Jesus Loves Me This I Know.....

".....for the bible tells me so." I have been struggling with something for the past week or two. There is a question that has been presenting itself to me over and over again, almost taunting me. It appeared first in reading Fr. Larry Richard's book, Be a Man! It has resurfaced many times in prayer. It even presented itself (although not directly) during the homily at Mass last Sunday. It's a question that I thought I knew the answer to. It's a question that I believe that I have had the right answer to throughout my childhood and adult life. And now I'm questioning it. I'm questioning whether my answer to this question most of my life is the right one. The question I have been struggling so much with is "Do I know that God the Father loves me?"

I've been Catholic my whole life. I went to Catholic grade school and Catholic high school. I spent time in the seminary. I'm working in Catholic youth ministry. My whole faith life has been based on the premise that, as the song says (sing with me now), "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so." Jesus loves me. I understand that. But, do I know, in the depth of my being, that Jesus loves me? And, do I know how much Jesus loves me?

Like I said, I've been wrestling with this for a while now.  I would have to say that when this question first presented itself to me I had to honestly say "No." I don't know that God loves me. If I knew that God loves me, if I knew how much He loves me, then I wouldn't make the decisions that I have been making. I wouldn't live for me. St. Joseph, in last Sunday's gospel had a decision to make. Was he going to take Mary as his wife, or was he going to walk away from it all? He had every right to be upset, to be angry, to be hurt. The woman he was betrothed to was pregnant, and it wasn't his child. Sure, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, but how often do we wake up in the morning with the thought, "that was a weird dream", and then go on living our lives as if the dream meant nothing. Joseph had a choice to make. And he chose to marry Mary. And why did he say yes to taking Mary as his wife? Because he knew that God loved him.

Many of the choices I make in my life are all about me. They are all about how I feel. They are also a cry for love. We all have within us a deep seeded desire to be loved. It is how we were created. And the sole purpose of our creation is to be loved by God. Yet oftentimes we forget that, or, even worse, never even realize it. So, it is in this deep desire to be loved that all of our actions are a pursuit of that love.We want to be recognized by others, so we are prideful. We are jealous of the things others have and the attention they receive that we aren't receiving. We get angry when we don't get what we want. We find comfort in food and become gluttonous. We have a strong urge for love found in sexual intimacy, so we lust. We want to be loved, and yet we look everywhere for that love except to God, our loving Father. If I knew that God loved me, then I wouldn't make the choices I make. I would look to Him for love instead of others. St. Joseph could have done what was easy for him. He could have reacted out of anger or gotten jealous. He could have let his pride get the best of him. But he didn't. He knew that God loved him, and reacted with love out of that knowledge.

There's a second reason why I am uncertain of God's love for me, and that's my lack of trust. I don't trust that God has things in control. I don't trust that he will continue to provide everything that I need. I want to do things my way because I can (mostly) control the outcome. This lack of trust stems from not truly believing that God loves me. If I believed that He loves me, then I would be able to trust Him. I would know that God wants what's best for me. St. Joseph trusted God. He trusted God because he knew that God loved him. He knew that God was in control and that He wanted what was best for him.

I feel....I know, that I cannot move any further in my journey of faith until I know, deep in my heart, that Jesus loves me. Until I know that God loves me deep within my heart then I will continue to make the same mistakes. Until I know that God loves me I will be unable to trust Him. I will be unable to "float" and allow God's will to work in my life.

My Christmas present to Jesus (and myself) this year is to understand and to truly know that He loves me. I want to know that Jesus loves me not "because the bible tells me so" but because I feel the embrace of His love surrounding my whole being. I may not be able to accomplish it in a week. It will become my new year's resolution, too. But I know that it is the gift that Jesus wants. I know that nothing will make Him more happy than knowing that I know that He loves me.

It's Hot in the Desert

I feel like I'm in the desert when it comes to my faith. I've felt that way for months. I read a blog post today that was like a kick in the butt. I really needed to hear what Pete said. I need to get on my knees and ask God how I can become a better version of myself. I really need to pray that the Holy Spirit commands me to do His will. Check out Pete's blog post here....Command Me, Lord.

Is This Where We're Heading?

