Reflection from Max Lucado

The following is a quote from his 3:16 - The Numbers of Hope calendar. It is one of the best summaries of our attitudes as humans towards God. I just wanted to share. "[Some] of us have written our own Bible verse: 'God helps those who help themselves' (Popular Opinion 1:1). We'll fix ourselves, thank you. We'll make up for our mistakes with contributions, our guilt with busyness. We'll overcome failures with hard work. We'll find salvation the old-fashioned way: we'll earn it.

Christ, in contrast, says to us what the rope-holding girl said to me [when I was about to bungee jump and was scared]: 'Your part is to trust. Trust me to do what you can't.'"

If you are interested in purchasing this calendar you can find it at DaySpring.com. Click here to be redirected to that page.

Simon Says…

There have been many times in my short 23 year life that I have found myself playing the famous Simon Says. All of us know how to play the game, as the rules are very simple, but not all of us are good at this game. I am one who has no coordination and am completely unable to play a successful round. I can usually make it only a minute or two into the game before I realize I am still moving when everyone else is standing still. Yeah, I am that guy! I have naively thought that as I continue to grow up I will become more coordinated, thus giving me a little bit more of an edge in order to compete, but sadly I still find myself out rather quickly. I am undecided on whether or not I lose because I am terribly uncoordinated or because I am a terrible listener. I am sure it has a little to do with both.

Do you want a cookie? How about the Eucharist?

A couple of days ago I went to the Edge group at my parish. Since I am away at school, this was the first time I was able to attend an Edge Night. This night they just just had a small Christmas Party. We watched a movie and then they were allowed to play games. The thing that I chuckled about was how they reacted when they were told that they can decorate Christmas cookies. They reacted the way I expected. 

Many of them rushed over to the table and picked out their two cookies that they could decorate. They preceded to open up the icing and dumped tons of icing on their cookies as if they thought that there could never be enough sugar.  Once they were satisfied with the amount of icing on their cookies, they took sugar sprinkles and did everything but sprinkle them on their cookies - it was actually more like pouring them on top of their already overloaded cookies. I loved seeing the excitement and passion in their eyes as they decorated their cookies just as they wanted. They made it their own. When they ate them they no longer were generic sugar cookies that were all alike, but ones that were individual. 

I began reflecting on how they were so excited to decorate their own cookies and how they flocked to the table to do it. My question became, why don’t we as Christians become so excited and impassioned with love when we have the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist? Why are we not flocking to Mass every Sunday, or heaven forbid on weekdays as well? 

Joseph's Dream

This upcoming Sunday's Gospel reading is from Matt 1:18-24 - Joseph's Dream. It can be found here. Please read the Gospel reading before reading the rest of this post.

It has been Advent for the last 2 weeks. I am not sure about you, but it hasn't completely felt like Advent for me, and that is not because their isn't any snow on the ground. It is because I haven't put forth the effort to really bring Christ into my life this season. This is a sad reality as we all are supposed to be preparing our hearts to receive the Christ-child very soon. What an awesome gift that has been given to us, but rarely do we take the time to realize the immensity of this gift.

While I was thinking about what I should write for this post, I read this upcoming Sunday's Gospel. The Gospel reading is about the Lord appearing to Joseph in a dream. I am sure many of us get distracted by everything else that goes on during the "Christmas Season," but I know with myself, whenever I think of Advent I usually think of Mary and Jesus. Does Joseph even come to our minds, when the words Advent and Christmas are mentioned? Many times St. Joseph is forgotten about. I suppose that is due to the high emphasis of a devotion to Mary in the Church today. We must not forget about St. Joseph and what he has done.

"The Our Father" - Just another Catholic Prayer?

This Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the Gospel reading is Luke 11:1-13, which is when Jesus teaches his disciples "The Our Father." 

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do no subject us to the final test." 

Obviously the prayer that we pray today has slightly different wording and is longer, but the skeleton is still the same. There are seven petitions in the prayer and it is the same seven that we pray today. My point of this post is to help you see that "The Our Father" isn't just another prayer. All prayer is so important, but this prayer takes preeminence. There are many reasons why we hold "The Our Father" in such high esteem and if you would like to read about it and how to pray it please visit the Catechism starting on paragraph 2759.

"The Lord's Prayer 'is truly the summary of the whole gospel'" (CCC 2761). Wow, that is quite the statement and if we actually think about it, it does make sense. St. Augustine says that all the prayers in the rest of Scripture are summed up in the Lord's Prayer. It is Christ who gave us this prayer and in Christ all is fulfilled. Why then do we become so blah when we say it, whether it is at Mass or in other prayers? We stop praying and start reciting. Why?

Welcome In Your Advocate

"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth... I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:15-18). This is awesome! Many times we think of Scripture as just being repetitive and boring; it can never be repetitive or boring - it is alive! We have heard many times that God sent his Sprit after Christ ascended into Heaven, but do we just accept it and move on with our lives or do we give pause and realize the profound effect that it has on our own life?

Am I Living a Worthy Life?

A week ago I heard Bob Lesnefsky give a talk about living a worthy life. He has been faced with the question of living his life for Christ, but he also asked us to look at ourselves and decide if we are living a worthy life. Looking at my life right now, can I say that I am living a Christian life? Is my life worthy of being called Christian? For me this is not an easy question to answer. Heck, I would love to say "yes," but truly looking at the nitty gritty parts of my life, can I say that I am being a true disciple of Christ?