Falling in Love

[inspired by a talk given by Fr. Steven Voss]

Falling in love.... We do whatever we can to get to know the other person. We arrange our schedules so that we can spend time with him or her. We yearn to be with that person. We may spend nearly every waking moment thinking about that certain someone. So why should it be ANY different with Jesus Christ, our Most Beloved? Look upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus - how His Love actively burns for us! How strong, how bright, how passionate it is! Oh, but how His heart must ache when we turn away from Him and reject His love with our sinfulness. But despite our sins, our shortcomings, and our flaws, He longs for us and loves us more than we could ever fathom. Take the time to fall in love with Him again and again this summer. Get to know him further through the Scriptures, spend time with Him in Eucharistic Adoration, accept His mercy and grace through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, yearn to be with Him at Mass, receive Him in the Blessed Sacrament, think about Him throughout the day through prayer and meditation, and simply offer up your daily trials and tribulations and unite them with His sufferings - as often as you can - because He falls in love with us even more, each and every time. Jesus is waiting for us.

"It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal." - Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day 2000 in Rome

Listening

I hope everyone is enjoying their Summer, I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts and experiences...

The following is a passage we read in Bible study from a book called The Religious Sense by Luigi Giussani

Let us say that Mark and I are walking along the city streets. Because Mark has raised a serious problem I am knocking myself out trying to explain things to him. He listens to me and I grow ever more impassioned and ever more lucid- or so it seems to me as I present my arguments. "So then, do you understand?" "Yes, yes up to this point I follow you." We have been walking along talking with our eyes fixed on the side walk. But he lifts his eyes to notice a pretty woman walking on the other side of the street. He continues to say "yes, yes", but in an increasingly mechanical manner as he fixes his eyes on the lovely figure and turns his head to watch her as she moves away. This continues until she disappears into the distance. Discontentedly he withdraws his gaze and turns back to me in the very instant I have concluded my argument. I say to him, "So then, Mark do you agree?" And he says "No, no I am not persuaded!"

This reply is not valid because he did not pay attention to my arguments. This is the offense that the majority of people commit when they face the problems of destiny, faith, religion, the Church and Christianity because, being "anxious and troubled with many other things", in these things their minds are "dead and buried". But then they claim to be able to pronounce a judgment, to have an opinion, partly because it is impossible not to have a viewpoint on these matters.

At first it seems this passage only correlates with people who disagree with the teachings of the Church but the more I think about it the more I feel this is something a lot of us do with our faith. I think it's easy to recognize if it's just an everyday conversation but if you imagine this to be a conversation with God it becomes more interesting. It's easy to think that we pay attention to what God is telling us without getting distracted. I think it's worth taking a moment to stop and think about whether we are really listening to what God is trying to tell us or if we are just saying, "yes, yes I get it", and then moving on to the next daily task. I realized lately that God is totally invested in talking to us and in explaining serious problems to us but we don't always hear him because of the abundant amount of distraction in our everyday lives. The best way I can suggest is just what Daniel has suggested, take ten minutes, at least, to just sit and pray in a quiet place and if you get distracted in prayer, here's a suggestion I found to help while praying.

"Imagine the consciousness during prayer to be like a section of a river. Thoughts and distractions are like little boats that come floating downstream. If we don't pay them any attention, they float by and are gone. If we put our attention into them, or worse, weigh them down with an emotional reaction, the little boat gets heavier and moves that much slower. The more attention and emotion we put into the little boat, the heavier it gets and the more sluggish it becomes in floating away."

"God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission-I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good, I shall do His work.
Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am. I cannot be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me-still He knows what He is about."
-Cardinal Newman

An experience to share

As I knew would eventually happen, I fell into the doldrums of summer. It is hard to keep the fervor of our faith during lackadaisical times, and so I took to reading the novel Left Behind, which I just finished this morning. This book is the first in a series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins about the earth’s last days. (a very good read too!)

While reading, I kept thinking about my own spirituality. If God came today, would I be left behind? It is a scary thought, no doubt, but I did not want to dwell on faith out of fear. Instead, I began to examine my conscience and think of my selfishness, conceit, and vanity. I realized how easy it had been to live for God when everyone around me was doing the same, and yet now on my own came the true test. I prayed to God, apologizing for my distance lately, how I had let other things get in the way and used them as excuses to make myself feel better. I had to face the truth that I had become lazy in my faith, and was putting the blame on a busy schedule. I dealt with these thoughts for a few days, saying little prayers along the way, but it still felt selfish to pray for myself when all I was thinking about lately was myself… I could not think of what to do.

Last night before I went to bed, I picked up my bible and set it down on my pillow. I had grabbed it on the side opposite the binding, and as I set it down it opened to Psalm 51: Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon. I just stared at the page, completely overcome. God had put before me the prayer I had been searching for
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your merciful love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! …"

I encourage you to read it in full. My translation includes a footnote, “51: This psalm, known as the ‘Miserere’ is the one most used in the Liturgy of the Hours to express repentance for sin.” He is always there for us, wanting us desperately to be with Him! Praised be Jesus Christ!

"Remember you only have one soul; that you only have one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be a great many things about which you care nothing.". St. Theresa of Avila

Three Rotten Fruits

This comes from a book I'm reading called Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly.

"...[T]he prevailing philosophies at this time in the world are Individualism, Hedonism and Minimalism. Sadly, these philosophies have also worked their way into the lives of many Catholics, and as Catholics we have carried these philosophies like a disease into the Church. It is therefore not uncommon for modern Catholics to judge Mass on Sunday, the Church, and Catholicism by what they get out of it. This attitude is the fruit of Individualism. Similarly, most modern Catholics have abandoned almost every Catholic tradition that is not self-gratifying or requires any display of discipline. This attitude is the fruit of Hedonism. It is also very common for people to think, "I go to Church on Sunday, and I always say grace before meals. Isn't that enough?" This attitude is of course the fruit of Minimalism. Consciously or sub-consciously, we are often asking ourselves, "what is the least I can do and still be Catholic?" and "What is the least I can do and still go to Heaven?"

My first mass in Indiana

As some of you may know, I am currently in Bloomington Indiana doing a summer research program at Indiana University. I have been here since Sunday and have honestly struggled at times. Things are going well but I still do miss home, friends and family. I have been in a funk that I just can't quite shake off. Today I was able to attend mass at the Catholic church close to campus. As I was walking through the streets of Bloomington to the church I had the most strong desire to be with and receive Jesus. All I wanted to do was run to Him! I feel more than ever the saving and strengthening power of our Lord through the Eucharist. He is here to help us! He is here to guide us through all of our struggles and joys this summer! He is here, He is everywhere to pull us to mass, to pull us to Him through the Eucharist. To tug at us so much, to make us desire him so much. Desire to be with the Lord, go to mass and receive Him and let Him walk with you this summer and always!

Welcome Home Video

Greetings everyone. A friend from Spain had e-mailed me this video. I've seen it before but I get a luttle lump in my throat everytime I see the beauty of our family. Enjoy