To Risk or Not to Risk

The man, the woman who risks nothing

does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental,

To reach out to another is to risk involvement,

To explore feelings is to risk exposing our true self,

To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss,
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try at all is to risk failure.
But risk we must,
Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

- Author Unknown

We want to succeed, but not as bad as we do not want to fail. Have you ever tried to play a sport and failed miserably? Or held a baby, and he started crying and you’ve never held one since? or maybe you’ve been wanting to ask a girl out, but not as bad as you don’t want to be rejected. When there’s a possibility of success, there is a possibility of it not being successful. But it doesn’t mean that we failed. Michael Jordan, the best basketball player of all time, said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” The kid may start crying, but what if he doesn’t? Maybe she says no, but until you ask, there’s no way she can say yes.

As this new year begins, don’t let things hold you back. Mark Twain wrote, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Don’t miss out on your life because of a simple failed attempt.

Are Some of Us Beyond's God's Forgiveness?

     God is goodness itself and everyone knows it. How can I make such a bold accusation? It’s simple. Most of the nonbelievers I talk to admit that God wouldn’t want them anyway because of their past. It’s said in a joking way, but there is a big element of truth to this statement. A lot of people feel shame at the thought of God. This is because we don’t see God as God; we see God as having human emotions. Even though we hear God is love, we think “how can someone who’s perfect really love me after I lied, cheated, and stole from Him? I wouldn’t take me back.” Every time we sin, we think it’s bigger than God’s forgiveness.
     Many of us feel that we are damaged goods. Maybe you stole from your brother; oh wait, that was Jacob. Maybe you killed somebody; oh wait, that was Moses. Maybe you committed adultery and killed somebody; oh wait, that was King David. Maybe you beat and murdered Christians; oh wait, that was St. Paul. These four men are four of the most influential people in the Bible. Without Jacob, there would be no nation of Israel. Without Moses, the Israelites would have remained in slavery. Jesus was a descendant of King David. St. Paul wrote most of the New Testament and helped lead the early Christians. God didn’t see these men as garbage or enemies, He looked at them, smiled, and said, “Hey Holy Spirit, check out what I can do with this."
     Okay, maybe it didn’t go down exactly like that, but you get the idea. None of these men earned the tasks God gave them, but God didn’t hesitate to entrust His people with each of them. You may feel that your sin is great, but know that God’s mercy is so much greater. A decent comparison is your sin is like a piece of sand, and God’s mercy is the ocean. If you give your sin to God, that sin will be washed away, never to be seen again. You are made anew…how will you live your newly forgiven life?

 

The Catholic Tracker

    Activity trackers like the Fitbit are one of the hottest Christmas gifts this year. It keeps track of your activity throughout the day. It collects the data to show you what days you're more active. And just wearing it can be a nice reminder to use the stairs rather than the elevator because you’ll get more points.
    Imagine if there was a Catholic tracker you could get. You get points for praying, doing good deeds, participating in Mass, etc. It could remind you to pray for the bully who picked on you or the jerk who cut you off in traffic rather than cussing them out. When you’re at school, and you see someone struggling with their books, it would remind you to help them. If someone needs a ride, you offer to take them. At the end of the day, you could see how many points you’ve got. You can look at the data over the last few months and see what days you’re succeeding or having setbacks in.
    The greatest thing about God is that he can’t love us any more or less for the things we do. The data collected by this Catholic tracker would be used for your personal growth. God wants you to be the best version of yourself. He doesn’t want you to imitate someone else or to be mediocre. He wants you to be great. The challenges we face each day can either take us down, or we can use them as a stepping stone to grow closer to God. Tracking ourselves can be the encouragement to keep going, or the swift kick in the butt we need to get back on track. Getting to Heaven is a marathon, not a sprint.

Private VS Personal

Private and personal are interchanged by many of us. Whether you say “personal life” or “private life” people understand you. But private and personal can be very different. For example, let’s say you’re dating someone you’re embarrassed about. You just do things one on one. You don’t invite that person to any events. When you see them with friends around, you act like you’re not dating. That’s a very private relationship. A personal relationship, on the other hand, is when you’re dating someone who you truly admire and respect. You invite each other to events and don’t try to hide the relationship. This is the relationship God wants to have with each one of us.
If anyone should be embarrassed about our relationship with God, it’s God. But no matter how many times we ignore him, he’s still waiting for us patiently. When people read Matthew 6:5-6, people can interpret it to mean God doesn’t want us to share him publicly, but nothing could be farther from the truth. To keep the dating example, nobody wants to see you and you're date all over each other. That’s fake love, and it’s obvious. All that does is pushes friends away into acquaintances because all you were looking to do was gloat and show off your prize (side note, you’d be treating your date like an object rather than a person. Hate isn’t the opposite of love, using someone is #FutureArticle).
Don’t be scared to share your relationship with Christ. But if you are, that’s kind of awesome. How? You have prayer ammo for a long time. Just be like, “God, I’m scared of sharing our relationship with others because…” and fill in the blank. Look up the answers in scripture, ask your priest, your youth minister, your parents, a friend, etc. A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step…are you ready to take that first step?

