What Happened to Downtime?

Today I came across an article that discusses our lack of downtime, sacred space, and deep thinking. Or as the author puts it: What happened to downtime? The extinction of deep thinking & sacred space. Maybe this is why my brain thinks about work when I'm at home, sleeping, and in the shower. I don't have a lot of processing time at work because I'm always connected and distracted with my computer. I guess this means I need to make the time myself, I need to shut down my e-mail and web browser for 15 min and work up to an hour. Baby steps.

Thursday Quotes

Last night at Adoration I began reading the newest book by Fr. Larry Richards, "Surrender!" I've seen him speak at conferences several times and he's always been inspiring, so when I heard he was coming out with a new book, I jumped at the opportunity to purchase it. I'm not even through the first chapter yet, but several quotes jumped out at me last night and I thought I'd share them:

When we fall, God is still pleased with us for wanting to do His will (p14) 

Holiness is who we are - not what we do (p15)
We are holy...because God dwells in us, not because we are good people 

Sanctity or holiness is a by-product of love. It is not an end in itself (p19) 

You can be holy and still be real (p20)

When I put the book down and began chatting with God, one of the first prayers that came to my mind was to ask for holiness for R and I. And then I was like, whoa, wait, Fr. Larry just said that we're already holy! So I changed the prayer to ask that we grow in our holiness. :)

I'm excited to finish this book. Fr. Larry presents the journey of faith as something very real and he gives tangible examples of how to grow in holiness (at least at the talks I've been to this has been the case). If you'd like to learn a bit more about Fr. Larry and his foundation, A Reason For Our Hope, check out their website:
http://www.thereasonforourhope.org/

Things to Check Out

Alright, two things that have caught my eye that others have posted. The first is an article off of CNN how men are "in trouble." Basically, no one is teaching boys/guys/men how to be true men. Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

The second is a video of a college band performing Party Rock Anthem. And they actually shuffle! Enjoy.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/04/opinion/bennett-men-in-trouble/index.html

Blessings and Coffee

Happy National Coffee Day! And happy Feast of the Archangels!

This past month has flown by and I cannot believe that October will be here on Saturday! I've got a few speculations as to why this month seemed to disappear, and it wasn't because I've been terribly busy with meetings galore during the week. We moved all high school formation sessions to Sunday night, which has freed up Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for me. That has been a major blessing!

At work, I've also been blessed with an amazing supervisor. I know that I have his full support and it's also nice to have some actual guidance in my job. He's kick-started the process of putting together a three-year plan for youth ministry. So blessed to be able to work with him.

On the mornings I stop at Starbucks I'm blessed with a sweet smile from the baristas, as well as delicious coffee. It's a nice way to start the work day.

This past month I have celebrated many things with many friends, such as birthdays, baby showers, our parish young adult ministry, running a 5K, our youth softball team winning 2nd place. Those days and moments were filled with much joy and laughter, as we blessed each other with fellowship and smiles, and as we were all blessed in the gift of friendship.

As we approach the month of October, I get more excited to celebrate all the beautiful feast days our Catholic Church gives us! We are so blessed to be a part of a church that is steeped in traditions and the holy examples of the saints who went before us. Two of my favorites: Therese of Lisieux (Oct 1) and Teresa of Avila (Oct 15). Their stories of love and faith are so inspiring, what blessings!

And perhaps the biggest blessing this month has been the start of a new relationship. Last month I was not expecting to meet anyone; funny how God works sometimes. :) Just being with him melts my stress away. And somehow this relationship is helping me in my relationship with God. Blessing after blessing after blessing. :)

Sanctifying the Day

I love starting the day with morning prayer from Liturgy of the Hours. It used to be such a great habit in college, but I also had friends I prayed with, so we kept each other accountable. And I'll never forget the way-too-early morning prayer during Echo summers, trying to hit the high notes of "Morning has Broken" at 7am. Now I'm trying to get back into the habit. What better way to pray than to use the Universal prayer of the Church!? And turns out that it's much easier to pray in the morning than before bed... those prayers are usually a quick sentence or two thanking God for the day. But with morning prayer, I know I'm sanctifying the whole day and giving it all to God.

I've used morning and night prayer with my youth group; once after a lock-in and once during a youth group session. It seemed to go over fairly well. I think I'll use night prayer a few more times this year for our Sunday evening gatherings.  Someone's gotta teach those kids how to pray. :-P

Harry Potter and No Greater Love

I went to see the final Harry Potter movie last night and it was fantastic. It's been a few years since I read the last  book in the series, so I forgot about some of the story elements and how it really is all about love (what Dumbledore stresses to Harry so many times). In the Chronicles of Narnia it's a given that Azlan is a Christ-like figure. In Harry Potter, it doesn't come out until the final book/movies, but his character is also Christ-like!

Throughout the series people died for Harry Potter, and he is known as "The boy who lived." Or perhaps we could even say the chosen or anointed one? The only person he truly fought was Lord Voldemort, or the Evil one. At the end of the book/movie, when Draco and company are about to die in a raging fire, Harry insists on saving them. He knew how to love his enemies. And in the end, with fear pumping through his body, he went to face Lord Voldemort and death. He accepted death, not knowing it wasn't the final death for him.

