Don't Tell Dan Brown...

...that I'm going to an Opus Dei men's night of recollection tonight.

That pretty much makes me one of the Werst Kafliks Evurr. Secret societies, murderous plots, misogyny, secret theological truths unearthed about Christ, beating my own self to a bloody mess, among other things in this cult-like society as presented in The Da Vinci Code.

Yep. Don't tell Dan Brown. He might get upset and be inspired to continue Robert Langdon's story.

Lol.

I'm glad that there is such a thing as reality and that fiction is entertaining. Because! In real life, Opus Dei isn't what Dan Brown makes it out to be.

A refutation of Dan Brown's version of Opus Dei, by the real Opus Dei: http://opusdei.us/en-us/article/the-da-vinci-code-the-catholic-church-and-opus-dei-2/

So for our weekly Bro Night with my housemates, we're going to this men's night of recollection.

I've been to a few Opus Dei men's nights of recollection before. Assuming tonight will be no different, I'll expect that we'll be engaging in such debaucherous things as praying before the Most Blessed Sacrament (ie. the Eucharist (ie. Jesus Himself)), being led in meditations/contemplations/reflections by an Opus Dei priest, have the chance to go to Confession, attend a brief seminar on how to integrate Catholic faith and everyday life and work, and an examination of conscience as related to how well we are being the men we are created to be whether married or single.

And more praying!

Scandalous! I know! Sheesh.

"Opus Dei" means "God's work", which is a characterization of the founder's ideal on how we as Catholics, especially laypeople, can glorify God through our everyday work and labor. 

Again, don't tell Dan Brown because Opus Dei, in reality, is truly Catholic and not some false shadow of the truth.

Please pray for me as I contemplate how to better integrate my faith in my engineering work on a daily basis. And please know that I'm praying for you, too.

St. Josemaria Escríva, founder of Opus Dei and pretty cool priest, pray for us!

-JD

St. Josemaria Escríva // http://catholicseeking.blogspot.com/2012/06/st-josemaria-escriva.html

From Graphite to Diamonds

I need to do a better job of reblogging cool blog posts or talking about other cool blog posts. I mean, I read a lot of them! And sometimes it's just nice to sip on some Mystic Monk coffee and catch up on reading. :-)

A good acquaintance from my parish apparently has been in the hospital lately because he had a lung collapse and is potentially on the verge of having both lungs collapse. He has cystic fibrosis so it's been particularly challenging for him having to deal with chronic lung issues. Please pray for him!

In his latest blog post he says, "Having spent 21 days in the hospital and only having left my room about 10 times in that span, I have had a LOT of time to think. If these thoughts seem a little 'off the wall' it’s because my main company for the past three weeks has been the four walls of my room."

He then offers a brief yet profound reflection on Christ's love for us in a way similar to how graphite becomes a diamond.

This particular blog post resonated well with me because lately I've been dealing with a lot of interior turmoil, conflict, selfishness, etc., and all of that has caused me to be rather ungrateful and to lose sight of God's love and mercy for me. While my problems don't (currently) involve physical ailments, my interior  sickness has definitely been something that has been difficult for me to handle. (Don't worry, I'm okay.)

And reading Daniel's blog post helped me refocus and remember that God can transform seemingly dull and ugly things into something brilliant and precious because God knows what I'm going through for He, Himself endured unfathomable suffering for my sake. Daniel's sake. Your sake.

Put in another way, He can redeem suffering because of His Passion, death, and Resurrection. My suffering, especially when united to His cross, has meaning.

In Daniel's words:

I could complain about basically being strapped to a wall for three weeks, and about my increased chances of having another lung collapse. Well, Christ was nailed to his Cross for three hours and he most likely died by a slow and grueling suffocation. So yeah, he knows a little bit about what I am going through.

Read the rest here.

And you can follow Daniel at Thoughts of a Fibro on Wordpress.

