Catholic Faith Space
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A few days ago, a supervisor from my job in college passed away at the age of 41, after some health problems. When I learned of this news, I was deeply saddened. She positively impacted so many students, myself included, and staff at the university. If I were to describe her with one word, it would be ‘bold.’ I think her boldness is one reason I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her and how grateful I am to have known her. Her boldness is a trait I admired. As Catholics and Christians, we are all called to be bold in our faith.
Boldness might not be naturally part of all of our personalities but it is something we need to choose and strive for each day. Otherwise, how can we expect to hold onto our faith and stand up for what we believe in a world that is actively working against us? It is easy to sit back and go along with the flow for fear of offending people or being insulted. Hiding our beliefs or remaining indifferent can lead to adopting the viewpoints of our society and it sends the message that our faith and its teachings really aren’t that important. When it comes to our faith, we cannot hold back! If we are truly disciples of Jesus, we should be sharing our faith with others. This means sharing the Gospel message, the teachings of the church, and letting others know how Jesus has and continues to work in our lives. It doesn’t have to be in front of a crowd or in big ways. It can be in the conversations with coworkers, family, and friends and in various everyday situations. These opportunities arise all of the time but we just need to be open to them. It should be in the words we say, the things we do, and the overall way we live our lives. We need to be sharing our faith, no matter what people might say or what they might think of us. In this weekend’s Gospel, we heard Jesus telling his disciples to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). This applies to us today too. What if we lived without hesitation and fear? What if we shared our faith like it was more important than anything else in our lives? What if we chose to be bold? Our country needs Jesus and needs the message of our faith, especially now more than ever. May we all rise up as disciples of Jesus and choose boldness.
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At my job, aside from one or two people who are close to 40, all of my coworkers are at least twice my age. This means one thing. Every day, I can guarantee that I will be called into someone’s office to help them with a computer/technology issue or answer a question about how to do something in Microsoft Office or Outlook email. On the other hand, working with people who are a bit older than me means that there is a lot I can learn. Having coworkers who are middle-aged means they have more life experience. They offer advice, career tips, and wisdom on work and life in general. We are all connected and all have different things to offer and provide to our place of work in order to fulfill the mission of the organization and complete the job. It is no different in our faith and in the Church.
Every year at my church, there is a retreat called Christian Experience Weekend, also known as CEW. It is a retreat for anyone 18 and older. However, once I turned 18, I didn’t immediately jump aboard and sign up. The way I looked at it, even though it was open to those at least 18, it was a retreat that a bunch of moms and middle-aged or older people attended. I had rarely heard of any “young” people attending except for usually an occasional one or two per retreat. How could I connect to a bunch of women who had kids, and enjoyed things like baking and gardening for fun?? For two years, several different people invited me personally to attend the retreat, some even offering to pay the small retreat fee for me. After coming up with a reason I couldn’t go or saying I would think about it, I finally gave in when I was 20. And I’m glad I did. All of the people on the retreat were at different points in their lives. We all had different experiences, thoughts to share, and gifts to bring. It didn’t matter that we were all different ages. What mattered is that we were all connected by Christ and through our faith. We were all a part of the body of Christ. That is the beautiful thing. We can all learn from each other. We can be inspired, encouraged and given wisdom and knowledge about faith from one another. Furthermore, we need each other. We all have different ideas, thoughts, experiences, and gifts. God works in our lives in different ways and fills our hearts differently. As we heard in this weekend’s second reading “there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit….As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:4, 12). We each have a role and are each called to participate alongside each other within the Body of Christ. While we are all unique individuals with different experiences, we are only truly whole when we are part of the Body, united as a community and to Christ. Sometimes, it might seem easier for us to live inside our own little bubbles; for young people to stray from those who are older and for those who are older to dismiss younger people. The Church needs all of us right now, at this exact moment. Not just a little later and not in the future. We are all tasked with sharing Christ’s love and the Church’s teachings and to help each other along the way no matter what age we are. May we all see each other as important parts of the Body of Christ and always realize the bond we have through Him. This weekend I did a half-marathon. The in-person Cellcom event was cancelled and moved to a virtual format, which meant we had to do the race on our own. Not being able to do the event in person, there were several things we missed out on. There were no spectators/people to cheer, no water stations, and no post-race food, just to name a few things. While we got t-shirts and medals, being able to run the event on the actual course, in the normal format would have been the full experience. We can run on our own, at our own time and on our own routes but signing up to do road- races is a much different experience that offers so much more. On a larger scale and in a more important way, it is like this in our faith. In regard to going to mass, we often hear people say things like, “I can just pray at home.” Of course we can pray at home. It is good and important to pray at home, and anywhere we may be. However, as Catholics, mass is the ultimate experience of our faith that we need.