In his brief time "between worlds" he had a conversation with Dumbledore, and a quite from that really struck me. "Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love." Harry knew love. Throughout the series he was constantly reminded about the love his parents had for him. He was also loved dearly by friends. His love was greater than his circle of safety and comfort though. It extended to those he might not of cared for at first. Ultimately, Harry defeated death and Lord Voldemort with that great love.

Last night as all of this, and more, was going through my mind, my heart hurt for the world. There is a such a lack of love, and yet a deep and unquenchable desire to be loved. All we want, as humans, is to be loved and know that someone cares about us. People seek attention, just look at Facebook! And I know I'm guilty of wanting some social media love as well. We can learn a lot from Harry Potter. Although he is a fictional character and a mere teenager, he lived his life with passion and a purpose. He had courage like none other and he let his love shine through.

This Henri Nouwen quote sums up a lot of the correlations I barely made:

Jesus is given to the world.  He was chosen, blessed, and broken to be given.  Jesus' life and death were a life and death for others.  The Beloved Son of God, chosen from all eternity, was broken on the cross so that this one life could multiply and become food for people of all places and all times.

As God's beloved children we have to believe that our little lives, when lived as God's chosen and blessed children, are broken to be given to others.  We too have to become bread for the world.  When we live our brokenness under the blessing, our lives will continue to bear fruit from generation to generation.  That is the story of the saints - they died, but they continue to be alive in the hearts of those who live after them - and it can be our story too.

Death and Ministry

In the past three weeks I have attended three funerals, all of people I did not know. I couldn't help but think that if I was not working in a church, I would not have been at the funerals. The first was a mother of a youth minister from a parish close by, the second was the father of a woman on staff at my parish. I went to give my support and condolences. No matter whose funeral it is, it's always sad. Yes, we're called to rejoice and celebrate their life, but it's difficult when family and friends are grieving that they'll never be able to see their loved one again on earth.

Today's funeral was much different than the other two. Today's funeral was for a 16 year-old boy who's three-year fight with cancer ended last Friday. He attended the parish school and the Catholic high school, so many, many youth were present. The church was packed, as expected, and the torrential afternoon rain probably kept many others at home. Our pastor gave a fantastic homily, making it personal but also explaining the Scriptures chosen. He shared a story about visiting with him, in private, one week before his death. He asked the teen if he had any questions about anything, and he said no, that he was okay. This boy had complete faith in God, that everyone was ok. He was more concerned about his family and friends than his close approach to death. What strength that would take.

The closing song was "How Great Thou Art" and I had to choke back tears as I watched the family leaving, all wiping their own eyes. As I was leaving to head over to the gym for the reception that followed, I saw all these young people with tears in their eyes and I thought "I can't do this." Once I reached the gym I stood against the wall next to a school faculty member. Many people greeted him, for they knew him from when they went to the elementary school. I did not know many of the youth there, maybe 10. I didn't know what to do, I froze. I could have mingled, but even then, what was I to say to people I didn't know? And I thought maybe it was best that they could all be with each other, supporting each other. I didn't even know the boy who died...

I hope that next time (not that I ever want there to be a next time for a teen's death), I'll be better prepared about what to do and say. This is a learning job and we can't be prepared for everything, but we can be better prepared for the future.

The Mighty Macs

I came across this today and the movie looks good! Check out the trailer below and the website:
http://www.themightymacs.com/

Roses, Roses Everywhere

It has been a tradition at our parish, as well as many others I'm sure, to sell roses on Mother's Day as a fundraiser. I haven't done many fundraisers yet, but overall I'd say it was successful. Unfortunately I have 4 dozen roses left over, which I suppose I'll bring into our Pastoral Center (offices). At first I was a little disappointed; I was hoping to raise about $500 ($700 including the cost of roses), but we brought in just under $400. When the day was done and I was turning the money in, I realized that it was a learning experience and that I needed to be happy with what we did. It could have been a lot worse! I had at least 2 youth at every table for every Mass on Sunday, which was awesome! The money we raised will help students (and their parents) pay for upcoming trips, such as Steubenville, DCYC (Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference), and NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference).

It was a warm and exhausting day, but well worth it. I think we'll do a bake sale on Father's Day weekend to rake in some more money. One girl suggested popcorn balls decorated like baseballs. I'm in.

We are an Easter People

Sometime in college I actually started to listen to the priest's homilies at my home parish in Wisconsin. It was an Easter homily that I actually liked and realized that his homilies weren't all that bad, they were just difficult to listen to because he was slightly monotoned! He started it with "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song." He then went into what "Alleluia" means and I thought it was a great homily and really liked the quote. Well, this Easter season I saw some others quoting that on Facebook and just found out today that Bl. John Paul II was the one who said it first! Funny how it took 3-4 years to realize it wasn't his own original quote, but one by our beloved and late Pope!