A Quick Look Back

On January 1, 2013 I got into a car in the darkness at around 5 am in San Diego, California and began driving East to Denver, a journey that would end a few days later in Pennsylvania. On December 31, 2013, I will be getting in a car early in the morning (not quite 5am) in Pennsylvania and beginning a drive East to New Jersey. These make for some pretty good symmetry, some pretty natural book ends to my year. From one coast to another and one ocean to another, the course of twelve months has been quite a journey.

This year, I was able to spend a lot of time with friends and family, I was able to celebrate with loved ones at four friends' weddings and one family wedding, I journeyed throughout country and experienced many new things. To top it all off, this year I got engaged to a beautiful girl who I will marry next August.

Also this year, though, I faced trials and difficulties, I spent more time inside of a hospital than I ever would have liked to, and I had to learn a few tough lessons about myself.

From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, the beauty and difficulty of this year for me largely came in an unpredictable fashion.

In the world around us, it was quite a year. Filled with natural disasters, incredible last-minute moments in sports, acts of terror and war, some great movies and unforgettable music, a Papal retirement, Miley Cyrus, a US government shut down, PED scandals in sports, and so much more, this year was a strong example of the rate at which things move in the modern world. Around the corner, at any moment, you never knew what would happen next.

In some ways, the pace at which life moves can be intimidating. The craziness around every corner can seem like there is no rhyme or reason, no way to be prepared for what happens next. In some ways, as Pope Benedict XVI once said, it can seem like Nietzsche's famous statement that "God is now dead" has come true. No matter how much we may desire for things to improve, for the difficulties to disappear, they often continue to come and we often feel alone in a sea of difficulty. When I look back at this year, it certainly seemed this way at moments for me.

In this same way, though, I often found that the most profound and wonderful moments of the year came in the same way. When I least expected it, and precisely when the pain and difficulty of life seemed most overwhelming, the beauty and goodness of love and of grace would most make themselves known in quiet and beautiful ways. Isn't this the reality of the Christian life, though? It is in the brokenness, the difficulty, the trouble of our lives that the great grace and love of the God of all creation can break into our lives and reveal His amazing Providence. For it is in our deepest suffering and at our lowest point that God most specifically speaks to us and reminds us that we are never without His love. This is true because of the cross, on which we can see the fullness of His great love, the love which knew no boundaries and which stopped at nothing to bring us back to Him.

"It is not pain as such [in the cross] that counts but the breadth of the love that spans existence so completely that it unites the distant and the near, bringing God-forsaken man into relation with God." -Pope Benedict XVI

For my year, this was the lesson I learned most profoundly. When I am suffering, when I feel like the trials and difficulties of this world are too much, it is precisely in that moment that the breadth of His love spans into my existence and makes the distance so near. When I feel as though I can get no farther from God and I am completely without what I need to deal with my difficulties, it is then that God is most present in relationship with me and making my distance from Him incredibly near, however murky my view of Him may be. For it is in those moments that I am reminded of Our Lord's words on the Cross, wherein He cried out "My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46), and then I know the Lord is near to me in my human frailty, reminding me of His unending care and love.

In a time in the world when so much is happening - good, bad, and everywhere in between - I am in constant need of a reminder that the Word of God who took flesh and was born of a Virgin is never far from me. In this coming year, then, I will work to encounter the face of the Divine in the moments when I feel most alone, knowing that in His death He broke through all of my difficulty and conquered all pain and death once and for all.

So maybe I don't know exactly what this next year will bring. In fact, I certainly don't know exactly what next year will bring. And yet, I think, that's actually a good thing. In not knowing, I will be able to move forward in life knowing that whatever is around the corner - good or bad - it is an opportunity to grow, to learn, and to encounter the Lord in my experiences.

Some Christmas Thoughts [Updated 12.19]

I already wrote one blog on here about Christmas, but I wanted to take a moment to share a couple more things. The plan is to edit this as time goes on with any really good articles about Christmas that I come across; feel free to comment and share those with me!

One thing I really wanted to share is an interview done by La Stampa with Pope Francis in which he says some pretty wonderful things. The first few questions are all about Christmas, and I found them to be very beautiful and profound. After the talk of Christmas, the interview then shifts to clearing up some of the misunderstanding from his Papacy and writings so far, which is also worth reading. You can read that full interview here: Never be Afraid of Tenderness.

I have the privilege of writing at IgnitumToday.com, and I have to say I have been very uplifted by many of the things that I have read on there over the last couple of days. If you go to ignitumtoday.com and just check out the home page you'll find some good ones! I wrote one, too, which you can find here: Oh Silent Night.

Because if you read anything I write, you know I can't resist things written by Benedict XVI, here is a blog called "Jesus' Infancy through the Eyes of Benedict XVI". This is a bit more academic, but is still an easy to read explanation of how to view the Infancy Narratives in terms of the question of historical fact versus nice story.

If you have heard about the chaos behind the date December 25th and the traditional arguments that it was because of a Pagan holiday or something, there is a great article from Catholic Answers here which provides some pretty good evidence that the date was chosen not because of the Pagan's but actually because of Christ's cross. Check it out: Why December 25

What other Christmas articles/blogs/etc. have you read that would be helpful to share? Let me know!

Encountering the Divine

I was going to call this post "How I am learning why I gave up social media for Advent long after I decided to give up social media for Advent," but I thought it was a word or two too long, so I changed it. The reality, though, is that's what this is about; a few days into shutting down from social media for this beautiful season of Advent, I read something from Joseph Ratzinger (who else?) which re-focused me and showed me what I think the Lord was trying to show me, and now I am going to share that here.

