The Joy of the Gospel!

Alright, everybody... stop what you're doing and read Pope Francis' new Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium! That is all. Just do it!

**Update: I found this article by Brandon Vogt to be helpful, because it gives a little bit of historical context and explanation! You might want to look over it before you read the document itself.

**Update #2: This thing is long! You may need to pace yourself. I've personally still got about 120 paragraphs to go. So worth it, though! 

"The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ.

"I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost!" 

(Evangelii Gaudium 2-3)

Things I Really Like

I know, I know, it's been a while.

But, to appease you (like a pagan god or something), here is a hodge-podge of things I've ran across lately that are legit. So, so legit! Readysetgo...

Watch this testimony from Edmund Mitchell, a great guy I went to school with! It's about an hour long, but really worth it:

He also had this great quote in an interview recently:

"It also reminds me how important it is to continue diving deeper into our faith because there are a lot of well intentioned Catholics who, not having a solid enough foundation in Catholic doctrine, philosophy, history, or catechetics, are answering modern man’s hunger for deep, living waters with sprinkles from a red Solo cup."

Snap. I 100% agree!

Along the lines of more catechetical thing-a-ma-jigs, a friend sent me this great address to catechists by Pope Francis! (Who, by the way, showed up in my dream last night! Win.) I love this, especially:

"It builds up the Church!  To 'be' catechists!  Not to 'work' as catechists: this will not do.  I work as a catechist because I like to teach… But unless you 'are' a catechist, it is no good!  You will not be successful … you will not bear fruit!  Catechesis is a vocation:  'being a catechist', this is the vocation, not working as a catechist.  So keep this in mind: I didn’t say to do the 'work' of catechists, but to 'be' catechists, because this is something that embraces our whole life."

Next, another friend shared this with me on Facebook today, and I am just in love. Don't focus on the picture or text quality... just look at it for a minute and picture it in real life:

Do you not love it?!

(By the way, her feast day is tomorrow. Just sayin'.)

Went to see Torri Harris with some friends at the Josephinum this past weekend, which was lovely! Here is one of her songs... soak in the beauty!

Listening to this song on Saturday morning, it dawned on me just how much God uses the beauty of music to open my heart to Him... I'll be pondering that for a while...

Prayer cards from the concert. Beauty, right?

I definitely recommend that you look up more of her music. And if you ever get a chance to see her live, do it! She's very real, authentic, holy and fun... and her testimony blew me out of the water. All about fear vs. trust and God's calling for your life... plus, JPII showed up in her dreams. I mean, come on. JPII!

I've been listening to this a lot lately, too. Lyrics here.

I'm still getting the "Read the Catechism in a Year" emails every day for the Year of Faith... some days I read it, and some days I throw it in a folder that I've entitled "Still need to read for CCC." (Lazy, I know... once an email gets filed away, I don't know if I'll ever look for it again...) They've been using the YouCat, which I find super helpful for my line of work. ;) Yesterday was paragraph 470, "The Prompting to Pray":

"What prompts a person to pray?
"We pray because we are full of an infinite longing and God has created us men for himself: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (St. Augustine). But we pray also because we need to; Mother Teresa says, "Because I cannot rely on myself, I rely on him, twenty-four hours a day." [2566-2567, 2591]
"Often we forget God, run away from him and hide. Whether we avoid thinking about God or deny him he is always there for us. He seeks us before we seek him; he yearns for us, he calls us. You speak with your conscience and suddenly notice that you are speaking with God. You feel lonely, have no one to talk with, and then sense that God is always available to talk. You are in danger and experience that a cry for help is answered by God. Praying is as human as breathing, eating, and loving. Praying purifies. Praying makes it possible to resist temptations. Praying strengthens us in our weakness. Praying removes fear, increases energy, and gives a second wind. Praying makes one happy."

I thought that was a really good, simple, beautiful, understandable explanation!

Okey dokey... watch/listen/ponder all of that, and then get back to me. :)

(That should buy me some time until my next post, right??)

On My Heart

Today, just some scattered things that are beautiful and that speak to my heart: 

~Pope Francis' August 11th Angelus address (for now, this is just an article about it. No English translation of the full thing yet... it usually takes a couple days to come out. But still, please read!).

~Some Fulton Sheen quotes from On Being Human:

"...He who made the heavens and lived for mankind spoke His tenderest love when His audience was one listener."

"...powerful enough to control the collective planets of the universe, and yet careful not to neglect the burden that weighed on a single heart."

"Everyone else is too weak to heal a broken heart. He alone can do it Who counts the stars."

"Those who have hope are like a boy with a kite. The kite may conceivably be so high in the clouds that it cannot be seen, but he who holds the string feels the tug of it."