The Game of Life

    Life is a game and God is the coach...wait, what? Let’s compare us to a swimmer. A swimmer’s goal is to improve throughout the season. They do this through hours and hours of practice and constant critiquing by their coach. If a swimmer has great upper body strength, but isn’t using their legs, a good coach will focus on getting them to use their legs (perhaps through a use of a kickboard). A swimmer needs to constantly be improving to continue to be competitive. If someone is content with how they swim at age 8, don’t expect them to win in high school. Life is no different. God wants us to work on our weaknesses to grow into the best version of ourselves.

    2 Corinthians 11:30 says “I will boast in my weakness.” This is because just like a swimmer relies on their swim coach to perfect their stroke, our weaknesses causes us to rely on God to help us correct our shortcomings. We have the freewill to accept his critiques or to dismiss him. But if you had the best coach in the game, wouldn’t you want to listen to them?

    How do we do this? Just like in swimming, you work on one thing at a time. If you struggle with eating excessively, being on Instagram too long, not doing your homework, staying up late, and yelling at your family, pick only one to work on. Set goals. Commit to finishing your homework before you go on social media. Or perhaps just work on getting to bed at a reasonable hour. Maybe count to 10 before responding to family when you’re upset. Once we are able to overcome one of our weaknesses, we feel empowered to tackle another and another. As our weaknesses decrease, we are preparing to accomplish our life goal...and that’s to get to Heaven. The path may be filled with bumps, curves, and rough patches, but these struggles allow us to fully experience the beauty that awaits us at the Pearly Gates (Revelation 21:21).

Advent? Yeah, I've Heard of That

     Let’s call a spade a spade, Advent is kind of that unknown season. You light a candle each week for the four weeks leading up to Christmas, and somehow prepare yourself for Jesus’ coming. But why and how are we supposed to do that?
    Why do we light four candles a week apart? Jesus is known as The Light of the World. This is because he brought (and continues to bring) us out of sin (darkness). Each candle represents a thousand years of waiting for our Savior, The Light of the World, to arrive. Each candle represents what we should focus on that week. 1. Hope, 2. Love, 3. Joy, 4. Peace. The third week is represented by a pink candle to remind us to shift our focus from repentance to an exciting anticipation of our Lord.
    So how do we do this Advent thing? It’s a new year in the Church, so it’s time to start fresh. Get to confession. It gives you hope for a better life because you no longer have that spiritual baggage we tend to collect. Do acts of service. Help with the Giving Tree, shovel a neighbor’s driveway, volunteer at a soup kitchen, etc. Acts of service helps us love more (another word for “love” is “charity”). Get excited!! You have two choices, see the bad or see the good. If you don’t get that one gift you really wanted, be thankful for what you did receive. Don’t forget to add that you get to spend time with your families without homework. Make sure you spend time in prayer to relax. It could be reading the birth of Christ, listening to Christmas music, or spending time in silence. These are just a few strong suggestions to fully experience Christmas…not just a watered down Hallmark version. Have a joyful Advent this year.

 

The Mass as a Wedding Feast

I know what you’re thinking, “come on, Jason. I’ve been to weddings, there’s no partying that goes on at Mass.” Well duh, that happens after in Heaven. But let’s set the scene. The Bible begins with the wedding of Adam and Eve, and it ends with a wedding feast in the book of Revelations. The Bible is known as “the greatest love story ever told.” How could we connect it to a wedding though?
Well, there’s no doubt that God’s crazy about us. He’s been wooing us for over 10,000 years. His favorite words to us are “come back” and “don’t be afraid.” Jesus’ first miracle was helping to keep a wedding party going, but that’s not what’s impressive to me. What impresses me is God’s commitment to us no matter how much we act like a runaway bride.
God leads the Israelites out of slavery. They begin to worship a golden calf. God forgave them. When they were complaining about not having meat, God gave them quail. So much that they ate until they were sick. An adulterer was about to be stoned; Jesus said “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” When the woman was spared, he encouraged her to live a sinless life. The entire Bible is filled with God calling us to return to him.
Mass is an invitation for us to be united with Christ through the Eucharist. When we don’t attend Sunday Mass, it’s rejecting God’s open invitation for communion with him. It’s like leaving a groom at the altar. God has already planned the photographer, live band, banquet hall, sent the invitations, all we need to do is accept his offer by walking down the aisle to receive him and sharing the experience with others.

