I'm sorry that the Mother of God Inconveniences You

So Happy New Year from Wisconsin! Today is officially January 1st, 2013, and what better way to start the new year than with a new blog post? Today is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. It is a beautiful feast that celebrates Mary's role in the Salvation of the World as the "theotokos" or the "God-bearer." This title was officially conferred upon Our Blessed Mother in 431 at the Council of Ephesus thanks largely to St. Cyril of Alexandria, although she had been called the Theotokos long before 431 (I teach Church History, I couldn't help myself). This Feast Day is one of the most beautiful and one of the oldest Feasts on the Liturgical Calendar of the Catholic Church.

So when I was at Mass on Sunday in Southern California, suffice it to say that I was surprised when the priest celebrating Mass said in the announcements that January 1st would NOT be a Holy Day of Obligation. I left thinking that perhaps he had been joking or that he had misspoken, but then my dad dropped me off at the airport and asked me about that same thing since his priest had also mentioned it. So I go online today to do some research, especially since I just taught all of my students that January 1st is Holy Day of Obligation. Here is what I found on the website of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in the Diocese of Orange:

"For the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, The Bishops of Region 11 have determined that due to the pastoral reality and the pastoral hardships resulting from the obligation to attend Mass on January 1, the obligation of attending Mass has been dispensed.

Therefore, January1, 2013 is not a Holy Day of Obligation in the Diocese of Orange. But it remains a Holy Day of Obligation for the Universal Church. All Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass on January 1st."

So I can sort of understand dispensing with the Obligation when the Feast falls on a Saturday or a Monday, just like I can sort of understand the Church in the United States asking for a dispensation to allow Catholics to eat meat on Fridays outside of Lent, but this? SERIOUSLY?!?! What are the pastoral hardships involved here?! Just because people party too hard on New Year's Eve and are hungover the next day and don't want to go to Mass does not mean that we should just say, "Oh, that's fine, don't worry about celebrating the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, she isn't really that important anyway." In fact, I think that we should emphasize the Feast Day because of the culture that surrounds New Year's Eve. I think having the obligation to attend Mass the next day encourages people to party more moderately and in a much more appropriate way. If this is such a big deal, why are only the Bishops of Region 11 doing this (Region 11 consists of the Dioceses in Hawaii, California and Nevada)?

At what point do we cross over from inculturation of the Gospel message to watering it down? At what point do we stop trying to change the Church to make her more appealing to others and start encouraging people to change themselves? There was a quote from  a Defending the Faith Conference in a Franciscan Way magazine not too long ago that said, "There are many scientific reasons, philosophical reasons, that people have a problem with the Church. But the biggest problem they have is that it requires a change of lifestyle, it requires them to change the way they live" or something along those lines. If we are to live as faithful Catholics we must require change of ourselves instead of requiring change of our Church.

When I read this, the first thing that came to my mind was the verse from St. Paul's Letter to Romans: "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2). I think that it would be pleasing to God for us to honor this Holy Feast Day. I think that Christ would want us to celebrate Mary's role in the Salvation of the world, for without her "fiat" the Incarnation would not have taken place. I love what St. Maximilian Kolbe has to say about Our Lady: Never be afraid of loving Our Lady too much. We can never love her more than Jesus did."

With these things in mind, I would humbly encourage the Bishops of Region 11 to reconsider this decision in upcoming years. I acknowledge, however, that I do not know all of the circumstances that played into this decision and I do not presume to know better than the Bishops of Holy Church, even if I seemed to give off that impression.

May Jesus Bless you through His Mother throughout this New Year and the rest of your days. May we continue to pray for our Church and for Her leaders.

God Love You!

Freedom: The Power to Love, the Power to Hurt

As we are all painfully aware, a horrible tragedy struck Newtown, Connecticut two days ago. As a teacher, and as a married man who one day hopes to have children, this tragedy struck particularly close to my heart. It struck even closer to my heart because I have been to Newtown several times and I have friends who live in Newtown, friends who I think of as family. And yet as painful as it was to hear about these things, I can't even imagine what the parents of those kids felt. My heart mourns for the 20 families, and the entire community, most closely affected by this tragedy.

It is tragedies like these that make our society question the Catholic notion of an All-Good, All-Powerful God. We see this kind of senseless violence, this loss of such beautiful innocent life, and the only reasonable question is: "Why?" Why did God allow this to happen? I have already seen people claiming that this was all a part of "God's master plan," making it seem like God not only allowed this to happen but actually willed it to happen. This is commonly known as the problem of evil. If God is all-good and all-powerful, why didn't He stop it from happening?