In his wonderful work "Introduction to Christianity" (I'm 55 pages in and I can tell you that it needs to be read by all people, although it's quite dense), Ratzinger starts by wrestling with the question of belief and how we, in the modern world, can still be people who believe in God, when that belief is so radically difficult. In the midst of the difficulty of belief, though, we are presented with the answer to our questions as that of the person of Christ. Christianity, he says, has at its basis a claim to be the revelation of God since "it has, so to speak, introduced the eternal into our world." For us, then, in this Man, our reaching out to God has changed from a leap into the eternal to something profoundly more simple:

"The leap that previously led into the infinite seems to have been reduced to something on a human scale, in that we now need only take the few steps, as it were, to that person in Galilee in whom God himself comes to meet us." 

I could have stopped there and been happy, but it was important to continue, for Ratzinger continues and shows how we have misused the great gift of God becoming man, and how our humanity has taken what seemed like a few easy steps and made them impossibly difficult. The problem, he explains, is that: "God has come so near to us that we can kill him and that he, thereby, so it seems, ceases to be God for us." When God reveals Himself to us as man, He approaches us from a stance of humility, and in His profound humility we have the ability to kill Him and to make Him unimportant for us.

Without knowing it at the time, this must be why I needed to shut off social media for Advent. God wanted to show me that sometimes I need to remove the things which block me from seeing Him, because otherwise I'll do what is so very human to do and kill God by making other things more important than Him. Especially in this season of Advent, then, which is about preparation for the coming of the Messiah, who comes in the humblest way possible as a small infant laid in a feeding trough, I need to take every step to be sure that I won't miss Him.

God came to Earth 2,000 years ago as a little infant, and in a few weeks we will commemorate that great day with one of our two greatest feasts, one which begins our journey to salvation. The leap that man previously needed to make to God now has a bridge in Jesus Christ, yet even taking the steps to meet that little infant in Galilee is a profoundly difficult task. Hopefully this Christmas, I will quiet my heart and my mind, I will set aside the things that blur my sight and clutter my path, and I will find my way to the God of the universe Incarnate in that Baby born of the Virgin.

[Book Review]; Pray with the New Pope

Pray for Me:

The Life and Spiritual Vision of Pope Francis,

First Pope from the Americas

Robert Moynihan

Image Books 2013

On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI made an announcement which shocked the world, stating that on February 28th, he would resign as Pope. On March 12, 2013, a conclave began, where the cardinals of the Catholic Church gathered to elect a new Pope, and on March 13, 2013, they reached their decision. Although a shock to many of us following the Papal Election, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, at the time the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was a well-loved Cardinal within the College of Cardinals, and was elected fairly quickly. This book, written by Robert Moynihan, the editor and founder of Inside the Vatican Magazine, is a book about who Cardinal Bergoglio is and what he did in his first few days as Pope. 

This book was fascinating to me for the insight that it gives to what happened in those first few days. In the way that only a high-ranking member of the Media like Moynihan, who was able to speak to many people and be very close to the Pope on many occasions, could do, he gives a very detailed report of the first days as the new Pope. From the things we heard a lot about, like going to St. Mary Major to pray in front of Mary, paying his own bill at the hotel he had been at, and the choice of clothes, to some of the smaller things like the car he drove and individuals whom he had close to him, Moynihan gives as many details as one could want about the first days of the new Pope. 

Most interesting to me, I think, about this book, is the backstory of Pope Francis and the extensive selection of quotes that Moynihan provides from Pope Francis before he became Pope. We learn about the influence of his grandmother on his prayer life, the formation Francis received from the nuns who taught at his elementary school, and the close-knit relationship he still has with his sister. We learn the backstory to the allegations of his failure to properly help priests who were persecuted in Argentina during the military dictatorship there in the 1970s, and we learn over and over again about his great devotion and love for the Blessed Mother, specifically as "Untier of Knots." Finally, in the last 40 or so pages of the book, we learn Bergoglio's thoughts on just about every topic in his own words, as there are pages of quotes. 

The only negative to me of this book was the interpretation of his actions, as I think that every person might interpret some of Francis' actions differently. While Moynihan didn't say anything controversial or that I would say was wrong, there were times when I felt he spent too much time interpreting what the Pope was doing instead of simply presenting it. Even with this, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and enjoyed learning more and more about Pope Francis and his early days as Pope as well as the life that made him the man that he is. I think that Moynihan does a superb job of compiling as much information about this man as anyone could desire to learn, and he gives it to us in a way that is supremely readable. 

Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, or, as many people in Buenos Aires knew him, Fr. Jorge, is a man who wants to reach out to the people and present to them the person of Jesus. We see in him a great Pastoral nature, a great love for the poor, and a warmth typical, you might say, of a loving grandfather; the root of it all, he tells us, is the love and mercy of Jesus. "The privileged locus of the encounter with the Lord," he says, "is the caress of the mercy of Jesus Christ on my sin." For Bergoglio, as Moynihan wonderfully presents in this book, the Christian life is all about letting the mercy and love of Jesus Christ embrace us in our most sinful state, and letting His love be enough for us. With this man as the Vicar of Christ, we are in good hands on earth, since he is all about letting Jesus love him and showing that love to others. This book is a wonderful resource in learning who Pope Francis is, what he is all about, and in learning how to hear and to let him lead us. I strongly recommend this book! 


If you want more information about this book, you can get it at the Image Books website by visiting this link: Pray for Me, and you can learn more about the author by visiting his profile page on Image Books website at this link: Robert Moynihan. I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review."

A Much Needed Change

I want to step back from my normal talk of theology and religion and just speak as a person for a little while. Here we go.

The internet is a fascinating place. I mean, the world is a fascinating place, but the internet is even more fascinating as a somewhat blown-up image of all of the craziness you might encounter not on the internet. It is on the internet that you can find an argument for any point of view--literally, any of them. It is on the internet that you can see memes, read articles, and listen to youtube videos stating completely opposite opinions as if they are fact, all in a matter of seconds.

On the internet, it is really easy to post an opinion and not have any responsibility for what you said. A blog is a scary thing (I know it's ironic for me to say that in a blog, but I'm going to anyways). On a blog, someone can post an opinion, touting themselves as an expert in just about anything. Most of the time, this is a really bad thing, and I try to avoid these articles because I leave frustrated with people's inability to think (maybe that's harsh? Oh well).