“We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” - Pope Saint John Paul II
- JD

Graphite and diamond // American Physical Society

How Satanists Backhand Compliment Catholicism

I just recently visited a Bendictine monastery up in Oklahoma. I found it interesting that, posted in several places throughout the monastery, is the letter of an archbishop asking all Catholics to pray for the Satanic Black Mass to be cancelled today on September 21. Makes sense because the monastery is located in the middle-of-nowhere of Oklahoma and the Black Mass is happening in Oklahoma City.

The temptation right now is to talk about this Satanic Black Mass from an angle of whether they should or should not or whether public/private places should even hold such things simply because that's what's been covered in media. But that's not what I want to talk about. Here's a mass media article to help provide a little insight.

In my very light research of a Satanic Black Mass, I found out that while there can be some variation as to what actions or ceremonies are done within a Black Mass, it essentially is based off of a Catholic Mass. A Black Mass is a mockery and parody of the Catholic Mass. Perhaps for some, this is not a big deal because Mass is long and boring. For Catholics Who Care, that's terrible because it takes our highest form of prayer and desecrates it. But that's not what I want to talk about.

What's often required for a Satanic Black Mass is a consecrated host. In Catholic terms, this is the Eucharist. Our communion bread. A consecrated host means that the piece of unleavened bread has undergone the traditional ritual since The Last Supper which transforms this bread into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. That's a long winded exhortation of theological matters, but that's not what I want to talk about. Just note that Catholics believe that the Eucharist is truly Jesus.

So, they mock the Catholic Mass and desecrate the Eucharist.

They. mock. the. Catholic. Mass. and. desecrate. the Eucharist. They invoke Satan and try to cast out the Holy Spirit. They desecrate the (consecrated) host with bodily fluids. And other things.

See, as terrible and targeted as this is, I think these two facts are, in a somewhat farfetched way, back handed compliments for Catholicism. 

Farfetch'd from Pokémon, to illustrate the point

First of all, it's a Black Mass. Not a Satanic Black Worship Service. Not a Satanic Black Bible Study. Not a Satanic Black Prayer Meeting. A Satanic Black Mass. Very intentional that it mocks the Catholic Mass. Which leads me to think that the Catholic Mass seems to be worth mocking. And our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters should be seriously offended that their forms of worship aren’t the model for a Satanic Black Mass. 

Second of all, while most Christians believe that their hosts are merely symbolic of Jesus’ Body, only Catholics believe in the fullness of truth regardingthat during a Catholic Mass, the host becomes Jesus’ body, blood, soul, and divinity after consecration. Sure, some other mainline Protestants also believe that theirs become Real too, but not with the same full understanding that the Catholic Church has.  Oh, and Satanists affirm the Catholic understanding. They believe it really is Jesus, too. That’s why they strive to steal the Eucharist from Catholic parishes. There’s no way to obtain one unless one goes to Mass, take one, and try to leave with it. Or they attempt to break into a Catholic parish and steal it from the tabernacle. Again, most Christians don’t believe it’s Real. But Satanists do! That’s so crazy! That’s why Satanists want to desecrate the Eucharist because they know it’s Jesus! They would have to settle for a symbolic ritual of desecration by using communion wafers that you can buy leisurely at LifeWay. Or something. Again, our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters should be offended that their form of matter for communion isn’t the first preference.

As they think that they’re doing the right thing by opposing the influence of God and the Catholic Church, they provide some interesting backhand compliments.

So, should I be honored that this Black Mass is happening tonight? Should I be angry because they’re taking two very important things to me (the Mass and the Eucharist) and spitting (literally) on them? 

I’m not honored but perhaps slightly flattered that the elements of my Christian spiritual life are the ones worth targeting. However, I don’t advocate for Black Mass, even for the curious. I’m aware of the realities of opening oneself to the influence of evil is not a good thing. It’s serious stuff. Even they say this is serious stuff. I'm grateful that (allegedly) they're not using a consecrated host this time.

