Let There Be Peace On Earth?

    This week in Advent we're supposed to focus on "Peace." Yes, God has a sense of humor because it seems to be the least peaceful week of the year. We have last minute shopping, cooking, cleaning, preparing for people to come to your house, having two parties in two days with everything closed on Christmas Day! STOP THE MADNESS!!!!
    You know, it was pretty crazy times back when Jesus was born as well. There wasn't peace in the world. The Jewish people were ruled by the Romans. King Herod was so worried that a new king was born that he sent his soldiers out to kill any child under the age of two. He was terrified of being dethroned 20 years down the road. So if there wasn't peace then, and there isn't peace now, what kind of peace should we focus on this last week leading up to celebrating the coming of Jesus?
    Christ brought us a different kind of peace than what we're used to. We see peace as no violence or war, but not God. He brought peace so we could face the violence. Earth is just our temporary home. It may seem long, but compared to eternity, it's a pebble next to a mountain. The peace Christ brings us is the knowledge that if we die for the faith, we'll be in paradise that very day. Christ gives us the strength to face our demons through the Holy Spirit. Peter was completely at peace when he was facing crucifixion for not denying Christ's resurrection, and told his executioner to flip his cross upside-down because he wasn't worthy to die the same way his Savior died for him. I want that peace.
    You are loved by your Creator. He will do anything to have you reunited with him. Most religion is about man's search for God, but as the Bible points out, Christianity is all about God's search for us. He will leave 99 people in a second to find you. If that doesn't give you peace, nothing will.

We, Not Me

    Humility is putting others before yourself...but who would want to do that? Once or twice maybe, but always putting others before yourself means you're destined to be living in a van down by the river!!! Not exactly. When someone tells us to put others first, we hear that we need to drop ourselves to the bottom of our priorities. But what if rather than lowering ourselves, we raised everyone up?
    Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. For example, rather than having that last piece of pizza, saving it for your friend who couldn't get to the party early enough. Or asking someone if they'd like a drink when entering your house. In basketball, if your teammate falls, you run over to pick him up. When someone is speaking, you actually listen to them rather than talking over them or playing on your phone. These are all examples of putting others before you without lowering yourself.
    Putting other's first isn't exactly rocket science...but there is some science to it. "Feel good" chemicals like dopamine and endorphins are release into your brain when you care for another person. Yeah, God gives us rewards when helping others. God's pretty awesome like that. So the more you help others, the happier you will become. It doesn't mean doing sinful things for others, but simply seeing and caring for others as a child of God. 

Your Personalized Path To Heaven

    Us Catholics believe that Christ died for us and that we have the goal of getting to Heaven. But when it comes to Heaven, the path to get there is a little bit different for each of us. For some people it's as if they just pop up there without any struggles, for others it seems their entire life is one tragedy after the next. Where's the consistency, God?!?!?!
    The consistency is that God knows you, loves you, and wants you in Heaven with him. But we all struggle with certain virtues in our lives. Whether it's patience, prudence, justice, fortitude, or courage, the lack of any of these shows that we are not ready for Heaven. So God, wants to change that. He wants us to be as "Heaven Ready" as possible as we near the end of our earthly life. So he gives us opportunities to work on them. An example of this is when you receive bad grades, then your parents ground you from TV and friends for two weeks. It takes away those distractions allowing you to focus on homework (prudence).
    In short, each of us has a different path to get to Heaven. And each one is filled with different challenges allowing us to grow in virtue. Just because there are many paths does not mean the road is easy. It means that God personalized your road to best fit your abilities.

Beyond The Statistics

    "What's my purpose in life?" Have you ever asked yourself that? It sounds like a tough question, but It's not. The answer is extremely simple. The purpose of your life is to know, love, and serve the Lord. Easier said than done.

    Everyone knows Jesus, right? Not really. People know Jesus like I know Steve Yzerman. He played for the Wings, scored 692 goals, won 3 stanley cups, and wore number 19. But I couldn't honestly say that I know Stevie. Most of us know Christ in the same way. He was born of a virgin, healed a few blind people, and died on a cross...oh, and rose from the dead. Christ wants you to be as comfortable with him and share your successes, struggles, and everything in between.
    Think of one of your closest friends. How did you become so close? It didn't happen right away, but over months or perhaps years of confining in each other, a trust grew. A relationship with God is no different. Start small by sharing a few things. Then as time goes on, give God more. Eventually you realize that the more you give to God, the more rewarding life becomes. Conversion happens when you realize that God does a better job at controlling your life than you do and you sign your life over to God. When this is done, that's when your life gets exciting. Just look at past Saints who gave their life to God. Just look at the amazing lives of John Paul the Great, Mother Teresa, Maximilian Kolbe, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Catherine, St. Nick, etc. All these men and women had legendary lives as they served the Lord.
    Are you ready to have a personal relationship with Christ?

The God Shaped Hole

    We all have a hole in our hearts that we try to fill. We try to fill it with events, food, gossip, lies, TV, YouTube, money, etc, but it never gets filled. And that causes us to have anxiety and go into freakout mode. "Maybe if I was as pretty as her, or as popular as him. Or I wish more exciting things happened to me!" These thoughts puts us into a heavy tailspin headed right towards Depressionville.