Sacrifice...What's That?

Sacrificing seems to be a thing of the past. Now a sacrifice is looked at as giving up your smartphone for 20 minutes #FirstWorldProblems. When we sacrifice something, it’s more of that thing being taken from us rather than us giving it away. That’s not a true sacrifice. A sacrifice is giving something without expecting anything in return.
In Genesis 4:2-7, Abel sacrificed the best of his flock. He did this because God blessed him with so much, and he wanted to show his gratitude. His brother, Cain, just gave “an offering.” Cain was jealous of Abel because Abel received more blessings than Cain due to the quality of sacrifice. So much anger grew in Cain that he murdered his brother Abel because Cain felt he wasn’t receiving enough attention from God.
This scripture passage confused me for years. If God loves each of us fully, why was he nicer to Abel than to Cain? God revealed the answer while I was in seminary…it wasn’t Abel’s sacrifice that pleased God, it was Abel’s trust in God. Cain didn’t receive as many blessings because he was relying on himself to provide. He never gave God the opportunity to care for him. Cain was always like “I got this.”
10,000 years later and nothing has changed. When you attend Mass, how much do you participate in the sacrifice? Are you saying your part of the dialogue? Are you focusing on the readings, what’s happening on the altar, etc? Or are you checking your phone, planning this week’s events, daydreaming, checking out the cutie three rows in front of you? What you put into Mass is typically what you get out of the Mass. It’s not because God doesn’t want to reveal himself to you, it’s because you’re wearing blinders not even allowing God to work in you.
This week in Mass, leave your phone, wallet, purse, whatever distracts you during Mass, in the car. If you feel sinful, go to Reconciliation (we all sin, this just shows your humility in admitting it). If you get distracted by looking at people, sit near the front, close your eyes, pinch yourself every time you look away. Once you get rid of these distractions (it may take a month or more), you will experience the Mass in a new light, and it is awesome.

A Guide To: Staying Awake During Mass

    Let’s face it, Mass is no extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series. The likelihood of dosing off is much higher when watching the priest celebrate Mass, but why?

    Mass was never supposed to be a spectator event. The Mass is a prayer that we should be actively participating in. This goes beyond the responses (many of us can say them in our sleep). There is listening involved as well.

    The things said at Mass can often go in one ear and out the other. The reader may have a monotone voice, or big words may throw us off or cause our mind to go off on a tangent. So how can we change this? Take a look at the readings ahead of Mass (it takes less than 10 minutes at USCCB.org). Reflect on them. If you want to go further, think of a homily, then compare it to the priest/deacon’s homily. That’s half the Mass right there. What about the rest of it you ask?

    Right when you sit/kneel in the pew, pray, “Alright God, what do you want me to get out of Mass today?” Then listen. The second part of Mass has some silent time to reflect on what God shared with you. You may be thinking “what if God doesn’t give me a word/phrase?” He will. He wants you at Mass. The question is, are you prepared to hear it?

Mass: Workout Edition

If I were to tell you that the Mass is set up just like a workout routine, would you believe me? I know it seems crazy, but just like a workout helps your body, Mass helps your spirit. So where are these similarities?
Let's start big, muscle confusion has become more and more popular. It's changing up routines every couple weeks/months so the body doesn't become complacent. The Mass has 6 different seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Triduum, Easter, and Ordinary Time). Each season compliments the others, but focus on different parts. For example, Lent is the time we are to focus on preparing ourselves for Heaven. We are called to pray, fast, and serve others during this time. Easter and Christmas are celebrations. So we focus on the joys of life.
Another way Mass and workouts go together is that they both have a warmup, workout, and cool down. Warmup is the opening song and prayers. From the blessing to the Penitential Rite (Lord have mercy), it is preparing us for the next step of the readings and Gospel. The Mass climaxes at the Eucharist. Once we receive Christ, we have a cool down of personal prayer and a blessing.
When it comes to working out, people say “I'm too busy. I’m tired. I wouldn't have a good workout anyway." Same things are said for Mass, "I can't go this week, too busy, not feeling well, etc." A bad workout is better than no workout at all. Even if you have difficulty focusing at Mass, it is still beneficial. But the most efficient way to grow spiritually is being involved when you attend Mass. It isn't a performance. We are a part of the Mass through our responses and body gestures. We stand when we pray, sit when we learn, and kneel for Christ in the Eucharist.
Every word/gesture was placed in the Mass for a reason. It is the most perfect form of prayer we can have on Earth. In fact, for that one hour, we’re a part of Heaven. But that’s another article.

