Dan Rooney – Class of 2015

What are your memories of lent from your youth? How do they affect how you observe lent today?
When I was growing up, Lent was a time where you could not eat meat on Fridays, gave up something to see if you could last forty days without it, and where you could not sing Alleluia in church. At my grammar school, St. John Fisher, I vividly remember how we dealt with the latter most problem, not singing at the Alleluia at mass. For the Ash Wednesday service, eighth graders, who planned most masses at St. John Fisher, made a large banner with ALLELUIA in big block letters taking up the whole banner. Then, after explaining that we cannot sing the Alleluia in church and why we could not, placed the banner in the box. During the prayer service preceding the Easter break, they pulled the banner out of the box, symbolizing the joy that would happen that sunday.
Today, I try to observe lent as intently as possible. At least once a week, I try to set aside more time to pray. During lent, I try to pray the whole rosary at least once a week. If I ever have a day off from school during lent, I like to, instead of sleeping in, wake up early and attend 8:15 morning mass at St. John Fisher. I am going to try this year to attend mass at Brother Rice, which they have every Wednesday. I may not be able to go every week, but I will try to do go as much as possible.
During lent, I enjoy stepping back, and really looking at where I am spiritually. I try to spend as much time as I can alone in prayer, and also in church. While life remains busy during lent, I try to slow down and spend more time devoting myself to God. Lent is meant to give you time to be able to find God in yourself, and I plan on taking as much time as I can give.

Brendan Ferguson – Class of 2015

As a youth at school our teachers had us give something up for Lent for forty days. As told for Lent you were to give up something for forty days before Easter. This was done because of the forty days Jesus was stranded in the desert. We would have to give something that we would use everyday that wasn’t necessary for life such as: pop, video games, tv, gum, etc. As a kid most kids would try to give up something like that but they would usually use something they use a lot but not all the time so it wasn’t that difficult for them.
How do I see Lent today? I see Lent definitely not the same as I did as child, I’ve grown to see that Lent is not just about giving something up for forty days. Even though you are to give something up but Lent is also about helping out and doing good things also. I do now give up something difficult for me to not use and don’t use it at all during the forty days of Lent.

Alex Nemeh – Class of 2015

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, a day that “brings us back to our roots” by symbolically blessing our foreheads with ashes. This symbolizes how evolved the human race has developed and how we should always remember where we came from. Phones and other technology often sidetrack us and keep us busy. Most modern people (especially teenagers) rarely find time to enjoy aspects of life such as nature or simple conversation. By giving up my phone for Lent, I will have more time to appreciate these things and the simplicity and beauty of the gift of life itself.
The concept of sacrifice is innate in the Season of Lent in that God sent his only Son to sacrifice his life for us and to become one of us so that we could connect more personally with him. Us humans also have to make sacrifices in life to become successful and to achieve goals. Thus, giving up my phone for Lent will benefit me personally because I will be able to focus more on my studies in school (specifically my anatomy book as I plan to study biology in college) and will have more free time and leisure to read on topics that interest me. Also, this sacrifice will pay off in the end for many other reasons: better sleep, more prayer time and more personal interactions.

Luke Wolf – Class of 2015

Lent is the 6 weeks in which we remember when Jesus Christ gave his life for all of us. When I think of the lent the first thing that comes to mind is Easter Sunday. This Sunday is the most celebrated Sunday in the 52 weeks of the year because we remember what Jesus did for us and how he gave his life for us. Lent reminds me of a play from 8th grade when I played the role of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross. It means a lot to me and everytime lent comes around it makes me think of that play.
Every year at St. Symphorosa the 8th grade class performs the Stations of the Cross. When we first discussed the play I didn’t have much interest in it and didn’t want a major role in it. When the day of distributing roles a fellow classmate recommended me to play the main role of Jesus. At first I said no because it was a huge responsibility and all eyes would be on me throughout the whole play. When my teacher asked who wanted to be Jesus my classmate patted my back and I raised my hand to take on the role of Jesus.
After all the practices and the two shows I was surprisingly glad I had the role of Jesus and thanked my friend for encouraging me to volunteer myself. It was an experience like no other, being in the same shoes of Jesus. Not exactly feeling what he felt going through the stations, but just imagining what would actually happen if I was about to be crucified really changed my view on everything. I finally realized how brave and outgoing Jesus was and what he went through, just to receive hate from non followers and respond with love and understand is truly amazing.

Ryan Ludwig — Class of 2015

In very simple terms, reverence can be defined as respect. According to Catholic Social Teaching, as humans we are to respect life in all capacities. Life is God’s precious creation, so why should we do anything other than have the utmost respect for it? Reverence for life is a topic that I feel strongly attached to; a teaching that I believe should be followed by all. It is my duty as both a Christian, and just a decent human being to do what is right. Respecting life is always the right choice and one cannot go wrong.

There are countless ways that we can show reverence towards life. One way is simple and has been taught since Moses received God’s laws. The fifth commandment states that we are not to kill. This is a very basic yet important way that we can respect life- let God be in control of life. Another way that we can show reverence for life to follow Jesus’ teaching that we are supposed to love our neighbor. If we love our neighbors- our friends, families, and all those around us- we will be respecting life. We should treat all people with dignity because it is our Christian duty. Life is meant to be respected in all ways, even if it is just as simple as smiling at someone.