    We try to fill our hearts with these superficial things that gives us happiness for a moment, but ultimately leaves us empty inside. But wait, there's good news!!! The thing that can fill the hole in our hearts doesn't cost a thing and can be found everywhere. That one thing is God. How could it be anything else? God designed you with a specific purpose. When you allow God into your life, you are able to hear his plans for you. This level of connection between Creator and creation is like playing a video game with all the cheat codes and secrete passages given to you at the right times.

    What we struggle with is listening to God. God has a tendency to give directions like "turn here" with very little warning. If you're like me, you like to have a little warning. We want God to tell us after every little step "yup, keep going." That is why we fill this God shaped whole with superficial things, because we get nervous. If you pray regularly and strive to live a Christian life, when something different is supposed to happen in your life, God will tell you. It could be like a tap on the shoulder or a 2 by 4 across the face, but God will definitely get that message to you.

What's Missing?

    If someone asked you what's missing in your life, what would you say? Would you say, money, a girlfriend, time, friends, creativity, motivation, something else? There is something that you and I are missing that needs to regularly be filled. Any guesses? It's love, and God is love. 1 John 4:8 says "whoever does not know love does not know God, for God is love." So in order to know God, we need to know love.
    When something is missing, our goal is to find it (phone, keys, young siblings, etc). With love, it doesn't work like that, though we try. People have turned to social media, video games, pornography, damaging relationships, and more to get this love. But it's not love people are finding, it's lust, the exact opposite of love. Love and lust is like an apple tree. The good apples grow on the tree while the rotten ones fall to the ground. Love is the good apple you have to climb for, while lust is the rotten apple ready to snatch from the ground. Lust is easier, but it doesn't taste good and causes more damage than good. None of us want garbage fruit when we can eat better, so how can we receive this love rather than taking lust?
    Love is a complete giving of one's self. If you love your soccer team, you're going to practice at 100% every day. If you love your parents, you're going to do things to make them happy. If someone annoys you, you're going to pray for that person. Love isn't this complicated thing, it's simply putting others before yourself. The more you give love, the more you receive it. I mean, how often are you rude to someone who's so kind to you?

    I know we like to blame the people around us, but let's be honest, If God is the most important thing in our life, how could we yell at one of His creations? The bottom line is that when we're missing out on love, it's everyone around you who is also missing out on love, your love.

    Our hearts will never rest until they rest in God. 
       - St. Augustine

Life is Like a Baseball Game...

    I'm a baseball fan. One of my favorite plays to watch is the steal. As soon as the pitcher motions towards home, the runner takes off. It's a race between the runner and the ball to the bag. The catcher riffles it to second just before the runner does a head first slide toward the bag. As soon as the runner touches the bag he grabs it and won't let go until the ball is away from him. What a great example of God, huh?
    Life is just like running the bases. When you're standing on a base, getting tagged by the ball has no effect. However, even if you're a hair off the bag, when you're tagged, you're out. Now think of God as the base, when you're with God, the Devil can try all he wants, but as long as you're in God's presence, you're safe. But as soon as you're away from God, whether by an inch or a mile, the devil is after you. He may be in left field, but he's making a direct route to get to you before you get back to God. But unlike actual baseball, there's a lot of false bases.
    What I mean is that rather than running to God's safety, we stop at false gods. These false gods make us feel safe, but when we're tagged, it's over. Those false safe zones could be drugs, porn, video games, social media, phones, music, the internet, etc. Sometimes in the craziness of life we run and cling to these things to feel safe. "I don't know anyone here. If I go on my phone, I won't feel so lonely." "Another girl turned me down, but the internet won't say no." We turn to these things to get love and comfort, but it leaves us feeling like Wolverine fans after the U of M/MSU game. Don't do it!!!! It's not a good feeling. Because you will feel lost and left out to dry. But just like baseball, we'll get another shot at the plate...this time, keep it simple and run to God.

Why We Sin

 

  "You're only cheating yourself!" Have you ever heard that from a coach, teacher, or parent? Maybe even all three. Our coach would yell this when we would cut corners during our sprints, or when we tried to skip a lap. My team would act like we did all the laps from time to time because we wanted to end sooner, get to the end of the run. But the end of the run wasn't our destination...we wanted to be state champs. That is a great way to describe sin.

    Sin is when we see an end that we want, but we cut corners to get it. Example: I want to get an A...oh look, the answer key! Sin grabs the goal without doing the expected work. If this happens in math, you don't learn; if it happens during conditioning, it causes weariness during the games. So why do we keep cheating ourselves?
    It's easy! We want the satisfaction right away. Constantly sinning/cheating breaks down our potential. If Michael Phelps didn't train 8 hours a day, he wouldn't have broken records.

    If you cut the sins, life cheats, that are holding you back, what would you become? Studying hard, staying physically active, growing in your friendships, you could have the coolest life ever where every night in your prayer you say, "God...we kicked butt today!"

