Yesterday I was flipping through radio stations in my car when I came across the popular song “Imagine” by John Lennon.  Can we all just agree that it is easily one of the worst songs ever written?  Last year, there was a video of a group of celebrities taking turns singing lines of the song that went viral.  For some reason, it seems to be a type of anthem that groups of people unite around when life is hard.  Aside from the dull, depressing melody that drags on and the whiny singing, the lyrics are quite unpleasant.  “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky.  Imagine all the people living for today.”  I am not sure why anybody would want to imagine this, as if this would make life better or solve all the world’s problems.  Hearing this song, I noticed the obvious theme that says life would be better without faith and without God.  This could not be further from the truth.  I started thinking about faith and how vital it is to my life.  To put it simply, without God, what are we living for?

​Do you ever stop and think about what life without faith would be like?  In the eyes of the world, it’s just about growing up, getting through school, and then getting a job so you can work the rest of your life.  Then you die.  Oh and don’t forget to be a “good person.”  The world says we don’t need God.  Our society tells us that there isn’t much of a real purpose to life but to focus on power, pleasure, greed, and doing whatever “makes you happy” without consequences.  What is the purpose in all of this?  What is the end goal in this?  

I sometimes think about how I would respond to certain situations or get through difficult times without faith.  I often think back to a conversation with my uncle at my grandma’s funeral.  “How do people without faith deal with the loss of someone?”  Without faith, there’s no hope, no peace, and no purpose in the suffering, trials, and challenges.  Having faith means knowing that we do not walk alone.

On the flip side, it seems like, without faith, it would be harder to appreciate the blessings in my life and recognize everything good in my life as a gift.  Sure, without faith, we would still experience good times and the love of people around us, but who would we thank?

To sum it up, in the words of St. John Paul II, “The most beautiful and stirring adventure that can happen to you is the personal meeting with Jesus, who is the only one who gives real meaning to our lives.”  Each day of our lives, we have the opportunity to encounter Jesus and come to know and love Him more.  It is through our meeting with Him that we can love and serve others.  Of course, this does not mean that people who don’t have faith do not have a purpose.  Every single life is a gift and has purpose and meaning, whether one knows God or not.  Instead of imagining a world without faith, imagine a world where every person comes to realize that life has purpose and that we are here for a reason bigger than ourselves.  And that reason is Jesus Christ.  Some may want to imagine a world without heaven.  I’ll take a world with faith where we can hope in the promises Christ offers.  What about you?

Lent is now upon us.  As a season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, there is a lot we often try to do in order to make the most of these 40 days.  Ultimately, Lent is about going into the desert.  Just as Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit.  He is calling us to the desert too.

During Lent, we are invited to a barren, desolate place.  While we may think of the desert landscapes of the world, we don’t have to leave the current environments we are in to follow Jesus into the desert.  We are invited to the spiritual desert of our lives.  This is a place away from the business of our lives that allows us to become closer to Jesus.  The desert we are led into during Lent allows us to experience greater silence, deeper prayer, and a stronger yearning for Christ.  It is a place where we are asked to remove the distractions in our lives, detach ourselves from material items, worldly desires, sinful habits, and all that keeps us away from God.

When we empty ourselves of everything that is not Jesus, we will find ourselves searching and hungry.  In this hunger and emptiness, we will be reminded that it is only Jesus who can satisfy us.  There are many ways we can allow Jesus to fill us.  We can spend more time in prayer and silence, attend eucharistic adoration, add in daily mass, go to confession, deny ourselves of certain comforts through fasting, serve others, give to a charitable organization, just to name a few things.

During our time in the desert, we need to refocus on what really matters: Jesus’ suffering and ultimate sacrifice for us.  In the desert we don’t have to be weighed down by the expectations the world has for us.  Instead of hearing what the world is telling us, we can better listen to what God wants for us.  Spending time in the desert gives us the opportunity to learn how to surrender ourselves completely to God and His will for us.  Wandering through the desert will bring us closer to Jesus and help us to experience his love more deeply.