Then, on a blogging and sports supersite that I really enjoy called Grantland, I found an article with an opinion I thought was good. The article is called Man Up [NOTE: the language is really bad. Let me explain why I like it, first, before you go there, and you can decide if you want to read it].

I like the article because, although it's vulgar, it's on point; if you're familiar with this bullying/abuse case in the NFL right now, you'll find it interesting. If you're not familiar, it is a blown up case about one grown man treating another grown man like garbage and people accepting it because they're football players who should be able to handle it. If this amount of foul language is ever acceptable (note I said if), this has to be the case: he's really really mad, and pretty justifiably so. Read if you feel so inclined, but know he's intense.

And now to my point. I read that Grantland article above, and I loved it. I loved it because I thought it got to the heart of this whole issue--this is a person who needs to be treated as such. I read this article and thought: wow, that was a good point. I really liked that. I wish he didn't use the F word so much and I could share that article with everyone I know. Then I read the comments; seeing that there were so many, I figured I would read a couple of people who disagreed (this is the internet, after all), and a whole bunch of people saying how wonderful the article was. To my utter surprise, what I read most of all were people saying he was wrong, saying that this was a grown man playing a professional sport and he needed to figure out his things on his own, that he was hurt too easily and he needed to get over it.

And now to my real point: I think there is a problem when we think of people as problems we need to solve rather than individuals who need to be encountered and loved. The commenters on this article saw Jonathan Martin not as a man, but as a football who makes lots of money and needs to be tough and deal with his issues, regardless of what they are. In my line of work, I see the same thing; people see ministry, often, as something which should be done in a specific category and a specific way because that is the way that is effective and that is what people in our world need.

On blogs, you see this sort of thing all the time (and I may be guilty of myself): here is a problem, and here is how we need to solve it. Sure, the problem is on the other side of the world. Sure, I don't really know anyone affected by this. Sure, I haven't ever spoken with someone in this situation. All of that aside, us bloggers often say, here is the solution. Implement my plans. They work. I promise.

Maybe this will come off as doing exactly what I just said we shouldn't, but here is what I think: we, as human persons, need to start seeing others as people, not as problems to be solved (note, when I say we, I really mean I). Encounter people. Love people. Listen to people. Professional athletes, teachers, famous musicians, plumbers, waitresses, actors, and everyone in between--they're all just people.

No, actually, I take the "we" back all together. Here is my solution: I will stop seeing people as a category and a problem, and start encountering them all as people who deserve love, attention, and respect. No more categories. Just more love.

Basically, I want to start being like this guy: The Embrace that Went Viral.

[Book Review]; The Mass-It's What We Do

The Mass:

The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition

Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Mike Aquilina

Image Books 2011

Mike Aquilina and Cardinal Donald Wuerl are two names that should be familiar to most Catholics in America. Cardinal Wuerl was the Bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years before moving in 2006 to Washington D.C. where currently resides as the Archbishop of Washington. Aquilina is the Executive Vice President for the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Studies, and is a well-known author and speaker and a frequent guest on EWTN. 

Okay, so I pretty much took those descriptions from inside the book. What I know is this: Cardinal Wuerl is well-known and well-loved by many for his leadership of the Church in Pittsburgh and Washington, and for his ability to teach the faith. Aquilina is well-known because his books are very easy to read and informative, while not lacking in scholarship and depth of information. 

What this book sets out to do is to walk the reader through Holy Mass in a way that is understandable and informative, drawing from the tradition of the Church as well as the experience of two devout Catholics, one a lay man and another a priest and bishop of the Church. They're purpose for writing, they explain, is that "The Mass is what Catholics do," and yet they "find the experience more rewarding...when [they] understand the Mass as [they] pray it" (pages 21, 23). As Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago, says in the Preface, "active participation in the Mass is the very soul of participation in the life of the Church"; Cardinal Wuerl and Aquilina use the pages of this book to try and help each person find that active participation in his or her own life. 

What I really liked about this book is that it simply and briefly takes the reader through every part of the Mass, not dwelling too long on any small detail but explaining the Church's reasoning for every single part. Whether you are a person who has never studied the Mass or even really paid much attention at Mass, or you are a person who has studied the Mass extensively, this book is a good resource. For those faithful Mass-goers and well-studied Catholics, this book will probably not change your life; but it will certainly help you enter more fully into the Mass the next time you attend. 

In my own life, I have already seen this book pay off. Since starting the book, every Mass I have attended has called to mind certain aspects of what the authors explained. Whether it was the reminder to come early and reflect before Mass, the chapter explaining the importance of the readings, or the beautiful reflection on the Holy, Holy, Holy, this book has already helped me get more out of Mass. This book didn't change my perspective on the Mass, but it certainly helped increase my desire to go to Mass, to receive Him, and to adore Him. 

To know Jesus is to love him. To gaze upon him is to be overwhelmed by that love. Knowing what we know--about his memorial, about his real presence--how can we help but adore him? (p.169)

If you want to learn more about this book or to find the book through Image Books' website, you can visit it here: The Mass. If you want to learn more about the Authors, visit the bio page: Cardinal Wuerl Bio and Mike Aquilina Bio

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books."  

Heart Speaks to Heart

"Sometimes there are moments of silence that, in themselves, constitute a sort of answer." 

-Abraham Skorka

The quote above is from an Argentinian Rabbi who was good friends with our Pope Francis back when he was in Buenos Aires. Simply put, I think, he explains what is the most common difficulty many of us have with our prayer lives: the Lord responds, but not in the voice we want Him too. In the silence of His answer, though, the human heart is drawn into relationship with the God who breathes life and the God who never abandons anyone. In the silence of His answer, man is forced to dive into relationship with God in trust, trusting that God is hearing man's cry even when man cannot hear God's answer. And that, we know, is a difficult thing to do. 

"The organ for seeing God is the heart. The intellect alone is not enough." 