Punishable By Death

     “Keep holy the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8).” That is the one of the commandments given to the Israelites. The punishment of not obeying this was death. Thousands of years later, the punishment is still death. Not so much a physical death, but a spiritual one. Jesus warned us “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna (Matt 10:28).”

     Sometimes we work so hard that we forget what we’re working for. Math homework is completed for a grade rather than increasing one’s knowledge. Going to Mass becomes something for your mom rather than expressing your love for God. And the list goes on. The reason these misguided thoughts happen is because we don’t enjoy the things we’ve accomplished.

     God worked hard for 6 days, then enjoyed what he created on the 7th (Genesis 2:2). We’re asked to do the same thing. If we can get all of our work done during the week, then when Sunday rolls around, you’re free from that added stress. You can go to Mass and not worry about finishing up an assignment. You can watch football without trying to do homework between plays.

     Over the next few weeks, try to make Sunday a day of worship and rest. Just to give you a glimpse of what having a stress free day feels like, set your timer for three hours where you won’t worry about anything. Do something that relaxes you. It could be working out, cooking, watching a movie, etc. Don’t plan the rest of the week during that time, just enjoy it as a worry free time. You’ll find yourself working harder in order to enjoy more of that worry free time.

The Horrors of Praying in a Restaurant

     Let’s face it, prayer is becoming less and less common these days. When you’re out with your friends at a restaurant and your food is served, no one stops to pray, why should you? It’s not like saying a few words will make much of a difference. Besides, you don’t want to look like a Jesus freak or anything. People will stop hanging out with you. They’ll point and laugh at you in the halls of school/work for your 30 second prayer of thanksgiving. They’ll egg your house to show their disapproval. Do you see a trend? At what statement did you realize all these are bogus excuses? The Devil, the Father of Lies, puts these thoughts in our head to slowly pull us away from Christ. Once we feel this pull away from Christ, we can start saying no to the Devil, and yes to Christ.
     Christ is the light of the world, so when we say yes to Christ, it’s like keeping a candle lit. When a candle is lit, the area is brighter because light causes darkness to leave. You then allow the people around you to see the light and to use it to help them light their candle. It becomes a domino effect, you will notice you are receiving more respect from others.
     So next time you are questioning about whether to pray or not, do it because you are held to a higher standard. You now know you are blessed, you have a meal in front of you, you have a community of friends to share that meal with, and a shelter to stay warm and dry. That 30 seconds of prayer is to remind ourselves God has truly blessed us.

Time is Not Money...It's Much More Valuable

We know the saying “time is money,” but isn’t time more valuable? I can always get more money, but I can’t get more time with a lost loved one? I was blessed to have two loving parents, my dad relocated to Heaven last October. In the time my dad was on earth, he made the most of it. Although he worked, he only missed a handful of my soccer or baseball games. My dad was always in the crowd supporting me. My dad taught me how to love and respect others, play sports, work around the house, raise a family, and much more all before I turned 25. My dad loved and valued his family. He took us on many family vacations and that meant geared toward us kids, He would visit all of us at our jobs as we got older, to meet our co-workers and of course he knew our friends. He made time to make all of us feel special by spending one on one time with each of us. When the day came the Lord called my dad home, although we wanted more time with him, we knew we didn’t miss out on the time we did have. Dad knew the value of investing time with his family.
We don’t know how long we have in this world, so I encourage you to get more involved with your family and express your love, so that if something happens, you too, can have no regrets and if nothing happens, you have an awesome relationship with the people who love you the most.
One way to start a stronger family relationship is by having a family game night once a week or once a month and to get/stay involved with your family members’ events. The more we support each other, the stronger we become.

Building a Strong Foundation

When building anything, you need to start with the foundation. A foundation is picked before any work is done. There’s a reason they don’t build million dollar sky scrapers on sand. It would claps before they finished building it. So they pick rock because rock stands tall no matter how fierce the weather is.
Although we are not buildings, we require similar planning. But when the storms come, what can we cling to? Psalm 62:3 reads “God alone is my rock and salvation, my fortress; I shall never fall.” Storms are going to come our way. It could be a breakup, illness, depression, losing a job, result of bullying, a classmate or loved one who died, etc. But if you build your foundation on God, you’ll make it through.
So how do you build on this foundation? It’s simple, more God in the foundation. A foundation is our most essential things. The things we fall back on when all else fails. It could be the Bible, family, friends, sports, sleep, Xbox, Instagram, alcohol, sex, pornography, drugs, or anything else. Our foundation needs to be strong. When you fail a test, what do you turn to? Why do you turn to it? Do you see God in it? If not, what are you going to do about it? This isn’t a guilt trip, but it is a wakeup call. If you turn to drugs, you get that escape for only a short period of time. And when you come back, it’s harder than when you left.
If you build your foundation with God through your family, friends, and scripture, when the storm comes, you can look out your window with a smile and thank God for the water that keeps your lawn green.

