Hopkins Court Mass

11/16/2021

09/27/2021

Can you find the hidden Fr. Rossi in this week's poster?!

09/18/2021

“People Watching”
Conan Gray

I wanna feel all that love and emotion
Be that attached to the person I'm holding
Someday, I'll be falling without caution
But for now, I'm only people watching

In his hit song “People Watching” the singer shares his enjoyment of watching others in love and being scared to fall in love himself.

The video is shot in a story-telling style.

Gray is pictured as a barista working in a café where he narrates the lives of couples who come into the café.
__________

He sings about their love as an outside observer,

"I’m only looking just to live through [them] vicariously".

He says, "I've never really been in love, not seriously".

However, in the chorus to the song, he admits "I wanna feel all that love and еmotion, be that attached to the person I'm holdin'."
__________

He hints that his past experiences with love have caused him to be hesitant to love again when he says,

"Someday I'll be falling, without caution,
but for now, I'm only people watching'".

The song "People Watching’ is for all my partners in loneliness who wonder what it’s like to be deeply in love."

They were the inspiration for the song.

"I’ve never dated anyone in my entire life.

“I know what it feels like to be lonesome.
__________

“I’ve spent so many years of my life watching perfect couples sit in cafes and share coffee.
“Whispering sweet nothings to each other.

“I can’t help but fantasize about what it must be like to feel that emotion."

He says that public spaces like cafes are perfect settings for observing others.

He’s spent a lot of time in them, so he knows what he’s talking about.
__________

Over the course of the video, he becomes so caught up observing others around him, he forgets his own job responsibilities.

Coffee cups come crashing around him and drinks spill everywhere.

But to his customers, he is just the person who serves the coffee.

Just another anonymous, clumsy waiter.
__________

"There’s nothing I love more than watching lovers exist in their little world.

“That’s where seemingly nobody else exists to them.

"The song’s lyrics are things I’ve eavesdropped, starting at the cafe in college.

“Studying them living their lives lets me live vicariously through them.”
__________

Living vicariously?

Exactly what does that mean?

“Living solely in the imagination through the actions of another person, “ the dictionary says.

Now that’s okay, up to a point, but, unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough and can even be unhealthy.

Just listen to Conan describe his own experience of vicarious living.
__________

“As any music listener, as any human being, I experience a giant myriad of emotions.

“I definitely don’t always stay up or down.

“Some days I’m very, very happy and I want to sing about daydreaming an alternate reality.

“By that I mean where I can just find some stranger and move to a different country with them.

“Other days, I am barely capable of leaving my bed.”
__________

Whoa!!!!!! Conan in a tight spot.

And, if we’re honest, possibly so are we.

Vicariously means that you're experiencing something indirectly, like when your friend's adventure feels like your own.

It may be an OK fantasy occasionally, if you don’t take it too far, but it’s not really living.
__________

At first, it seems that Jesus and Conan have a lot in common.

They’re both “servers”.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says,

“If anyone wishes to be first,
They shall be the last of all
And the servant of all.”
__________

But Conan is only observing others.

In fact, he’s so caught up in looking, that he isn’t doing a good job of serving anybody.

He’s lost in his own world and really doesn’t know how to make personal contact.

Loving someone else takes real commitment to that real person, but how do you go about it?
__________

Conan admits as much in the lyrics:

“I had a dream about a house behind a picket fence
Next one I choose to trust, I hope I use some common sense
But I cut people out like tags on my clothing
I end up all alone, but I still keep hoping.”

__________

He knows it’s difficult to be in a relationship, whether as a friend or in a romance because we must be vulnerable.

But that’s easier said than done.

It’s a lot simpler to just “people watch,” especially right now, because of the 18 months of Covid isolation.

Particularly if you are a first-year meeting everyone here at Loyola for the first time.
__________

“The Lord upholds my life.”
Psalm 54

But God wants us to have meaningful relationships because He works to show his love for us through them.

For that reason, we shouldn’t be afraid ask Him for the strength to be brave and vulnerable as we work toward leaning into meaningful relationships.
__________

Conan Gray ends his song on a hopeful note.

It’s almost a prayer, one that we should all take as our own:

“I still keep hoping
I won't be scared to let someone know me.”

09/12/2021

“Up”: Thomas Rhett’s Christian Optimism

"You can never go up, if you’ve never been down.