                                                                                                             -Pope Benedict XVI

We see God, we hear God, we know God, not through our intellect, but through our heart. The intellect is important-in fact, it is incredibly important. If more Christians would take the time to let their mind and their intellect be transformed by the Truth of the Word, the crisis of faith in the Church in the modern world would take a direct hit. The intellect, though, is not how we see God; the intellect is how we break down barriers that we have set up (ironically, usually set up through our intellect) in order to allow the heart to see God, to know Him, to worship Him as He intended us to do when He created us out of His gratuitous and undeserved love. The heart is how we get over the difficulty of not hearing God's direct answer; we trust in our hearts that He is speaking, even if our mind cannot discern the answer. 

What then, if I often cannot even know God's answer, is the point of spending time in prayer? Or, maybe more concretely, what is the aim? If I am not going to hear Him, and His answer will often be spoken to me in silence, what am I going to prayer to accomplish? 

"Prayer, the self-opening of the human spirit to God, is true worship.

The more man becomes 'word'--or, rather: 
the more his whole existence is directed toward God--

the more he accomplishes true worship."
                                                                                           -Pope Benedict XVI

The point of prayer, then, cannot be self-serving. If prayer is about coming to God to receive help, we might receive the help we desire or we might not. We will receive help, but we will certainly not always receive the help we desire. No, the point of prayer cannot be this; it cannot simply be to achieve our own will, because, if it is prayer will leave us dry because it is not how the Lord wants us to pray (Our Father...thy Kingdom come...). If we seek prayer only in times of need, if we seek prayer to fulfill a duty and expect a response which fits nicely with our wishes, it is simply true that we will be disappointed. 

Prayer is not about seeking our will; it is about letting the Lord's heart speak in silence to our own heart, changing our will to be in line with His. If we let His heart speak to our heart, if we let our heart be transformed by His heart and our will transformed into His will, then we will accomplish the true worship that prayer was intended to be. 

These, then, will be the moments of silence which constitute an answer from God. For in silence, the Lord draws us nearer to His heart. In what we see as His "lack" of a response, He has responded with an emphatic call to love. When a person loves another person, they do not demand an answer which fits categories, but a response in love, whatever that response may be. In a similar way, we cannot demand the Lord to respond in a specific way-as if He was a simple being we could control-but rather we must move towards Him in love, trusting that His loving response will prove more fruitful than any plan we could possibly have laid out in our own minds. 

If we allow our heart to listen--truly listen--to the Word of God who desires to speak to us in a way too intimate for words, our faith will be firm and our hope secure. In the silence of Him speaking heart to heart, we will be transformed and made into a new creation in Christ. 

"The first and essential thing is a listening heart so that God, not we, may reign."

Pope Benedict XVI

On A Mission of Love and Truth

In the Spring of 2010 I had the pleasure of spending a semester studying abroad. During this time, I took a week with some friends and went to Madrid, Spain to spend some time working with the Missionaries of Charity (most commonly known as Mother Teresa's order). I was excited to go and do this work, but had no idea what to expect. 

Our team arrived late on Sunday evening, and early Monday morning half of us needed to report to the missionaries to help them, the other half taking a later shift that day. As one of our two "team leaders," I decided that I would go with, although I was planning to work the afternoon shift that day. We arrived a bit late (we were Americans in Europe, so of course we got lost a couple of times), and walked in during Mass. After Mass was over, the sisters quickly hurried to get to work, while a couple of them came to welcome us and take us into another room where they could serve us breakfast. Without the time to fight it, I was given instructions to follow one of the sisters to another building, where I would spend the next few hours helping in an AIDs Hospice house that they had there. Little did I realize, this place would be the central part of my work for that week-helping to dress, bathe, and care for these men and the place in which they lived-and a major moment in my life. While certainly not what I was expecting to do coming into the trip, I have never had an experience since those few days which impacted me in a way that even compares. 

This Sunday, October 20th, 2013, is World Missions Sunday. If you want to read what Pope Francis says about this (you do want to read it, by the way), you can read his Message for World Missions Sunday. I am writing this blog to join with Family Missions Company, an organization committed to calling people to go out on mission, in helping to encourage Catholics to take up their call to mission-you can find their website at www.fmcmissions.com. 

You see, what I learned in Spain that week was the importance of always being on mission. The AIDs Hospice was in a dire situation that week because it was holy week, and the sisters didn't have enough volunteers to take care of the men currently housed there. If myself and the other male in our group hadn't shown up, they told us, they would have struggled to care for these men. While I feel very blessed that I had the opportunity to step into that role, it was also shocking to hear them say that; in one of the largest cities in Europe, these missionaries couldn't find 2 men on an average day to give some time to serve these people in need. 

In John 13:33-34, Jesus tells His disciples that He will only be with them a little while longer, but after He leaves that they are to "love one another; even as I have loved you" (RSV Translation). In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells His disciples to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always to the close of the age" (RSV). 

Jesus' words in those two passages are very simple: you need to go out, you need to love all people, and you need to bring them the Truth. If those words were meant to end with the Disciples, they would have had no reason to write them down. If those words were unimportant, the Disciples and the other thousands (millions) of Christians who have been martyred since that day for this message would have done so in vain. If you're like me, you probably don't think these actions were in vain. In fact, if you're like me, you probably feel that this call to mission is a slap in the face reminding, you that you need to do a better job of knowing you're on mission, and living accordingly.

In honor of World Mission Sunday this year, I want to commit myself to remember that I am on a mission. Do I think that, right now, this means God is calling me to pick up and move to a foreign country? No, I certainly don't--but that does not mean I am not on mission. My mission, just like that of the Disciples, is to go out and bring the Gospel to people with love. For the Disciples and for people today, that might mean to bring the Gospel for the end of the world. For others, this might very well mean staying in your hometown and bringing the Gospel with love and sincerity; whatever the case, it is a mission.