Independence #Overrated

    In high school I was looking for independence. I wanted to drive myself places, do my own things, and not be dependent on my parents. In college I realized just how ignorant I was being. At Siena Heights University, I learned about the three levels of maturity. They are dependent, independent, and interdependent.  Babies are dependent on their parents to feed them, bath them, and change their diapers. Independent means you can do everything on your own, choosing when you should go to bed, making sure the bills are paid, fixing up what’s broken around the house, etc. Then there’s interdependence. These are the groups of people who rely on each other to maximize success.

    In football there are different positions with different responsibilities. The quarterback relies on his linemen to block while he looks for an open receiver. The receivers rely on the quarterback to get the ball to one of them in order to advance closer to the end zone. When one succeeds, they all succeed, when one fails, the team is there to recover.

    A time I was very interdependent was in seminary. My dad was in a wheelchair because of ALS, and I wasn’t home to help. We had a community of people who were able to come over and do some of the tasks like putting my dad’s socks on (not as easy as it sounds), getting my dad in and out of bed, weeding, visiting, etc. We were awed by the amount of people ready to help in any way they could. It allowed me to be able to focus on my responsibilities of studying and discerning the priesthood. It also allowed all of us to enjoy the last few months of my dad’s life.

    In Matthew 6:7, Jesus sent his disciples in pairs. James 5:16 calls us to confess our sins and pray for one another. God has been calling us to become more interdependent; are you ready to answer that call?

 

Freedom Isn't Free

     As we age, we receive more responsibilities. My nephew who is 2 years old, really only has the responsibility of not stepping on his little brother’s head. But his freedom is limited to his mother’s line of sight for most of the day.

     In high school, you have more responsibilities than not stepping on small children. If not already, you will soon have the ability to drive. But with it comes the responsibility of making sure there’s gas in the car, that you are following the laws of the road, that you pay attention to your surroundings, and that you know how to get yourself home. Having a cell phone means you’re responsible to not lose or break it, and if you do, it’s your responsibility to figure out how to get the phone back or how to get a new one.

     Another freedom that many high schoolers experience is dating. With dating comes the responsibility of respecting your date’s body even if he/she doesn’t (i.e. stay away from the bathing suit areas). The parents of your date are trusting that you will treat their child with respect and dignity, don’t disappoint.

     Then there’s your parents. They have a lot of freedoms. They can stay out late, drink, buy a boat, go on vacation, and more. But they also have a lot of responsibilities like paying the bills, saving for retirement, upkeep on the house, and caring for you and possible siblings just to name a few. So be patient with your parents when you think they’re being unfair, they have a lot more going on than meets the eye, and they want to keep you safe.

     Earning freedoms is like earning trust. If you want to have more freedom, show that you can handle the responsibilities by doing the yard work without being told, coming home early on a school night, doing your homework before hanging out with friends, helping your parents with some of their responsibilities, etc. The fact is, if you can’t handle the responsibility, you don’t deserve that freedom #TruthBomb.

Destroying Enemies

     Praying for others can be difficult, even more when you hate the person. But Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies (Matt 5:44). It’s a lot easier said then done...or is it?

     Ideally, when you are praying for someone, you should pray for their conversion, pray for an understanding of that person, if you’re feeling really bold ask them, “Hey Steph, what do you want prayer for?” That’s not only helping you direct your prayer, it’s also telling the other person that you care about them (or at least want to). That also makes it more difficult for the other person to hate you. I mean, how can you hate someone who’s praying for you? But sometimes we can’t do this. The pain is too great. If that’s the case, how can we still pray for these jerks? How can we even pray with so much hatred in our hearts?

     Well, God wants all of you. From you’re greatest smile to your weird looking birthmark, God wants you. One of the people who knew this best was King David. The book of Psalms are his prayers. Here’s what one of his prayers sounded like.

     Psalm 59 “Awake! Punish all the nations. Have no mercy on these worthless traitors….May God go before me, and show me my fallen foes. Slay them, God, lest you deceive my people...destroy them in anger, destroy till they are no more...My strength, praise I will sing; you, God, are my fortress, my loving God.”

     How did this Psalm make it into scripture? Someone must have been sleeping on the job. David is ruthless in this prayer. But what sets David apart from you and me is that he did this in prayer. He was real with God. He basically said, “God, this is where I’m at right now. Help me out.” The more we share our brokenness with God, the more he can mend us. So in prayer, don't hold back. Give God everything, and he will return the favor tenfold.

Did Jesus Really Raise for the Dead?

