Your Love Never Fails

Tonight was really rough. I just feel like I got punched in the gut, and haven't been able to recover. I turn on the TV and see people dancing in the street rejoicing Obama, the savior (I say that with the utmost sarcasm), and his re-election. I log onto my computer and see social media abuzz with celebration and jubilation for the President. I just sit back and say, what is going on with the country and world that I live in? What in the past four years gets people so excited for the next four? Unemployment goes up, inflation goes up, cost of living goes up, number of jobs go down, national debt goes up, the number of unborn children murdered goes up, what in there gets people so excited and so hopeful? Pro-choice activists have turned the abortion debate from an issue regarding what constitutes a life, to a women's health issue. (You can't get an advil at school without getting parental consent, but a 16 year old girl can get an abortion without even letting her parents know!) Same-sex marriage advocates have turned anyone who believes in maintaining the sanctity of marriage into a bigot. Obama issued the HHS Mandate, starting to infringe on Catholics religious liberties, and Obama carries the so-called Catholic vote. I clarify it as "so-called" because I truly believe you cannot call yourself a Catholic and support Obama, it's counter-intuitive in very nature (i.e. Catholics belief in preserving and defending life from inception to natural death whereas Obama endorses the genocide of countless unborn children). *Deep Breath* In all honesty I cried a bit tonight, just asking myself and God the question, "are we going to be alright?" When I asked, I suppose I was thinking more of my family, which has struggled mightily these past four years. When I asked, I suppose I was asking selfishly, because I have struggled with the things of this earth mightily these past four years. On a night like tonight I feel hopeless. I see no way out, I see no future, I feel broken. It sounds strange, but I hope Jesus comes back sooner rather than later. I am ready, I am ready for my family to be together in Heaven and stop suffering. I am ready for Jesus Christ's return. The longer I live on this Earth the more I understand I wasn't made for it.

Freedom, America, and Faith:

Freedom seems to be, almost the mask behind which we commit our sins. "I should be free to choose if I want that baby, or who I can marry, or what I can do with my body because it's mine!" In the United States we place an emphasis on freedom and individuality above all else. But so often I see these people  who claim to be living there life in total freedom, or who place an emphasis on being free to choose above all else, as pawns, or zombies, or carbon copies of everyone else in the world; mindlessly following their god's of freedom, slaves to their idols and icons, blindly following their fleeting emotions. Freedom isn't necessarily being able to choose whatever you please, rather it is avoiding things or accepting restrictions. If we lived in a world where there were no traffic restrictions and no rules to follow on the road, does that mean we would be driving in total freedom? Absolutely not. One can easily see how this would quickly lead to dangerous chaos. Simply driving to the grocery store would be terrifying, and most people would choose to avoid the roads altogether. In other words, they would feel impelled to greatly restrict their movement. Yet by putting a few restrictions in place, traffic laws make driving a freeing experience. I as a Catholic am free to skip Mass, but I miss out on the Graces afforded to me in the Eucharist, in His body and blood. "The person who worships at the altar of freedom ultimately engages in self-worship." True freedom lies in self-service. There is no better evidence of this than Jesus freely choosing to lay down his life for you and me. The times I felt most free in life is when I completely abandon or subject myself to God. By becoming a slave to God, I have felt total freedom. "Alright God, I give up, do with me as you please and help me to avoid doing just what I want." I've prayed this prayer, or a similar one so many time. It is the most freeing prayer, in which the paradox lays, Lord I'll be a slave to you so that I can be free. When you freely choose God you choose to serve Him, serve others (His people), and in turn God serves you with His grace. The more you choose God, the less you choose self, the more you truly become Free.

Let Justice and Praise Become My Embrace

as I turn another year older my goal for this year isn't to become wealthy, or get a raise, or a better job. My goal is to become a better man, a better youth group leader, and a better Catholic. If I can do that, I know these next 365 days will be filled with countless blessings and God's grace.
Amen!

Being A Better Man

I really want to be a better man. My goal each day is to be a better man than I was the day before. My goal for each Sunday is to be able to receive the Eucharist in a state of grace. My goal for my life here on earth is to get to and lead others to heaven. I'm just trying to be better at putting God first and thinking about him in everything I do.

Set A Fire

Set a fire down in my soul,

that I can't contain and I can't control

I want more of you God.

we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Selflessness

Have you ever dared to love someone more than you loved yourself?