Just as Jesus was tempted, we too will be challenged, stretched, and asked to confront our own weaknesses on our journey through the desert.  When tempted by Satan, Jesus placed his trust in God the Father.  Jesus knew the Father would provide for Him.  May we all follow in the footsteps of Jesus through the desert this Lent, trusting that He will always walk with us.

The contents of a small backpack sprawled across the floor.  A few items of clothing, a notebook, a thin blanket, and some other miscellaneous items lay before me.   This is a typical scene at the organization I work at.  Men coming in for the intake process are asked to empty any bags they have when coming in so that a bag check can be completed.  As these men’s few belongings are dumped out and then picked back up, I am hit with the realization that these are their lives, all packed up in small bags.  Many of them are struggling with drug/alcohol addictions, many of them have come out of prison with nowhere to go, and the list goes on.  These are their lives as men experiencing homelessness.  Each day, I have the opportunity to love them where they are at and encounter Christ among them.

As much as it hurts to say, my attitude towards people experiencing homelessness was not always one of compassion.  It was easy for me to judge and think to myself that it was a person’s fault for ending up homeless and therefore, their own problem to deal with.  They just needed to get a job or work harder.  My mindset was along the lines of, “If they would not have done ‘this’ or would have done ‘that’, then they wouldn’t be in this situation.”  My heart was cold and hardened toward this group of people.  Over time, God began to work within this area of my heart.  The turning point came during my junior year of college.  I was on a spring break retreat/mission trip in New Mexico.  We went to visit Catholic Charities in Albuquerque.  Something that one of the staff members said stuck with me since that day;  “A lot of the people we encounter may have made poor decisions.  However, It’s not our job to question why they are in the situations they are in.  It is our job to help them.”  It’s such a simple statement but it is exactly what we are called to do as Christians.  Since then, God has broken open my heart and filled it with love and mercy for those who are homeless.  It has become easier for me to realize that homelessness is a lot more complex than it appears and there are many different stories.

A lot of times, we might feel uncomfortable when we first take time to acknowledge some of the most vulnerable, poor, and weak, especially when they are in our own backyard.  I think one of the reasons I had no compassion for this population was because it made me uncomfortable to acknowledge that it was a major problem right here in Green Bay and the surrounding areas.  I didn’t want to believe it.  However, we can pray for God to open our eyes and our hearts.  We can pray for courage to step out of our comfort zones.  We can pray to have eyes that see Christ in others.

Maybe there are people that you are struggling to love.  Whether it is the homeless, or another group, ask God to soften your heart.  Pray to be filled with greater compassion and mercy.  When we love others, we love Jesus.  May we all learn to better love the least of these. 

Matthew 25:40

Watching the Super Bowl and the halftime show, I was thinking about how big of a stage it is.  Imagine being the halftime performer.  There are millions watching and listening to the artist during that chunk of time.  While we don’t have quite as big of an audience, there are still people watching and listening to us.  The people in our lives and those we encounter see what we do and hear what we say.  What, or rather, who, are we presenting to the people around us?

​As Christians, we are called to be like Christ.  When people interact with us, they should know that we are Christians.  This means that our lives should look different than those who do not share our faith.  What kind of posts are we sharing and liking on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram?  How are we interacting with others on social media, especially those whom we disagree with?  What kind of music, movies, and TV shows are we consuming?  What kind of language are we using and how are we speaking about others?  How are we treating that stranger at the grocery store, the person driving in front of us, and every single person God places in our paths each day?  The list goes on and on.  What we do, what we say, and the way we live our lives matters.

We are human which means that we will mess up.  We are all sinners.  We will all do things and say things that are not Christlike.  When this happens, we need to get back up and keep going.  Becoming like Jesus is a life-long process that we need to work at continually.  We will never reach the height of perfection on this side of earth.  But we cannot let this prevent us from presenting Him to those around us, even when we might fall.

We are called to love radically, live abundantly, and give without counting the cost.  We are called to show mercy, kindness, and grace.  Do people know we are Christians?  Do people see Jesus in us?  Do our words, actions, and lifestyles reflect Him to the people in our lives?  You never know when someone might be inspired by seeing how you live.  You may never know the impact you have when you allow Jesus to be reflected in your life.  May we all commit ourselves daily to becoming more like Christ.