The only possible reason for these tragedies, the only adequate explanation (if one exists) is the human condition. As human beings we have a radical freedom that allows us to act harshly against one another. It is human beings who committed these acts by using this freedom. Our freedom allows us to choose between right and wrong. It is human freedom that has brought evil into our world. It is human beings who choose to harm one another. God never chooses to cause harm, he only tries to bring about good.

In His desire to bring about good, God has given us the gift of freedom. It is because of freedom that we are able to love. Without freedom, love would not be a possibility. And love is perhaps the most important aspect of life. St. Paul speaks beautifully about the importance of love in his First Letter to the Corinthians: "If I speak in human and angelic tongues--but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing." But it is this very gift that also provides us the opportunity to commit terrible atrocities.

Too often when faced with this type of pain,  we simply avoid the issue by saying, "Everything happens for a reason." This, however, is absurd and it is tragedies like this one that proves how absurd that saying is. I don't believe that there was a reason for the shooting at Columbine High School so many years ago. I don't believe there was a reason for the World Trade Center Attacks on September 11. I don't believe that there was a reason for the shootings in Aurora, Colorado earlier this year. I don't believe that there is a reason for this terrible tragedy. At least, not a Divine Reason.

I cannot tell you how much I despise this shirt!! It honestly makes me cringe, especially when good Christians push this as the truth. The truth is that God did not want this happen. He did not want the lives of so many of his beloved children to be cut tragically short. God did not allow this to happen because he wanted to get revenge. He didn't refuse to help those children because they don't talk about God in schools. In fact, he didn't refuse to help those children at all.

It may be difficult to see, it may be tough to believe, but God was right there with those kids. He was there in the midst of their suffering and their pain. He was there suffering along with them, suffering for them. He was there to try and console them and bring them peace. And he will be there for their families and friends now. He will be there to try and heal their hurts and their pains. He will be there to offer them his love and his grace and his mercy. He will pour out everything that he has for them because he is a Father and he knows what it is like to lose his only Son.

But grace does not work like Magic. God cannot heal their hearts unless they cooperate with His grace. He can offer them everything they could need to properly heal and if they are not aware of His love for them then they will not be able to accept his Love and Grace, they will not be able to experience the healing that He offers them. But God's love will not leave them. He will not stop trying to reveal Himself to them, He will not stop trying to heal them and bring them peace.

It wasn't God who hurt those children, it was a misguided a young man who was desperately in need of help. Could God have stopped him from hurting those kids? Not without taking away his freedom. God wanted that young man to choose love, but you cannot force love, you can only hope someone will choose it. And to live a life empty of love is to not live at all. Let us pray that we will come to a deeper understanding of freedom and a deeper understanding of human dignity!

This terrible tragedy reminded me of the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. After that day, a woman who was at the theater posted a blog that I think is very applicable to this blog. Here is the Link!



God Love You!

The Quiet Hour

Have you ever had one of those moments of clarity where you are suddenly made aware of how tiny you are? One of those moments that shows you how petty the things around you truly are? A moment that, while reducing you to almost nothing, motivates you instead of depresses you? I had one of those moments tonight. The only way I can really relate it is through a story of scripture:

"Then the Lord said: 'Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will pass by.' There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing the rocks before the Lord--but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake--but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire--but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire a light, silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave." 1 Kings 19:11-13

I just love this passage from first Kings. We hear of God appearing in a theophany so often in Scripture--the burning bush, the clouds and lightening at Mount Sinai, the earthquake at Pentecost, that I think we begin to expect God to act in big ways, to reveal himself loudly and obviously. But God doesn't always work like that. In fact, it has been my experience that God often works in the small things, in the quiet places.

My strongest experiences with God, those times that I most strongly feel God's presence, are moments of quiet contemplation and of silent prayer. These moments do not happen frequently for me and so I thank the Lord that my faith is not based on feeling but on Truth. I know that God is always with me, it is just an extra blessing when He really lets me know. But I can think back on several moments when I really felt God's presence with me, not just as a joy within me but as a tangible presence, and these moments have always happened softly and quietly.

Tonight I had one of these moments where God just moved swiftly and decisively in my life and called me out of complacency and back into an active faith. God did not tell me that I was not doing enough to seek Him and to live my life for Him, He showed me!