Good VS Evil

    Being victorious is an incredible feeling. Whether it's a team victory or a personal achievement, accomplishing something you've worked hard for is an amazing feeling. But it's short lived. Getting an "A" only lasts until the next semester, winning States only lasts until the next season. Is there a victory that ever lasts? What if you could join the team that has already been victorious?
    God has already defeated the Devil. Good has already prevailed over evil and will continue. But why does it seem that evil is so prevalent? With all the hatred in the world, disgust, and betrayal, how can good still be winning? Romans 6:23 reads "For the wages of sin is death." When Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for us, he conquered death. That means that when we ask God the Father for forgiveness, Christ is there on our behalf saying "I suffered so that this man/woman can have a clean slate." And boom, you're forgiven.
    Every time you go to Reconciliation, death is defeated. It's a guaranteed victory. Evil is regularly washed away, good isn't. So if you want to be on the winning side, turn toward Christ. If you regularly turn toward Christ, AWESOME! But do it more. This week, wash away the sin that is holding you back from being a better, happier you by going to Reconciliation. Reconciliation is held here at St. Andrew Saturdays at 3:00pm or by appointment.

The Name Game

    Have you ever been in the situation of "JASON!!! How have you been!?!?" And you have no idea who the person is? Or you introduce yourself to someone and they reply "we've met before." It's an awkward feeling because it shows the other person they didn't make enough of an impact for you to remember their name. Sometimes I'll forget people's names within the first five seconds of meeting them.
    When someone calls you by name, you feel included, at the very least you feel important enough for someone to know your name. Knowing names is crucial to grow any type of community. That is why I take remembering names at youth group events very seriously. I want each teen to feel welcomed. But when I forget names as they come out their mouths, I needed to learn a few tricks fast.
    One way that helps me remember names is to repeat their name. "Jackie? Nice to meet you, Jackie. So Jackie, what's a hobby you like to do?" Another trick I use is the first couple weeks of youth group the ice breakers focus around name association. And lastly, when I failed to remember their name, I'd give them a dollar. It makes teens excited you forgot their name.
    As youth group begins a new year this week, I ask for prayers for a strong memory so I can still afford Christmas gifts this year.
    Other tricks for remembering names is asking them to spell it "Theresa? With or without the 'h?'" Or add something to their name like Jazzy Jeff, Athletic Adam, Will the Thrill, Zac attach, etc. And lastly, if you feel someone forgot your name, use it in a story. "I was walking on the dock last week and someone said "Jason! Look at that rainbow!'"

Changing Habits

    Look at your life, not too bad, huh? But what if I told you that you could make your life better with only a 1% lifestyle change? You'd think I'm crazy. "Jason, this sounds like an infomercial." That's true, but this really works! All you need to do is change 1% of you relationships, spiritual life, and media intake.

    Let’s start with relationships. We have relationships with family members, friends, teachers, and strangers. What if you took one of these relationships and put more time into making it stronger? You could take a sibling out for ice cream, do your chores without being told, welcome a new classmate into your circle of friends, etc. If you’re happy with the result, start to strengthen another friendship.

    Another important part of your life is spirituality. If you don't have a connection with your Creator, how can you know your purpose in life? The 1% change could be having a reflection of the day each night, praying in the morning, or stopping at church to pray in front of the Eucharist. One little thing to strengthen your relationship with God will greatly benefit your everyday life.

    Finally, change 1% of the media intake. The media gives us a unique opportunity to control what we take in. But media also has the ability to control us. There was a study done where a group of people went 24 hours without technology. After about 12 hours, their brains started showing signs of withdraws similar to drug addicts. The 1% change in media is to help you control the media rather than the media controlling you. It could be fasting from the internet and video games every Wednesday (exception of school projects), no electronics after 9:30pm, or limiting your TV/movie intake to 7 hours a week. The amount of time you will gain from this will astound you (you could learn the guitar).

    These 1% changes are small, but you will notice benefits in less than a week. It gives you an opportunity to live your life rather than be controlled by fear, shame, or technology. If you need extra motivation, remember that you have been called to a life of greatness, not comfort. Choosing to do homework rather than watch TV is choosing greatness rather than comfort. Imagine all you could accomplish with starting with just this 1% change.

The Voices in My Head

    HELP! There are voices in my head! One is encouraging me to better myself with challenges while the other focuses on my failures. From a third party perspective, it's easy to pick the encouraging one. If only it was that simple.
    The voice I hear that encourages me tells me to get to work, get some exercise, help others out, and get things done as they come up. This is the voice of God. He wants the best for me. The more I listen to this voice, the happier I am. So what about the other voice?
    The other voice says things like, I'll do it tomorrow, that person doesn't need my help, asking for help means I'm dumb, I'm not meant to be great, I'll probably just fail again, I should just watch TV to forget about my problems, and many more. It's crazy to think that anyone would ever choose this...but it seems we choose it a lot. This voice leads us down a path of hating ourselves...God doesn't want that! He loves us and wants us to love ourselves!
    Love is so important that Christ said the greatest commandments are to love God with all your mind and soul and to love one another. Loving someone is doing what is best for them, and that includes loving yourself. This Christianity stuff isn't complicated, it's simply choosing what is best for your soul. God wants you to be great, do you?

What's Your Instrument?