On Saturday night my brother and I were looking for our quesadilla maker.  For some reason it was not in its normal spot.  We searched everywhere.  We checked every possible spot it could be.  We checked every cupboard and pantry and the most unlikely of places.  After a good chunk of time searching, we finally found it.  Of course, it had been right in front of us the whole time, in a place we had checked multiple times.  It is a bit like this in our lives and with our faith.  

How many times do we ask where God is?  We’ve all heard it before or maybe we’ve asked the question ourselves.  We experience the loss of a family member or friend, the loss of a job, or the loss of something that is good in our lives.  Our country seems like it has been set on fire.  We experience challenges and trials.  Out of the hurt and suffering often comes the question, “God, where are you in all of this?”  We can go through some days wondering where God is.  And while our human minds might wonder and question and search, He is right in front of us.

​It’s easy to see God in the good.  We have no problems seeing God in our family and friends, in big celebrations, and in the experiences that make us happy.  We expect Him to be in these places.  What about in the places that might be a bit darker or in the places we find ourselves distracted and searching?  God is in those places too.  Some days we might have to dig a little deeper to see God, but He is there, always waiting for us to seek Him out.

Maybe you’re struggling with something right now.  Maybe you’re having a hard time seeing God.  He wants you to choose Him and make Him your number one desire.  Keep your eyes and hearts open throughout each day and look for him in your encounters with others and in the ordinary moments.  When you seek Him and reflect on His presence in your life, it is then that you will find Him, in all of the places you look.  My prayer for you today is that you would follow God’s invitation to seek Him each day and be consumed by His unending love that is right in front of you.

Yesterday, I saw a tweet that said “are any Catholics going to give up hating women for Lent this year instead of chocolate?”  Seeing this brought to mind a quote from Fulton Sheen.  He says, “There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”  Opening up social media, consuming other types of media, and having conversations in-person regularly reveal the countless misconceptions that people have about Catholics and the Church.  Sometimes, it is former Catholics who partake in sharing contempt for Catholics and misinformation about the beliefs and practices.  As Catholics we cannot just sit back and watch.  

The teachings of the Catholic Church are good and true.  Our beliefs about the Eucharist, the right to life and dignity of every person, marriage/family are just a few areas that identify us as Catholics.  It is our job to work to present our faith and beliefs whenever the opportunity arises, especially as the culture works to twist the Church’s beliefs and set forth false ideas.

If we remain silent about our beliefs for fear of offending someone, then our beliefs are really not that important to us.  This can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow.  However, when it comes down to what really matters, we need to ask ourselves an important question.  Do we value the truth of Christ or the opinions of others?  Being human, we naturally want other people to like us.  We want their validation and don’t want to offend anyone.  Putting Jesus and the truth of our faith above what other people think is something we need to work on every day.  It does not automatically happen all at once.

We usually cannot change people’s minds and opinions.  What we can, and need, to do when Catholic beliefs are attacked is present the truths of what we believe boldly, and most importantly, with love.  We can ask others why they believe what they do and try to understand where they have gotten their information from.

​Our beliefs and teachings are central to the faith.  They are what we stand for and they help us know God by showing us His truth.  However, there will always be people who fail to understand what we believe.  There will always be people who tell us we are wrong.  There will always be people who have different beliefs.  All of this is okay.  People may always wrongly perceive what we believe as Catholics.  May they never wrongly perceive who we are as Catholics; a community of people who love like Christ.  When people interact with me, do they experience the love of Christ?  Reflect on this question today and every day.

“You have all my heart.  All that is broken.  I surrender all.  My life into Your hands.  You have all my love.  All that I’m holding.  I surrender all. My life into your hands.”  These lyrics from Matt Maher’s song “Into Your Hands” have been really speaking to me recently.  We so often think we are in control of our lives.  What if we fully surrendered our lives into Jesus’ hands?

​We like to think we can plan out everything in our lives.  We can make decisions on our own and choose what we want to happen.  The idea we have that we’re in control is all just an illusion.  It has always been and will always be God who holds the control of our lives.  He knows what He’s doing, even when we think our ideas are better.