WARNING!!! This Article is Gruesome... Read at Your Own Risk

    Let’s look at the facts. Mark 16:6 says “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” BOOM! This article is done…

    Oh, you want more proof? For that, let’s focus on the apostles. James was killed by the sword through orders of King Herod. Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew was hung. Thomas was burned alive. Philip, Bartholomew, and Simon the Zealot were tortured and crucified. Matthew was beheaded. James the Lesser and Judas Thaddeus were beaten to death. Matthias was stoned to death while hanging on a cross. Lastly, John was thrown into boiling oil, but did not die. All of these actions were because these men refused to deny Christ. Do you think all 12 of these men would have gone through these painful deaths if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead? These men saw the resurrection first hand and would rather die than not share Christ with the world.

    We often forget the sufferings of the early Christians because we are so blessed to be able to worship in public today. I won’t lie, today we still have sufferings. Loved ones pass away, friends leave, bullies are everywhere, lust is taught more than love, natural disasters, and much more. But those are the world’s problem. We are Christians. What does that mean? It means that we follow a crucified Lord and we should be prepared to not only suffer, but to embrace it. Life is just a long journey to prepare ourselves for Heaven. The most encouraging thing I can share with you as you suffer is “Well, here’s your chance to knock off time in Purgatory (Heaven’s waiting room, read Luke 16:19-31 for better description).” Until next week, keep praying.

Why Distractions During Prayer are Awesome!!!!!

Prayer Just Became Easier

    Prayer is communication with God, right?     What happens when the communication breaks? “Dear God, thank you for...for...for...I wonder how the Wings are doing tonight. Oh, my bad. God, Thank you for the Red Wings, and...and…” Sound familiar? It may not have been the Wings, but we’ve all had moments of distraction in prayer. It’s human! But God doesn’t hang on our distractions. St. Francis de Sales shared that we should not focus on the fact that we were distracted, but that we returned to Christ in prayer. So rather than being disappointed about being distracted 30 times in 15  minutes, feel accomplished in the fact that you said “Yes” to God 30 times in 15 minutes. Your commitment to return to Christ shows your true love for God. And the more you say “yes” to God, the less distractions will occur.

    But why do we have distractions in the first place? It’s what’s on your mind. If you’re trying to pray and you can’t stop thinking about that girl/guy, pray for that person. Invite your distractions into your prayer life because the reason those thoughts are coming to you is because they are your highest priorities. Your highest priorities should be shared with God.

    In short, don’t let distractions take you away from prayer, invite them in and continue to say “yes” to Christ.

Don't Forget to KISS!!!!!!!!!!!

              Someone asked me how to pray, all I could think to say was “just remember to KISS.” After a blank stare, it was obvious this person hasn't taken any business classes. KISS is a business acronym   which stands for “Keep it simple, silly.” So let’s simplify God’s relationship with us. Straight up, God is awesome. I mean, he rose from the dead, forgives our stupidity (countless times), and comes to us in the form of bread and wine. Then there’s you, who has done none of those things, and yet God thinks you are so awesome that he did all of those things just for you.

Our love is tested when someone lies to us or betrays us. But God is like “Dude, come back. I still love you!” God can’t not love us because it would be a contradiction. When he made us, he made us in his image. In other words, he put himself in each and every one of us. So if he denies us, he’d be denying himself. God can’t do that.

So stop thinking God doesn't love you as much as he loves Johnny, priests, or Mother Teresa. He does. He loves you more than anything. The difference between us and Mother Theresa isn't God’s love for her, but her love for God.

How can we love God more? Let’s keep it simple by just keeping God up to date. “God, my day stinks. Sam dumped me.” “God, I’m going to watch some TV to relax. Criminal Minds, but I’ll get back to work after one episode.” Prayer doesn't need to last two hours on your knees. I've got four “go-to” prayers I’d like to share with you, the Hail Mary (Gotta love our Blessed Mother), “JESUS HELP ME!!!!!” “Thank you, God,” and “Jesus, I trust in you.” Find out what short prayer works for you and get into a habit of praying it. If you’re ever asked to pray out loud or are feeling overwhelmed, just remember to KISS, keep it simple, silly.

#HowToMinister

So there is this great video by Cheerios titled #HowToDad. Got me thinking about, "How can we ministry?"
The first big question is, "Am I called to be a minister?" The answer is a definite "yes." When I say “minister,” I’m not only talking about priests, monks, and nuns, I’m talking about you and I who forget that we have a chance to minister (show people Christ) everyday. Being a minister and preacher are not always the same. The majority who minister to me are ordinary people.
For example, last Sunday I did the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS (dump ice water over yourself) and then challenged three friends. Within a half hour, I got a text from my buddy, “You better have that bucket ready when I come over tonight!” It may seem small, but when you see someone dump really cold water on himself to help raise awareness and money to research a disease your dad died from, you see Christ in that person. Doing ministry isn’t about knowing the theological answer to how transubstantiation occurs, it’s about being Christ to others through your actions. It could be helping those in Haiti, doing the ice bucket challenge, praying with others, or even giving someone a compliment. So next time you have a chance to minister (i.e. every moment you're with someone else), don't simply talk about Christ, be Christ to them. Even the most tasteful foods can be disgusting when they're being shoved down one's throat.