No matter where our mission, it is not an easy job, and not one that is going to be accepted readily.  The place most in need of a missionary might be your home, your workplace, your friendships; maybe, for you, the place that you are called to serve with love and truth is in a foreign country, and maybe it's not. Maybe you need to make a mess to call people around you to live the Gospel, or you need to help people clean up their messy lives to see God's plan behind it all. It doesn't matter where you are called, all that matters is that today and every day you are willing to pick up your cross and be the Lord's missionary. 

"Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ looks compassion into the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world."  

--St. Theresa of Avila, Patroness of Missions

[Coffee with the Saints]: Francis and True Joy

So today is October 4th, which you probably know is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. If you want to know more about the basics of who Francis was and how his life played out, check out this link here: Who was St. Francis of Assisi? 12 Things to Know and Share. Inevitably, today will consist of the blessing of pets and lots of talk of Francis' love for all creation-and this is all well and good. In fact, Francis' Canticle of the Creatures (it's really beautiful), one of his most famous writings, is a long song of praise to God for the creation he saw around him, from the Sun to fire to flowers and herbs. Francis truly had a love for creation that is not to be forgotten (he was known to preach to the animals, some stories say), but what I want to reflect briefly on today is a different aspect of Francis' life. You see, the love of animals and of all creation is good and important, but we must remember that Francis' love for creation didn't happen simply because he thought creation was beautiful; he loved the creation because he was so in love with the Creator that he saw no way to ignore the beauty of creation.

What I specifically want to reflect on in Francis' love of the Creator is what he saw as perfect joy in the midst of our lives here on earth. Lest we forget the true depth of Francis' faith and level him out to simply be an animal-loving hippie (again: there is nothing wrong with loving animals), let me quote to you a passage which has been handed down since the time of Francis, the first record of it known to have been written in the 14th century, not too long after Francis' death. We don't have the actual account from during the time of Francis' life, but we can be pretty sure this is how it went, and it has been handed down like this:

True and Perfect Joy: [Brother Leonard] related in the same place that one day at Saint Mary's blessed Francis called Brother Leo and said: "Brother Leo, write." He responded: "Look, I'm ready!" "Write," he said, "what true joy is."

"A messenger arrives and says that all the Masters [theologians] of Paris have entered the Order. Write: this isn't true joy! Or, that all the prelates, archbishops, and bishops beyond the mountains, as well as the King of France and the King of England [have entered the Order.] Write: this isn't true joy! Again, that my brothers have gone to the non-believers and converted all of them to the faith; again, that I have so much grace from God that I heal the sick and perform many miracles. I tell you true joy doesn't consist in any of these things." "Then what is true joy?"

"I return from Perugia and arrive here in the dead of night. It's winter time, muddy, and so cold that icicles have formed on the edges of my habit and keep striking my legs and blood flows from such wounds. Freezing, covered with mud and ice, I come to the gate and, after I've knocked and called for some time, a brother comes and asks, 'Who are you?' 'Brother Francis,' I answer. 'Go away!' he says. This is not a decent hour to come wandering about! You may not come in.' When I insist, he replies: 'Go away! You are simple and stupid! Don't come back to us again! There are many of us here like you - we don't need you!' I stand again at the door and say: 'For the love of God, take me in tonight!' And he replies: 'I will not! Go to the Crosiers' place and ask there!'

"I tell you this: If I had patience and did not become upset, true joy, as well as true virtue and the salvation of my soul, would consist in this."

Isn't that an incredible story? Francis, in a certain sense, tells the future of his order: royalty, theologians, and people from all over would come to join his order, starting during his life and increasing exponentially afterwards. He knew, though, that if he ever came to appreciate these things more than he did the love of God, he would be giving in to the temptations which Jesus faced in Matthew 4, the temptations to love the world and the creation more than the Creator.

For us, then, this is something to reflect on for this great feast day. Do we love the Lord enough that even if we had everything we could possibly ever dream of, our joy would be more complete if we were to suffer for the Lord? When trials, temptations, and difficulties come our way, are we so caught up in love for Christ and Him crucified that we are able to take joy in our suffering? If everything were to be taken from us, every created good was no longer ours to appreciate and to love, would we still love the Creator?

Today we will celebrate this great saint, and celebrate him we should. We should celebrate his life and the way that he suffered on earth for the Lord. We should celebrate the beautiful work of the order he started. We should celebrate the beauty and the depth of the teachings he left behind. We should celebrate the fact that we have a wonderful saint in heaven praying for each one of us.

Along with celebrating, though, we should learn. From Francis, we can learn that whatever comes our way, it will be sanctified and make us more perfectly full of joy if we unite it to Christ's suffering. Francis literally left everything behind (he got naked in front of the bishop in the middle of town...), from his material things to his status in society, in order to follow the Lord; and he spent much of his life suffering in poverty for that decision. For him, though, this suffering was pure joy. May we learn to suffer for the Lord, that our suffering may be united to His and bring us true joy.

 St. Francis of Assisi...

Pray for us! 

[Book Review]; A Journey with Mary

Walking with Mary: 

A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross

Dr. Edward Sri

Image Books, 2013

Dr. Edward Sri is somewhat of a major name in the Church in the United States, and for very good reason. Sri, a well known author and speaker, is a professor of Theology and Scripture at the Augustine Institute in Denver, Co. in their Master's program. He is known for his vast Biblical knowledge as well as his writing style, which takes complex topics and makes them understandable through the language of Scripture. In this book, he does exactly that with the topic of Mary; he shows through this book the way that we see Mary in Scripture, and what it is that we can learn about her and from her.

As Sri himself expresses in the introduction to this book, Mary is a controversial topic in many ways for Christians. Catholics, it seems to many, love Mary too much; Protestants and other Christians, it seems to Catholics, do not give her the esteem which she is due. What Sri sets out to do is answer the question at the heart of all of this: who is the person of Mary, and what do we know about how the Lord felt about her? On top of this, Sri states that he is writing this book to help the average reader "walk in her footsteps as a faithful disciple of the Lord in [their] own pilgrimage of faith" (page 18). 