    The Catholic Church has 2000 years of history. That means 2000 years of discovery and insight people have shared about growing closer to Christ. Many holy men and women have shared things that have worked for them to grow closer to Christ. Whether saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a Rosary, singing, reading Scripture, personal prayer, fasting, journaling, abstaining from meat, etc, all of these have helped people grow closer to Christ. We have a lot of different instruments to build our relationship with Christ. The struggle some people have is realizing that you don't have to be fluent at every instrument.
    A musician picks up one instrument at a time. Some can play multiple instruments, but they typically didn't learn them at the same time. And once they learned one instrument, it was easier to pick up another. Same can be said for Catholicism. You're not going to know or understand every form of prayer. These have been developed and expanded over our 2000 year history. We have the luxury of picking one we want to work on. So if you enjoy reading, you may want to pray through reading scripture or a spiritual book. If you enjoy exercising, you can focus on your physical struggle and push harder like Christ is calling us to push harder in our everyday lives.
    What if you can't focus on a prayer and just need something to carry you through? The Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Rosary are great for that. I have said them many times while cleaning my room. Yes, I've done things during prayer. The Rosary is honoring our spiritual mother, and cleaning my room honors my earthly mother #Twofer.
    Try a few different forms of prayer. When one works, have that be your base prayer. Then, from time to time, add a few different forms of prayer to see if they can help you deepen your relationship with Christ.

The Church And Hypocrites

    "The Church is full of hypocrites!!!!" That is not true...there's always room for more. Think about it, even the Pope needs to go to Reconciliation. There's this fallacy where people think those who go to church think they have it all together. We don't, that's why we go to church.
    All you need to do is look at the Mass...we ask for forgiveness 3 times...3 TIMES!!! The first is right at the beginning, "I confess, to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned. In my thoughts, and in my words. In what I have done, and what I have failed to do. Through my fault...Lord have mercy." Then again during the Our Father "...Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..." And finally, right before Communion we say "Lord, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."
    We also pray for those who are not at Mass, "Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of your face."
   Yes, the Church has a lot of people who are hypocrites in it. But the Catholics who are conscious of the Mass realize how often we mess up and how often the Church helps us seek forgiveness. There is not one person in the Church who hasn't sinned, but we're called to strive to love more. That's the role of the Church, to help us love more each day. If that's not happening, what is?

Tips To Heaven

    God lets each of us set our bar for Heaven. And a lot of people seem to be raising it, but not me. I'm trying to lower that bar as much as I can, and I suggest you do the same. So the bar that I'm talking about is the mercy bar. I found it in the Our Father.
    In the Our Father, Jesus drops yet another truth bomb. Jesus told us to ask God to, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Boom, drop the mic #OnFleek #OhNoHeDidn't. In other words, forgive me as much as I forgive others. Every time you pray this, you're telling God to be merciful only as much as you are to others. Think about it...Take a second...
    If you don't forgive someone for taking the last Fruit Roll Up, you're telling God to hold you at a really high standard. Lower that bar. Forgive the Fruit Roll Up thief. Someone slaps you, hurts you, lies to you, forgive them over and over and over again. That way, when judgment day comes and you're standing at the pearly gates, St. Peter's going to be like, "Way to forgive. High five. Way to choose God."
***Disclaimers: Jesus isn't telling us to be pushovers. Forgiving a person is kind of like getting rid of the animosity. It doesn't mean you have to be bffs, or even friends. Just that when you see that person, you don't have an urge to hurt them. Nor is this a tit for tat thing. If you forgive someone for slapping you, it doesn't give you a free slap God will automatically forgive you for. This is just a creative way to help forgive the person who's really being a pain in the butt.

Calming The Storm

Let's walk through this Sunday's Gospel reading:
    You're on a boat with about 8 other people. There's a few more boats around you with your friends on them. You set out into the water. As night falls, you can no longer see the shore. Then clouds begin to form. A cool wind rushes over the water and the rain starts. The wind picks up and there are sheets of water coming down. The boat is rocking over 5 foot waves. Crates and other cargo are sliding around the deck.
    In all this mayhem you turn to the back of the boat and you see Jesus sleeping. You run over to him and beg him to wake up. You shout "Don't you care that we could die!" Jesus stands up, holds out his hand and the storm stops. The sea turns as smooth as glass, barely a ripple in the water.
    You look up at Christ. What's going through your mind? What do you want to tell him right there? What storm are you going through? Tell Christ to calm the storm.
    In the passage, the storm died down. In life, that's not always the case. You may continue to be bullied or other unfortunate things may continue to happen. But calling on Christ will calm the storm in your heart. So that even if total chaos is around you, you'll be peaceful and know what to do. In your storm, know that Christ cares so much about you; more than your friends, parents, and yourself combined. Don't just trust that God will be there for you, know that he will. God created you. He has your best interests at heart. He will protect you in the storm and calm your heart. Christ will never fail you. If you think he's not answering, pray louder, this passage says he may be a heavy sleeper ;)

Why Do Catholics Genuflect?

    You know that awkward moment before Mass when you enter the pew..."do I genuflect? My parents do it, so should I?" When I was younger, I didn't know why I should genuflect, so I didn't. But now, I know, and it's a doozie...and you're gonna learn today.
    First, let's think about the other times someone would be on one knee. Two that come to mind are being knighted and proposing. Both of these represent "something greater." When knighted, you are committing to living a chivalrous and honorable life. When proposing, you are committing your life to help get your bride closer to Christ by sacrificing certain desires. The knee represents strength. When you bend a knee, you are relinquishing your strength.
    A common misconception is that we genuflect to the altar; that's not true. We bow to the altar to recognize the scarce that happens on it, but we do not owe our lives to an altar. But who do we? Christ. And Christ is in the Eucharist which resides in the tabernacle. God gave us life and want's us to live it to the fullest. Not a life of mediocracy, but a life of greatness.
    So when we genuflect, it is a physical sign of saying "God, everything I am, is because of you. Everything I have, you gave me. I give you control of my life. Give me the desire to be awesome."
    That's why we genuflect. So next time you walk into the church and genuflect, silently say the quote above, and for the love of God (literally) please own it. Don't try to speed through genuflecting...you look like an unconfident goon #SorryNotSorry