Love

He is jealous for me, 
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, 
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, 
And I realise just how beautiful You are, 
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so, 
Oh how He loves us, 
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves.
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/david_crowder/how_he_loves.html ]
We are His portion and He is our prize, 
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, 
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a unforseen kiss, 
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, 
I don't have time to maintain these regrets, 
When I think about, the way... 

He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves us, 
Whoa! how He loves.

Romans 12:16-21

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Fear

I Will Fear No Evil. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

I Will Help You. "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you" (Isaiah 41:13).

You Will See The Deliverance. Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again" (Exodus 14:13).

Be Strong and Courageous. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (Dueteronomy 31:6).

A Spirit of Power and Love. "For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7).

Of Whom Shall I be Afraid? "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall i Fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)"

I Bring You Good News. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people" (Luke 2:10).

We Say With Confidence. So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can Man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6)

Peace I Leave With You. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27).

People don't really get me, and at times I fully don't get myself. But, in order to understand me, you have to understand how important my faith is, my Church is, my religion is. Catholicism is everything to me. I have done it huge amounts of injustice through my thoughts, words, and actions, by living my life of sin whilst proclaiming to be a devout Catholic. I saw something from a friend that hurt me so badly about religion. The quote was along the lines of, "religion is like a penis, it's great that you have one but don't expose it for all to see." Man I do my best to not get evangelical, preachy, or overbearing about my religious beliefs, but let me try to better explain this. I believe that this life is kind of like a try out for a sports team. We are all given this amazing opportunity to try out for the team that we are supposed to be on for eternity. During our time on earth, or our try out, we can listen to the instructions placed before us, work our hardest to make the team...or we can screw around, do what we want, and not listen to the coach when they give us instructions. The consequences are pretty simple, we either make the team and go to heaven for all of eternity, or we don't make the cut and spend an eternity in hell. People talk about their religious beliefs and talk about how they have seen God's work, they have felt His blessings, they have had a coming to Christ. I too have experienced all of these things, but I have also seen the devil. I have seen the work of Satan, I have been face to face with pure evil, I have seen Satan losing his grip on people and losing his power, and I have experienced the pure devastation of the devil's chains. I am convinced in my God because I have witnessed his good works, and I have seen Satan and his evil face to face. You may get mad or agitated at the fact that I try to evangelize you, but you have to understand, there is no greater love that I know, than trying to get you closer to Christ and closer to Catholicism. I love you so much that I want to see you in heaven for all eternity. I love you so much that I am taking my time to try my hardest to get you to make that eternal team, I love you so much that I want you in eternity with me. I look at this beautiful country of the United States of America. She has provided so many with so much, including the freedom to practice my religious beliefs. It pains me to see these social issues of abortion, and providing contraceptives to Catholic organizations with so many people supporting the pro-abortion positions. Mother Teresa once said, "it is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." It hurts me to see the leader of this free nation cut back on religious freedoms, to support policies that directly lead to the deaths of the most innocent, the most vulnerable, and those who have absolutely no voice: the unborn. I've read that on judgment day God will ask you two questions: 1)What did you do with the gifts I gave you? 2)What did you do to bring others closer to me? I know I screwed those questions up, but I think I got the gist of them. On the day of my departure from this earth, I hope I left it a better place than when I arrived. I fear that task is becoming increasingly more and more difficult. I do my best to not get preachy, or try to evangelize some of my "friends" or those around me. I try my best to not shove my religion down the throats of those around me. But, the longer I do that, the greater the disservice I am providing to my friends and the others around me. So join me in this eternal tryout. Seek out your faith, seek out the Catholic Church in all of her love and beauty. Catholicism is a beautiful thing, to its core it provides all the necessary ingredients for life. It provides love to the hurt, it provides hope to the hopeless, it provides faith to the broken. I cannot, for any reason, see why people do not stand with the Catholic Church. We lead selfish lives, "I do not want to sacrifice these superficial pleasures I have on this earth. I do not want to live a pure life, I do not want to live a life free of external substances, I want to seek out those things that make me temporarily satisfied." However, when we make these aforementioned sacrifices we take one step closer to Christ. These sacrifices, just like the pleasures that they bring, are temporary. When we sacrifice the sin in our lives it leads to eternal ecstasy, eternal bliss, eternal love, eternal hope, eternal joy, and eternal satisfaction. So join me, on the road to heaven. Start today, God does not care about the sin or mistakes we've made in the past. He is a forgiving God who is waiting to embrace you with open arms. God yearns for us to walk with him, so start today. Live with Christ, live in Christ, because the reward is life, and the alternative is death.