We often spend time stressing about the daily occurrences in our lives.  Everything needs to happen a certain way, or else the world feels as if it is ending.  We try to do everything on our own and in our own ways.  People often grasp tightly onto the things in their lives that are perfect, or maybe what they perceive to be perfect.  As long as we hold onto these things very tightly, we will not lose them because we’re in control, right?  Maybe it’s that perfect job. Maybe it’s a relationship or our health.  It might be as simple as your daily routine.  What happens when these things change or are taken away?  We will be left lost and searching.

There is uncertainty in life.  It is hard for most of us to face the uncertainties.  We want to know where we’re going, what we’re doing, and when it will happen.  We cannot obsess over different situations or let ourselves be consumed by fear of the unknown.  We think we know what is best for ourselves and we wander around holding onto all the things that we think we have control of.  We need to open our hands and let go of everything we are so tightly clenching.  We need to hand it all over to Jesus.

Sometimes it seems as if we put Jesus in a corner, a corner of our lives.  We give Him certain parts of our lives and leave Him out of the other parts.  “He can be in this part, but not the others,” we tell ourselves, almost as if we are putting Him inside of a box.  We sometimes try to separate our faith life from every other part of our lives.  The problem with this is Jesus cannot just be a part of our lives.  He needs to be our whole life.  Through the joys and sorrows, tears, and laughter, good times and suffering, we need to give it all to Jesus.

Jesus wants our whole hearts and our whole lives.  He knows what we need and what is good for us.  What if we stopped trying to figure everything out on our own and just let Him guide us through each day?  Life is not always easy.  We will often be uncomfortable, but Jesus will never abandon us.  My prayer for today is that we would surrender all our lives and all that we’re holding into His hands.

My birthday was on Saturday.  Over the past few days, I reflected on how blessed I am to have made it to 24.  To me, 24 years seems like a long time, yet I am amazed at how quickly the time has gone.  I have grown and learned a lot along the way but there is so much more to learn and so many more ways to grow.  Through my reflecting, the main thought that kept occurring to me is that life is truly a gift.  Sure, most of us know that life is a gift but do we truly appreciate it?  Do we wake up each day just trying to survive and get by or do we wake up, grateful to be alive and breathing and ready to fulfill our mission?

God has given us the precious gift of life.  How do we treat the gift of life that has been entrusted to us?  I think we often wish time away.  Maybe we go from day to day, desperately grasping for the weekend.  We might tell ourselves every week that we just have to make it through this week.  Other times, we try too hard to fast-forward to the future, failing to focus on the present moment we are in.  Whether we are experiencing big moments or the small, ordinary moments of each day, we are invited to live life to the full.  Jesus came so that we would have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10).

Are we following God’s will for our lives and fulfilling our mission and purpose?  I think sometimes we can get so caught up in discovering what this is that we become overwhelmed.  Rather than being consumed by this huge question, we can scale it down to a smaller level.  Someone wise once told me that we should wake up each day and ask, “Lord, what is your will for me today?”

I want to wake up each day and ask God to open up my eyes to see His blessings more clearly.  I want to open up my heart more deeply to love in a greater capacity.  I want to ask God how I can serve Him better and love Him more than the day before.  Whether you are 14, 24, 54, 74, or somewhere in between, your life is a gift and has purpose.  You are a gift to the world.  You are a blessing to others in a way that no one else can be.

Lord, we are your servants.  Help us to seek your will each day.  Help us to recognize that our lives are the most precious gift you have given us.  Give us the grace to say “yes” to you so that we can fulfill our mission to serve you and love you.  May we always remember that, whether we are “young” or “old”, to be alive and breathing is enough.

A few years ago I came across a Word of the Year Generator that was created by a Catholic speaker and author.  A few days ago, I once again came across this word generator and decided to have a random word generated, just for fun.  The word that came up was “still.”  Curious about what other words would come up, I decided to generate a second word.  The second word that came up was “presence.”  While I had no intentions of having a “word of the year” and did not plan on giving much thought to the random word(s) generated, I quickly realized that I needed to see these two words, still and presence, as an invitation and a goal to work toward, especially if I want to experience more depth and growth in my spiritual life.