~Two new songs by Audrey Assad. Her album isn't officially out until tomorrow, so no YouTube links to the actual music yet. But, lyrics:

You Speak

You liberate me
From my own noise and my own chaos
From the chains of a lesser love
You set me free

In the silence of the heart, You speak
In the silence of the heart, You speak
And it is there that I will know You
And You will know me
In the silence of the heart You speak
You speak

You satisfy me
'Til I am quiet and confident
In the work of the Spirit I cannot see

In the silence of the heart You speak


I Shall Not Want

From the love of my own comfort
From the fear of having nothing
From a life of worldly passions
Deliver me, O God

From the need to be understood
From the need to be accepted
From the fear of being lonely
Deliver me, O God
Deliver me, O God

And I shall not want
Oh, I shall not want
When I taste your goodness, I shall not want
When I taste your goodness, I shall not want

From the fear of serving others
From the fear of death or trial
From the fear of humility
Deliver me, O God
Deliver me, O God

And I shall not want...


Happy Monday, everybody!

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 4)

Let's see if we can actually make it "quick" this week!

1

Best part of my week, hands down: getting a last-minute invite to have dinner with a lovely parishioner last night, then helping her make a pinata for her grandson's birthday! When was the last time I made a pinata?? It was gloriously messy and wonderfully random, and I left her house in the happiest of happy moods!

2

Oh yeah, I was also on the radio for the first time in my life, ever... you can listen to it here, if you really want to: http://radiomaria.us/battleforpurity/2013/07/29/july-29-2013/. I was kind of nervous that almost an hour would be wayyyyy too long, but it was actually pretty fun and the time went by quickly!

3

This: "Dear friends, let us bring to Christ's Cross our joys, our sufferings and our failures. There we will find a Heart that is open to us and understands us, forgives us, loves us, and calls us to bear this love in our lives, to love each person, each brother and sister, with the same love. Amen!" -Pope Francis

4

On Monday, I learned that I had signed up for Twitter two years before, to the day. I dubbed it my "twitterversary," and did nothing to celebrate. Except giggle whenever I thought to myself, "twitterversary!"
 

5

I'm in hard-core youth ministry planning mode. I really should get some caution tape for my office door and a sign that says "construction zone: authorized personnel only," like we have on the church door right now (the renovation is going on as we speak!). At any rate, enter at your own risk...

6

We had a great S.O.S. (Society of Saints) night on Wednesday based on Philippians 1:27-2:11. I'm so grateful to the core team member who planned and led the night... I've been feeling so over my head lately, and it was so blessed to just get to listen and reflect on the Scriptures along with everyone else, instead of leading it!

7

Last but not least, happy 18th birthday today to my brother Patrick! I got to go home last weekend for his high school graduation party, which was all you could ever hope for in a high school graduation party: family, friends, food and cornhole.

And here's a classy one of us, from our cousin's wedding the weekend before (which, by the way, was a blast... my whole family hasn't been together at a wedding for years and years!):

Happy birthday "Patty Pancake"... love you!

Pray for Priests!

Why yes, I am turning into a little Pope Francis nerd! I'm not ashamed. I just read his Chrism Mass homily, and it is like BAM (and why yes, I do write like I talk)! Go read it... just do it! You won't be disappointed.

Actually, you'll probably be moved and stirred with a desire to pray for our priests, that they might be strengthened with holiness and love for the people they shepherd.

I've worked in various church/chapel offices for the past eight years or so, and so I've been privileged to get a more "behind-the-scenes" view of our priests than many people do. I am more and more convicted, every single day, that the holiness of the Church very much depends on the holiness of our priests. Is the laity called to evangelize? ABSOLUTELY! Is the laity called to holiness? OF COURSE! We are all meant to be great, great saints! But Christ has given us our shepherds for a reason. I am coming to see, more and more every day, the enormous role that the spiritual leadership of our priests plays in the overall zeal and holiness of a parish. I am also understanding, more and more, the intense responsibilities that they carry. Being in charge of souls (and many administrative duties as well), is NOT by any means an easy burden! It is a labor of love and grace, yes. But it is still quite a labor.

Therefore... dear brothers and sisters, we need to support, love, and above all, pray and sacrifice for our priests! Stop complaining that you didn't like Fr. So-and-So's homily - when was the last time you prayed for him, or affirmed him, or had him over for dinner, or even said hi to him after Mass? I am guilty of this as well (behind-the-scenes, you always see more of a person's faults than you might otherwise, and same goes for our priests. Luckily, you often also see more of a person's strengths, love, gifts and hard work!). Fr. So-and-So will be responsible to Christ for how he fulfilled his vocation. However - and here's the kicker - so will we! Are we going to be loving, obedient, spiritually mature children of our fathers? Or are we going to be the rebellious little kids who throw temper tantrums and yell "I hate you!" whenever things don't go our way?

(There is a place for not going along with whatever Fr. So-and-So says, by the way, whenever it's contrary to Church teaching, filled with liturgical abuses, etc. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this - and that is a topic for another day.)

