Oct. 11, 2009: SJA Peer Ministry Talk

Has anyone been to France? Any French beach, like Nice? So I want you to imagine this scene. It’s 2AM in the morning. There is a night club blaring out techno music near the sea shore. On a sandy shore there sitting on benches and on sand are about a hundred or so young people like yourselves. Some are drinking, and the bottles are strewn here and there. Some are smoking. Some are buying and trying drugs like Ecstasy. And some are pairing off to go off to some private places. And off to the side, away from the beach are a group of eight people, watching all this activity with curiosity, yet with hesitation. In this group of eight, there were 5 young people like yourselves, one young priest, and two nuns in their white and brown habits. This was the first night Sr. Catherine was out doing evangelization. She was quite nervous. What should I say to them? God is the last thing that they want to hear about, she thought. She asked the other sister, “What should I do when I meet them?” And the sister replied, “Love them. Listen to them. Be present to them. Listen to their questions and reflections. Listen for where their hurts are.” Sr. Catherine thought, ‘Honestly, walking over to a group of young people who were out for a good time and to talk to them about God was not something she had in mind, especially at 2 in the morning.’ Yet, St. Catherine was haunted by the call of God, “Whom should I send? Whom should I send to let these young people know about Me?” And Sr. Catherine reluctantly said to God in silence, “Oh, okay. Send me.” As the sisters and the team approached the young people, few of them turned around and with amusement said, “Hey look! Nuns.” And the dialogue began.

Sr. Catherine began to talk with a 22 yr. old young man named Steffen. He had plenty of piercings on his face. Steffen told the sister that he has been frequenting this night club area since the age of 16. He said one of only joys in his life is to go on Raves (large techno parties). Sr. Catherine began to tell him about her personal encounter with Jesus. Steffen asked, "Did you take something, Sister?" he meant did you take Ecstasy? No, she said. They talked a little bit. Without question, he accepted her request if she could pray together. And she asked him, what would you like to ask Jesus? "I want to be happy." So sitting there with Steffen, Sr. Catherine addressed herself to Jesus with very simple words. A very sweet peace immersed both of them. And he asked the sister, “What is this thing filling my heart? I have a feeling that it's going to explode. I even want to cry. But I never cry. Is this the love of God?” So she asked him smiling, "Did you take something?" "No." As they were finishing up the prayer, he ran up to the young priest and said, "Are you a priest, a real priest? Can you do that thing where we tell you the bad things that we've done and you forgive us?" He meant the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The last time he had gone was when he was a child. Right there on the sand, with the musical background of the techno just a few feet away, he received the forgiveness of God. Sr. Catherine said, “From that moment I said, ‘What a joy to be an instrument of God.’”

But sometimes conversations don’t go so smoothly. Those that sisters and the team approach are sometimes terrible and angry. One night a sister a young person from the team were talking to a 19 yr old and his friends. A young man named Roman suddenly came up and said, "What you're saying is stupid. It doesn't mean anything!" And he began to shoot out all sorts of blasphemies against God and vulgarities. And the sister and the young person simply listened. They tried to understand where all these anger and violence were coming from. They didn’t respond to the violence because many times it was hiding great suffering. When he was done spewing out his anger, he cried out, "Where was this God of love when my father beat my mother? When I was beat trying to separate them?” The sister said, "It's not by chance that we met tonight. God wanted to put himself at your feet. Jesus was sorry that you had the impression that you were alone, that He was not there. In those difficult moments, Jesus was there then as He is here now. Roman began to cry, touched by God's presence. Sr. Catherine was amazed at the series of circumstances that put them right place at the right time.

In the beginning, Sr. Catherine felt that talking about Jesus was going to be tough and complicated, but she realized that it was very simple. All it took was to take an interest in them and to love them. This will surely open their heart to the love of God.

Ladies, we don’t have to go out to the French beach to find persons who are suffering and have lots of hurts in their life. We can find them right here in our school. God sincerely desires to touch them and to let them know that He loves them. He has chosen you as peer ministers. And He asks you, “Whom should I send?” Ladies, Sr. Catherine has taught us that it’s not tough and complicated to talk about Jesus. She taught us that all it takes is our desire to listen and to be simply be present. Ladies, it what ways can you respond to Jesus, “Here I am. Send me.”