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I had a bad dream the other night. It was one of those dreams where you wake up with a pit in your stomach and you're heart racing with fear. My wife and I had another baby. It wasn't adding a sixth child to our family that instilled that fear in my dream. No, what really made me fearful came later in my dream.

In the midst of this dream, many of our friends and family came over to our house to congratulate us on having a new baby and to get a peak at her. A steady stream of people filled our front walkway, so many that we decided to go outside and greet them with the baby. There were maybe a dozen or more people gathered on our front lawn, all there to congratulate us and see the baby. As we were talking with our friends and family, a police car drove by our house, stopped at the corner, and then backed up to the front of our house. This wasn't an ordinary police officer. Instead of having "Clearwater Police" on the side of his vehicle, he had "Risk Management" on the side of his car. He got out of his car and proceeded towards us across our front lawn. He stopped in the middle of the yard and proceeded to tell us that everyone needed to leave. He said that it was not good for a new born baby to be around so many people and that everyone needed to go home in order to protect the health of the baby.

Now, I don't normally get political on my blog, but this dream got me thinking: Is this where we're heading? There are those out there that are speculating that the government wants to take over complete control of the health-care industry, the banks, and even the food distribution system in our country. If these three critical components of private industry are taken over by the government there is no limit to what they can do to manage the "risk" to the industries that they control.

So, is this where we are heading? Who knows. Does it really matter, though? Some may say yes. Me? I say, regardless of what happens, we need to take into consideration where our focus is. Is your focus on fear over what our government may or may not do? I try not to focus on such things. I have my voice, I have my vote, but ultimately it's out of my control. I'd rather focus on the things I can control. I have my Catholic faith. That is where I'm putting my focus. If the government decides it wants to control how we worship, so be it. They can't take away my faith. They can't take away what I feel in my heart, in my soul. They can't take away the relationship I have with my Lord. I will cling to my faith in good times and in bad. It is my faith that will keep me firmly grounded in the midst of the storm.

Becoming Wheat

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Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit, will be cut down and thrown into the fire...He will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 3:10,12)

Why did John the Baptist have to be so harsh towards the Pharisees and Sadducees? Perhaps he saw through them. He could see their self-righteous pious attitudes. He could see that their words did not reflect their actions and that they were knee deep in their own sin.

John the Baptist speaks these same harsh words to us. If we don't bear good fruit, we too will be thrown into the fire. If we live our lives as chaff, as the inedible casing of wheat, then we will "burn with the unquenchable fire." Why don't we, why don't I, take take this warning seriously?


It seems as though we don't take hell, the unquenchable fire, seriously anymore. We've watered down Christ's message so much that we now believe that everyone is going to heaven. If you profess Christ as your Savior you've been saved, and you're going to heaven, right? And that's all you need to do, to profess Christ as your Savior. If only it were that easy.


The fact of the matter is that, come the end of the world, God will separate the good fruit from the bad fruit. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. That means that some of us--you and I--are going to be wheat and some of us are going to be chaff. 


Am I going to God's barn, or am I going to burn with the unquenchable fire? Well, that depends on more than professing my belief in Christ. The Pharisees and Sadducees professed belief in God. Yet, John the Baptist warned them that they might go to hell if they don't start bearing good fruit. Making it to heaven involves much more than saying you believe in God or professing that Christ is your Savior. You need to bear good fruit in this life.


How does one bear good fruit? By action. What do your actions say about your belief in Christ? Are your actions, all of them, Christ-like? I can honestly say that I fail miserably when it comes to living a Christ-like life. Does my life bear good fruit? In some respects, yes, but in others no. I'm a youth minister. I spend every week with a group of teens teaching them how to live their faith. I hope--I pray--that what I do bears good fruit. Then I go home. My youth group teens only see me a couple of hours a week. My family sees the real me: impatient, irritable, selfish. Do my actions at home bear good fruit? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, I'm a wonderful father and husband. Other times...not so much. I fall. We all do.


It's a good thing that God is so merciful! When we do fall, when we do fail to bear good fruit, God is there for us. He is there to pick us up and show us how to bear good fruit. He is there in the Sacrament of Reconciliation to forgive us of our sins. So, when I fall, I seek out God's mercy. I beg for His forgiveness. I ask Him how to keep from falling again. And He forgives. He teaches. He loves. He helps us to be wheat for the world.

