Last night, I was able to watch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ with Bishop Aymond of Austin along with about 130 other students and alumni of the University Catholic Center. To steal the words from Bishop Aymond: “Powerful… well-done… very faithful to the scriptures- he added a little here and there but overall, very faithful.”
The movie didn’t really shock me though; it didn’t surprise me. The death of Our Lord and Savior wasn’t as clean or as painless as we tried to think of it as. When Christ fell, he simply didn’t trip. He collapsed. When Veronica wiped his face, it wasn’t to wipe off a little sweat or a little blood. It was to soak up all the blood and sweat off of his face. Too often we forget about the suffering endured for our sins. One man should not have had to carry that burden, a burden that he had no share in creating. Yet, he did. Our salvation history came to a crashing- and bloody- climax when Christ left this Earth by death so we could have our salvation from the eternal death. This is our faith. This is our God. He did not simply die for us; he took abuse many of us couldn’t stand to watch on the screen much less endure. The movie captured the last tweleve hours of his life in a span of two hours. It was hard for us to watch it for two hours; he endured it for twelve hours.
And so, we as Christians can not forget this message. This is why Catholics have a special place for the Stations of the Cross. With that, I must be running to campus.

It was made public today that Frs. Ruben and Frank are going to tranferred during the summer and another Paulist(s) will be coming into replace them. As Fr. Frank said during the 8 p.m. announcement, change is good in many cases and hopefully this will be a good change. Frs. Ruben and Frank have built a new building and helped to reform a community within the building. Let’s see what the change will bring.

Welcome back to the world of Kraft. Awakening has wrapped up and I’ve given myself a week to kill before writing in this again. I write this as I should be studying for a test I have tomorrow morning. I’m not all that worried about it but all the same.
This semester so far has been a learning semester for me. Last semester, I went through growth- now I’m learning what that growth really means. The problem- and beauty- with growing is that it can change your worldview- your philosophy of life; it can rattle you.
And so now, as I study the philosophy of Chesteron, Decartes and Kant, I have to study the philosophy of Kraft. I have no formal proofs of God nor a study of how we know what we know; however, I have to explore, find, learn and study what concepts Kraftonian philosophy entails. To my benefit, Christian thought provides much of the basics- I know I am more than a body. I know I have a soul. I know the origin of that soul is from God and that I need no proof of his existance for it is clear to me, etc. The questions of what is purpose, who defines this purpose, the community greater than the individual or the individual greater than the community (or, as is probably the case, the meeting of the two), etc are not yet fully known.
Anyhow, I need to study.

THE RULES 1 – Leave a comment (my comment section is screwy, it’ll still work (albeit not like it should and you can’t tell that) so you can send me an e-mail if you wish), saying you want to be interviewed. 2 – I will respond; I’ll ask you five questions. 3 – You’ll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers. 4 – You’ll include this explanation. 5 – You’ll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed
The Questions:
1. Who is one person who inspires you? Why? Do they know that they inspire you? If you had a chance to tell them, would you?
That is a good question. I would probably say Bishop Aymond. I don’t believe he knows and I’ve had the chance often- haven’t told him yet.
2. If your friends could tell you bluntly and honestly what they thought of them, would you want them to say? Would you be able to tell your friends what you honestly thought of them? Is there any people you would avoid?
I would rather them tell me bluntly and honestly then hold back from me. For the most part, I would be able to. A couple of people I would avoid, but that’s more for them than for me.
3. If you made a mistake that cost yourself a friendship and you knew you were in the wrong, would you risk your pride and apologize or would you wait for them to apologize to you even though you knew you were in the wrong?
Easy: apologize.
4. If you could live out the character’s life in any book or movie, who would it be and why?
Father Elijah in the book of the same name. It was obvious that he had an end in sight.
5. If you had to pick one song for each day of the week to play all 24 hours of that day, which 7 songs would you pick? (I am so creative and have such tough questions!!!)
Whoa. Right now, Perfect by Simple Plan, My Immortal by Evanescence, Blessed to Be a Witness by Ben Harper, My Own Prison by Creed, In The End by Linkin Park, Why Can’t I by Liz Phair, Closing Time by Semisonic
15 years ago I: At home. Chilaxin probably. I was four- can’t expect much.
10 years ago I: Same place as Kari (Mrs. Woodard’s class). I was so proud that I remembered how to spell her last name (Schouveller).
5 Years ago I: Freshman year. That’s all I got.
3 Years ago I: I was in high school; a junior. Went to school, nothing unusual. That night I had a DYC Lock-In Planning meeting at church. The weekend that it ended up being was the only weekend I couldn’t go. I was really active in church, it was my life and it was a heathly parish. I was kicking ass in school. Better times.
1 Year ago I: I had Latin class, then tutored a grad student in English. Chemistry and UTeach classes followed. Bill Clinton spoke on campus that evening- I went with Alex. It was just a few days after Before The Throne had it’s first performance. Things weren’t too bad.

I used to wish there were more hours in the day. Now I realize that if there were more hours in the day, I would just have that much more to do.