Our Kids Are Hungry!

Our kids are hungry. I saw this first hand last week. I was conducting a high school youth group meeting using the Theology of the Body for Teens curriculum by Ascension Press when what I had originally planned was derailed. I decided to scrap my original plan of watching the video when I was hammered with question after question  from the teens. They were not disrespectful or argumentative in their questioning. They weren't even questioning my authority or the authority of the Church. They were lost and confused and in search of the truth. They were asking questions about love and sexuality. They also went beyond the topic of the night and asked questions about faith and morality in general. They are hungry for the truth.

We, as a Church, have failed our kids. We have failed to teach our children the truth. Some of us have kept our mouths shut because we don't want to push our beliefs on anyone. We are afraid to offend people.  We want our kids to "make their own decisions", yet we don't don't give them the opportunity to make a decision. We just allow our culture to make their decisions for them. Some of us are afraid to stand up for the truth. Some of us don't even understand the truth ourselves. Whatever the reason, we have created a generation of teens that are lost and confused, being sent mixed messages from our culture and, yes, from our Church.

This generation of teens is more lost and confused than any previous generation. Yet, I am hopeful. I am hopeful because they are questioning. I am hopeful because I do see a hunger in them for the Truth. We need to help them see the Truth. We need to know and understand the truth of our Catholic faith ourselves. We need to ask the same questions the teens are asking. We need to be as hungry as they are in finding the Truth.  And we need to stand up! We need to stand up for what we believe in. We should not be afraid to explain and defend our beliefs to anyone. We should not be afraid to offend people. We need to convey the message of our Church in a loving manner instead of being argumentative. The teens I spoke to last week weren't offended by the loving approach of my defense of the Church's teachings. Rather, I saw "light bulbs" of understanding light up in their eyes.  Many of them got it. They understood.

The Truth is there. It is in the Catholic Church. If you don't believe it, don't just sit there and criticize it. Seek out the Truth. You will find it. And when you do find it, share it. Share it with your family and friends. Most importantly, share it with your children, for they are hungry and they want you to feed them. Feed them with the Truth.

Give Until It Hurts

If you could change anything about the world, what would you change? Why? Let's face it, the world is in desperate need of change. The world is a mess. There is violence everywhere. Sexual promiscuity and deviancy is accepted, even encouraged. We have greedy heads of industry and even greedier politicians. Whether you see it or not, death is surrounding all of us through abortion, assisted suicide, and other forms of murder. We need change.

But how can you, how can I, change the world. We may think, I'm just one person, I can't change anything. We may feel that the powers that have made this world such a mess cannot be overcome. We have a very difficult road ahead of us if we truly want to change the world, if we truly want to bring the principals of Christian love back into this world. But we have to begin somewhere.

So, where do we begin? Do we begin with abortion? Do we begin with the culture of sex? Do we overhaul corporations and the government to remove the greed from them? All lofty goals and worthy causes, but they are too big for us to handle. Where do we begin, then? I think that in order to answer that question, we need to look at how we got here. Matthew Kelly, in  Rediscovering Catholicism says that: "The world is this way because of people like you and me. Our thoughts, words, actions, and inaction have all contributed to create the world today."


Do you want to change the world? Start by changing yourself. We all--all of us, you and me--have contributed to the despair that our culture is currently in. We do this through placing things ahead of people. We do this by putting our selfish desires ahead of everything else. We want to live comfortable lives. We don't want to suffer or sacrifice anything in our lives. I'm a victim of this, too! We all are.

If you want to change the world, give of yourself. Give of yourself without thought of what's in it for you. Give your love, give your time, give your possessions, give your food, give your money. Let go of what you want. Sacrifice everything. Don't just give until you feel better. Give until it hurts.

These is a very difficult challenge. It is a very scary prospect to give it all, to give until it hurts. I don't know if I can do it. But it's what Christ did. He didn't stop giving until he felt better about Himself. He gave until it hurt. And the pain He endured is far greater than the pain we will endure.

