Verbum Dei leads campus ministry
This past Valentine's Day some students at San Francisco State University had dinner together and took in a movie. It was nothing all that unusual, perhaps. But then the young adults ended the evening in a different and very quiet way: with a spiritual reflection and an exchange of prayer journals.
Many students said it was their best Valentine's Day ever.
The students were young adult Catholic members of the San Francisco State Newman Club. The Valentine's Day socializing and prayerful finish was organized by the young sisters of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, which has five novices and 16 missionaries with vows in its San Francisco community and has led the SF State Catholic campus ministry since 2004.
The combination of fun and prayer exemplified the fraternity's spirituality and students' attraction to the sisters' Scripture-based charism in a world saturated with media.
"What I sense is that they learn through these moments, and through the retreats, how to be silent," said Sister Su Fern Khoo, VDMF, the full-time campus minister. "And not only that, but they love the silence and they never thought they loved it.
"They love to talk to God," she said, "and they never thought that they could because they couldn't be silent."
Slowly, it seems, students realize they can be without their iPods. They realize that silence is not only acceptable but also enjoyable.
"It's very uniting," said senior Barbara Quigley, 23, who comes to the club for the fellowship and a sense of common belief. "I find a lot of solidarity in it and strength in it, to be honest with you."
Chelsa Salvani, 18, a freshman majoring in business, likes the club's comforting sense of family. She also said the group is helping her grow in her spirituality: "(I am) finally taking the initiative myself to learn about my faith and to grow in faith."
Verbum Dei spirituality is centered on the Word of God. Scripture is the group's daily nourishment - it is what they pray, study, live, celebrate and announce to every person. Under the fraternity's direction, the 15 to 20 active Newman Club members now integrate a moment of reflection with their community service projects. Their main activity is a weekly reflection, called Scripture Bytes. Through the fraternity, they have also instituted an Ash Wednesday Mass on campus and an interfaith peace and justice concert.
Formed in Spain in 1963, the fraternity describes itself as "an international family extending to and embracing people of all states and areas of life, united with one and the same charism and mission. We seek to be a clear expression of the Kingdom of God, building up Christian communities of living faith, through prayer, witness of life, and the ministry of the Word."
The fraternity received a boost in 2007 when Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the missionaries "to continue on their path with determination, following Christ closely and cooperating with the evangelizing mission of the Church."
Members of the fraternity draw the strength to do what they do from the command in the Gospel of St. Matthew: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.'
"The only thing I expect, or hope rather, is that (students) grow in their relationship with God," Fern said. She said her only desire is that the young adults discover God and take Him wherever life leads them.
"It's like what Teresa of Avila said, when you teach someone to pray you save their life, because God can go with them everywhere," Sister Su Fern said.
Sister Su Fern describes the campus ministry as a "ministry of presence." She means that she is simply there for the students to talk or to listen.
The club's social activities include potluck meals, movies, bonfires and hiking retreats in Muir Woods. But amid all the fun are moments to be enriched spiritually.
"We try to lead them to some other moment where they can have a deeper moment of prayer," Sister Su Fern said.
By Audrey Cabrera Amort
From April 3, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