How To Read The Bible

    Yes, the Bible can be confusing at times. But there is a secret to reading the Bible that will help you understand. But before I share this secret with you (I promise I will), let's start off with the basics.
    What is the Bible? It's like a library of books. There are historical, poetic, narrative, letters, and proverbs just to name a few. This library of books is written by the Holy Spirit through many different authors.
    What's in the Bible? There are not many details in the books, but if there is a detail, it is because it is important. For example, Luke 16:19 says "A rich man dressed in purple and fine linen." Back in biblical times, purple was the hardest color to dye. So it was a way to show off you were loaded. So if the passage was written today, Jesus might have said "A rich dude with a toilet made of gold."
    Why is there a Bible? The Bible is like an owner's manual for your life rather than your car. It teaches us how to act in certain situations, gives us encouraging words when feeling deflated, and gives us the best chance to thrive in the world.
    How do I read the Bible? It can be confusing and tough to pick apart...that's because we're not meant to pick apart the Bible, the Bible is supposed to pick us apart. It should pull back the layers of our lives and teach us how to improve on them. What's more likely to need correction, a compilation of books inspired by the Holy Spirit or you and me?

**Disclaimer, if some of the Bible confuses you, talk to a priest or someone who can shed a new light on it. There may be a deeper part of the passage you may be missing.

What Is Love?

    Love is... A lot of people say that love is a feeling...they are wrong. Love is more than a feeling #Boston #GoodMusic. Love is an action.
    The Catholic Church sometimes replaces the word "love" with "charity." The definition of love has been tainted, but charity has not. Charity is giving without expecting anything in return. Love isn't a give and take, it is just give. Love is putting someone else's interests above your own. That means treating your date like a person rather than a scorecard, not seeking revenge, offering to help in any way, and the list goes on.
    Why do people think it's a feeling? Two reasons. The first is because the feeling belongs to the receiver of the love. It gives the receiver a sense of belonging and importance. You don't need a feeling to express love towards someone. It is simply putting their needs before your own. The second is that expressing charity towards someone creates a feel good chemical in your brain called endorphins. Kind of like when you eat ice cream or watch your favorite tv show. But unlike tv or ice cream, love doesn't always create endorphins quickly, but they last much longer. The happiest people in the world are the ones who express charity to others...do you want to be happy?

Ways to love...babysit your younger siblings for your parents, do your chores without being told, help someone with their homework, pay for someone's meal, pray with someone, 

Let's Get Ready To RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!

    Life is like a boxing match. Yes, many of us were disappointed in what turned out to be the Mayweather/Pacquiao dance off, but I digress. On a more positive note, in boxing, you need to keep your pace. If you stay with your opponent, it means that you're letting them dictate the bout and you will lose. In life, we allow what goes on around us to dictate how we act. Let's say you failed a test. That's a solid punch in the nose. Do you study more next time, or do you think "I hate my life. This test punched me in the nose." If a boxer did that in the ring, they'd get knocked again and again and again.
    Bad things are going to happen to us. We can't change the past, but we can use it to improve the future. If you keep forgetting to do your chores and you get grounded. That's like a boxer letting his defenses slip and get hit with a left cross. Learn to keep that right hand up to block the next left cross of your parents grounding you by doing the chores on time.
    "Jason, why'd you use boxing?" Because if you give up you get beaten worse. Life is about rolling with the punches and making adjustments as needed. So next time you get hit with a bad grade, a break up, bad news, or something else, are you going to just complain, or are you going to learn to defend against it the next time?

Tolerance...What is it Really?

    Right now there seems to be this crazy belief that tolerance means to agree. #SpoilerAlert, it's not! In order to tolerate something, you have to disagree. You don't tolerate when your team wins, you tolerate when you lose. You don't tolerate a healthy body, you tolerate an injury. Just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they hate you.

    The definition of tolerate is to allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of. Another way of defining tolerance is being Christ in a given situation. It's knowing what you believe and not being hurt by someone else's beliefs.

    I think so many of us struggle with tolerance because we are lacking confidence. We need the recognition to know we're not wrong. As a result, things become vague such as "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah." Things like "Happy Holidays" show's zero diversity and culture. It makes things very bland rather than allowing people to show their true colors. A tolerant person is able to walk down a street and see a menorah on one house and a nativity scene on another house and think "God is awesome!"

    There's no need to get upset for what someone else believes. Be confident in who you are and what you believe. Share your beliefs with others, not to convert them, but to learn more about different points of view in order to sharpen yours...let's face it, no matter how much we think we know it all, we don't. There is always a chance to learn.

The Holy Spirit...Who Dat?

