Expecting pain

“If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great Sacrifice of boundless charity.” – St. Ignatius of Loyola


I know that we're still in the Easter season, but that doesn't mean that all of our suffering is over.  Yes. Christ rose from the dead, but He didn't do it to relieve us from suffering.  It was so that we would embrace our sufferings for the sake of eternal life with Him. If Christ is our model, then we have to follow Him to the cross - because without the cross there is no resurrection. Christ showed us by example that there is meaning and purpose for suffering.


The Holy Spirit has been bringing up a theme of finding "joy in suffering" in many ways in my life lately. It's kind of ironic because I'm not really going through any specific or concrete suffering in my life right now. In fact I'm feeling a little complacent. But I've been realizing that something tragic doesn't necessarily have to happen for suffering to occur.  Suffering can just be the day to day sufferings, or inconveniences rather, that we are to find joy in.  Suffering means finding joy in eating burnt toast when you don't want to, or saying hi to somebody that drives you crazy.  At the end of our lives, we're going to be judged not only on our actions, but where our hearts are in these actions.  What are your motives and intentions for offering up these sufferings as joy?  Are you doing it for yourself or for the greater glory of God? 

Instead of asking, "Why, God?! Why me?!"...maybe a simple "thank you, I trust you Jesus" would be a better alternative.  Mother Teresa once said, "I know that God won't give me anything that I can't handle, I just wish He didn't trust me so much."  She said that because being a follower of Christ is hard. And you know what, nobody ever said that it was going to be easy!  It wasn't easy for Jesus to carry His cross to Calvary.  It wasn't easy for Jesus to be crucified.  It wasn't easy for Jesus to love His enemies.  And if we are going to follow Jesus, we should not expect it to be an easy road either.  Expect pain, because it is inevitable if you want to follow Christ. Don't be surprised when it comes.


Truth be told: Becoming a saint is going to be hard.  But it's worth it.  Accept your crosses with true joy, knowing "that produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint." (Romans 5:3-5) 


"Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS, I shall say it again, REJOICE!" - Philippians 4:4

Humble Pie

On retreat last month, we were challenged to write our own litany of humility.  I just wanted to share some of what I came up with and encourage you to do the same, this can be a really powerful prayer if you really take it to heart.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me...

From the desire of being the center of attention
From the desire of being funny
From the desire of being the best
From the desire of being accepted and included
From the desire of being perfect
From the desire of being comfortable
From the desire of knowing Your plan for me
From the desire of being loved

From the fear of being wrong
From the fear of being alone
From the fear of not pleasing You
From the fear of letting people down
From the fear of being forgotten
From the fear of being inadequate

Deliver me, Jesus.

"That others may be loved more than I
That others may be esteemed more than I
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease
That others may be chosen and I set aside
That others may be praised and I unnoticed
That others may be preferred to me in everything
That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should.

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it."

San Diego Mission: a quick update!

Hey everybody!  I just wanted to write a little bit about my mission to San Diego a couple weeks ago, and to say thanks to everybody who made it possible for this trip to happen.  So thanks to everybody who sent donation and/or prayers our way!  The trip was an incredible experience that I know I will never forget!  Here's a link to a quick video that we made as an intro to each event that we held for the teens in San Diego. Enjoy!  http://youtu.be/9sroEbz9d6M

We began the week by running a confirmation retreat for about 140 high school students, we helped out with two soup kitchens, lead mini retreats for both 7th and 8th grade Catholic school students, put on a night for high school students on chastity, we prayed outside of an abortion clinic, and put on living stations of the cross for the parish that we stayed at, and we even got to spend one day on the beach! 

It was such a beautiful experience getting to bring the love and joy of Christ to the people in San Diego.  I realized that I went into the experience in "Mission mode," ready to serve, but I ended up being spiritually fed by the experience and enriched by the service that I received.  So thanks again for allowing me to experience this mission and for your prayers and support!

San Diego Mission Team 2012

"Rejoice in the Lord Always, again I shall say it, REJOICE!" - Philippians 4:4

I dare you not to smile...

Truth be told: She's the best niece in the world!  

"Unless you become like children you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven" - Matthew 18:3

For all the graduating seniors...