Let Nothing Frighten You

I had a rough night last night. I was awoken by the baby at a little after 2 AM. I got up, rubbed her belly, kissed her forehead, and went back to bed. It was then that my rough night began, as I was lying in bed.

My spiritual director once told me that the devil is a coward. He doesn't like to attack you in the middle of the day. He much prefers attacking you in the middle of the night when your guard is down, when you're drowsy. He likes to attack you when you are alone, when you can't seek out help from others. This is what happened to me last night. I was overcome with fear. This pit formed in my stomach and I was deeply afraid. At the time I felt that it was completely rational for me to have these fears, that I should be fearful. I never really did get back to sleep. I dozed off and on and at about 5:30 AM I got up and started reading a novel to take my mind off of the fears I was having.

I discussed these fears I had in the middle of the night with my wife after she got up this morning. She and I both agreed that these fears I was having were completely irrational and needed to be disregarded. I remembered what my spiritual director said about the devil attacking in the dead of the night. I let go of my fears.

As I was praying this afternoon, I came across something I had written in my journal a few years back. I don't remember who said it, but it provided more reassurance to me and my fears:

Let nothing disturb you.

Let nothing frighten you.

Everything passes away except God.

God alone is sufficient.

How true these statements are. It doesn't matter what your fears are, whether they are irrational fears like I had in the middle of the night or if they are legitimate fears.

If I allowed myself to I could find all kinds of things to be fearful about. I could fear my job stability. I could fear losing my wife and kids. I could fear the future of the country. There are many fears that I could, that we all could, wrap ourselves up in and be fearful about. But we must keep in mind that "everything passes away except God. God alone is sufficient." We have nothing to fear. It is all in His hands.

Do Whatever He Tells You

Last Sunday's Gospel reading (John 2:1-11) is loaded with a ton of good stuff. I could write many blogs on just this one passage. But there is one sentence that struck me and impacted me. That one sentence is the words of Mary, "Do whatever he tells you."

There is so much wisdom from this one sentence. First of all, we have the call of Mary. We, as Catholics, believe that Mary plays an important role in our salvation. Do we worship her? No. We seek her intercession. She goes to Jesus on our behalf to tell Him that there is "no more wine"; to share with him the dryness--the lack of faith--in our own lives. Then Mary comes back to us and tells us to "do whatever he tells you." Mary's response to the servers at the wedding is the same response she has to us when we seek her intercession. Mary asks us to do whatever Jesus tells us to do. Then we think about what happens after the servants do after Jesus tells them what to do. They fill up the the jars with water and bring them to the head waiter. In doing what Jesus tells them to do, a miracle happens.

Miracles happen when we do what Jesus tells us to do. They may not necessarily be "water into wine" miracles, but they do happen. Thinking on my life this is certainly true. In doing what Jesus wants me to do I am able to provide for my family. In doing what Jesus wants me to do I am able to enter into a deeper relationship with my wife. In doing what Jesus wants me to do, I am happier.

It is so hard to let go. It is hard to let go of what we want. We need to pray that what we want will be what Jesus wants for us. It is then that we will see miracles in our lives.

Lord Save Us, We Are Perishing!

I met with a new spiritual director today, something I've been meaning to do for a number of months since my last one became pastor of a parish an hour away. Since neither of us knew each other (he was suggested to me by my boss) we spent part of the time getting to know each other a little better.

Overall, it was a very good meeting. We talked about many things: my prayer life, the need to read scripture more, ideas to keep me from getting distracted while in prayer, etc. One thing that we discussed was some of my fears about the future--particularly financial fears in the midst of this current economy. He related my fears to the story of the calming of the storm (Matt 8:23-27)

Here you have Jesus in a boat with his disciples in the middle of a nasty storm--and Jesus is sleeping!! How dare he! How could he be sleeping at a time like this! (At least that is what I thought, and probably his disciples as well.) It seems as though Christ is sleeping through many of the storms in our own lives as well. The disciples may have even asked themselves why Christ even allowed this storm. I know I ask that about the storms I've encountered in my life.

