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.

Saint of the Day: A Book Review

I knew that Saint of the Day was going to be a good book when I showed my wife and she said, "Ooooh, Cool!" It is indeed a very good book!

I decided to get this book from The Catholic Company for a couple of reasons. First of all, while I grew up Catholic, I know very little of the wonderful saints of our faith. I want to learn more. Secondly, and most importantly, we are all called to be saints. We should all get to know the saints better so that we can have an example with which to live our lives by.

Now, on to the book review. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of saint books available. One of the reasons I've never purchased one before was that it seems as though the choices are overwhelming. Well, let me make the choice easier for you. This is a wonderful saint book. Does it have every saint that has ever been named by the Vatican? No, and I don't think such a book exists. It does, however, have entries for 239 saints and blesseds and 16 Marian feasts. It is ordered by feast day and includes an alphabetical listing in the index.

In addition to the format of the book, I really enjoyed the format of this book. With each saint there is biographical information, a comment, and a quote. What I enjoy most are the comments because they contain reflections to help the readers become more like the saints.

If you are looking to get a good saint book, I highly recommend this one.

(Required disclosure: I received this book for free in return for giving an honest review)

The Great Chasm

"...so that I might experience by myself the distance there is between the true purpose of the matrimonial contract, made for the sake of offspring, and the covenant of a lustful love, where children are born unwanted, though when once born they force us to love them." ~St. Augustine

There is a deep and wide chasm in this world--a chasm that separates us. One one side of the chasm you have a large portion of the world. They live their lives the way they want to. They want the "right" to choose to do what they want with their bodies. They dress in ways that invite others to notice them. They are desperate for love and attention and are willing to go to all costs to get that love and attention--even if it means misusing their bodies and the bodies of others. They have no shame, revealing their most intimate aspects of their person to gain attention. In doing so, they subject themselves to being used and abused. Some of them even go so far as to destroy babies to get what they want. They shout the cries of "sexual freedom" but they are slaves to their desires. They appear to be having fun, but they are not. They are living lives of quiet desperation.

On the other side of the chasm you have a small portion of the world. They live their lives the way God wants them to. The people on this side want to do what is right rather than having the right to do what they want. They understand that they are made in the image and likeness of God and that our bodies reveal our call to love. They respect the bodies of others and uphold the dignity of life. They give rather than take, because they understand that that is what love is all about. They live with and invite shame because they understand that shame protects the dignity of the human person so that they are not reduced to an object. They truly are free to love because they are not chained by their desires. They truly are happy, filled with the joy of Christ. They are living lives wrapped in the love and grace of God.

Each one of us is either on one side of the chasm or the other. We either, as St. Augustine puts it, understand "the true purpose of the matrimonial contract" or we are living lives in the "covenant of lustful love." There is no middle ground.

There is, however, a bridge across this great chasm. You can choose to go to one side of the chasm or the other. Each side has risks involved. On the side of sexual impurity you become a slave to your passions. You may think you are free, but you are not. You risk your salvation.

The side of sexual purity is the more difficult side. It is counter-cultural to be on that side. There is suffering, because it is hard to resist the pull of sin. You will be rejected b others. But the joy and the love you will have on that side is incomprehensible and everlasting. You gain your salvation on the side of sexual purity.

Which side are you going to choose to be on? For me, as tough as it may be, I choose the side of sexual purity. I am willing to endure ridicule and suffering in exchange for the everlasting love of God. I am willing to risk it all for my salvation.

You Are What You Think

When trying to decide on what to name me, my mother picked up the bible. She did this at a time in her life where she wasn’t even going to church, much less reading the bible. My name, Timothy Daniel, came from two prominent figures in scripture. I like my name. I’m actually a little glad she didn’t read more than the names of the books in the bible and come up with a name like Ammihud Gamaliel for me.

When I was a teen and my mother told me the story of how she came up with my name I decided that I should read those two books of the bible. I was amazed at how much I could relate to both Daniel and Timothy. I got so much from reading them. God really knew what he was doing when he led my mother to pick up the bible to find my name.

One scripture passage that has really touched my life is from the First Letter to Timothy: “Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.” (1 Tim. 4:12). Anyone who has ever been involved in youth ministry is intimately aware of this passage.

The passage applies to all—not just the youth. We are all called to set an example. We all need to monitor our speech and conduct so that it reflects Christ. We need to love as Christ loved. We need to have faith that God will guide us and we need to remain pure in our thoughts and actions.