If you've never been lost

You won't ever get found.

I remember when my mama told me

Ain't nobody in love who ain't never been lonely.”

“Up,” Thomas Rhett

Thomas Rhett is one of the reigning superstars in country music.

The 31-year-old admits he has worked hard for all his success.

But says most of the credit belongs to his faith in God.

__________

"It's just weird," Rhett reflects.

"Looking back at my 19-year-old self, I wanted to stay in Nashville and just write songs. Not be a performer.

“That was God’s idea.

__________

“Every decision that we’ve made so far.

“Every tour I said yes to, every tour I said no to.

“Every song I did cut, every song I didn't cut.

“I believe it was all part of some crazy plan that God had for us.
__________

“I'm just trying to live in 2021.

"These accolades and awards and stuff, that's just mind blowing to me.

“And I feel very humbled by them.

“But it’s not just me.

“I don’t want to fool anybody."
__________

Rhett was very outspoken about his faith at the recent Country Music Television Artists of the Year ceremony.

The CMT Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances.

It’s a very big deal for Nashville.
_______

On receiving his award, he used his acceptance speech to pray for Kane Brown, who was mourning the loss of his drummer.

"I just want to lift up Kane and his family.

"I don't know if this is really conventional, but can I just pray really fast?

“Is that okay with everybody?"
___________

Reba McEntire later praised Rhett during her acceptance speech for the Artist of a Lifetime trophy.

"Thomas Rhett, God bless you for praying in front of us. That took guts.

“As you said, this might not be aired on the telecast, but God knows."
__________

Rhett's wife Lauren presented her husband with his CMT Artist of the Year trophy.

"When Thomas Rhett started out, let me tell you, it was a tight squeeze in that bunk on that rickety tour bus."

"Now we're walking red carpets together and coming to nights like this.
__________

"I wouldn't change anything because my husband gets to do something that very few people can.

"He’s living his dream, following his passion, and do the thing that I know God created him to do.

“The song he's going to play for you right now shows that he knows how much sacrifice we've put into this.

“How much we’ve prayed.”
__________

The song was “Up”.

"You'll never walk on the ceiling

If you've never been flat on the floor

And you can't soak up the sun

If you've been stuck in the storm

If you ain't hit a wall

You will never find a window."
__________

And he knows personally what he’s singing about.

It’s not been an easy climb to the top for Thomas Rhett.

His life has seen lots of struggles.
__________

Before Rhett’s trophy case was crammed full, there were hurdles the married couple had to handle.

Like the powerful people in the music industry who even advised them not to get married.

Or the rabid female fans who would comment about Lauren online, “Who’s this chick?”
__________

“Those bars and shows where you play when you’re getting started can be a rough place for the wife to be,” he says.

The Nashville star-makers didn’t want Rhett to “appear married”.

They wanted him to take his wedding ring off.

And they certainly didn’t want him to do all the God-talk.

But Rhett had the courage and faith at the CMT Awards to pray in front of those very same people.
__________

“You can't hear the angels singing

If you never played the devil a song

And you don't know what it's like

To come back if you've never been gone.

We're all kids on a playground, sitting on a seesaw.”

Rhett explains:

“It’s hard to live in this world where I feel the Lord put us —to be who we are and to share his love and talk about his name in public.

“Because with all the celebrity and attention comes a false sense of being known.

“Fame is a fake “savior”.
__________

“Which is exactly what the devil wants.

“He wants us to pursue the false "truth" of the world.

“Success and social media are a big playground where the devil's feasting on anyone looking for anything other than Jesus.”
__________

Well, Jesus understood something that Thomas Rhett had to learn and is now singing about in “Up”.

It isn’t easy to be his follower, a Christian.

It isn’t easy to lead a decent life in Nashville or Loyola or anywhere else.

Masked or unmasked.

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,

Take up his cross and follow me.”

Gospel of Mark
__________

Thomas Rhett understands this and he’s not afraid to sing it.

“Everything's gonna be alright.

So put your hands UP.”

Hands Up? That means to pray!

Let’s put our Covid-19 masks on the cross of Christ. Let’s give our pandemic gloom to Him.

And then, with his hope and grace, look up, move on, and believe like Thomas Rhett.

09/06/2021

Thank you to everyone that joined us for the first Hopkins Court Mass of the semester last night. It was great to see you all in person again!