Patrick Rogers — Class of 2015

Reverence for life means a lot to me in a couple of different ways. First, I believe that we should respect life to the fullest and never take it for granted. One way that people don’t respect life is abortion. No one should take a soon to be child’s life away because they made a mistake or they don’t want to raise a kid. That is a human being and the person just killed another human.

My sister just went down to March For Life and I strongly agree with her decision to go because we should try to stop abortion in any way we can because it is a killing of another human being that won’t get to experience life. Respecting life means to try and make the most out of the life you have. Every day is a gift and we never know what the future holds so we should make the most of it. Make the most out of everyone around you and respect all the people in this world because everyone is created equal. We all live in the same world and all have chances to make impacts in our lives but why would we throw it away and make the world a worse places such as killing, abortion, etc. Life should be treated to the fullest and not took for granted because some people don’t have the same opportunities as others. Everyone needs to respect life and never take it for granted.

Jack Colisk — Class of 2015

One thing that every human being gets right when they are born into life is their distinct right to life. It does not matter who you are or were you come from. When a person is a new born baby they have a right to life because they have not done anything wrong with their life so why should they die? I do not think if two people make the “mistake” of conceiving a child they should have the right to abort it because you have to give the unborn baby a chance. If you really can not deal with it financially or mentally then put him/her up for adoption.
From both divine revelation and natural law, we know that there is something special about human life. We are made in the image of God. Protection of human life and dignity is a natural instinct of all people and stands at the core of Catholic social teaching. The life and dignity of the human person is foundational to Catholic social teaching precisely because without it, no other rights have meaning.
Life is the greatest gift anyone can give a person because that alone will give a person a chance. We as a people should strive to gain a better respect for human life and we should try and be better people in our everyday lives.

John Brandt — Class of 2015

The Catholic Church takes a positive stance on reverence for life. The Church sees life as something only God can control. In this way, humans should not have the ability to take the lives of others or themselves. The Church views any action by humans to interfere with the gift of life as a mortal sin. Life is considered a sacred thing from birth to death, no exceptions.
For the most part, the Catholic Church has strong stances on topics such as abortion. The church opposes abortion in all forms because it interferes with the gift of life that occurred at conception. Even though the baby has not yet been born, it is still considered murder for a woman to decide to abort the child. I agree with the church in that abortion should always be looked at as an immoral action. Many factors go into the decision to get an abortion, however, I feel that only in very rare cases would it be a reasonable decision. I agree with life being a sacred thing that should be in God’s hands not by our control.
Another important life topic that the church is opposed to would be human manipulation of life. Bioethics plays a part in this because certain research goes to human creation of life. Genetically altering cells seems to be something that scientists one day hope to perfect, however the Catholic Church is strongly opposed. The church does not in any way support the idea of life created by humans. I agree with this stance because life wasn’t meant to be created by humans, however, I do approve of research to help better the human condition. It is only a matter of time before humans will have the ability to alter life, however I believe that it is important to remember that only God should have powers to both create and destroy life.

Andrew Jordan — Class of 2015

The Catholic Church’s social teaching regarding life is that all life is to be respected, revered, preserved, and not interfered with. The dignity of a human being is the basis for moral behavior in the Catholic faith. One of the earliest and most profound religious truths is that all men are created equal. This suggests that all humans should be gifted with access to as much of their lives as humanly possible. There are various ways in today’s society to prematurely end life. Two specific actions are firmly detested by the Church: abortion and euthanasia. These actions, which involve ending life in different ways, which I find immoral and not right.
What people fail to recognize is that there are more options than the few that involve the termination of life. Also to understand is that the Church offers forgiveness. Some people are immediately turned away from the Catholic faith because they believe they are never provided with a choice. I concur with the Church’s view of life, that it should ultimately be preserved and not altered. The opposing side of the argument believes that there should be no reason for a person to suffer in sickness, and that euthanasia should be utilized to end misery. This explanation is somewhat rational. Why would God want His people suffering when they do not have to? Well, we as humans are not gifted with foresight, and can not see into the future. Although the person may be suffering, ending his or her life too early clearly disrupts the natural course that the person would have experienced. This same applies to an aborted child. This child has the potential to live a rich life, and create its own path. An alternative to abortion, adoption, is a viable option in the Church’s eyes. At least, in the case of adoption, the child or children have the ability to experience the natural course of their lives. Steve Jobs, an adopted child, lived one of the most prosperous lives in human history. This is why I firmly believe that life should be unaltered by man and run its natural course.

My dad has been a shepherd in my life because he teaches me many things and leads by example. Staying away from today’s pressures isn’t that difficult but on those days when you start to give in the; it makes it easier to say no if I know my dad was able to do it. He shows me the basic things every growing man should know such as fixing the little things that go wrong in the house. (i.e. plumbing and electrical things). He told me how he had a lot of freedom as a kid so he had to learn to keep himself organized and disciplined. He was always top of the class and always worked his hardest because he didn’t accept anything but perfect for himself.