Most of us, from an early age, are taught that Jesus is always with us wherever we go and in whatever we do.  It’s easy for us to acknowledge this bit of truth in our minds.  Of course Jesus is always with us, we remind ourselves.  However, the real work we have to do is let this truth enter into the deepest parts of our hearts.  Everything changes when we know in our hearts that He is with us.  

How can we let this knowledge go from our heads to our hearts?  It starts with taking time regularly to recognize His presence.  This can mean reading scripture, devotionals, or other spiritual material, journaling, or going to adoration where He is present in the Eucharist.  All of these actions involve one key factor: being still.  We will never be able to fully know the presence of Christ if we do not take time to be still.  It is when we are still and open to hearing Him speak to us that we will be fully aware of His presence.  When we are fully aware of Christ’s presence, we are fully aware of His love.

​Maybe it was just a coincidence that in a random word generator, the two words I got were “still” and “presence.”  Nonetheless, there could not have been two words that go together more perfectly.  While it was a random and mindless activity, I know that having these two words generated is exactly what I needed to renew the habit of sitting still in the presence of Christ, particularly in adoration.  As many people might be thinking of ways to better themselves throughout this year, maybe you are being called to be still and become more aware of the presence of Jesus in your life.  How will you take time to be still in His presence this week?

A couple of months ago, I was at mass for a funeral when, during communion, I saw someone take the host and discreetly slip it into a coat pocket.  Ever since I witnessed this, it has been floating around in the back of my mind.  Unfortunately, this incident was not the first or second time I noticed this at a mass, but the third time within the last few years.  I think about this often.  I think about how I failed to say or do anything.  It has left me wondering what one should do in this situation.  I may have been unsure of how to react in this situation.  However, one thing I am certain of is that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith.  Reflecting on this thought makes me aware of a rather large problem.  If the Eucharist is the central part of our faith, why are there so many Catholics who fail to believe or don’t understand?

If Jesus is who He says He is (and He is), then it changes everything.  Being able to receive the Eucharist, body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus is a gift that blesses us with many graces and transforms us like nothing else can.  Of course, it takes faith to believe Christ is truly present in the Eucharist.  Thankfully, we are not left stranded.  The Church’s teaching on this subject is rooted deeply in scripture.  In addition to scripture, there are stories about saints and their experiences, books and documents we can read, and even documented Eucharistic miracles that can help deepen and strengthen our faith.  Turning to scripture is usually the best place to begin.

About five years ago, I was preparing a talk on what the Mass meant to me for the 12th grade confirmation class.  As I was digging deeper into different sources to find points for my talk, I was blown away by just how much evidence for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist could be found throughout scripture.  While I found a lot of information throughout different books and chapters, the first passage that I went to and that really stood out to me was John Chapter 6, also known as The Bread of Life Discourse.  I had remembered how much that passage had resonated with me in high school, as it had been a significant part of my faith and strengthened my belief in the Real Presence.  I focused much of my talk around this passage to emphasize to the class that the Eucharist was not merely a symbol of Jesus but instead, His body and blood.  This scripture passage is a great one to reflect upon often and a great place to turn to regularly to know and understand the truth.

I often wonder how many Catholics do not know and understand the truth, specifically about the Eucharist.  I fear that many Catholics receive Jesus at Mass, believing that what they are receiving is just a little circular wafer that symbolizes Jesus’ body.  What about all of the Catholics who do not even know what the Church teaches about the Eucharist?  What about those who choose not to attend mass regularly because they do not understand what, or rather Who, is present?  

The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, not just for some Catholics but for all Catholics.  This teaching needs to be prioritized and discussions on it should occur frequently .  After second grade, this teaching cannot fall through the cracks.  We must help everyone to understand this teaching so they will believe Jesus is truly present.  It is only Christ who will put this belief in people’s hearts, but we can help open the door.

The Eucharist is spiritual nourishment.  As St. John Paul II once said, “From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others.”  My prayer today is that we would find strength in the Eucharist, always knowing the love Jesus has for us and sharing it with others so that they too would come to believe.