you). Sometimes the pressure we’re constantly under can seem like tsunami waves that at any moment are going to crash down, annihilating you in one fowl swoop. Currently that’s the boat that I seem to find myself in and it’s exhausting. Luckily there is an answer, and you have all probably guessed it already, but I’m going to share anyway: the answer is Jesus.

                Okay cheesy, I know, but take a quick journey with me.

                You are sitting in a boat. It’s a small, wooden rowboat, but it’s a nice day and the small waves that you drift over cause you no alarm. Occasionally a larger one comes about, but it passes quickly and with it so goes your anxiety. You become comfortable and you drift asleep. You are awaken by a large crash and you look up to see that the sun has disappeared and in its place there are large menacing clouds, darker than sin, with cracks of lightning brightening the sky. This only shows you the deep water that sounds you crashing and cresting over in monstrous waves. How did this happen? Weren’t we just drifting nicely minutes ago?

                Raise the alarm, because with no land in sight and no one to contact, a full blown panic attack is about to begin, adding your own salty tears to this dreaded ocean of discontent. You frantically search around, in hopes that some miracle can save you. That’s when you spot Him. There He is, sound asleep in the back of the boat. Nothing seems to be alarming Him, and He doesn’t stir as yet another bolt of lightning crashes and the boat shakes filling with water. You rush over and hastily wake Him. You beg and plead, can’t He see you two are about to perish? Can He not save you?

                He slowly awakens and with one simple swish of the wrist and a small command, the waters calm and the sky is once again that beautiful, clear blue. He walks over to you. You are quite considerably a mess: your hair is out of place, mascara smeared, and let’s not even talk about your drenched clothes. He looks down at you with loving yet exhausted eyes. He gently reprimands, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (NIV Mark 4:40). He smiles warmly. Finally in typical Jesus style, He walks away (yeah, our Savior walks on water).

                

I know this is going to blow your mind, but the waves are your stresses and that mysterious Man is Jesus. Also a mind blowing revelation, this story is in the bible (I may have added a few adjectives though). The important thing to take away from it is that we are going to be caught in a few storms and sometimes it may even feel like hurricane season, but Jesus is always in our boat. Sometimes He gets a little sleepy and takes a nap, but He is not going to let us drown. With that knowledge we can take a deep breath. The stresses of life may try to knock us down, but with Jesus as our center we’re as sturdy as rocks, no storm can drown us.

                I hope the next few weeks, months, years are not too stressful, but when you get to that point when you feel like breaking, find Jesus sleeping in your boat. Go to mass, spend some time in adoration, blow the dust off your bible, or just meditate on the joys God has given you as well as the stresses. I promise they’re here and I promise, He is not going to let you drown. 

Sara Bushland is a Senior at Stephen F. Austin State University, currently serving as President of Kappa Upsilon Sigma. She is studying Rehabilitation Services with a Specialization in Orientation and Mobility, largely inspired by her youngest sister. Sara is fearless when it comes to grabbing people's attention on campus, loves coffee and braiding hair, and is pretty fond of #authenticrelationships! Feel free to e-mail her at sbushland@gmail.com!