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San Francisco State University students gathered for Ash Wednesday Mass on campus March 6. Retired Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice celebrated Mass, encouraging students in his homily to find their own ways to get closer to God through Lenten prayer, fasting and charity. The event was sponsored by the campus club, with students helping distribute ashes. (Photo by Debra Greenblat/Catholic San Francisco)
March 10, 2019
Christina Gray
The more than 200 students and staff of San Francisco State University attending Ash Wednesday Mass March 6 were encouraged to find time between term papers and tests for prayerful conversations with God where they can express their fears and ask for help and healing during the 40 days of Lent.
Prayer can be “having a beer with God,” retired Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice said in his homily at the Mass. The youthful crowd roared with laughter when the bishop added that “the nice thing is, God is not going to drink the beer so you can have the whole thing.”
The Mass was hosted by the campus Newman Club, which supports the faith and spiritual growth of the estimated 4,500 Catholics in the student body of 30,000.
Bishop Justice said that a Lenten journey defined by prayer, charity and fasting can reshape our hearts and draw us closer to God. “Is there something in our personality or in the way we treat people that needs to change?” he asked. We can be healed of our flaws and fears because, “God loves us to the core.”
Bishop Justice acknowledged that busy college students might believe it is too to hard find ways to help someone else but said college campuses overflow with opportunities to serve.
“You can save the penguins in Argentina,” he said, or help kids from immigrant families study, or work for civil rights.
Lenten fasting, he said, is not simply about “giving up candy or something like that,” but should be thought of as taking “care of ourselves so we can be our best person we can be.” That can mean getting more sleep, exercising more and “not drinking as much as some college students do.”
Aira Villareal, president of the campus Newman Club, said the organization has helped her stay connected to her Catholic roots in a university atmosphere that can be indifferent to people of faith.
“Not everyone around me is Catholic and that is new to me,” said Villareal, who was born in the Philippines and moved to Los Angeles at age 8. She noticed soon after starting college that she wasn’t going to Mass as often.
“The good thing about having a Catholic community is that we are able to express our concerns and our worries so we are not holding it in or internalizing things that can turn a person away from the church,” she said.
Damian Sousa-Johnson of Turlock, also a member of the Newman Club, graduates in June and hopes to head back to the Central Valley to become a teacher. He said he “wouldn’t be the person he is today” if it were not for his Catholic faith.
“Being Catholic is the best thing in the world,” he said. Without it, “I know I would be doing whatever the heck I wanted, not caring for anybody else but myself.”