Divine Mercy

    This Sunday is Mercy Sunday...wait, that doesn't seem right...oh yeah, this Sunday we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. Divine means "of God." So this Sunday is a time to celebrate God's endless mercy towards us. So how can we fully enter into this Divine Mercy Sunday? Simple, by celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation, and accepting God's forgiveness.
    Reconciliation was never meant to be a shame thing. The priest doesn't torture a confession out of you. It's more like cleaning your room. It feels overwhelming at first, but once you start it's not as bad, and by the end you enjoy the results of a clean room. Reconciliation cleans the soul. It is humbling yourself to reconnect with Christ.
    Christ knows what you've done, and is ready to forgive you, but he wants you to accept his forgiveness. Remember apologizing to your parents? It's terrifying at first, but after the apology and your parents' instant forgiveness, you feel a weight lifted off of your shoulders, even if you get grounded. This is because you know that the relationship between you and your parents has began it's healing process. In the confessional, we are laying down our pride so that we have the grace to accept God's forgiveness and move on in our lives. Does God's mercy stop after so many confessions? No.
    Divine Mercy is like Niagara Falls. You'd think with all the water that falls, eventually all the water will be at the bottom and it will no longer be a waterfall, but the flow is endless. God will always forgive you. No matter what you've done. He would forgive the Devil himself if Lucifer were humble enough to ask for it. With that kind of mercy ready to be given, who wouldn't want to go to Reconciliation?

Who Would Easter Thank?

    Easter is the time to celebrate Christ's resurrection. But if Easter were to win a Grammy, Easter would have to thank the events of Good Friday for making the Resurrection possible. Think about it, Jesus had to die before he could rise from the dead. How weird would it be celebrating Jesus rolling out of bed on Sunday? We wouldn't. We'd still be waiting for a savior.
    Suffering happens throughout our entire lives. It doesn't mean that you're an evil person, or that God is punishing you. Christ, God's only son, lived in poverty, was hated by many, and died a criminal's death. And because of that, "God greatly exalted him and gave him the name above every name (Philippians 2:9)." Christ stuck it out through the hard times because he knew what was awaiting him at the end.
    When we're suffering, we have the opportunity to suffer with Christ. Because of Christ, when we die, we know that it is not the end and that we will rise with Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:55 says "Death has lost its sting." It doesn't mean that we throw a party for those who die or get sick, but we take comfort that God loves us and wants us to be with him. So use the suffering as a time to grow closer with Christ as he suffers right next to you saying "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me (Matt 27:46, Psalm 22)."
    Next time you have an accomplishment, make sure to thank the suffering that made it possible. Good grades are the result of good study habits. Each soccer goal is brought to you through the practices and conditioning that proceeded it. Suffering now is so that something greater can happen. Sometimes it's in this lifetime, but rest assured that it will have a profound effect in eternity.

- For gold is tested in fire. Sirach 2:5

Ways To Love

    Love isn't a feeling like joy, sadness, or anger; it is an action. In fact, there are 5 different ways to give and receive love. Acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, physical touch, and gifts. Every act can be categorized into at least one of these groups (or languages). Each of us respond differently to these types of love languages. Typically, the way we give love is the way we like to receive it. So if I like when people affirm me, I'm going to compliment others to express my love. But why is this useful?
    We enjoy receiving many types of love, but some are more effective than others. For example, my mom's love language is acts of service. When I want to show her love, the most affective way is to do an act of service like wash the dishes, get her oil changed, check her tire pressure, etc. She receives this act of love better than if I gave her a gift or complimented her. That doesn't mean that she doesn't feel loved when receiving gifts or compliments, just that acts of service is the most effective.
    If you want to date someone, find out their love language. If it's physical touch, you can pat them on the back, nudge, high five, or hug him/her and as long as they're not repulsed by you, they will enjoy your presence because they experience love around you. If they like words of affirmation, compliment their attire, hair, ideas, smile, etc.
    Knowing your love language and those around you can really assist you when building relationships. It's like having a cheat code in life. Even Christ has primary love languages...what do you think they are? Read the Gospels to find the answer.

Made For Mission

    You are not an accident. God created you for a purpose. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment,” Matthew 22:37-38. The Catholic Church interchanges the words “love” and “charity.” So what does doing charity for God mean? It means taking part in the Catholic Church…what does that entail you ask?

    It means feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, caring for those society has tossed in the gutter, and showing mercy to those who don’t deserve it. Don’t believe me that the Church is so giving? We (the Catholic Church) started the first Aids clinic in the 80s, we started the university system so people could get educated, we are the largest social service provider by giving food, clothes, and shelter to more people on the planet than any other organization. This is the Church’s mission. To treat every human life with dignity from conception to death.