Focusing on the Gospels of Luke and John, Sri takes the reader on a journey through the life of Mary as it is revealed in Scripture. From the Annunciation and what we know about the girl to whom the Angel Gabriel appeared all the way through the cross and into the book of Revelation, this book breaks down what Scripture tells us about the Mother of our Lord. Combining a sound reading of Scripture with a wealth of background knowledge, Sri breaks open these texts to reveal the young, poor girl who accepted with faith the call that the Lord had for her. 

Overall, Sri spends much of this book breaking open a theme which he quotes from St. Augustine "Mary was more blessed because of her discipleship than her motherhood." Through the words of Scripture, Sri explains this very concretely: Mary was obviously blessed because she was God's mother, but more than anything the blessing came because she had faith and trusted everything that God was going to bring about in her life. From the moment of the Annunciation to the prophecy of Simeon at Jesus' presentation and to the cross, he shows the way that Mary's faith guided her actions, allowing her to trust in God even when His plans were unclear or very difficult. 

For each of us, this is the lesson that Mary teaches us for our lives. From her last words in the Gospel of John to today we can constantly hear Mary's voice in our hearts saying "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5). Throughout this book, Sri shows through Scripture the way that she followed this way of living, and the way that she models for each of us the life of a believer. Whether or not we always understand, if we follow Mary's example to always "Do whatever He tells us," we will be blessed for our faith. 

If you are someone with a devotion to Mary or not, I recommend this book. It is not fiction, but is about as easy to read as any non-fiction I have read. Sri's easy-to-read style combined with the brevity of the chapters makes this book something that you can pick up and quickly learn about the blessed Mother in Scripture.

In order to learn more about this book and buy it from Image Books, visit the website here. In order to learn more about the author, Dr. Edward Sri, visit the Image Books bio of him at this link.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books."  

Exciting New Things

So I just wanted to let you know about a couple of new things that I've been writing, but I figured that I would come up with a new, easier way to do it! If you look up to the tabs up top, the one on the right now says "Other Writings." Here, you will find a link to things that I have written about on other blogs/websites/ministries/etc. I just posted a couple of new ones, so please go check it out and see some of the things I have written about not on here!

One of these new writings is for a website called Ignitum Today-this is my first post of hopefully many writings there. Ignitum Today is a social media of sorts, a place where young Catholic writers come together and write about various topics related to the Catholic Faith. I've loved reading things from Ignitum for a while now, and I am very excited to be writing there! Check out the website, and check out my new blog post up there called "Love Beyond Words." 

One Interview to Confuse them All

Image from America Magazine. 

If you have somehow been too busy to notice, the last couple of days have once again been a bit crazy for the Catholic world because Pope Francis has been up to his usual Shepherding of the people and the world has been up to its usual complete and utter misinterpretation of everything he said and did. First and foremost, take a moment and read the Pope's words: A Big Heart Open to God, words which come from America Magazine in a long interview which the pope recently gave. Seriously, read his words, they're worth it. Don't just read commentaries like this, read what he actually said. 

When I first read his words, I was uplifted and encouraged. The Pope challenged me to present the Gospel, the basic Gospel, first and foremost, without letting anything get in the way. From Francis, we see here a direct call back to St. Paul and the early Church, when St. Paul would preach that he had "resolved to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 1:22). 

From the outset, this seems to be exactly what the Pope wants us to see: "I am a sinner who the Lord has looked upon," he says. Is this not the basic Gospel message? We are sinners; and yet while we are sinners, the Lord chose to come down and to rescue us from our sin, bringing us back to Him through His sacrifice on the cross (see Romans 5:8 and following). This is exactly the point that George Weigel makes in what I think is the best article since the interview: the Pope is Christ-centered, and that's making us uncomfortable--Christ-Centered Pope. 

What I think is the best part about this whole interview is Pope Francis' explanation of the Church as a field hospital. Read this excerpt from that article I linked to above: 

“I see clearly,” the pope continues, “that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... And you have to start from the ground up.

“The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all." 

The Church, the Pope reminds, is first and foremost a place of healing for sinners. In another place of the article, Pope Francis says that "We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity." I think this is what he is getting at with the field hospital line: we spend too much time focusing on the things that others want to talk about, and too little time focusing on the Gospel, which people don't want to hear.

For me, at least, this seems to be the most important part of the Pope's words. The Church is a field hospital meant to bring the message of Christ, the message which proclaims liberty to captives and freedom for the oppressed. It is vital that we don't lose the moral and theological teachings, but those teachings must flow out of a genuine love of Christ and a love of neighbor, not simply out of a way to hide my own mediocrity by coming up with the best way of presenting one specific moral teaching. 

Too often, I think, the Gospel message itself is too hard for me. I want to have things which I can wrap my mind around, but how could I possibly wrap my mind around the beauty of the fact that the God of Universe descended to become man simply because He wanted to rescue me? I can't, and that's what the Pope wants me to realize. I must continue to come back to that, both in my life and in times when I am called upon to teach the Gospel, so that I never lose the heart of the teaching of Christ Himself. 

If you follow me on twitter, you are probably aware already that as time went on I didn't love some of the Pope's word choices as much as I did at first. This wasn't because I disagreed-it really wasn't-but rather because I felt a better word-choice might have stopped some of the freak out which caused us to lose some of the beauty of his message. The truth, though, is that his message is beautiful, because his message is the Gospel, and I hope that we can all see that message in this pope.   

"A beautiful homily, a genuine sermon must begin with the first proclamation, with the proclamation of salvation. There is nothing more solid, deep and sure than this proclamation. Then you have to do catechesis. Then you can draw even a moral consequence. But the proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives." 

All Quotes are from America Magazine, and are not my own-content all belongs to America Magazine, and you can again find the full text of the article here http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview 

Praying in Rome and Chilling with Colbert

That man above is Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the 10th Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York and current president of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops.