    The Holy Spirit is the least recognized of the Trinity. God the Father is popular in the Old Testament. We learn about God the son through the Gospels. But what about God the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is now. The Holy Spirit is giving gifts of wisdom, patience, courage, hope, prophecy, teaching, tongues, and more. The Holy Spirit is who gave Stephen, the first martyr, the wisdom and courage to shout "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" as he was being stoned to death. The Holy Spirit was the one who gave Maximilian Kolbe the courage to step forward and give up his life for a Jewish father during the Holocaust. The Holy Spirit was the one who lead me to seminary so I could grow much deeper in my faith and understanding of it. This prepared me to enjoy the last Summer of my dad's life as well as having the grace to move forward after his passing in October.
    The Holy Spirit gives us life. Think about it. John 20:22 says "Jesus breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit.'" The only other time God breathed on humans was Genesis 2:7 "...And blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Later, sin came into the world. Sin is death. Romans 6:23 states "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The  Holy Spirit is the fuel we all need to live. Those who don't have the Holy Spirit within them are not living, but merely surviving.

We Don't Celebrate as We Ought

    Ain't no party like a Catholic party cuz a Catholic party don't stop! Well...that's the idea at least. In the scriptures, they would have wedding receptions that lasted for over a week. One of the weddings Jesus attended needed more wine, so Jesus created 150 gallons of it (John 2). God know's how to throw a party. But today, we're lucky if a party goes for 6 hours. What happened? Who stuck the dagger into celebrations? Maybe it's that we just don't know how to celebrate.
    Easter is a big celebration in the Church. So big that we can't limit it to a day. We actually celebrate Easter for 8 days. It's known as the Easter Octave. These 8 days we are called to feast and celebrate that Christ is with us. The 40 days of Lent was just preparation for these 8 days, in order to be able to enjoy them properly. If you gave up pop, celebrate by having pop. If you worked out all of Lent, use this week as a recovery week. This is not a time to be in pain, but to rejoice.
    The Easter season continues for another 42 days after the Octave (until Pentecost). It's a time to reflect that Jesus rose from the dead and is asking for each of us to do the same. To rise up from bad habits in order to fully live. God knows that we are happier when we celebrate. When we are happier, we share Christ's love for one an other. So don't skip Easter. Don't settle for just one day. The Church is asking, begging you to celebrate the resurrection for all 8 days and share Christ's love with others. Who can say no to that?

Remembering Who God Loves

    "God loves you." You've heard this throughout your life. But what about the bully who picked on you yesterday? Or the girl that taunts others by flaunting her body? Or the family member who you can't stand? Does God love them? Then why can't we?

    If you're dating someone and that person really likes the movie The Sandlot, you're going to at least try to like it. Being a disciple of Christ means loving what God loves. God created each of us in his own image because he loves all of us (Genesis 1:27). He gave us the freedom to love or not to love.

    What's a girl who "sleeps around" a lot often called? Does God love her less because she's misusing her body? No, so why should we? Sin pulls us away from God, not God away from us. So even if that girl can only see value in her body, it doesn't mean she isn't more. She's a child of God and deserves love and respect. It doesn't mean encouraging her to live a sinful life because that's all she is, loving her means treating her like a person with feelings rather than an object.

    How can God love the family member who has brought so much pain into my life? The fact is that God does love that family member. The question we need to ask is "How can I love this person who brought so much pain in my life more?" That's what Christianity is all about, loving those who hurt us the most. Christ was begging God the Father to forgive the men who were spitting on him at his crucifixion.

    Loving those who hurt us isn't easy, but God is asking us, pleading with us, to love them anyway. The way to love is to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. Trust me, it can change your life if you let it.

Live in the Moment

    Freedom is the ability to live your life with excellence. No one wakes up in the morning and thinks “Wow, I hope I have a bad day.” God didn’t give each of us life to spend it in front of a screen. He wants us to actually live life. So when we say “live a life with excellence,” what does it mean?

    To live a life with excellence means the ability to choose the good. You may not want to wake up in the morning for school, I know I didn’t, but you choose to go to school because it will be more beneficial to you. Choosing to go play soccer with friends rather than sit in the room playing Xbox shows that you’re valuing your relationships over material things.

    In short, freedom is living in the moment. When you’re in Mass, with friends, at school, or with your family, can you enjoy the company without worrying about what’s going on after, what’s on Twitter/Instagram, or if someone has texted you in the last 20 seconds. We have a tendency to want to live in comfort, but freedom is about living in the moment…are you living in the moment or hiding from it?

Sainthood #Achieved

    St. John Paul the Great encouraged us to “Dare to be saints!” We see saints such as Mother Teresa, St. John Paul, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Joseph, St. Faustina, etc and can get overwhelmed with the task asked of us. We think “I can’t start an orphanage like Mother Teresa or be Pope like St. John Paul. So why even try.” That’s like a 4 year old saying “I can’t paint like Leonardo da Vinci, so what’s the point.” God is calling us to be saints, not to be Mother Teresa.

    Saints are known for listening to God and doing his will. What does “doing God’s will” mean? It sounds complicated, but it’s ridiculously simple…just really, really  challenging. Doing God’s will starts with doing what God puts on your heart. If you see someone sitting alone in the cafeteria and you have this almost nagging feeling to go sit with that person and strike up a conversation, that’s God calling you to care for that person. But what if you don’t hear God? Even when you can’t hear God, you have an idea of what he wants of you. Any guesses? It’s doing what you’re supposed to do each day. These tasks could be (but not limited to): paying attention at school, finishing your homework on time, doing your chores without being told, talking to your family, etc. Sainthood isn’t this mysterious thing for a select few; sainthood is within all of our grasps.

