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Here We Go!

Sorry, my sister and I bought Mario Kart for Wii and I think I’ve picked up Mario’s “here weeee gooooo!”

Anyway, I am officially in the second semester of my senior year. And you know what? I am very surprisingly quite calm about the entire situation. I think what helped a lot was my participation in the Spiritual Exercises, which is a five day silent retreat offered by the Chaplains’ Office on campus. Yes, I said it.

I, Colleen Curran, the local chatterbox, went on a silent five day retreat.

At first, I thought that the silence would be tough, especially since I went with some of my best friends. But I actually just got into a rhythm of spending more time focusing on internal conversation with God and myself than external with my friends. Over the course of the five days, I learned to let go of my anxieties about this semester, next year, and my overall plan. As one of the spiritual directors, Fr. John Savard, said, “God has such a brilliant plan for you that even you can’t mess it up.” I like that optimism! It was an absolutely incredible experience – I realized that my graduate school applications are already in, my thesis is progressing, and I have a general sense of direction. And I realized that I can’t freak out about any of that stuff, especially since I have one last semester to savor. So, everyone, you should do the Spiritual Exercises. Or at least try to be silent for just a day. It’s amazing what a difference the silence makes.

Then we returned to Holy Cross…which was covered in snow.

And then Holy Cross reminded us that we’re seniors and we’re graduating soon. We had Senior Convocation, which was a night of great food, showcases of senior musical talent, and far too many trips down memory lane (laughter was the soundtrack of the night).

And before you know it, classes started. Here’s what I’m taking this semester:
1) Contemporary Literary Theory
2) Chaucer & Dante (Prof. Ireland wants to put a sign that reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” above our seminar room’s doors)
3) Chant as Popular Music
4) My thesis
5) and I’m auditing T.S. Eliot.

Exciting semester, right? Okay, if you’re a sciency person, then no.

Then, today, as if to really hammer it in to the entire senior class that we are graduating in May, the Registrar told us how to apply for graduation. Graduation. In May. Aaaaaaaaaah!

So, my goal for this last semester is to truly enjoy everything that Holy Cross has to offer – my friends, classes, and opportunities. I can’t believe that this is the beginning of the end, but it has been a fantastic first week back already.
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“Keep Reading.”

Phew. Today, I experienced the most typical Jesuit style of exam that exists. Fr. Brooks (who is Holy Cross embodied in a person) teaches my Contemporary Christology course – this course has been extremely popular with students since at least the 1980’s. It’s a hallmark of the Holy Cross Religious Studies department. Fr. Brooks constructs the class so that each student will research one contemporary theologian for an entire semester. It’s all independent work, and the weekly class meeting usually covers a general theme of Christology – suffering, the Incarnation, Jesus’ consciousness, etc. There’s no written work, and there’s no assessment prior to our exam. Our grade rests all on our final, which is a two hour examination by three to five outside professors. You are expected to know your theologian well enough that if they ask any question, you should be able to respond, “Well, my theologian would respond in such a way.” It’s a terrifying thought, really. On top of that, I researched Karl Rahner, who is a particular favorite of Fr. Brooks’. Yikes!

So 3:30 came around, and the five of us entered the examination room. As the professors fired away and made us syncretize what our theologians were saying, all five of us started to get into a rhythm. We started defending our various positions and engaged each other in debates (all in good nature, I assure you!). It was fantastic and probably one of the best experiences in my time at Holy Cross. Afterwards, Fr. Brooks treated us to an extremely nice dinner in Hogan where the debates continued – talk about a dinner table conversation! At the end, Fr. Brooks closed with the quote with which he always closed class – “Keep reading.”

This exam was, I think, one of the most enriching experiences that I’ve had at Holy Cross. It wasn’t your typical exam at all. Instead of having to know the right answer immediately, we were all allowed to think through our answers and reflect for a bit. It truly was an event in which we could articulate all that we had learned for the past semester instead of trying to cram it into one blue book. Was it intimidating that there were three other professors who were firing questions at me? Yes. But did I love it? Yes. I constantly had to think about and defend Rahner, and it made me realize exactly how much I have learned over the past semester. So, to any prospective students (or even current students at Holy Cross): enroll in Contemporary Christology. It is the best course that you will take at Holy Cross.

And now I’m off to study for Shakespeare and write my Apocalypticism paper. But I will be home in less than two weeks!
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A Jesuit Success Story

Today, a certain organization held a recruiting information session for seniors. When I first entered Holy Cross, I only wanted to work for this organization – that was my plan. Then the Jesuits got a hold of me and the rest is history…

My Jesuit education made me reflect on why I even wanted to join this organization – did I feel a strong passion for it? Could I be a woman for others by working for them? Was this organization the best way to redistribute my talents to better society? After periods of deep reflection, I realized that the answer to all of those was no. Instead of planning out my life based upon one organization, I began to explore my personal interests – what made me tick, what resonated within me the most.

Instead of attending that organization’s recruiting fair, I skipped off to the library to work on my thesis on Julian of Norwich and Flannery O’Connor. Funny how things change.