Cardinal Dolan has risen among the ranks of "People we Catholics in America love beyond reason" very quickly, and it is largely because of his larger-than-life personality and the fact that he seems like a cross between a saint and a teddy bear. Everywhere he goes Cardinal Dolan shows us that joy truly is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, since even with jobs as difficult as being the Archbishop of a major Archdiocese, the president of all the Bishops in the US, electing a new Pope, delivering the closing prayer for the Democratic Convention (he did! Check it out), or whatever else life might throw at him, he refuses to be anything but joyful. 

When Timmy Cardinal Dolan (I should probably be more formal than Timmy, right?) returned from the conclave (that process by which the Cardinals of the Catholic Church meet to pray and choose a new person to be the vicar of Christ, the successor of Peter, the Pope), he set about writing an E-Book about the experience which is called "Praying in Rome: Reflections on the Conclave and Electing Pope Francis." Although I have not read the book yet (mainly because my only e-reader is an iPhone, which would be frustrating...anyone want to send me a kindle? ;] ), I am positive that it is worth every second. The reviews of this book say that it is Cardinal Dolan at his finest-witty, easy to read/listen to, and very insightful about our Church and what will happen going forward. If you want to pick up this book, go to Image Books website and get it...it's only $1.99--here's the link!: Praying in Rome

And then this happened. This past Tuesday, Stephen Colbert returned from some time off with a very special guest, our much loved Cardinal Dolan. If you don't know this already, Colbert is a weekly mass-attending Catholic (as he told Cardinal Dolan, he is the only American Catholic more famous than Dolan himself) and a political pundit with his own show on Comedy Central. For a while, he talked to Cardinal Dolan about the book, the Pope, and whatever other things he decided to ask ("If you're chosen as the next Pope, what name will you choose?"). 

This interview is worth watching for the entertainment value, as well as to see exactly what we've come to love Cardinal Dolan for: his hilarious ability to live the faith with a joy unsurpassed by almost anyone. Let him be an example of the same thing Pope Francis keeps telling us: those of us who live the Catholic faith MUST have joy while we do it; otherwise we don't make sense! 

Here's the videos; watch them! They're great: 

And once again, here's the link to the book!  Praying in Rome

[Book Review]; Walking Home with Henri J.M. Nouwen

Home Tonight: 

Further Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Doubleday, 2009

This book, the text of which is written by Henri J.M. Nouwen, is the follow up to what is commonly known as his masterpiece, "The Return of the Prodigal Son...A Story of a Homecoming. In both books, Nouwen is fascinatingly open about his journey with the Lord, and particularly about his coming to the Lord through the experience he had with Rembrant's depiction of the return of the prodigal son.

The reflections which are contained in this book are originally from a series of talks which he gave at a conference late in his life. The text of these talks was preserved through some not professional recordings as well as his notes, and some editors did their best to put it together as the best possible reflection of the heart of the man who shares his story of learning what it means to truly come home. All in all, I would say, these editors have done a fantastic job of putting together Nouwen's story in a way that is easy to read, convicting, and very much in line with profound wisdom with which he wrote and, I would venture to say, spoke.

In this particular book, Nouwen takes us on a three-part journey: "Leaving and Returning Home," "The Invisible Exile of Resentment," and "Home is Receiving Love and Giving Love." These three parts, as you might guess if you know the story of the Prodigal Son (found in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 15), follow the three main characters of the story: the son who left home and returned, the older son who stayed, and the father who loved them both. For Henri, these three characters are all typical of parts of his own spiritual journey, and he shows us how they are probably typical of ours as well. With this setup, the book is easy to read; each chapter (about 3 per section) contains his reflections as well as guidance on a time of listening, a time of journaling, and a time of 'communing.' Finally, each chapter ends with "A Wisdom Practice for those on a Spiritual Journey."

With this layout, the book reads much more like a prayer than anything else. You read one man's story, but always do so in the context of the story of the Prodigal Son and the way that the Lord might want to speak to you through that. You can fly through this book, but you would miss the chance to stop and to pray with the things he reflects on and says. While his language and way of talking about God might be different than many of ours (for me it absolutely was), what he has to say is worth taking the time to read and to pray through.

Throughout his book, I think Nouwen has a theme which is expressed in this quote from the book: "Coming home is claiming the truth. I am the beloved child of a loving Creator. We no longer have to beg for permission from the world to exist" (pp. 38-39). This, I think, is the central theme: despite what lies we may have believed, despite what pain we may have felt or may currently feel, despite whatever way we have physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually "left home" or turned away from our Creator, our journey is all about claiming the Truth that we are made out of Love by the One who loves with an infinite love. Whether, like the youngest son, we have "squandered our inheritance" through sin, or, like the older son, we've done so by thinking we can somehow earn our inheritance or comparing ourselves to others, the whole journey is learning how to claim that identity as a Son of the Creator, and to give that love back to those we encounter just as the Father did in this story.

Whether we realize it or not, we can probably relate to the experience of at least one of the people in the Gospel story, as well as to the experience of Nouwen living out that story in his own life. If you are on the journey of reclaiming your identity as a Son or a Daughter, your journey of realizing that you are loved by One who will never forsake or abandon you, this book could be a great tool along that path. Like I said, some of Nouwen's language and understanding of God differ from the way that I would state things, and yet it was all easy enough to move past to allow him to help me understand a little better the truth of my sonship, allowing me to continue on my path of coming home.

If you want to find out more about this book, you can get more info at Image Books' website here, as well as follow these links for Chapter One or the Author's Bio.


"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books."  

Dive In; Moving Forward

I texted a friend of mine the other day asking his advice to people getting ready for another school year. His response? “Jesus loves you. But, if you mess up this year, He’s going to love you a lot less.”

So there’s that. It’s completely false and in no way based in the reality of God, but you know that…

As we wrap up Dive In and as we wrap up this summer of trying to grow in our faith and of coming to know the truth of God’s love for us a little bit more, the question is: what now?