Christ is not here to prevent storms from coming into our lives. He is there with us through those storms. It may seem as though he is sleeping through them, but he is not. He is at our sides, guiding us through them. And, when the time is right, he will calm the storms in our lives.

The hard part is having the faith to endure the storms. I imagine the disciples had sheepish looks on their faces when Christ asked them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" I can visualize Christ adding "I'm here. Isn't that enough for you? Trust me, I know what I'm doing." And that is exactly what we need to do--trust God. He knows what he is doing. He has never allowed me to perish, and he will never allow you to perish--if we have faith and trust in him.

So, whether you are dealing with financial woes, illness, addiction, or some other storm in your life, trust in the Lord. Have faith. If you do so, surely you will not perish.

Training for Devotion

My mom took my name, Timothy Daniel, from the bible. She chose my name at a time in her life where, as she tells me, she wasn't even going to church, much less picking up a bible. But for some reason, when she was trying to decide on my name, she picked it up. It is that reason that St. Paul's letters to Timothy have always held a special place in my heart. Every time I read them I am affected by them in some way. They seem relevant to my life. It's been a while since I read those letters to Timothy, so I picked my bible up today and began reading Paul's 1st Letter to Timothy. And, again, I was moved by what I read.

The passage that struck me today is from the 4th chapter of that first letter:

Avoid profane and silly myths. Train yourself for devotion, for, while physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future. (1 Tim 4:7-8)

After I read that passage, I started reflecting on what devotion means and how I can train myself for it.

There are, in actuality, several ways we need to show devotion in our lives, each of them important. The first way we show devotion is in our work--our jobs and our schooling. We show this devotion by doing our jobs to the best of our abilities and making the best of all situations we encounter in our work, whether good or bad.

The second form of devotion that we need to show is with our children, if blessed to have them. We need to be a committed and devoted parents. We need to make ourselves available to them when they need us. The discipline we give our children needs to be done out of love and not out of our selfishness. This devotion is more important than our careers, and we need to remember that. We need to be willing to have a balance between our devotion to work and our devotion to our children. And we need to make our employers aware that our family is important and sometimes has to come before our jobs.

The third devotion we need to have in our lives is to our spouses. This one is the most critical and most important of our "earthly" devotions. We made a commitment to our spouses when we said those vows, when we entered into the Sacrament of Matrimony. We need to uphold that commitment, that covenant that was made. This devotion needs to take priority over both our jobs and our children. If we let this devotion fall between the cracks then our families, and possibly our careers and lives, will fall apart. We need to spend time with our spouses--talking with them, and not just about the weather or the football game. We need to open our hearts and souls to our spouses and share our joys, our fears, our insecurities with them. This is particularly difficult for me to do. But I find that when I am successful in opening up to my wife it truly does deepen my love for and devotion to her.

The final--and by far the most important--devotion is our devotion to our faith--our devotion to Christ. Without Christ in our lives we can do nothing. Just as St. Paul said, "physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future." Placing our hope, our devotion, in Christ, we are enabled to be devoted to our spouses, our children, and our jobs. We cannot be truly devoted to anything if we are not first devoted to Christ. Everything else falls apart with out Him.

So, we need to "train" ourselves for devotion. We need to put forth our best efforts in our jobs. We need to spend time with our children. We need to pour out our hearts to our spouses. And, most importantly, we need to pray. How does one "train" himself in these devotions? We do as any good athlete would. We practice. And then we practice some more. The best athletes are the ones who are deeply committed to their sport. If we can be deeply committed to just one of these devotions in our lives--our devotion to Christ--then all of the other devotions we have in our lives will fall into place naturally.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Are you happy? No, seriously! Think about it. Are you truly happy? Hopefully your answer is yes. If you are happy, where does your happiness come from? What makes you happy? Is it your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend? Is it your job? Is it your car, the size of your house, the things that are in it? Does money make you happy? If you have all these things and they make you happy, then good for you! You are a happy person! Now let me ask you another question....

Are you truly happy with your earthly possessions, happy enough that you don't desire more? Does that happiness you get from the things and people in your lives truly fulfill you--permanently, or do you have to keep filling your house with more stuff to stay happy?

One of my favorite movies is The Pursuit of Happyness. Watch the clip from the movie below about happiness.