Something that a guest speaker said to my youth ministry class in college has always stuck with me: "Don't shoot your shepherd." Over this Triduum, let's do the opposite - let's lift up our priests in prayer, sacrifice, and lots of love! Let's lift our shepherds up to the Shepherd.

Happy Holy Thursday! I'm praying that we can all enter into the mysteries of our salvation in a profound way this weekend, so that we all become more in love with and united to Christ than ever.

P.S. Just a reminder... in a few days, this blog will be found at setapartblog.blogspot.com. Be ready!

Pope Francis-ness + New Blog Name!

First off, Pope Francis had his first general Wednesday audience today! You need to read it (I can also recommend his Palm Sunday homily)!

Secondly, the time has come: I hath decided on the new blog name! It's quite simple: Set Apart. I think there will be a lot to unpack there... and all in good time, my friends! I'll be telling you more soon.

So, this blog will soon be located at setapartblog.blogspot.com (now, be nice and no one steal the url before I make the switch)! It will probably happen either this Saturday or Tuesday, depending on how much time I have to work on it. I'll keep you updated!

And now... this:

And this:

Courtesy of Catholic Memes

Little (and Loving it)

So... super excited about this!

#understatement

We have a Papa! I feel like I can just be a little girl again, because he's going to take care of me. Yay! I'm especially excited to start soaking up everything that he tells us (probably more intentionally than I ever did with Benedict. I feel like I'm in an endless game of catch-up with all the riches that he gave the Church... but in a good way!). 

Today, I got to pondering all of this awesome Pope-ness, and a couple of things dawned on me. So often, I can only see my mistakes, my failures, my weaknesses, my sins. While it's not easy for anyone, I think there can be an extra level of torment present when you're involved in a ministry. Not only do I do things to screw up my own life, and those of my family and friends; I also am potentially mis-directing and failing to reach an entire population (large or small) who are desperately in need of Jesus.

Oy.

But before you start wallowing along with me, here is the beautiful, joyful reality of the matter: we are too little to mess up God's plans! A good friend of mine was visiting over the weekend, and we had a super blessed conversation about this (one of those fabulous, God-is-definitely-speaking-to-me-through-you conversations, if you know what I mean). The bottom line is that yes, I screw things up. But God can handle that! I'm absurd, and putting waaaayyyy too much importance on myself, if I think that I can singlehandedly wreck the plans of the Alpha and the Omega. Therefore, if I don't use the exact perfect analogy in a teaching, young people can still love Jesus! If I leave a room too messy and someone is (justifiably) unhappy with me, they aren't going to leave the Church. If I talk too fast and don't make sense 100% of the time, the entire volunteer team is not going to quit on me. And even when my sins abound, his grace abounds all the more (see Romans 5:20).

I just have to smile when I realize how little I am. I really shouldn't worry so much!

I'm learning from the best!

I'm not trying to justify my dumb mistakes, poor decisions, or the times I give in to temptation. It's all stuff I need to work on - and areas where I need to let the Holy Spirit work on me. I also do think that we can drive people from Christ, if we are not reflecting him, particularly those of us who take on certain roles in the Church (I seem to recall a Scripture verse about a millstone being tied around my neck??). The clergy abuse scandals, unfortunately, are the first thing that come to the minds of some people when they hear the words "Catholic Church." I get that.

However... if God calls you to something, he knows what he's about. He knows you - sins, failings, and all! And he already had that built into the plan. Not because he wants us to screw up, but because he's bigger than that. Just take some of those not-so-holy popes from our history: even though God wanted them to be holy and awesome, of course, he was still able to protect the Church and keep us rooted in the truth when they flopped. Even when the captains were corrupt, they didn't sink the ship!

So while we're talking about all this, we should definitely pray for Pope Francis. I get freaked out by the responsibility of being a youth minister in a small parish; but it kinda puts it all in perspective, when I realize that I'm not in charge of the universal Church, you know? But on the bright side, even Blessed Pope John XXIII used to tell Jesus at night, "It's your Church, Lord... I'm going to bed!" Pope Francis is a child of God too, with a fabulous heavenly Father to watch over him and take care of him. He's also allowed to be little!

So whether it's your job, your ministry, your relationships, etc., do the best you can on the human end of things. Don't make excuses, don't slack - put in a full day's work. But then entrust it to our heavenly Papa, whose grace will do the rest. Be at ease! We are simply not big enough to screw up everything and everyone, permanently (we do think in those extremes sometimes, don't we?). Let's not give ourselves so much credit! Jesus can handle it.

O blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You.

My daughter, why are you giving in to thoughts of fear? I answered, "O Lord, You know why." And He said, Why? "This work frightens me. You know I am incapable of carrying it out..."


Do not fear; I will not leave you alone. Do whatever you can in this matter; I will accomplish everything that is lacking in you. You know what is within your power to do; do that. The Lord looked on me with great kindness; I thought I would die for joy under that gaze.

-excerpted from the Diary of St. Faustina

(paragraph 881)