    God gives each of us many opportunities to work on our sainthood each day. From helping your parents out with the dishes to not beating up your younger siblings (or anyone for that matter). Becoming a saint is a process. It takes patience and perseverance to be a saint. Don’t expect to change overnight. God is calling you to be a better version of yourself each day…are you ready to answer his call?

Why Is There Suffering?

    Suffering can be the deepest form of prayer. By taking your physical or emotional suffering, and uniting it to Christ, you're living for more than yourself. If you get a paper cut, rather than complaining and annoying everyone around you, use the stings as a reminder to focus on Christ. You're then turning a negative into a positive.

    A crucifixion was reserved for major criminals. These criminals were hung on crosses, naked, to be stripped of their humanity. Christ took the ugliness of the cross, and turned it into the greatest symbol of love the world has ever seen.

    Because the act was so beautiful, Catholics have been displaying crucifixes in churches, in homes, and even on jewelry ever since. We don't have a God who abandons us. But rather, he became flesh and showed us how to suffer first hand.

    The greater our suffering, the more we can be an example of Christ to others. "What if I fall?" If you never fall, it means you have a light cross, or you're in denial. When Jesus carried his cross, it was about a half mile. In that time, he fell three times and needed Simon of Cyrene to help him carry the cross beam. God doesn't care that you fall, he cares about whether you get back up. You follow a crucified Lord, be ready to suffer!

And The First Shall Be Last...Wait, what?

    There's no doubt that Jesus brought love. From forgiving an adulterer to cleansing lepers, Jesus expressed love. But he also brought confusion through statements that seemed contradictory. "The last shall be first, and the first shall be last (Matthew 20:16)." "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it (Mark 8:35)." "The greatest among you must be your servant (Matthew 23:11)." Why would God want to confuse us like this?
    Well, Jesus wasn't looking for us to be confused, his goal was to make us think and reflect. It is a reminder for those of us who are in high standings to respect and care for those who are not. It also encourages us when we are serving.
    When I was little, my siblings and I would use these verses to make the sibling who was first feel bad. Yes, it was funny, but it was exactly the opposite that Christ was trying to get across. He said it best in Mark 9:35, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." It's taking the physical into the spiritual. What I mean by this is that Theresa and Maria may have been first, but in my heart, I wanted to be first.
    Christ isn't worried about who's first or last physically, I mean, someone needs to go first and only one person can be last. But he does care about where you want to be. If you believe people should serve you, you're putting yourself first in your heart. On the other hand, if you serve others when you can, you are putting them first in your heart.
    This Lent, put yourself last in your heart. Perhaps a better way to say this is to put everyone else ahead of you. By that, I mean don't lower the view of yourself, but raise the view of others. "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40)."

God Is Greater Than _______

    Welcome to Lent! The time of year we have to give up stuff we like. This begs the question, "Why does God want us to suffer?" In short, he doesn't want us to suffer, that's why we have Lent.

    Lent is a time of cleansing and refocusing on Christ. As Christians, our goal is to get to Heaven by following Christ. With constantly being surrounded by worldly things, many of us lose focus. Yeah, we may pray and get to Mass, but we don't do it joyfully.

    Christianity is not just what we do, it's also how we do it. So when we offer something up during Lent, it's saying "God, I value this thing, but I value my relationship with you more." It's like saying, "Mom, I know you bought me this Xbox, but it's been distracting me from you. So I'm not going to play it for a while so I can spend more time with you."

    Things tend to get their hooks in us. Don't believe me? Turn your phone off for two days (heck, try an afternoon). Even if you're able to keep your phone off, take a tally on how many times you think about your phone. That "need" isn't healthy for us. God wants us to be freed of these hooks so that we can truly be ourselves.

    So what has its hooks in you? Instagram? The "Related Videos" on YouTube? Netflix? Twitter? Maybe that's what God is asking for you to offer up this Lent. When you feel tempted by what you are offering up, just say, "God, I love you more than _______."

Creativity

     God gave everyone a creative mind, but most of us hide it, even from ourselves. Think about it, who's going to give a more creative story, an adult or a six year old kid? When I was six, I spent hours climbing on furniture because the floor was lava. I would make forts with sheets and brooms to play and sleep in. Today, I walk around the house and sleep in a bed. What ever happened to creative me?

    Kids are known to be very creative, but the older they get, the less creative they become. Why? "Elephants aren't pink! You're stupid!" Ever have a situation like that? You were doing something and someone crushed your dreams? About a month ago I was watching my nephew and aunt playing with a number puzzle. Isaac put the 1 into the 7 spot...and it fit. My aunt said, "No honey, that doesn't go there." I was in the background saying, "It fits, Isaac! Don't let anyone crush your creativity."

    Sometimes we get caught up in the fact that everything has a right place, that we forget to think out of the box. If I need to serve chips, and I don't have a bowl, but I have a pitcher, you best believe I'm putting the chips into that pitcher. Just because the pitcher was made to hold liquids doesn't mean that it can't do anything else. The same can be said for you and me. God created each of us to use our gifts, not in one way, but in many ways. Don't limit yourself...God made you for more!

Happiness...Where are You!?!?