Standing on the Precipice

I stood on the precipice, looking down. From where I stood, the valley looked beautiful. I kept staring at it, yearning to jump off the cliff and into the beautiful valley. The urge was strong. I told myself that it was completely safe, that I would not die if I jumped off the cliff. I told myself that I would float peacefully down into the valley, and once there I would enjoy the rich and fragrant beauty that would surround me.

The temptation to jump was so strong. It was overpowering me. I felt such an urge to jump off the cliff and into the beautiful valley that I lifted a foot and held it out over the edge of the cliff as though about to step off the edge. I wanted to do it. I wanted to feel myself float peacefully down into the valley. I wanted to lay in the lush grass, smell the beautiful flowers, and listen to the songs of the birds. I wanted to be absorbed into the lush and breathtaking beauty that awaited me below.

But I stopped myself. I placed my foot firmly back on the ground, and I closed my eyes. I stood there with my eyes closed for what seemed an eternity, although in reality it couldn't have been more than a few moments. I thought about what I was about to do. I had an internal battle with myself:

"Jump off the cliff? You've got to be crazy! I don't care what's down there. The fall is going to kill you!"

"No it won't, you idiot! You surely will not die. Look at the beauty down there. You will forever be happy if you go. Do it! You won't regret it!"

I can't, it's too dangerous!"

No it's not! It's what you've always wanted. Look! Open your eyes and look! It's beautiful!"

"I....can't.....I.....won't......I WON'T!"

And with that, I opened my eyes and looked over the precipice again. The valley had changed.  It was no longer a sunlit, fragrant, beautiful scene. It had turned dark and dreary. The grass, the flowers, the trees had been replaced with jagged rocks and barren wasteland. The songbirds with their beautiful melodies had been replaced with the loud screeching caw of vultures, hungry for flesh. My eyes were opened. I saw the truth.

I turned away from the precipice and saw that the beautiful valley I had sought off the edge of the cliff was all around me. I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything to smell the beautiful fragrances and lay in the lush field. I didn't need to jump off a cliff to hear the beautiful songbirds or feel the warmth of the sun. I just needed to open my eyes and see the Truth.

How often are we tempted with the things of this world--greed, power, prestige, money, sex, possessions? They come across to us initially as something beautiful, something to be desired and yearned for. Yet, when we close our eyes and reflect on these things, our eyes are opened to a different picture. There is no lasting beauty, peace, or happiness in seeking out the things of this world. Sex won't bring us love. Money and prestige won't bring us acceptance. Power and possessions won't bring us happiness. They lead us to a barren wasteland and, ultimately, death.

Yet, if we turn around, and open our eyes to the Truth, we will find that all the beauty, all of the splendor that we are seeking is right there, surrounding us. God's Love is everywhere. God's Truth is all around us. We just need to open our eyes and see.

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.

Prayer and the Will of God: A Book Review

It's been a while since I've reviewed a book. I've spent a lot of time with this book, not because it was a difficult read, but because I've wanted to prayerfully consider what Van Zeller is telling his readers.


All in all, this is a fabulous book. The ultimate goal of this book is to help its readers, as the title indicates, to merge prayer with the will of God. Prayer, without surrendering to God's will, is nothing. It is not fruitful. You must be willing to surrender your will to God's in order to have effective prayer...and a joyful life.


What I enjoyed most about this book is the fact that it is realistic. What I found particularly beneficial is the chapter on distracted prayer. What Van Zeller tells his readers is that you cannot pray without distractions. I so often get frustrated with myself for being distracted while in prayer and I found it beneficial to me to find that it is natural to have distractions. The challenge is what you do with those distractions. Do you allow them to take you away from your prayer, or do you push them aside and refocus on surrendering your will to God.


Van Zeller provides practical advice throughout his book that we can take into our prayer lives and make it more fruitful. If you are seeking help with prayer in your own life, grab a copy of this book. You can get Prayer and the Will of God from The Catholic Company.


(I received this book for free in return for giving an honest review of it.)