    Thousands of people have helped this mission with such passion that they have been canonized Saints. These were not wildly successful people…Mother Teresa summed up how to do the Church’s mission by saying that “there are no great things to accomplish in this world, only small things done with great love.”

    Sometimes we have a tendency to get overwhelmed with all that must be done. It starts with you and me right now. It starts with paying attention in class, getting homework done on time, respecting others, and doing our chores just to name a few. Doing the little things each day will have a profound impact on those around you.



So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

5 Tips To Amplify Your Prayer

1. Confidence: You ever go up to a friend and say "Hey, I doubt you will, but could you loan me $20?" Chances are, you're not going to get the $20 because you showed no faith in your friend. At the wedding feast of Cana Mother Mary told Jesus "They have no wine" and that was it. Mary knew he wouldn't disobey his mother.
2. Ask Mary for help: Ask Mary to intercede on your behalf. Just like the wedding feast at Cana, Mary has that persuasion.
3. Pester God: If you go over to a friend's house at midnight asking for food, if he doesn't give it to you out of friendship, he'll give it to you because of your persistence (Luke 11:5-8).
4. Show God it's importance: I remember asking my parents for Kinex when I had a bunch of Legos. They told me that if I would play with the Legos more, it would show that I would also play with the Kinex. I realized that after a few days of playing Legos, it wasn't worth it to continue to get the Kinex. God will ask the same thing. For example, if you really want to date that cutie in math class you tell God, "I'm going to wake up early, go for a run everyday this month as a prayer for the cutie to notice me." Or "I'm not going to play video games for a month." It shows that you have the discipline to see a goal through, and if not, you didn't want it as bad as you thought.
5. Have Patience: Let God work. We all want an instant answer, but that's not how God works. Jacob worked seven years for a wife. Then on the wedding day realized it was Leah when he asked for Rachel. He then worked another seven years for Rachel. That is the epitome of patience.

One Way To Hear God

    So you know you need to pray, but you're sick of just saying the "Our Father," "Hail Mary," and "Glory Be..." over and over again...but you don't know how to pray on your own. Don't worry, I've got a personalized prayer for you whenever you need it.

    First, Grab a Bible (Bible apps work). Then I need you to ask God to give you a number, 1-150. Once you have that number, turn to that Psalm and read it as a prayer (slowly).

    God wants to tell us things, but hearing God's voice often takes patience. And if his voice is not familiar to us, it gets lost in the noise. In seminary I would pray with the Psalms. I called it Bible Roulette. You can also open Bible Roulette to books such as Sirach, Proverbs, Wisdom, and the New Testament.

    Bible Roulette has gotten me through many challenges in my life. One night a few years ago, my parents were getting on my nerves (more than usual). That night, I went to a quiet place to pray. I asked God to give me something to help me with my parents. He put Sirach 7:27-28 on my heart. 
    "With your whole heart honor your father; your mother's birth pangs forget not. Remember, of these parents you were born; what can you give them for all they gave you?" I had a good laugh and was good with my parents ever since...because God reminded me that I owe them my life. God has things that he wants to tell you, if you can't hear what he's telling you, you can read it.

Listening to God

    One of the most important parts of a relationship is communication. More specifically, the ability to listen. Do you listen to God? You might be thinking "Jason, I can't even hear God. How do I know if he's even saying anything?" In order to hear God you need two things, inner silence and familiarity. If inner silence is missing there's a lot of other voices and you can lose God's in the craziness, especially if you can't even recognize his voice.
    Let's start with quieting our minds. In order for this to happen, we need to be comfortable with silence. A way to do this is to find a quiet place and just sit (or walk) for 10 minutes without saying or thinking of anything. Just try to listen. Okay, listen to what? God speaks to us in different ways. Sometimes it is a scripture verse, a vision, a word/phrase, or a really strong feeling that brings comfort.
    Now the big question, how can you know God's voice? That's simple, the Bible. It is the living word of God. That means you can read it over and over again, but it will pull at a different part of your heart depending on what you're going through that day. When reading the Bible, start with the Gospels. The more scripture you read, the more you can detect God's voice. God isn't trying to hide his voice from you. It takes discipline and sacrifice to be able to recognize it. God never said your life would be easy and filled with things that bring short term happiness. He promised that if you followed Christ, your life would be like his...eternally celebrating your self-sacrifice for God and his people.