7 Quick Takes (Vol 2.)

--- 1 ---

Last Saturday, I got to hang out with religious brothers and sisters, priests, and other Catholic friends.  I've mentioned The Shepherd's Cafe before, and that's where I went this past Saturday.  They usually host a vocations night on their yearly anniversaries.  This is where those who have chosen a religious vocation have a chance to talk about why they chose such a life.  Not only that, but since The Shepherd's Cafe typically features entertainment following spending a Holy Hour with Jesus, some of the religious/clergy performed as part of the entertainment!

Some seminarians performed a decent cover of the 4 Chord Song, and my consecrated friends in Regnum Christi performed a beautiful song.

A picture of the religious and Shepherd's Cafe volunteers

Lastly, this evening was the first time I saw my friend who's been away for the past several months helping out with an urban mission effort called Christ In The City.  She just recently got accepted to join the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in New Bedford, MA.  And she was recognized at The Shepherd's Cafe for having made that decision.  Please pray for her as she enters into the religious life!

Gettin' recognized!

--- 2 ---

I'm grateful for the truth!  It just seems like nowadays, you can't really expect the media/news to give truthful news especially when they talk about Catholicism or things Catholics like.  I would give the benefit of the doubt and assume that reporters don't usually take the time to learn the truly Catholic viewpoint on things.  I mean, this topic deserves its own blog post, but I'm grateful not only for the truth, but for us taking the time during class to inform our Catholic students that the media sometimes puts forth an agenda with bias and partial truths and that we should not base our understanding of Catholic truth in such un-grounded "Catholic facts."

I had another #realtalk group gathering this week where we talked about truth some more and the dangers of relativism.  As a topic for a good case study, we applied the conversation to abortion in light of recent news (or lack thereof).

--- 3 ---

Sometimes I get so tired that not even two cups of coffee helps me stay awake.  Maybe I built up my tolerance?  Apparently the only thing that I find that helps is taking a nap or using one of those "energy" single-serve drink mix packets to wake me up.  So, confession: I'm cheap and go for the Wal-Mart brand ones.

Unfortunately...as tasty as they taste...they make me sick sometimes.  I must come up with a better solution and perhaps getting more hours of sleep is it. x_x

--- 4 ---

A recent tradition at my parish is to have a men's cold beverage night once a month.  This means going somewhere to grab some food and a cold, adult beverage.  I've gone to a few of them now and they're fun because it's a great way to just kick back and relax and just chill in good company.

Obviously, whenever you get a group of guys together, interesting conversations ensue.  But, not your stereotypical "oh here's a bunch of guys talking about guy stuff" conversations.  Yes, there were intros and "what do you do?"'s.  And yes, the Texas Rangers were playing and dominating according to about 10 TV's that were in the restaurant establishment. But, one of our men was a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal but now discerning to become a diocesan priest...and I'm pretty sure he was teaching some of the older men about Catholic things as well as telling his story about religious life.  I'm pretty sure that I was in a conversation about natural family planning for a good solid 15 minutes.  Apparently there's an NFP app (and others too)! And the guy sitting across from me teaches NFP with his wife!  While I couldn't relate since I'm not married like most of the guys present at the table...It's cool to hear the enthusiasm and success about NFP.  Something to look forward to, should I ever get to that point, haha.

--- 5 ---

I think I need a vacation.  For whatever reason, I haven't had a lot of time this past week to chillax.  And this weekend I seemed to have overbooked myself in things to do...so it's pretty much going to be an action-packed weekend starting Saturday morning.  And then Sunday is always busy because my parish literally becomes my second home.  Needless to say...I think I was stressed this past week in not being able to properly prepare for the busy weekend.

Jesus' words from the end of Matthew 11 come to mind...

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (NAB)

 Ah, maybe the reason I feel stressed is that I haven't devoted a lot of time resting in God this week....

--- 6 ---

I love how it is the beginning of May and we were totally enjoying nice, spring-into-summer weather and then all of a sudden...

BAM

...it gets super-ridiculously windy and cold within a day.  In fact, it'll hit close to freezing where I work and people are Instagramming their snowstorm pictures from other parts of the country.

I mean, I don't mind the cold...but...it's such an outlier in the recent average temperatures, ya know?  Roses in bloom, I was totally rockin' flip-flops last weekend, and I could actually walk from the parking lot to work without a jacket on.  Not so much today.

But while this brief cold spell is upon us...I have to discern which North Face jacket to wear... #firstworldproblems

--- 7 ---

It seemed like only yesterday when my parents and I helped moved my bro into his dorm room.  But now, he's about to wrap up finals and thus completing his freshman year. Wow. Though it doesn't really make me go "whoaaaa where has the time gone" simply because my brother has been home seemingly every weekend for the past several months.  He goes to college like 30 mins away and it's halfway between work and home for me.  I offered to take some of his stuff back home today, and I'm glad that full-sized keyboards fit in my car. Haha. 

And he'll be home for the summer starting next weekend!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

- JD