One Step Over the Edge...

Trust is a tricky thing. It can be gained or lost in a moment. Those who don't deserve it are often times are best at getting it, and we seldom give it fully to those we should be able to rely on most. Sometimes we're naive, and just hand our trust over to anyone with a nice shirt, and an impressive vocabulary. Sometimes we're stubborn and set up impossible standards that are inevitably left underwhelmed and unfulfilled. Sometimes we're just blind, and make the ones we should trust most jump through hoop after hoop because we can't see all they've done for us.

Honestly, I think we're just a scared people. We're scared to be open and vulnerable while at the same time we're afraid not to have anyone to rely on. We're afraid to be alone but afraid to be hurt or to be mocked. The problem is that this creates an odd dichotomy in which we either open ourselves up partially to anyone that we find, but run and hide whenever someone really wants to get to know the real, unbridled, mess YOU.

People like our friends... Or our family... Or God

But why? Haven't they given us reason after reason to trust? Haven't our friends and family been there when things were their worst? Hasn't God given us everything we have? Hasn't He blessed us and loved us? Hasn't he saved us? He's brought me this far? Why can't I trust that He really has a plan for me? Why can't I trust that He loves me?

I think we get so wrapped up in our egos at times. We have this false humility in our world that makes us think that our problems are so bad, and that nobody could possibly be as hurt as me, let alone understand me. Who is this invisible man in the sky anyway, and what does he have to do with me?

We forget what we have been given, and we're left stranded in a sea of unfulfilled expectations because we refuse to acknowledge the fact that we are blessed either because we're not humble enough to accept that love, or we're scared of what accepting that love will mean. Often, it's not that we don't believe or trust in the plan. It's that we're afraid of the plan, so we push it to the back of our mind because we're afraid to let go of what we think is best for us.

But sometimes, I think it's just that we're afraid to make the leap. We don't think we'll be caught because we've never had to jump before, or we've been dropped in the past. A scar stands in our way.

But are we content with that? Are we content ignoring our blessings and/or being afraid to move? Are we content being lonely or opening ourselves up to anyone who seems trustworthy? I say no! Look back on your life, and tell me where God has been at work? How have you gotten to where you are today? Can you really say that He hasn't brought you? What stands in the way of you trusting him how you should? Once we identify it, it has to be addressed. There is almost nothing as ridiculous as the idea of not trusting the one who has given us everything; the one who has nothing to prove to us. The one who saves.

Meditate on how we do and don't trust God, and really address the shortcomings. I promise that if you do, you will absolutely go deeper and his absolute faith will abolish all fear.

May the Lord our God bless us
St Joseph, model of manliness, pray for us

Encouragement from Exhaustion

This past week, I was given the opportunity to participate with my fellow CCM student leaders in student welcome week at George Mason. Affectionately (and often exasperatedly) referred to as the "First 168", this week is the most jam packed of any week that we have during the school year in terms of outreach, promotion, and building new friendships with new students.

As the week wraps up, and I look back at the exhausting first seven days, it's really easy to think about how tired I really am. It's easy to think of all the awkward moments, unanswered phone calls, scathing looks, and people that outright ignore you. We all went through periods of fear, fatigue, frustration, anger, and all of us have all let out the big exasperated sigh after being rejected by someone we thought we made a connection with. All of this has brought us to a single conclusion:

GOD IS GOOD

Despite every failure and every awkward moment, God showed through. Despite every bad joke and weird look, God showed through. His glory permeated every single moment of the week and absolutely allowed us to do work that we would never have been able to on our own. God's spirit overcame us and overshadowed us. Amazing work was done, and continues to be done

We had 1200 people at our freshman luau, our 10pm Sunday Mass and Thursday Night Supper were packed with people, and we have literally hundreds of freshman looking into joining Bible Studies and RCIA. We would never have been able to do that without Him. Honestly, I witnessed the Holy Spirit taking over every single person, allowing them to speak in tongues and reach each person in a unique way. We were the loaves, multiplied to feed the crowds. We were the fishers of men, casting our nets into the deep

We still have a lot of work to do, but there is an encouragement found in this past week that will keep us going throughout the coming months and the coming year. God has amazing plans for each person on the Student Ministry Team, and for every person we met. I look forward to seeing what God does over the course of the semester. Praise be to God, our Light and our Guide.

May the Lord, our God, bless us
St Joseph, model of manhood, pray for us

When I Grow Up

Let me tell you two stories:

1. When I was a week boy of merely 11 years old, I walked into my Sunday School classroom and was asked the oddest question of my life up until that point. My teacher, who none of us had ever met before, stood up and asked, "Who wants to be a saint when they grow up?". Silence. Not a single person raised their had, let alone spoke. Who was this woman? Saints are shiny people in the sky! What did they have to do with me. I'm just a regular kid! I'm not a saint. Undaunted, she asked again, "Who wants to be a saint?". Silence again. Then she allowed a smile crossed her wrinkled older face, and she explained what sainthood really is.

St Anthony of Padua, My Patron

2. This past month, I worked for Lifeteen up in Boston as a summer missionary. There I met a missionary named Felix who, from day 1 of the mission, kept the same 6 words: "I want to be a saint". This blew my mind as if I was 11 years old in Sunday school again. Who was this guy? He dressed casually, he spoke normally, and with the exception of his gigantic afro, there was nothing outwardly different about him. But there was something unique about him. Something that it really took me a month to put my finger on. Felix was a man who wants to be a saint, and he has the gifts to get him there.