For those of you who haven't seen this movie, it's a true story about Chris Gardner, a down and out father who is trying to raise his son after his wife leaves him. Chris struggles to make ends meet for his son. At one point in the movie, as Chris is trying to get a job with a major financial advisory firm, he ends up homeless. But Chris doesn't give up. Chris has a goal. He has a vision. Chris is pursuing happiness.

At first glance, you may think that Chris is pursuing happiness in money, fame and possessions. That's because Hollywood glosses over a very important aspect of Chris' life--his faith. In an interview after the movie was released Chris said, "My faith is one of the strongest guiding forces in my life." Chris is a man of faith. His pursuit of happiness is sought through his faith, not earthly possessions. He also stated that "Money is the least important component of wealth." Chris' plan for wealth and happiness includes faith, it includes prayer. Wealth is found in your faith, not your possessions or bank account.

There is also another important component of the pursuit of happiness--and that is discipline. Many people think that a life of discipline (of following rules and guidelines) is stifling and restrictive--that it keeps us from doing what we want to do. They think that discipline will keep them from being happy. Chris Gardner was extremely disciplined in his pursuit of the job as a broker. Did it restrict his happiness and success? Did it stifle him? No, it brought him success. It brought him happiness.

Christ wants us to live a life of discipline, not to stifle and restrict us, but to bring us happiness--to bring us freedom. How does discipline bring us happiness and freedom? Think of an alcoholic. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to be an alcoholic!" (At least not in my experience.) The descent into alcohol abuse, for many, comes from a lack of discipline. This is particularly apparent in teens who grow up to be alcoholics. Many teens start drinking out of rebellion to the rules and restrictions that their parents and the laws put on them. Some people start drinking alcohol because they think it makes them happy. For some, this begins the slow descent into alcoholism. They become slaves to it. They are not free because of their addiction. They are not happy.

God wants us to be happy. Matthew Kelly, in his book, Rediscovering Catholicism, says that "God sent his only Son to respond to humanity's yearning for happiness, and to offer direction in satisfying that yearning...The philosophy of Christ is the ultimate philosophy of human happiness. At the same time, the philosophy of Christ is one of self-donation." The pursuit of true happiness requires self-donation, it requires sacrifice and discipline. It requires faith in Christ. The reward of that faith, sacrifice and self-donation is a peace and happiness beyond our imagination, a happiness that fills us to the core.

I Can Walk On Water!

One of my favorite bible passages is from Matthew. It is the passage where Jesus walks on water and Peter attempted to walk to Christ on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). Growing up Catholic and going to a Catholic grade school, I heard this passage many, many times. I never thought much of it other than the fact that Jesus was God and Peter wasn't and that is why Peter couldn't walk on water.

When I was in high school a priest led me and others in a guided meditation of this passage while we were on a retreat. He had us close our eyes and imagine the scene in our minds. He then reread the passage, but this time he wanted us to imagine ourselves as Peter getting out of the boat and walking to Christ on the water. This was a very powerful experience for me. It was powerful because as I was imagining myself standing in the boat and Christ calling to me to walk to him I was frozen in fear. I couldn't get out of the boat. I didn't trust myself. More importantly, I didn't trust God. Tears started flowing down my face as I struggled with this fear. This meditation was the beginning of my faith journey. Sure I went to Catholic school. I went to Mass every week, but my faith meant nothing more to me than that. I began my journey in trust that week.

So, here I am, 19 years later. Have I trusted Christ throughout the past two decades? Sometimes, yes, but mostly no. It is extremely difficult to give your life away. Christ wants to lead us to so many wonderful and beautiful things. We just need to let go of our fears, let go of what WE want, and trust Him. We need to get out of the boat and walk to Him, knowing that we won't sink. I trust Christ more now than I did. I've learned that His ways are better than mine. I've learned to go. Every once in a while, I'll look away from Christ as Peter did and start to sink into the water. But as long as I keep my eyes focused on Him, I can walk on water. And you can, too!

