12/1/21 Moreau Integration #2 Progress and Development I feel as though this semester, I have grown and developed a lot as a person. One way that I have accomplished this growth is by asking myself and others important questions. By doing this I have responded to internal and external dissonance around me. One question that I have asked myself is how I can stop living my life according to the expectations of others. This is something that I have struggled with and many of my friends have struggled with as well. After contemplating on this topic, I have realized how bad it is to try to compare yourself to others. We have all been created by God with unique talents and gift. Everyone has something special about them. For this reason, we cannot have the same goals as others and can not feel down when we do not achieve the same things that others have. For example, I am not going to feel sad and degraded if I do not score the same number of points as Lebron James in a basketball game. He is incredibly gifted in the sport of basketball and very athletic and God gifted me in other areas of life. I should not try to live up to this unrealistic expectation. During Week 9 in Moreau, I really enjoyed the article called “Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit”. There was a quote in this article that I loved that states “You can’t live your life according to the expectations of others. When you do, you aren’t living your own life — you’re living someone else’s life. Additionally, when you let your self-worth depend on the approval of others, disappointing them feels like the most devastating thing in the world.” when you set your expectations according to others, you are basically asking to be disappointed in yourself. Sometimes people can accomplish things that are outside of our own power or realm of influence. Accepting this fact will help us be happy and ready to face the many challenges throughout our lives. This week (week 9) of Moreau helped me to accept this fact and for this reason has allowed to develop personally (“Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit” by Julia Hogan-Moreau FYE Week Nine). Throughout this Semester at Notre Dame my priorities and the things I find important have shifted drastically. One thing I find important is how we can better respond to our community and how to make it a better place. Notre Dame is now my community. It is now my upmost importance to make this community the best it can be. One way that I think I can do that is by disregarding hatred inside of us and lowering the hatred of those around us. One of the most important things to accomplish this is to realize that hatred is inside of us and not on the outside. I really enjoyed the readings and videos from this week. I especially loved the text from Father Jenkins. The reason for this is because talks about his observations on hatred and how we can make change regarding this. Father Jenkins says that we cannot directly reduce somebody else’s hatred because people would have done that already. It is better to focus on our own hatred which is always inside of us. We must learn to control this hatred within us using various practices including prayer and meditation. By learning to control our own hatred we are in turn bettering our community. We can also teach others to control their hatred and things they dislike. I really enjoyed a quote in this article which said “Second, if we’re going to do battle with hatred, we have to accept for practical purposes that hatred is not out there. It is in here — ready to rise in disguise inside of us, posing as virtue, sowing destruction.”. I also really enjoyed the discussion in this week of Moreau as I learned ways to better my community from my peers (Wesley Theological Seminary Commencement by Father Jenkins-FYE Moreau Week 10). Something that is more complicated to me is how we treat our “enemies” and those we dislike in our community. I believe it is important to set aside our differences and “turn the other cheek” as Jesus says. I learned from this week in Moreau that good communities require leadership and I think that is a role that I must try to fill. I can be calm under distress and pressure and feel as if I would do well in a leadership position for my community. I would try to help everyone bond and “make friends not enemies”. I really enjoyed the text called “Thirteen ways of Looking at Community”. My favorite quote from this text was “The reason is simple: relationships in community are so close and so intense that it is easy for us to project on another person that which we cannot abide in ourselves. As long as I am there, the person I least want to live with will be there as well” I really loved this article and this quote because It made me reflect on ways in which we can accept those in our community that we may dislike. We must learn to deal with the conflict in a community because relationships in a tightly knit community are very intense. We must respect the differences that we have with our fellow community members and find things that we have in common. By doing this we can become closer and develop a more intimate bond (“Thirteen ways of Looking at Community” by Parker J. Palmer- FYE Moreau Week 11). One final thing that I feel like I have learned in this course is how to grow in hope and faith. I learned a lot from the texts and class discussions. I think in order to grow in hope we have to do a few things. For one, it is important to have faith and find a purpose. I saw this especially in Father Moreau. One quote from the article about Moreau that I loved was, “throughout his life Moreau continued to come up with new ideas and ways to spread the gospel, and he did not hesitate to send out others to carry out that mission. Some of those efforts failed while others have endured and prospered far beyond any reasonable expectations”. The reason this quote is so inspirational is because it shows how passionate Moreau was about his ideas. He continuously spent his time coming up with new ways to spread the good news of God. In my opinion, this is the best way to grow in hope in life. We have to find something that we are truly passionate about and commit. This quote also shows that we should never give up. Many of Moreau’s earlier ideas failed but he continued to work and brainstorm. Many of his later ideas have endured and prospered and this truly amazes me. This week of Moreau has inspired me to take that next step and make a difference. By doing this we can be hopeful about the future and help change the world (Hope-Holy Cross and Christian Education pages 14-16, By Fr. James B. King-FYE Moreau Week 12).