Falling Down

The Third Station of the Cross: Jesus Falls the First Time. Jesus carried a heavy cross, he had upon his shoulders a cumbersome burden. What was Jesus' cross to bear? On one level, it was the physical beams that he was forced to carry to his death. On a deeper level, the cross Jesus bore was sin. Not his sin, but ours. That sin that Jesus carried on his back was so heavy that it caused him to fall, not once, not twice, but three times. He was literally crushed with the weight of our sins. Stop and think about that for a moment. He fell down, exhausted and weak from carrying our sins. It makes you want to think twice before giving into the temptation to sin.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we all carry crosses. We all have burdens to bear that we cannot avoid. We also pick up extra crosses in our lives. These extra crosses that we carry are ones that can be avoided. They are similar to the cross that Christ bore, but it is our own sin that burdens us. These extra crosses that we pick up make it much more difficult to continue on our journey. We, too, fall down like Christ did. We fall down from the weight of our own sin, and the more we sin the harder it is to get back up after we fall.

It doesn't have to be this way. Our crosses can be made lighter. We can make our crosses lighter by avoiding temptation and sin. And when we do fall down (and we all fall down) we need to take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Regular reception of this wonderful Sacrament will not remove our crosses but it will lighten the load.

We here in the Diocese of St. Petersburg have a wonderful opportunity this Thursday, March 11, 2010. At every parish in the diocese the "Light Will Be On For You". From 5 PM to 8 PM priests will be available at every parish for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If it's been a while, here is a Short Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The Diocese of St. Petersburg is getting the word out. Here is a clip from a television ad campaign they are running in the Tampa Bay market.




If you have not received the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a while, then go. Do something for yourself. Lighten your burden. If you are outside the Diocese of St. Petersburg, call a parish near you and find out when they offer the sacrament.

After Jesus fell down, he picked himself back up. We need to do the same by receiving this beautiful sacrament.

We All Have Burning Bushes

The burning bush. How often have I said (and heard others say) "I wish God would speak to me like He did to Moses, through a burning bush. If God just spoke to me as clearly as Hid did to Moses, then I would know what He wanted me to do and my life would be easier than it is." Why doesn't God speak to us like He did to Moses?

Let me ask you another question: What makes you think God isn't speaking to you like He did to Moses? Sure, we may not see any burning bushes with voices coming out of them, but God does speak to us, oftentimes very clearly. The problem isn't that God doesn't speak to us like He spoke to Moses, the problem is that we don't listen to Him.

Let's go back to Moses and the burning bush and look at what's going on here. The passage starts out like this: "As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, 'I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush had not burned.'" (Exodus 3:2-3) Moses saw a bush that was on fire. This, in itself, is nothing spectacular, except that it was not being consumed. He could have dismissed it as nothing. But Moses felt a tug on his heart. He felt drawn to it.  Moses, being a man of God, recognized this tug as a call to prayer and he responded. It was only after Moses responded to the initial tug on his heart to investigate the bush that he heard God calling out to him. Moses then entered into prayer and conversed with God. He then heard God's call to free the Israelites from Egypt.

We all get these tugs on our hearts from God, whether we recognize it or not. These tugs are a call to prayer, a call to enter a relationship with God.We may not literally see burning bushes as we're walking down the street or driving down a busy highway, but there are tugs on our hearts. I recognize these tugs on my heart many times. It may be something as small as writing for my blog or stopping what I'm doing to play with my kids or it may be as big as changing my career path. The tugs are there and we need to be able to recognize them.

So, how do you recognize the tugs of God on your hearts? There is only one way to recognize them, and that is through prayer. Start praying now, even if you don't feel the tug on your heart or see the burning bush in your life. I said earlier that Moses was a man of God before he saw the burning bush. He had a prayer life and a relationship with the Lord. We need that, too. If we can pray now when we don't see our burning bushes, then with time we will be able to see them as they come up in our lives. And when we do begin to see the burning bushes in our lives, when we do begin to feel the tugs on our hearts, we need to respond as Moses did. It is then that we will hear the voice of God calling to us loud and clear.