Faith and Works

I haven't been as consistent putting up new blog posts lately as I would like to be. This is the result of a couple of things. First of all, these past couple of months have been pretty crazy around my house. We welcomed our fifth child into the world, our 4 year old started pre-school, our oldest daughter's 11th birthday is this week (and with it a birthday party), and the youth ministry program that I run began it's fall semester. Add to that the fact that I work a part time job in addition to my full time youth ministry job and there hasn't been much time for anything else, including prayer. Prayer is the second reason why I haven't been posting lately, because most of my posts come as a result of prayer. I also haven't been handling the craziness of my life well. I've been short with my children, Kari and I haven't connected on an emotional level in a while, and my job has been overwhelming me.

Then I went to Mass today and listened to the second reading from James:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith same him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. (James 2:14-18)

I started thinking about the whole faith vs. works debate that has been going on between Catholics and other Christians for centuries. Many Christians believe that all you need is faith, and that works are not necessary to obtain eternal salvation. Catholics, on the other hand, believe that faith without works is not enough to get to heaven. I began thinking about how this applies to my life, particularly the past couple of months.

I have always tried to integrate both faith and works into my life. However over the past couple of months, I've been so focused on the "works" that I have neglected my faith. I haven't been very consistent in my prayer, and when I do make an effort to pray, I'm distracted and it's not fruitful. This lack of faith has had a negative impact on the works in my life. I'm not spending time with God in prayer and it has affected my attitude. I'm less patient with my children. Kari and I used to pray together every night and we haven't been doing that lately due to the changes we've experienced in our lives. This has affected our relationship. We don't feel the emotional connection we used to feel. Part of this is due to the overwhelming transition of adding a new child to the family, but our lack of couple prayer has also impacted our relationship. I feel overwhelmed at work because I haven't been taking my ministry to prayer. Faith is absolutely necessary for works to be done well. I have experienced this in my own life.

I also feel that I need to address the faith without works issue as well. Christ's call to all Christians is a call to faith and action. Faith without action is useless. Think about it this way. You are a strong Christian with a strong faith. You come across a homeless person. If you live by faith alone, you do not feel that you need to help that person in order to get into heaven. You may help him or her anyway, because you are a good person, but you don't feel the need to do so. In my opinion, if you don't need to help that person, you are less inclined to do so. Some Christian faiths even go so far as to say, "If that homeless person had more faith, he wouldn't be homeless. God would give him what he needed if he just had more faith." God provides all of us with everything we need. It is our responsibility to reach out and help those that are less fortunate that cannot, through no fault of their own, help themselves. It is through reaching out to and helping others that we strengthen our own faith. I have seen this in my own life. My faith is strengthened in my reaching out to help others in my ministry.

Faith and works is necessary in our adventure to salvation. Doing good works strengthens our faith and having strong faith strengthens our good works. I know, for myself, I need to get back to good, fruitful prayer so that I can strengthen my works.

Faith is NOT a Feeling

There is a quote from St. Augustine that has been bugging me for two days now. It is a quote from the Confessions of Saint Augustine: "I sought you, not according to the understanding of the mind, in which You were pleased that I should surpass beasts, but according to the sense of the flesh." It has taken me a considerable amount of time to wrap my head around this one. Basically, what St. Augustine is saying is that he was pursuing a relationship with God based solely on the "flesh". His whole purpose in pursing faith and religion was surrounded by what made him feel good. He quickly realized as he aged that pursing a "feel-good" faith is not what God ultimately wants for us and that this kind of faith will not lead to any sort of long-term satisfaction. St. Augustine realized that he needed to understand God in the mind in order to have a lasting sense of deep satisfaction in his faith.

Let me use an analogy to try to explain this. Take a young couple. In the early stages of their courtship, when they first start dating, their relationship is based primarily on their feelings. The young man and young woman are attracted to each other because they make each other feel good. After a period of time the good feelings fade, and the young couple has a decision to make. They can break the relationship off, they can continue to try to find those "feelings", or they can take their relationship to the next level. Unfortunately, many marriages are based on continuing to pursue those feelings and that is a major reason why the divorce rate is so high. You see, no relationship can be based solely on feelings. The couple needs to get to know each other. They need to take it to the next level by connecting intellectually. It is through this dialogue that they enter into a deeper level of their relationship and develop a deeper, more meaningful love for each other.

