By senior Jack Caliva

Blue Jays reflect upon the life of St. Ignatius in the Jesuit Auditorium during the 2013 Eighth Grade Night of Reflection.

On Saturday August 24, 2013 Student Campus Ministry held the annual Eighth Grade Night of Reflection. Student Campus Ministry consists of juniors and seniors who lead the Eighth and Ninth Grade Nights of Reflection and the help with the Spiritual formation throughout the year.

The theme of this year’s Night of Reflection was “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9) as well as the Conversation of St. Ignatius Loyola as he recovered from his cannon ball wound.

The night opened with John Guerra, the president of campus ministry, greeting the students and giving an opening statement on the theme for the night as well as began to talk about the concepts of Man for Others and Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. Seniors Christopher Wilson and Jordan Lacoste gave the first two speeches of the night on being a Man for Others and AMDG. This first program of the night concluded with a video about a man with a child with severe physical handicaps and a meditation on Ignatius in his bedroom as he began to think about using all his good for God’s greater glory. All the eighth graders then met with their small groups that were lead by student ministers.

The second program was on Ignatius’s conversion and applying this conversion and “being too cool” to the lives of the eighth grade students. Speeches on “Being too Cool” and Ignatius’s life were given by seniors Jonathan Blanchard and Connor Gruntz.

All the students went to mass said by Fr. Saunders S.J. in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs, then had a pizza dinner in the Cafeteria.

The penultimate program was a student panel which gave pre-freshman a chance to ask student ministers questions about their faith life and how Jesuit has helped and lead them in this formation. The eighth graders submitted questions through their small group and were asked to seniors Brendan Besh, Roy Mesina, and Will Myers and junior Peyton Markey. This lead into the final program— a guided mediation on the passage from scripture of Jesus’ calming of the storm at sea, lead by senior John Guerra.