It is so easy to say the right things to be a Christian, but so much more difficult to actually live it out. Why is it so difficult? I have asked, and heard others ask: “God, why do you have to make life so difficult?” It’s an interesting question. However, it pushes blame on God for our state in life. God did not cause us the trials and errors we experience in life. We did. God gave us free will to choose to follow Him or not to follow Him. It is our choice to not set an example.

So, if it is so hard, how do we do it? How do we actually live out a Christian example. There are many tools available to us to help us live a Christ-like life. One of the most important tools at our disposal is the Sacred Scriptures. This is, literally (according to the Catholic Church), the Word of God. It’s our manual. We need to immerse ourselves in the scriptures—to read it every day. We become what dominates our thoughts. If our thoughts are dominated by the Word of God then we will become more like Christ.

I'm Back!

After taking some time to reflect on God's will in my life regarding the future of my blog. I have discovered that I truly do enjoy writing this blog and I will continue to do so.

The problem I was running in to was I started to focus more on the pleasure of seeing how many people read my blog than on the message I was sharing. I became obsessive with getting the hits to my blog up, looking at my Google Analytics chart daily--sometimes several times a day. I also felt the need to post something just for the sake of posting something. This was a completely wrong way to look at writing my blog and having this as a ministry.

I do still feel God calling me to share my views, insights, and experiences in my faith. I need to focus more on selflessly sharing my faith instead of selfishly getting people to view my blog. So, I have implemented a few things. First of all, I have deleted the Google Analytics code from my blog so I will no longer know how many people view it. I will try to write at least once a week, but I will not hold myself to that. I will write only when inspired by God to share something. I will continue to post links to it on Facebook and Twitter, but I will no longer obsess with "getting the message out". The links on Facebook and Twitter will serve only as a way to let people that enjoy reading my blog know that I have written a new blog post. Finally, and most importantly, I will pray before I post anything to discern whether or not God wants me to share what write with others.

I do ask a favor of all that read my blog. If you enjoy what you read, if you are inspired by it, share it with someone.

I Need a Break

I've been writing this blog for a little more than a year now. When I first started writing the blog I had two main goals in mind: (1) To minister to the teens that are in my youth ministry program; (2) To let my blog serve as my online "journal" to help me to grow in my own faith. While my blog has served those two purposes (the second to a greater degree than the first) I feel that lately I have lost sight of the original purposes of writing.

Readership of my blog over the past year has grown from just a few hits per month to a few hundred hits per month. While this can be seen as a good thing in the terms of ministry, in terms of my personal perspective, it has been damaging. Lately, my focus has been more on increasing traffic to my blog than on ministering to myself and others. I have a sense of pride in accomplishing what I have in my writing. I have indeed grown in my faith through writing this blog over the past year. The impact on the teens I minster to is a bit more difficult to measure, but I pray that it has had a positive impact on them as well. However, the pride I have been feeling lately about all of this has been a self-righteous pride. I just hope and pray that the pride I'm feeling is not coming out in my writing.

So, I need a break. I need to take some time off to realign my priorities. I need a dose of humility by removing myself from the source of my self-righteous pride. Most importantly, I need to pray. I need to pray about the future of this ministry. I need to pray that I would be able to serve God and not myself in writing my blog. I need to discern whether or not God wants me to continue writing.

I don't know when, or if, I will write again. I thank you all for stopping by and reading what I have written. I thank all of you who have written kind words about my blog. Please pray for me as I discern its future.

Doers of the Word: A Book Review

I recently read Doers of the Word by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan as a part of the reviewer program for The Catholic Company. I have been wanting to read on of his books for a long time as was excited when I saw it as a part of the program.

This book is not what I expected it to be. I expected it to be a typical book on faith and spiritually. While it is a book on faith and spirituality, it is set up differently than a standard book. It is set up as a series of short essays on a range of Catholic subjects. I really enjoyed this format because in my busy schedule I don't have a lot of time to sit down and read long chapters.

Abp. Dolan does a fantastic job at helping readers to understand the precepts of our faith, from the Sacraments, to the liturgical calendar, to Mary and the Saints. He closes the book out with a chapter entitled "Workers in the Vineyard." This is our call to action. Abp. Dolan takes key issues in our Catholic faith and explains, in plain English, the reason for our stance and the need for us to take a stand on these issues that plague our society. The issues he tackles range from abortion to caring for the sick.

I really enjoyed reading Abp. Dolan's book. I looked forward to picking it up every day and am longing to read more of his work.

(Required Big Brother Disclosure: I received this book for free in return for writing an honest review of it.)