What happens many times with our faith is that we never get past the "courtship" phase in our relationship with the Lord. We either break off the relationship after the good feelings fade or we keep pursing more "good feelings". Our relationship with the Lord will ultimately end up in a broken "divorce" if feelings is the main goal of our faith. We will not find a lasting satisfaction. We need to take our faith to the next level. We need to dig deeper intellectually. We need to try to not only know the precepts of our faith, but understand them. I find over and over again that the more I understand my faith on an intellectual level, the more intimately I feel the love of Christ at work in my life. It is the only way any relationship will work. It is the only way that we can achieve true and lasting satisfaction in our faith.

Story of the Church--Book Review

What a truly wonderful book! When I selected this book as a part of the reviewer program for catholiccompany.com, I was expecting a dry, factual history of the Church. While there is nothing wrong with that format for a history book, this is not that type of book. The author tells the history of the Church through stories, fictional accounts, of life in the Church. He then delves deeper and explains what is going on during each significant period of Church history. I was truly excited to read this book!

The chapters are short and there are questions at the end of each chapter for personal reflection or discussion. If you are a homeschool parent with high school students, I highly recommend using this as a text on Church history for your teens. It is engaging and informative and definitely not "boring", as some teens find history. Make sure you check out The Story of the Church today!

Right Wing Extremism

POLITICS! I normally don't get political in my blog posts. I do have very strong political beliefs, but the purpose of my blog is to help myself and others in our "Adventure to Salvation." As a matter of fact, I think I only referred to politics once before in my blog and it was about the elections last fall. Click here if you would like to read it. However, recent news has fueled my desire to voice my concern about the future of our country. A report from the Department of Homeland Security has been released entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." Below is a quote from a footnote on the second page of the document:

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

For the complete document, click here. A line has been drawn in the sand by President Obama and his administration. All Christians have been put on notice that they and their activities may be monitored. I say all Christians because most Christians oppose abortion. In addition, anyone who favors state authority over federal authority has been put on notice. In other words, if you agree with the founding fathers of our country, if you oppose abortion, and if you oppose immigration, including illegal immigration, you may be considered an extremist by the Department of Homeland Security. If you publicly stand up for those beliefs you may be monitored by the Federal Government.

So, what is the Christian response to this? Are we to remain silent in fear of the government watching our actions? Should we fear the government tapping our phone lines and listening in on our conversations? No! First of all, standing up for our beliefs is not illegal, not yet anyway. I also don't think that the government has any interest in monitoring us at this point. They have more pressing matters to deal with right now. However, the current administration has let it known that they do not approve of our activities or beliefs.

In the event that the federal government does indeed decide to try to silence us, what are we, as Christians to do? We are to do what Peter and John did when they were brought before the Sanhedrin in Acts Chapter 4. The Sanhedrin ordered them to be silent about their beliefs in the Risen Christ. Their response was simple: "Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20). It is impossible for us, as Christians, to deny our faith and our beliefs. We must stand up! We must make our voices known. We must band together as the disciples did in the early Church and proclaim from the message of the Lord from the rooftops. Christ said we would be persecuted. It is all a part of the adventure of salvation. BRING IT ON!

The Source and Summit of Our Faith

I love the Eucharist! The older I get, the more I understand and believe in the true presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. It becomes clear to me as I read the Gospels that Christ gave the Apostles the power to change the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. You don't need to be a biblical scholar to see what Christ did.

One of my favorite passages about the Eucharist is the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Here you have two disciples journeying from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They are probably both distraught and excited at the same time. They are distraught over the fact that Jesus was killed, yet they are excited about the reports of His resurrection. Along comes "some guy" and starts a discussion with them about the scriptures. They are enlightened by what he has to say and strengthened by his words. Then they all sit down and have a meal together. This "guy" "took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them." (Luke 24:30). It was then, and only then, that the eyes of these two disciples were opened to who was with them. IT WAS CHRIST IN THE EUCHARIST!! It was the Mass that Christ was celebrating with these two disciples--the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. Luke stated twice in his Gospel that Jesus was only made known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread, in the Eucharist. He wanted to make it clear that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist. I am truly amazed by our Catholic tradition and I see the wisdom of the Church. The fathers of the Church didn't just make this up. There is a scriptural basis for all of it. The Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ and 2000 years later we hold true to the traditions Jesus implemented for us. No other Christian church can make that claim! Praise God for our Catholic faith.