What I've learned is that saints are not born with halos on their heads and rosaries in their hands. Saints are not born old and wrinkly, as we see them in pictures and paintings. Saints do not stand on pedestals above us, or sit on benches to judge us. They are not just pictures in books that we read, or names that we write on pretty churches. Saints are people that are fully alive.

St Peter, Or First Pope

But what does that mean? What did they do that I'm not doing? It's deceptively simple. The saints are regular, everyday people that embraced every moment of their lives with unrestrained love and immeasurable enthusiasm. The saints are sinners like you and me that set themselves aside for the glory of their God and Savior. They were people that feared, got angry, cursed, drank, and failed to love at times. But they understood that they were the children of the Almighty, and they set aside all sin and all attachment to worldly things in order to live fully with He who is Life.

Brothers, they lived life the way it was meant to be lived. They did not settle for the things of this world! We are called to live the same life. How can you love today? How can you give glory to God in your work, classes, family, or relationships? How can you be a saint. Do not let anything stand in your path. If you have a past that you think stands in your way, offer it to God and live a life despite your past. If you have a wound or sin that you cannot let go of, humbly ask God to remove it and heal you so that Hid glory can shine through. Let nothing block you from what you are meant to be!

St Joseph, Model of Manliness

My friend Felix has what the saints have. A love for God that is ever deepening, and a love for others that gives life to everyone and every situation he encounters. Felix and the saints always point to Christ as their source and life, and they never turn from that.

I pray that we too can live our lives to the full as Christ says in John 10:10. I pray that we can cling to the cross like the saints do so that we can be truly one with Jesus our God. I pray that one day, when our pilgrimage on this earth is over, we can live forever with He who calls me to Life.

May the Lord our God bless us
All saints and angels, especially St Joseph, pray for us

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

This past month, I had the opportunity to work as a summer missionary for Lifeteen up in Boston, MA. It was an amazing opportunity to minister to the youth of that area as well as dive deeper into my own faith. I learned that to life a Christian life is to live a life that is missionary. It means treating every moment, every conversation, every step, every day as if it were a mission in an of itself. And what is the objective of the mission?

To Convert Hearts

This means living, acting, and loving in every moment as Christ did. It means clinging to the Cross and to the Eucharist with steadfast hope and faith. It means building your heart on the foundation of rock that is Christ and the Church instead of the ever shifting sands that a life of world has to offer.

Honestly it means living in what an African priest and Martyr called "The Fellowship of the Unashamed". In the middle of the night a few years ago, he was taken and never seen again. When people came to his home, they found that he had written the following poem on his wall:

"I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.  I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!"

 We live as a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. We have a mission that is clear and we will not back down. We march under the banner of Christ, and we will be victorious. I pray that we can take these words to heart so that we can truly be missionary.

May the Lord our God bless us
St. Joseph, model of manliness, pray for us

Let Me Tell You About a Friend of Mine

Today's a big day for me! Not only was last night Pentacost, the birthday of the Church, but today is the feast day of my patron and friend, St Anthony of Padua. Many of us know St Anthony as the guy we call on when we lose something and need help finding it. I'll admit that I've sent a prayer or two his way. I may even owe him $80 when we finally meet face to face. But there is so much about this amazing man that many people don't know. I'm here to share a thing or two with you in the hopes that we can learn from his example, and he can become your friend as well.

St Anthony was a brilliant man with an amazing gift for preaching the word. He was a member of the Augustinian order in Portugal. However, at age 26, became a brother and priest in the the newly formed Franciscan order after hearing of five Franciscans who were martyred in Morocco. He was told by St Francis to go to university because of his brilliant mind. This was a huge exception to the rule, since Franciscans, unlike Dominicans, did not pursue higher education at the time. But St Francis saw in Anthony a great mind, and wanted Anthony to learn all he could.

So learn he did! He soaked up knowledge about the faith like a sponge, and St Francis taught him how to preach. Anthony took this gift and set the world ablaze with sermons and homilies that were renown throughout Europe and the world. He is also known to have been loved as a teacher and guide by children everywhere he went.

He traveled constantly, preaching and teaching the faith, despite his own sickly nature. He eventually died of dropsy at the age of 36, after converting countless people into the Church, and reigniting a fire in the Church throughout Europe. Some stories say that when he died, crying children filled the streets and the church bells rang of their own accord. Another story claims that when St Anthony's body was exhumed, decades after his burial, Anthony's body had decayed but his tongue glistened and looked as though it was still alive and moist. A testament to his gift of speech.

My personal favorite story is when St Anthony met a merchant who did not believe in Christ. He told the man not to feed his donkey for five days. After those five days, he was to bring the donkey to the square and Anthony would prove the power of God. Well, after five days, the merchant brought his starving donkey to the town square where Anthony had placed a gigantic pile of hay. The donkey, crazy from hunger, broke free and galloped toward the feast. At the last moment, St Anthony stepped out from behind the pile, holding in his hands the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament. At once, the donkey stopped in it's tracks and fell on it's knees. Anthony said to the merchant, "You're donkey believes. Why don't you?"

St Anthony was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1232, less than one year after his death. He was declared a Doctor of the Church, one of the highest honors a saint can receive, by Pope Pius XII in 1946. He is often call the Evangelical Doctor or Doctor Evangelicus. He is always depicted holding a book, representing his being a doctor of the church, and holding the Child Jesus, who appeared to St Anthony in a vision.

I hope everyone has a blessed day, and can take to heart one of the many lessons that St Anthony teaches. May we all learn to use our gifts as St Anthony did, and set the world ablaze as we are all called to do.

May the Lord, or God, bless us
St Joseph, model of manliness, pray for us
St Anthony, my patron and friend, pray for us