It happened at a totally unexpected moment: there I was grading homework assignments and watching "The OC" with my wife (Jason, I hate you by the way--this show is addicting). I innocently logged onto Facebook  (because I am a part of that generation that must be connected to their social media several times a day) and saw pictures of Clark Thompson from his half Ironman (congratulations Clark, that is incredible!). Clark had dedicated his half Ironman to our friend Tyler who passed away this summer. His shirt said "This one is for you Tyler" and had a picture of Tyler's face and the years of his amazing and far too brief life.

Just seeing Tyler's name made me think of the many absurd things that he and I did together. I remember when we were in Austria, he and I went hiking together one day, just the two of us. Most of the snow had melted away and it was sunny and we decided to enjoy God's beauty. (CAUTION: this story may involve more personal details than you ever wanted to know.) As we were hiking up this mountain the snow kept getting deeper and deeper until we were almost up to our knees in snow. As our feet grew numb we turned back and tried to forge a new, quicker path down the mountain, only to find ourselves tripping and falling and losing our shoes. My favorite part about that trip was definitely stopping so that we could pee each other's names into the snow (why you may ask? well we were in college in the Austrian alps. Do we need a better reason?)

Thinking about my friend Tyler immediately put my life into perspective (It amazed me how, even after his death, Tyler can still affect such change in my life and still be such a positive influence on me). I quickly remembered how lucky I was to simply be alive. I began to realize how often I take my very existence for granted, not to mention all of the many and wonderful blessings that God has given me. Thinking about the simple and joyful way in which Tyler sought the Lord at every turn really made me realize how complacent I have become in my walk with Christ and how much more I can do to really serve, worship, and honor the King of Creation. These last few months have been so tough that I really used them as an excuse to spend hours "relaxing" and "unwinding" instead of looking to Cross and running after it. I spent so much time doing nothing and not enough time simply enjoying the presence of my God in the Holy Eucharist or listening to His voice in daily prayer.

As I started thinking about Tyler I remembered his "mission statement" from his photography website: "If I were to have a mission statement, I assume it would go as follows: To present Christ as irresistible to the yearning heart." This message is so convicting for me, and it should be for anyone who spends time preaching the Good News. It was especially convicting for me because it made me realize how little I have been expecting of my students in my classroom. As I thought about my teaching experience I realized that I had been teaching them religion and not expecting conversion, not expecting them to actually desire to change or desire to know God more. And yet everyday I have the opportunity to teach them about Christ, about the man who gave His life for them, about the God who loves them so much that He was willing to die for them. I have the opportunity every single day of the week to give their hearts what they so desperately desire! Their hearts yearn for Jesus Christ the Savior and Redeemer of the world! Whether they know it or not, their hearts are yearning for their Creator, yearning for that perfect Love, yearning for something which only God can provide.

And this is not just true of my students--this is true of every single person we meet. Young or old, Saint or sinner, our hearts are yearning for the Truth, for Love, for God Himself! How different we would treat those around us if we would just remain actively conscience of this fact! God Himself is madly in love with everyone around us! Why shouldn't we be also??

So in the words of my dear friend Tyler, let us take it upon ourselves to "present Christ as irresistible to the yearning human heart."

God Love You!

Why do we disbelieve Scripture?

Just the other day, my fiancee and I went to our parish for the "Parish Faith Night." Our Pastor, Fr. George, gave a great talk on the Year of Faith that is beginning this week. He talked about Vatican II and all of the good that it brought to the Catholic Church and he talked about what the Year of Faith means for us as a Parish. But the part of his talk that really caught my interest was when he talked about learning English. Fr. George is from India and he has a very strong accent. He told us that when he was starting to learn English his teacher told him that he should read the Bible. Apparently this is an incredibly common thing to do when learning English, which I think is great! The more people who read the Bible the better! The reason English learners are encouraged to read the Bible is because of the incredibly simple language in which it is written. Of course it can very often be difficult to understand the meaning of the Bible--what it means for us as Christians--but as far as what the words mean, the Bible is written incredibly simply! We don't have to read at the same level as a PhD candidate in order to be able to read the words of the Bible. I think this is great! It makes the Bible accessible to more people.
However I also think that the simplicity of the Bible can work against those who read it. It seems to me that the simplicity of the Bible can cause the reader to question the authority and the truth of what is written there, especially when it comes to the big questions in life, like "How did we get here?", "What is our purpose?" "How do we determine right from wrong?" When we read the Bible, everything is explained in simple terms. This is probably because the Scriptures were not written to provide evidence for the Truths contained therein. The Scriptures were written to pass along what happened, not necessarily how it happened. The inspired writers were not trying to prove to people what had happened, they were simply trying to pass along the story of what happened.
Today, everything is complicated and we are always asking how it happened. Not that asking "how" or"why" is bad; actually is great! But nothing is simple today. As much as technology has made life more simple, it has always made life incredibly more complicated. Even "relationships" on Facebook seem to be tending more toward the "It's Complicated" definition. As we get more and more used to complicated definitions and complicated answers, the simple things tend to seem outdated. This mindset has even seeped into our relaxation time. Our time to "relax" is much more complicated now than it was in the past. When we want to relax now we go on Facebook, or watch TV or play video games. When was the last time you hung a hammock and read a book to relax? Or the last time you laid on a blanket and just stared at the clouds for an hour? Even our relaxation is complicated! That is insane! We claim to hate when things get complicated and yet we seek out complication without even realizing it!
I would like to suggest that it is the simple things in life that bring us the most pleasure and that make us the most happy (not to suggest, of course, that pleasure and happiness are the same). How often do you wish your life was more simple? How much more time did you have to actually relax before you got a smartphone and an iPad and a SmartTV and a bluetooth headset, and whatever toys we deem necessary today? The simple things are the most beautiful: a Sunset, star-gazing, holding hands with the one you love, Curious George books. It really is the simple things in life, especially the Bible, that give life meaning.