Boasting in your Weakness

             We all hate our weaknesses and try to avoid them at all costs. For example, if you have a reading disability, you try to avoid reading in public. If you struggle with addiction, you try to sweep it under the rug. That addiction could be drugs, porn, TV, food, alcohol, etc. Our weaknesses tend to bring us shame. That’s exactly where the Devil wants us, to feel sorry for our short comings. It not only makes us hate ourselves, but it also brings jealousy and disdain toward others who have the gifts that we do not. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul writes about begging God to take away a temptation he cannot overcome. He was persistent as well, three times he begged. But God responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” In other words, God said, “Look Paul, I know you struggle and Satin is sending you those temptations because they pull you away from me. But you will come closer to me through this weakness.”

    God loves trust and faithfulness. God didn't see Paul’s sin as a “no” to God; rather, God saw Paul’s repentance as a greater “yes” to God. The way God teaches trust and faithfulness is through humility. Humility is not only admitting that we've messed up, but where we've messed up. When we do this, we take ownership of our shortcomings. But what does boasting about our weaknesses mean?

    Boasting in your weaknesses/difficulties is admitting your imperfections. It could be jealousy, pride, or facing an addiction. For example, with addiction, porn is a huge sin pulling us away from Christ. It is as addictive as heroin. It releases unnatural levels of dopamine (pleasure sensors) into your brain. Admitting your struggle of pornography (to the right people) helps create a bond where a relationship can form. Have you tried to snap a twig in half? Pretty easy, right? But it becomes harder the more twigs that are together. We are very similar. We need a community to strengthen us. And without us, that community is weakened. The stronger our community becomes, the more we can accomplish. Life isn’t about avoiding sin, it’s about turning toward Christ. And every step toward Christ is a step away from sin.

Who Knows Better, You or God?

    Let’s face it, trusting in God is a lot easier to say than to do, but why? Why is it so difficult to trust our Creator? The one who’s love and mercy are endless? The one who sent his only son to us where we flogged him, spat in his face, cursed him, and nailed him to the cross like a criminal and watched him die? Well, the fact is, we don’t look at God like this. Rather we look at him as a fellow human. We think “well, I wouldn't forgive someone who kept ignoring me and lying to me, why would God?” But he will if we simply admit to our failure. He loves each of us unconditionally and wants us to turn to him.

    How can I say God loves each of us when life seems so unfair? Well, let’s change it up, what’s the difference between a lump of coal and a diamond? A diamond is formed 90 miles under the surface of the earth at about 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s one of the most coveted stones in the world. Look at coal, it's just vegetation and such that has been around for millions of years without any structure. God wants us all to become diamonds, the hardest rock able to withstand anything. But there needs to be pressure and heat to do this. So when struggles come into your life, trust that God is just helping you get to heaven. Scripture (1Corinthians 10:13) says that God doesn't give us anything we can’t handle providing we trust in him. David, a man after God’s own heart said, “Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no harm for you are at my side (Psalm 23:4).” Tough times are going to come, we can either embrace the suffering and become more perfect through it, or we can be like the coal and let whatever happens happen. But all that coal is good for is burning. Do you want to a lump of coal, or a diamond made even more beautiful through its imperfections?

Perfection...Is It Possible?

    You ever hear the phrase “nobody’s perfect!” If you’re like me, you've used that phrase...a lot. But let’s seriously think about it, is it possible to become perfect? Dictionary.com states that perfect is entirely without flaws, defects, or shortcomings. I know what you’re thinking, “but Jason, Matthew 5:48 says ’So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ I can’t do that! I have flaws!” Well, Dictionary.com has a second definition as well. It states that perfect is “exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose.” Changes it up, doesn't it?

    We think, “I can’t be perfect, so why even try. I’m just setting myself up for failure.” That is the devil, the father of lies, talking. Ain't no body got time for him. Have you ever helped someone in need? Could have been on a mission trip, at a soup kitchen, held the door for someone with their hands full, congratulated someone, shared a meal, gave money, spent time with someone, or did an act of charity for someone else? At those moments, you exactly fit the need in that certain situation; therefore, you were perfect.

