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Love is an open door Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am Yu Zhao (Joseph), a rising junior at the University of Dayton and I am majoring in Psychology. It is such a blessing for me to participate the Los Angeles immersion trip this year. The most anticipating trip for me was to visit the Homeboy industry, a non-profit organization founded by Fr. Greg Doyle S.J. who has changed and saved thousands of former gang members’ life by treating them with love, dignity and offering them jobs in the homeboy industry. Today, my dream finally came true.      Upon arrival, all members of the Homeboy industry have already gathered in the main lobby of the building, greeting and encouraging one another, listening to the schedule of the day, and holding hands together to pray for fulfilling their mission of the day. While we were praying, I was greatly touched by the family spirit that was created at that moment which brought all of us together beyond individual differences. Later,...

Closing Thoughts: It's a little surreal to think about being back to the reality of our everyday lives so quickly after a week like LA Immersion. Though our community was only together a week, it was still strange waking up the day after and not seeing the faces or hearing the laughter In the kitchen I'd grown accustomed to experiencing in only a weeks time. When I think to all the participants who were a part of our Immersion adventure, the motivations for going, the expectations for the trip, and the actual experiences were vastly different for each person.  There were some who felt called to be there, and some who were a little more like me, unsure if they belonged on such an experience and a little unsure what the underlying motivation was to go.  We were quickly thrown into the experience.  The first day was spent engaging in service at the Good Shepherd battered women and children's. It was restoring to see how people, who'd only just met the day befo re, worked t...

Hello blog readers, My name is Madison Perales, and I am a rising junior at St. Mary's University is San Antonio, Texas.  I am majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in Visual Communication Design.    Our day consisted of three main components: The hike, Our Lady of Talpa, and the cultural dinner.  Each was beautiful and unique with a bittersweet taste because in our minds we knew this was our last full day together. The hike started early, and we headed out to Monrose at 7:30 am and rolled up just as the park was opening.  Unlike Texas, the hike was cool and shaded by the large Oak-like canopy trees.  Precious silence hung over the first half of the group and the second half was buzzing with light chatter.  We made our way up the sloped trail and were greeted by squirrels, various birds, and random sounds nature offered up.  Side note:  There are no squirrels in Hawaii. We made our way to the top and came into an area with a small, b...

“Stand Firm in the Faith” - 1 Corinthians 16: 13 Talofa! My name is Nerisa Taua. I will be a senior at Chaminade University of Honolulu studying English and Environmental Studies. The past few days I've spent with students from other Marianist Universities has been wonderful. I've met a lot of great people during our visit to Skid Row, LA Catholic Worker, Good Shepherd Shelter, Homeboy Industries, and other places. Participating in this LA Immersion has allowed me to be surrounded by environments that I have never been exposed to before. It has made me more aware of the homelessness in Los Angeles and the great works of the Catholic Church.  Today, we went to the Spanish mass at Dolores Mission, Venice Beach, and visited volunteers of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC). Dolores Mission was where Father Gregory Boyle first began his ministries. I had trouble understanding what was being said during Mass because it was Spanish. However, I was sitting next to Mo who helped translate...

            Aloha! My name is Taniela Tuihalafatai. I am going to be a junior studying Accounting at Chaminade University. Within the past five days, I got to work with incredible people. I am so glad I got the opportunity to come and experience this trip. We had a reflection last night, asking us if we had a God moment for the day and why we’re thankful for community living. I shared that my God moment for the day was when some of us had the opportunity to listen to a man at the Hippie Kitchen play music with his guitar and flute. I have always seen and felt God through music. I can only imagine how therapeutic it is for him to have music in his life because music works wonders for me whenever I listen to it. For the second question about community, I answered that it was the opportunity to come back together as community at the end of our day. Our discussions and conversations reflecting on our day gave allowed for us to grow in understanding of dive...

Hi, my name is Valerie Miles. I am a sophomore at Chaminade University of Honolulu and I am majoring in historical and political studies. In the past three days, I have had the fortune of partaking in a journey with my fellow brothers and sisters from the Marianist universities across the nation. It is a week-long trip in which we fully immerse ourselves in the realities of those living on the margins of our society. It has been my greatest honor privilege being granted the opportunity to do something that I love and more importantly contributing to the betterment of our society. I have never believed in the idea of sharing service we show to the less fortunate on a public platform via the internet or social media. I have always perceived it as rather a patronizing act of kindness, but as I have contemplated on the sole purposes of what we are dealing with, I have taken into account the importance of awareness in which our generation in this time and age is the most accessible through ...