    Where does happiness come from? Everyone seems to be searching, but not that many people seem very happy. Let's dig into happiness to find its roots.

    What makes you happy? Netflix? Ice cream? Going to a concert? All these things bring instant happiness. So what if we always watched Netflix and ate ice cream, would that be complete happiness? Yeah, until you threw up. So what else makes you happy? Being good at something, perhaps good at math. But what happens when you're out of math class? does that end your happiness? There has to be something that creates happiness that doesn't have to end.
    Happiness is found in gifts. God gives each of us a unique set of gifts. Some of us could be athletic, musical, intelligent, wise, strong, compassionate, creative, etc. Why did God give you your specific gifts? To use them to better yourself? Or did he give them to you to build up those around you?
    A gift isn't a gift until you give it away. It's the same for happiness. If you are always trying to get happiness, you will be disappointed. But if you are constantly sharing your gifts with others, you are making those around you happier which in turn makes you happy. Try it out. Do nice things for your family this week and assess how happy you feel at the end of the week. You won't be disappointed.

Overcoming Pornography Addition

Here are some tips to overcome pornography addiction:

Pray with purpose: Ask to be healed. Bringing God's grace into your life will make a huge change in your life if you let it.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." 

2 Corinthians 12:9

Pray for those involved: If a porn star pops into your mind, think of it as God reminding you to pray for him/her. The Father of Lies will not temp you as much if you turn his evil into good.

Get to Reconciliation: For Catholics, we have the opportunity to reconcile with God as often as needed. Going to Confession each time you fall gives new graces and really makes you think "Do I want to confess this again?"

Fast: Prayer without fasting is like boxing with one hand tied behind your back. Addiction is caused by the wants of the body. Fasting forces your mind to overcome your body which gives you more control in your life. If you can't say no, what is your yes really worth?

Accountability: Find friends who you can talk to about your struggles. Report to each other every week. Don't think you need to fight this battle alone. Pray for one another.

Where one alone may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply bored is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

Think of your future: When you get married, there is not a switch behind the altar that will turn you into the perfect husband or wife. The challenges before marriage will follow you into marriage. If you're unfaithful to your spouse before the wedding, don't expect a change after. 

Avoid temptation: Keep the computer in a public room in the house. If you live alone, go to a coffee shop for the internet. If you're tempted, call a friend, pray, do 30 pushups, go for a walk, knock a punching bag, go out to dinner, etc.

The Heads Up Challenge: We often don't realize the lust we let go through our minds every day. Whenever you inappropriately look at someone, say a Hail Mary for that person.

Be a warrior: The best thing to overcome addiction is to be a warrior. Fight the urge to sin with everything you can. Choose love over lust.

Online Resources

Covenant Eyes: An internet filter with accountability.

The Porn Effect: A website with facts, battle plans, and encouragement to overcome pornography addiction.

Fight the New Drug: A website with a plethora of articles, facts, ways to get involved, battle plans, and more.

Fortify Program: A program that helps track your successes and setbacks as well as gives you short videos that breaks down the battle of pornography addiction into more smaller battles.

    Sexual sin is not here because our passions are too strong, but because our passions are too weak. Rather than having the amazing fruit which God provides to us through love, many of us settle for the rotten fruit we found on the ground just because it's easier and we are hungry. Don't settle for the fake love you find on the internet, with yourself, or with someone who you didn't commit your life to. God wants to give you the best...are you willing to receive it?

The New Drug...

     There is a new drug that has been spreading like wild fire. This drug is known as pornography. It is introduced to 9 out of 10 kids between the ages of 8 and 16 years old (most cases are accidental). It brings in over $13 billion dollars in revenue in the US alone (Hollywood is $8.8 billion).  25% of search engine requests are pornographic. 2.5 billion daily emails are pornographic. Child pornography images have increased 1500% since 1988 (over 20,000 new images posted weekly).  50% of Christian men admit to a pornography addiction (20% of Christian women). Porn is as addictive as heroine and other hard drugs.
     You may be thinking "how does this happen?" Let's look at it scientifically. Porn goes in through the eyes and into the brain, where it releases "feel good" chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, and oxytocin at unnaturally high levels. Because of the sensation that activity creates, people do it again and again and again. Eventually, your body gets used to that high and you "need" more. So how does this effect us?
     Porn causes men and women to look at each other as sexual objects rather than human beings. This causes trouble during dating. Dating is supposed to be learning more about the other person, but when so much time is spent lusting after the body, the personality is never seen or appreciated. St. John Paul the Great said, "The problem with pornography is not that it shows too much of the person, but that it shows far too little." If you want a real relationship, you have to see the other person for who they truly are, a creation of God. Anything less and you're cheating the other person as well as yourself. Even if the person doesn't see themselves as a creation of God; it's your job to reveal it.
     We cannot fight lust and pornography alone; we need a community. If you struggle with porn (or any addiction), talk to someone about it (your priest, youth minister, friend, parent). Form an accountability group where you meet every week and share not only your struggles, but brainstorm ideas on how to overcome them. There are people like Matt Fradd, Jason Evert, Chrystalina Evert, and Audrey Assad who have struggled with lust; but now tour the world helping others overcome the addiction. Give God your struggles and he will use them for his glory by helping you help others. Until next time, keep praying.

Click here to view tips to overcome porn addiction.