"Have no fear of moving into the unknown.  Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well.  Do this in complete faith and confidence" - Blessed Pope John Paul II

Relax

Sometimes the Lord calls us to rest.  Even when it seems inconvenient in our busy lives.  There's never a time when he stops inviting us to this. "Come to me all you who are burdened and weary, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest in your souls." (Mt. 11:28)  Because I'm a little slow when it comes to hearing His voice, the past few days He's been calling me to rest by allowing me to come down with a cold.  I finally caught on today.  Thankfully He's patient.

"Why is it easy to work but hard to rest sometimes?" Audrey Assad says in her new song, Lament.  How true this is!  It's so easy to keep busy, but not always as easy to just relax, reflect and rest.

We need to be rested inside and out.  We need to take some time for physical rest every day, as well as a time to just quiet our souls and rest in Him.  My boy, St. Augustine, said that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.  

Ask the Lord to hold you in His arms while you take a break today, I know I'm going to.

What God and a cinnamon bun have in common

Yesterday at breakfast, a friend challenged me to somehow relate God to a cinnamon bun.  Needless to say I accepted the challenge, so let's not waste anymore time.  I am about to enlighten you about the wonders of sticky sweet goodness! Get psyched!

We'll start with the best part...the frosting of course!

The frosting is the sweetest part, nobody wants a cinnamon bun without the warm melted frosting that gets stuck to your fingers! There's just no denying that. 

Well, the word of God is actually pretty sticky too. In fact if our daily life is rooted in Scripture, then God's word should "stick" in our heads throughout the day.  Everything that comes out of our mouths should reflect what we've been putting in our heads from Sacred Scripture.  The book of psalms says, "How sweet are Your words to my taste.  Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103)...and I would add, sweeter than the best cinnamon bun you've EVER eaten!  The sweetness of our faith is found in the word spoken from the mouth of God.  His word is truth, it is beauty, and it is our life.

Next comes the fluffy dough!

If it weren't for the fluffy dough, where would we put the frosting?!  The dough is the foundation on which the frosting rests.  I think you might know where I'm going with this - but in case you don't, I would like to propose that the dough represents the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith.  The Eucharist is the foundation upon which everything else rests.  The dough from the cinnamon bun is what fills us up (especially if you're like me and can't just eat one!).  The Eucharist is the same way...but on a supernatural level...it's what nourishes us! In John 6:35, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will not hunger." The Eucharist is what gives us strength, keeps us going, and brings us closer to the Creator (the chef, if you will). 

The Cinnamon

The cinnamon is an essential part of a cinnamon bun...without it, well...it's just a bun.  Boring!  Although we don't always see each and every particle of cinnamon while we're eating, we can taste the effects of it.  Likewise we can't see the Holy Spirit in our lives, but we can definitely see the effects of His movements in our daily lives!  Every good and Holy act that we do or think is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Even if a person is not aware of the Holy Spirit acting in their lives, they can still be guided by His light of truth by choosing to love in every moment.  

Luke 4:18 says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" What a mission!! It's the movement of the Holy Spirit is what makes life exciting!  Living every step of our lives for the Lord is the greatest adventure of our lives!  St. Augustine once said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances, to seek Him the greatest adventure, and to find Him, the greatest human achievement."  If you wanna spice up your life, get some more cinnamon in your life!

Finally, the burnt bottom, because I always forget to take it out of the oven on time...

Nobody's perfect, often times we lose track of time and burn the pastries :/  We've all done it, just like we've all sinned.  Yep, you guessed it: The burnt part on the bottom represents all of the sin in our lives.  Nobody wants a burnt bottom...although sometimes we might think that we can live with it...the cinnamon bun is always going to taste better without it.  Sometimes we burn it so badly that you can't even taste the rest of the cinnamon bun, it just tastes like charcoal.  Um...nasty!!  Nobody wants that.

Matthew 5:29 says "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."  In a similar way, (Yes, that was a New Roman Missal Reference) nobody wants to eat that burnt stuff on the bottom, so cut it off and enjoy the sweetness of the cinnamon bun!

Well, that's about all I got on this tasty topic. My hope is that you never look at a cinnamon bun the same way ever again and that you're hungry for more ;)