God Love You!

Honesty is the Best Policy

Definitely been busy for over a month now and it doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. At least my house is (almost) completely set up and I don't plan on doing any more travelling for a few months. I can finally settle down a little bit and maybe even take some time to relax. Then again, school starts in about 9 days and I should do some more lesson planning. Anyway, this weekend I flew all the way back to California to watch my sister get married. It was a beautiful wedding! They decided to get married in a random field and so it was awesome to see the hard work they put in pay off. They had to clear branches and tall grasses and put in steps and a dance floor and literally everything. After everything, though, I think it was perfect. As night fell on the reception the Christmas lights they had wrapped around the trees came on and it was like something out of a movie. They had these really cool and really hipster chandeliers that they made out of mason jars and they had mason jar flower vases and it was simply incredible. The whole wedding totally embodied their personalities. Actually, now that I think about it, it really was a "pinterest" wedding. Now, if you are a girl you know exactly what I am talking about. If not, let me explain it since my fiancee is on their ALL THE TIME! Pinterest is basically an online cork board. People post all sorts of pictures and if you like them you can "pin" them to your own page. People often post "cute" ideas for home decor that you can make all on your own. In fact, my fiancee wants to make a coffee table that she found on that website, and it was that website that convinced her to let me see her in her wedding dress before the ceremony. Like I said, though, it was an incredible wedding and it turned out beautifully. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't have something to criticize...
While I was sitting at the ceremony, I was struck by how Catholic the ceremony was despite the fact that the Church they go to isn't Catholic. Their pastor spoke very strongly of the lifelong covenant that they were making with God and he used some very good scriptures to give them words of courage, strength and advice. He really drove home the fact that they needed to die to themselves in order to be good spouses. And once they said their vows, the three of them even shared communion. And as I listened to him speak I could tell that he was very passionate and I could see how the members of his congregation could follow him. I am sure that there is hardly a service in which he does not captivate his audience with his words and motivate and inspire them to live more faithfully. And this is good news! He is leading his congregation closer to Christ in the way he knows! If only more people strove to lead others closer to Christ we would be much better off. And yet, I remembered something that one of my college professors told me that has stuck with me since: Christian pastors have to preach passionately because if they don't, then the service has mostly failed. But a Catholic Priest does not have to preach well, although it is nice when he does, because even if he gives the worst homily he will still make Christ truly present in His Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. As long as the Priest is properly ordained the Mass cannot fail, no matter what goes wrong, because Christ is still present.
But often times we lose sight of this fact. We may look at the world and think other Christians seem to live their faith "better" than Catholics. They seem to be more immersed in their faith and evangelize more. They seem to love their faith more than Catholics do. Why is this so? Well, imagine a scenario. Imagine that you are getting a new house. You find one that you like and you move in. The first day you are there, it seems like the perfect house, but as time goes on, you start to find things that you don't like, things you wish were different. You wish there was more storage space in the kitchen. You wish there was a pool. You wish there was a walk-in closet in your bedroom. You wish your garage would magically have a new sports car. After a few months of living in that house you have found a laundry list of things that you wish were different. Now imagine instead of moving into a pre-existing house, you decided to design your own. You know exactly what you want. You draw into the blueprints the walk-in closet, the pool (and jacuzzi), more cupboards, etc. After a few months, which house do you think you will be more happy with? The same is true of Christianity and Catholicism. Perhaps our non-Catholic brothers and sisters are "more happy" with their faith because they have found the church that they pre-designed in their hearts. They knew what they believed and then they went looking for the church that believed just that. But it seems to me that they put God in a box. Instead of keeping an open heart and seeking the Lord's revelation and then conforming their hearts to Him, they fashion for themselves a faith they are most comfortable with and then they seek to conform the Lord to their hearts. As Catholics we cannot do this. Our faith is a gift, handed down from God. He gave it to us so that we might have happiness, not to "limit" our freedom. We cannot change that which was handed on by God.
And yet I do not believe that our non-Catholic brothers and sisters are intentionally dishonest. As human beings we are so conditioned to avoid challenges, to avoid pain, that when it shows up in our spiritual lives it is easier to run away from it and disown it than it is to wrestle with it and subdue it. But as Catholics we are called to wrestle with those issues that we have a hard time agreeing with. We should ask questions. We should demand honest, reasonable, logical answers. But we should also be prepared to change our minds and hearts before we change our faith. It seems much more reasonable that the disordered passions of a human being with a fallen nature are wrong than that the One True God is wrong. And so I urge you, use the skills of reason that the Lord has given you! Use the logic that He created to lead you to truth! And be as unbiased as you can when seeking the truth! And if you are truly seeking the Truth with all your hear, then I am sure that Truth Himself will find you.

