I hope you all are doing well as we venture further into this semester! As the busyness of this semester heightens, remember that you have a home at St. Tom's, we as leaders are always here for you :)

Last week, we took part in the 3rd annual BCM Super Smash Brothers Tournament where we crowned Peter Welz champion: the Ultimate Super Smash Brother in Christ! Tonight, join us at 8:00pm in the basement of St. Tom's (Newman Hall) where we will hear from Ryan Hunt (St. Tom's Director of Operations & Liturgy Coordinator) and Matt Beeler (a graduated BCM leader) discuss marriage & dating, learning to truly discern this way of life and how to enter into the sacrament of marriage with Christ at the center of the lives of you and your partner. This will be a great discussion, so come with any questions you may have about marriage or entering into a relationship!

Today, we will also continue the notorious BCM tradition of journeying to Mad Mush to down as many super-sized pizzas as we can! We will meet after the 5:30pm Daily Mass (around 6:05pm) in the entrance of St. Tom's and walk down from there or just meet us at the restaurant.

Join us for one or both of these events, we as leaders would love to see you! Always know that no matter where you are in your faith journey (Catholic or not) or in your Purdue career (undergrad or grad student), you are always welcome to join us in fellowship at BCM drawing closer to each other as brothers, and ultimately, closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

A couple other announcements:

 

Tomorrow, we will not be going to the St. Francis Perpetual Adoration Chapel because the Exalt ministry will be having Adoration at St. Tom's at 8:00pm! All are welcome to come and adore our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist with both silent prayer and praise and worship music, I hope to see you there!

This upcoming Monday, we will continue our weekly Rosary Walk after the 5:30pm Daily Mass (around 6:05pm). All are welcome to join us for a 20-minute walk around campus where we will honor the Virgin Mary through her most Holy Rosary! Praying to & honoring our beautiful Mother through the Rosary is a amazing devotion, if it is something you have struggled with in the past, I encourage you to come pray with us: our Queen of the Universe longs for relationship with you :)

If you are anything like me, it often becomes so easy to fill our lives with work, events & activities, and worldly distractions to fill each and every one of our days. Going to a high school where I had only 8 kids in my graduating class, I was involved in everything! Now at a college that offers so many amazing opportunities in really anything you can think of, I have found it easy to do the same. What I have realized is that in a world that offers us so many distractions, both good and bad, it can be easy to allow ourselves to become consumed in them. As young men, we often can use these distractions to take us away from entering into the discernment of our vocation... the mission God has created you and only you to accomplish. As college students, most of us only have four years at Purdue, this may seem like a long time initially, but as a senior, it really does go by in a blink of an eye. 

Thinking about our vocation can be scary! Discerning where God is truly calling us, whether to religious life, marriage, or consecrated single life may initially feel intimidating as it can be hard to let go of the comfort we have found in the past, which leads us to preoccupy our lives with these distractions to block out the thought of it: a tactic used by the devil to keep us away from choosing what God has in store for our lives.

I promise that you are not alone if you feel this way and know that if you haven't looked to discern a vocation yet, that is okay too! Surrender your uncertainty to the one who knows you more than you know yourself. Our God, the King of the Universe, didn't have to create you, but He did, because He couldn't imagine a Universe without you. You have been given blessings, graces, and talents only you have received; the life God has for you is more beautiful than you could ever imagine. Trust in this fact :) 

If discernment, is something new to you, start inserting it into your prayer life, and if you don't have a prayer life, start with just a few minutes a day with the question of "Lord, what do You want for my life?". Start imagining yourself in different vocations. Imagine yourself as a husband and father. Yes, girls can be quite scary, but having the courage to ask a girl on a date is a part of discerning. Imagine yourself as a priest, start asking questions about living life as a spiritual father.

Know that the priests and staff at St. Tom's love talking about discernment, you can schedule a one on one (which I totally recommend) to talk about it with them. As leaders, we are always here for you too, don't be afraid to reach out!

Hope to see you tonight!

Praying for you always

St. Benedict, Pray for Us

-BCM Leaders