Read the rest: Moving Forward

I wrote this blog as part of a series for Lighthouse Catholic Media's Youth Program. The Blogs were called Dive In, and you can find all of the blogs that we wrote this summer here: Lighthouse Catholic Youth Blog

Go and Be Hypocrites....

...Or Something Like That.

Go ahead and read the comments on, say, any article you could find defending orthodox Christianity on Huffington Post. Well, on second though, maybe don't. All you're going to find is a lot of anger and hatred and resentment towards Christianity, or more precisely, as Fulton Sheen put it, what people think Christianity is. 

One of the choruses that you'll hear repeated over and over again by people who don't like Christianity is that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. You preach a big game, they'll say, but then you don't back it up. You talk about all this morality and about love and about being perfect and living for Christ, and then you go and mess up. You're hypocrites!

As if we didn't know. 

I mean, it's not like this is something new. "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want to do." (that's Saint Paul, in Romans 7:19, back in the 1st Century). 

You see, I think this is just part of signing up for Christianity. Christ tells us to be perfect, and yet we are all well aware that we aren't. We want to be better, we want to get rid of that sin, we want to be over it; and yet all too often we find ourselves in that same pit, that same despair, that same sin. 

The question, though, is what do we do about it? Do we let the com-box atheists win and stop defending the faith because we're not worthy of it? Do we grow weary, let fear win, and hide?

I, for one, certainly hope not. 

We're going to be hypocrites at times. Is that good? Of course not. We need to fight back from that, we need to pick ourselves up and return to the Father always, but we also cannot stop standing up for truth. Truth, we know, is not something we make up; it's not based on how well we live it, but it is based on the One outside of ourselves in whom we have life. 

So, you realize you're a hypocrite. St. Paul did the same-but he never stopped standing up for truth. Don't let your insecurities and faults stop you from standing up for what you believe in. In fact, if you and I stand up for Truth with courage despite our own faults, I think we'll all find that we become a little less hypocritical in the process. 

He Won't Relent

The other day I got to be present at the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony uniting two dear friends, surrounded by many of my other dearest friends in the world. It's quite an experience, really; for a weekend, every couple of months or so (more often in the summer, because wedding season) a whole bunch of crazy recent college grads descend upon a city, have a blast with one another for like 3 days, and then go back to life. We celebrate, we catch up, we pray, and then we head back. It's incredible.

I could keep writing about how awesome it is, but none of you really wants to hear that. What I want to reflect on briefly is a line of a song that we sang at this wedding in a time of praise after communion which wrecked me (read: I cried). After communion, the musicians led us in a time of praise that was one of the more powerful moments I have ever been a part of, as the Bride and Groom praised the God who they had just received and who had just united them in this great Sacrament, and their family and friends joined them in this time of praise and thanksgiving. The verse to the song that we were all singing together, a song called "You Won't Relent," goes like this:

"I set you as a seal, upon my heart, as a seal upon my arm. For there is love, that is as strong as death, jealousy demanding as the grave. And many waters, cannot quench this love." 

This verse, coming from Scripture (Songs 8:6), is what got me so emotional. As I was in this place, surrounded by so many of the people I love, worshiping the God who had just humbled Himself to be received in flesh and blood, there was no doubt in my mind that there is a God who loves so deeply and intensely that it can only be described as a love so jealous and demanding as to only be compared to the grave, and yet is stronger than the grave.

Think of that line. The love of God is not just simply a nice, fluffy love. This is not a love which is just kind, and caring. It's not a love that it just a kind sentiment or a nice word. No, this love is SO MUCH more. This love is so jealous, so demanding, so unquenchable that it took on the grave and it won. This is a love that is as strong as death, but more than that-it's STRONGER. This love didn't just take on the grave, it won. And after winning that victory, this God has continued to come after His beloved. He will never stop searching out the ones He loves simply because He loves us.

The refrain of that song says "You won't relent until you have it all, my heart is yours." His love won't stop, He won't stop, until He has my whole heart. As I prayed in that Church, I knew this to be true. Even when life isn't perfect, I can never lose sight of the fact that His love is stronger than death, that His love will continue to come after me and seek me out in all of my imperfection and brokenness, His love will not abandon or betray me but will come after me with a jealousy as demanding as the grave, defeating death so as to give me new life.

What a gift.

[Coffee with the Saints]: The Assumption of Mary

Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Defined officially in 1950, this is a belief that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven which dates back to the early Church, with writings on it from as early as the 4th Century. Since other people have done the work to explain this day beautifully, I thought I'd link to a few of them, and then give some of my own thoughts in the end!: 

The best explanation I've found of how we can know all of this from Scripture and tradition, from Mark Hart, written at Lifeteen.com: Missing: Jesus' Mom 

Jimmy Akin with a quick FAQ on the Assumption of Mary. This is a great explanation of the basic facts of this great celebration:  12 Things to Know. 

The Anchoress, over at Patheos.com, on how science makes the Assumption a no-brainer; really fascinating take on this feast: In which Science and Theology are Met.

Catholic Encyclopedia with details on the Assumption; the basic facts: The Assumption of Mary. 

Our very dear Pope Francis today on how Mary, if we call on her, will journey with the Church and Her members through all trials and struggles:  Mary is Always Near. 

And so, let us celebrate this great feast of the Church with much joy. On this day we understand that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, giving us the hope of our future resurrection, and the joy of knowing that Mary is always near to us. Today we can take hope in the face of any trials or tribulations, knowing that we have a mother who is experiencing our future glory already, and who is watching over us daily to protect us and help us to stay near to our God. Today we can know that as we journey through the difficulty of life, we have the joy of heaven to look forward to, the joy of the resurrection of the body, the joy of the new creation in which we have the chance to live in total peace and joy for all of eternity with our Blessed Mother, who constantly watches over us on our journey to get there. 

Blessed Virgin Mary, Assumed body and soul into heaven...PRAY FOR US!! 


This coffee with the saints is a series that I am doing to reflect on the lives of the saints; if you want to read more about it or see other saint posts, you can click the tab on the top of this page or click this link Saints.