God is the giver of all good things in our lives. Going to mass allows us to show our gratitude for everything we have and praise Him for all of the blessings in our lives. We can always thank God on our own time and in our own prayers. However, we are asked to show up, once a week at a minimum, to give thanks and praise to God. It’s the least we can do. Going to mass allows us to pray as a community. It is vital to pray as a community through the mass. While we need to pray on our own and develop a strong personal prayer life, we also need a community. If we want a strong prayer life, we need to start with the mass. The mass fills us up and pours countless graces into our lives. This allows us to live out our faith and grow closer to God in our daily lives. There is no other place we can go to be closer to God than at mass. Jesus is with us in nature, in our living rooms, and at our sporting events. However, it is only at the mass that He is present- body, blood, soul, and divinity. Receiving the Eucharist is as close as we can get to Christ on this side of heaven. It is the best gift we have been given and people pass up on it as if they have more important things to do and places to be. This is the central part of our faith. As Catholics, it is important to pray on our own and practice our faith every day. However, we also need to attend mass weekly, as long as we are healthy and physically able. We are able to experience the fullness of our faith when we go to mass. It is an experience we cannot have anywhere else. Pray often that Catholics everywhere would make going to mass a priority and see the importance and value of worshipping God weekly. On Friday I texted my sibling group chat to see what we were getting our mom for Mother’s Day and then for her birthday a week later. Of course, they had all decided on their own gifts, abandoning the idea of all going in on a gift together. This left me trying to come up with what to get and required some last minute shopping Friday after work. What do you get for the person who gave life to you? What can you give to the person who has raised you, supported you, and given you everything? You and I both know there’s no gift or material item that compares to what a mother gives and has given. This led me to reflect on who Jesus is and all He has given us. What do we give to the one who has given His life for us? What can we give to the one who guides us, leads us, and walks with us each day? Love. The answer is our love.
God doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need anything from us either. The amazing thing is that while He doesn’t need anything from us, He wants us to love Him and have a personal relationship with Him. He created us for a purpose. As we heard in this weekend’s Gospel, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (John 15:16). We all have a mission and purpose for our lives. While our paths may all be different, we are all called to love and serve God and share His love with others. God has chosen each one of us; not because He needs us, but because He wants us. How awesome is that?!? The all-knowing, all-powerful God who created heaven and earth and everything in between gives us everything and all He really wants from us is our love. When we choose to fully love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, we are inviting Him to remain within us and transform our lives. When we allow God to transform our lives, others will notice and may come to know Him and His love for them. And this is what God wants; to be known and loved by each and every single one of us. May you never forget that God, who has given you everything, will never need anything from you but will always want you to love Him. When it comes to driving and navigating, I have no sense of direction and I get lost easily. One time in high school, I was leaving a meeting at night and needed to follow someone to find my way back from a church that is ten minutes from my house. Needless to say, my directional skills are lacking and there have been many times when I was unsure of the way to go. Thinking about direction in a bigger way, we are reminded in today’s (Monday 5/3) gospel that Jesus is our ultimate guide. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6). Without Jesus, we would be lost.
Looking around, it is easy to see many who are lost and lacking direction. Turn on the news or open up social media to see acts of violence, attacks against certain opinions, and constant negativity. Take notice of a lot of the music, TV shows, and movies that are popular. Many of these forms of media mock Christianity and people of faith, glorify and normalize sin, and use inappropriate and degrading language. These kinds of things have been accepted by many, even among those who identify as Christians. This is not the way that Jesus offers us. Apart from Jesus, the road is dark, confusing, and dangerous. He knows what we need and leads us to the Father. When we follow Jesus and truly believe that He is the only way, we will know truth and have life that is full. Everything that we are seeking can be found in Him. There are many people who have not discovered who Jesus is and who He wants to be for them. Others have walked away from Him. Some have never taken time to develop a relationship with Him. Our world is lost with no direction. To put it simply, our world needs Jesus. Spend some time praying that all who are lost and searching would find Jesus and let Him guide them. Pray that we would let Him be everything for us; the way, the truth, and the life. |
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