God love you!

Hilarious

So I just found this cartoon today and thought it was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. It is so funny because it is so simple and so true! I am absolutely a dog person one hundred percent. I think they are much more fun and much more social. There is only one cat I have ever not hated and its only because he was not as reclusive and anti-social as the other cats I have been around (interesting, but totally off topic note: had this been another decade, say the 1970's, the phrase "the other cats I have been around" would have an entirely different meaning than what I intend here. Here I am simply talking about felines.)

I am sure that there are some people out there who are absolutely one hundred percent cat people and would totally disagree with this cartoon, and that's ok, you are absolutely entitled to your own opinion. I would just like to let you know that your opinion is wrong and that you might consider asking your doctor to check out your brain. Maybe he can give you a CAT scan!!! 


Sorry... I couldn't resist...


God love you!

From the Beginning

I am starting a new job this fall. I will be teaching Catholic Theology to Juniors and Seniors at Regis Catholic High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I will also be involved with their Campus Ministry program. So I have sat around my house for the past week and slowly built a website that I hope will draw the teens in to the program and maybe even teach them a thing or two. And the more that I have worked on this website, the more I have looked at other websites for help. And most of the websites had one big thing in common: they had a blog! Apparently in order to be successful at ministry it is necessary to have a blog so that your students can be privy to your thoughts, emotions, and insights as often as you wish to post them. Ipso facto, I have started a blog. Well, I guess another blog. I had one when I was studying in Austria and travelling around Europe too but I posted on it like 12 times and gave up. So hopefully this one goes better. This whole idea is still really new to me so who knows how often I will actually update it. Plus, I am not the most creative person in the world so that makes it a little hard to blog because half of the time I really have nothing to say.

I am going to try and make this blog personal but also informative. I hope that my experiences and the lessons that I learn from them will be mostly universal and will apply to many people out there, but who knows I could be too unique for my own good (I mean, my mom did always tell me that I was extra special... and just because my brain was deprived of oxygen for a little bit while I was being born doesn't make me any different.) Many of my posts will be religious in nature since I am a devote Catholic, but I also think that many of them will be secular in nature. Just because I am passionately Catholic does not meant that I do not live in this world. I am sure that I will encounter situations in which, no matter how hard I try, I just won't be able to see God. But, and this is a very important point, that does not mean that I do not believe Him to be there. It just means that I cannot see Him at that point in time. I love the Lord and I intend to spend my life worshipping Him, but that does not mean that I know exactly what He is doing at all times. That would be impossible for me to know. What I do know is this: that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that He is inviting me to new life with Him. He gave me a way to experience this new life with Him while I am still on this earth: they are called the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Holy Communion. He has provided me with incredible blessings in the form of a loving family, a great education, a beautiful fiancee, and countless more things. He has also allowed me to experience trials in which He has revealed Himself to me in new ways and helped me to love Him more and more. Each breath that I take is a merciful gift from Him to me; He holds me in existence from moment to moment and there is nothing more that I could ask for!

I have so much more to say! But these things will have to wait until future blog posts so that I have stuff to blog about!

Peace and Blessings! God love you!