    We have moments of perfection everyday. Unfortunately, we also have moments of sin everyday. But Christ is calling us to perfection. That could mean washing the dishes, spending time with a friend, not getting drunk, not using someone’s body for personal pleasure, letting someone else use your jacket, sharing a Cliff Bar with someone who is hungry, there are many different ways to be perfect for a moment. The way to become more perfect is to string the little bits of perfection together and decrease the number and severity of the sins. That is done through self reflection every night and confession at least once a month. God gives you opportunities to become perfect, how will you respond to them?

Does Your Phone Own You?

    You ever count the number of times you look at your phone in an hour? What about a whole day? I find myself checking my phone a lot, especially when I’m bored. It’s so much of a habit, that when I don’t check my phone, I get antsy. “Did someone text me? What if they need me? What if Bryan fell down a well and needs me to save him? I’m important. I need to look at my phone!” And then there’s nothing when I check.

    Every time I take a break from soccer, volleyball, or a meeting, I check my phone. One day, in the car on the way to mass, my sister called me out. “What, the four people in this car isn’t good enough? You need to call out?” And she was right. I wasn’t showing love and respect to my family because I was with them physically, but I tried to be somewhere else.

    We get so caught up in certain things that we become a slave to it. I am a slave to YouTube videos when I keep clicking the next video, but know I should be doing something more valuable with my time. I’m a slave to my bed in the morning because I never want to get out of it. The more we say no to sleeping in, that second YouTube video, going on Instagram every five minutes, etc, the freer we become. If you can’t sit or go for a walk for an hour without looking at your phone, or getting an itch to want to do something else, you are not free.

    People say, “I’m free to do what I want, when I want.” All I can think is, “Can you freely say no to it?” Take a look at your life choices as far as why you’re doing something. If you’re watching videos to feel less lonely, ask a friend to hangout, go to the movies, the park, play volleyball, set up minute to win it games, build a fort or a tree house, go for a bike ride, etc. When we are able to substitute bad habits with good ones, we will have a much happier and freer life.

Is it Wrong to Question Your Faith?

  Questioning often gets confused with doubt. Some people say “I’m questioning the existence of God.” If they were honest with themselves, it would translate to “I’m doubting God’s existence.” Because a question is searching for an answer. If I ask how old Stacy is, I am asking others in search of the answer.
    So in truth, it is great to be constantly questioning your faith because it allows you to dig deeper into it. So if you are questioning the stance the Church takes on homosexuality, have you looked at the Catechism in paragraph 2357? What about the next paragraph that states it is a major sin to treat them with anything but love? The Church does not condemn someone for their sexual preferences, but unfortunately people often do.
    Confusion of these topics come from sinners and hypocrites. Some people think the Church is full of them, but that’s just not true, there’s always room for more. In John 8:7, Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” We all sin. We are so quick to judge those who have different views than us that we forget to express charity (love) toward them. That very well could be the reason why that person who supports abortion feels excluded from the Church. The pro-choice person sees pro-lifers as saying no to the woman when in actuality it is a strong “yes, you can be a mother, and let us help you.” There are people who have been waiting for years to adopt a child. There are also clinics and houses to help these mothers go through pregnancy.
    The Church values each individual, whether that person is: gay, straight, has special needs, handicapped, a criminal, Muslim, Jewish, in the womb, or outside of it. Help the Church pass on this message of love. And continue to question the faith...just make sure to find the true answer.

Going Past the Words

Did You Catch It?

    So last week’s article (Click to read first) was about trusting in God and realizing that even though Jesus was stressed and felt abandoned, he never stopped trusting in God. But in the article, did you catch the 6 Backstreet Boys song titles? What about the 4 songs by Avril lavigne? Or the one 98 Degrees song? Or perhaps the NSYNC song? Did you catch some of them?

    I’m sure you’re asking “Why would Jason do that?” First of all, the Backstreet Boys and Avril Lavigne performed a few weeks ago at DTE and I wanted to make reference to them. But another reason is to show how little we think when we read. Some facts about me are: I’m a 90s kid, love 90s music, went to the BSB’s concert June 17th, and love to give hidden references to see who catches on to them. Now that you know a little more of my background, you may have caught more of the references.

    Same thing goes for scripture. The Book of Psalms are prayers from King David. Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 1 Samuel 13:14 said that David is a man after God’s own heart. Even King David didn’t always feel God’s presence.

    Let’s look at John 21, when Jesus asked Peter after the resurrection, “Do you love me?” Peter responded, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.” This happened 3 times. Jesus did this to counter the three times Peter denied Jesus. In Scripture, the number 3 means completeness. Christ gave Peter the opportunity to know that he was completely forgiven. Jesus then gave him the task “feed my sheep,” reaffirming that Peter was to be the head of the Church even after the denials.
    The New Testament reveals the Old Testament. I encourage you to join a bible study to learn more about the faith. In only a few classes, my whole perception of the bible changed.