My Online Rambling Serves a Purpose!!

Writing to me is like therapy. I have found that when I keep a journal that my life is more spiritually enriched. I'm not talking about the type of journal where you write down all the good and bad things that happened to you today, although that can be therapeutic as well. The journal I have kept is more of a spiritual journal.

I have moved beyond the written journal into the realm of blogging. This here is my online journal. I write a blog just as much, if not more, for me than for those who read it. I started it as a way to minister to the teens that are in the parishes I serve as a youth minister, as something extra they could do to strengthen their own faith. What I didn't expect, however, was for it to strengthen my own faith as well. The spiritual writing I do requires reflection on my part. It requires me to think about the topic I am writing about.

I try every day to find Christ at work in my life. When I encounter those experiences, I reflect on them. Sometimes I read something that touches my heart, whether it be a scripture passage or something from a book I'm reading. Oftentimes I stop whatever I'm doing and write. I feel strengthened when I put pen to paper....I mean when I see the words flow on the screen as I type them. God is truly at work in my life. If I take the time and reflect on it and write about it I will be drawn closer to Him

Why don't you try it? I'm not saying that you need to start blogging. Just get a notebook or journal and a pen and start writing. Write what is on your heart. It may be only one word. If you keep a spiritual focus on what you write, God will reveal Himself to you.

Want to Deepen Your Faith--Try This...

I've mentioned several times in my blogs that I'm a big fan of Matthew Kelly's book "Rediscovering Catholicism." One of the things he discusses in his book is the importance of spiritual reading. He even goes so far as to say:

"We could...dream up of all types of elaborate adult education programs, but my proposal is that we encourage Catholic adults to read good spiritual books."

Catholics are leaving the Church in droves because they don't agree with certain teachings. But these Catholics that are leaving the Church don't understand WHY the Church takes the stance it does. We can do whatever we can to try to get them to stay or come back but they will never understand it fully unless they discover it themselves. Encouraging spiritual reading will give all Catholics (not just the fallen away) the opportunity to discover the fullness of our faith on our own. If all of us would just take the time to read why the Church teaches what it does we will gain a better understanding of the beauty of the truth the Church is bestowing on us.

Likewise, if good, faithful Catholics immerse themselves in spiritual reading--even if it's only 15 minutes a day--then they will deepen their faith and grow closer to Christ. I have tried this Lent to spend time each day doing some spiritual reading and I am already feeling the difference. So my challenge to all who read this is to spend time each day reading something spiritual. It will change your life!

The Gap

I read something the other day that gave a new perspective on the idea of fasting. The premise of what I read was that we fast because something is missing in our lives and we want to remind ourselves of that gap. It made me think a lot about what it was that was missing and how to fill that "gap" in our lives.

Our human nature is one where there is something missing. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve our lives have been missing that deep, intimate, and personal connection with God the Father. We have been separated from Him through our sin. Our lives are filled with the pursuit of filling that gap in our lives. Everyone is pursuing something to fill themselves. The question is, what are you trying to fill that gap in your life with?

Many people try to fill that gap with things of this world. They pursue power, money, and personal gratification. They are concerned with status and the respect of others. Imagine digging a hole, a gap, in the ground. Now imagine filling that "gap" with water. You can probably fill it up, but it won't stay filled. Eventually the water will seep into the ground. Filling the gap in your life with things of the world is like trying to fill the gap in the ground with water. You can fill your life up with money, power, status, and personal gratification but eventually the satisfaction you feel from those things will fade. It will seep into the soil and you will be left wanting once again.

Now imagine filling that hole in the ground with concrete. That concrete will not seep into the ground, but it will form a hard, firm foundation. Filling the gap in the ground with concrete is like filling your life with the life of Christ. The more you fill your life with Christ the harder the foundation of your life will become. You will never be left wanting if you fill your life with Christ.

Take the time of fasting and sacrifice this Lent to reflect on the gap in your life. What are you trying to fill that gap with? Use this holy time as an opportunity to reevaluate your life and put your priorities where they belong--with Christ.