But, our response as real Catholics, isn’t to go beheading those who attack us or who are different from us. If the Satanists want to desecrate our Mass and the Eucharist, our response is to…have special Masses, special gatherings for prayer and adore Christ in the Eucharist all the more. Again, back to the letter of the archbishop of Oklahoma City, he calls for all Catholics to do something for tonight’s Black Mass at the same time it is happening.

That’s where I’ll be tonight. Adoring Christ in the Eucharist. Fellow Catholics (and our Christians brothers and sisters and other people of good will!), come let us harness the power of Google and find out if a local Catholic parish is hosting anything tonight in reparation for the Satanic Black Mass. There are Masses, times of prayer, Adoration, and Eucharistic processions that might be happening, especially around Oklahoma City. 

“Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith…”
-JD

This post was inspired by Mark Shea's, "Monstrous" post.

This post also linked at Catholic Bloggers Network.

Farfetch'd // Pokemon Wikia

Going to Visit A Monastery & Taking Prayer Requests!

Sometimes great adventures get proposed over cold adult beverages and 60 cent wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. As Taylor Swift may briefly say, it was just a typical Tuesday night with some guys from my parish, including our Director of Religious Education (DRE) and some visiting seminarians from Albuquerque, NM. 

Towards the end of the night and after the last Thai Curry wing was consumed, our DRE came up to me and my housemate proposing an adventurous idea: a pilgrimage to a Benedictine monastery in Oklahoma. The initial details were basically take a car and drive up, stop 20+ miles away from the monastery, walk the rest of the way, join the monks for their prayer times, stay the night, have a full morning and afternoon of prayer and reflection, then drive back. Oh, and beg for food in order to eat.

Crazy.

...and in my mind I was like..."HEAVEN YEAH!"  My only hesitations in saying yes were some typical annual obligations that fell on this planned weekend of pilgrimage-ing. A week goes by, permissions asked of wives and housemates. It looks like I'm going to be in a car full of other men doing this pilgrimage.

We will leave in the dead of the night (3:30AM) on Friday, drive a long while, stop at a Catholic church in Waggoner, OK mid-morning, then walk all afternoon to the monastery where we hope to have dinner with some friends of the monks at a volunteer fire station. We'll be bringing a large wooden cross to carry with us as we're walking. Then at night, we'll join the monks for Compline (Night Prayer). Saturday will be filled with more Liturgy of the Hours with the monks, times of silence and prayer, a conference/reflection led by our DRE on the Holy Cross (the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is Sunday), hang out with religious sisters, and Mass at some point. Then we return home.

I'm pretty excited. I haven't been on any sort of retreat for my own sake since last year when I went on a silent retreat. I see it as a great opportunity to grow physically and spiritually due to the demands of this pilgrimage. Walking 20+ miles?! In the afternoon in the summer?! I've never done that! And Benedictine monasteries have a certain Catholic cool factor due to the nature of the Benedictine way of life. Challenge accepted.

With all that said, I'll undoubtedly have time to pray. If you would like me to pray for you while I'm on this pilgrimage, please submit your prayer request via the form below.

Thanks and God bless! And please pray for the other men and for me as we go on this pilgrimage that God teaches us what He wants us to know during this time on our pilgrimage. And let's also ask for St. Michael the Archangel's intercession for this time before the pilgrimage because I can already tell that Satan is on the prowl trying to ruin things because he doesn't like this idea at all.

Lastly, please pray for our pilgrimage's general intention (what we'll be praying for during the pilgrimage): for an end to the Black Mass scheduled on September 21 through the victory of the Holy Cross.

Pax
- JD

Our Lady of Clear Creek Abby // ClearCreekMonks.org

A Knights of Columbus Challenge

As I'm leisurely stalking my news feeds and timelines, it seems like every other person is doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Totally a worthy cause to raise awareness and raise money to fund for a cure for a debilitating disease. I have seemingly evaded any sort of nomination or challenge to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, but that's okay because participation doesn't require me to be challenged. As it is summer here in Texas, a cold splash of ice water would feel absolutely wonderful but not necessary. But I can still donate. With that said, I decided to donate to Compassionate Care ALS, who doesn't do research for a cure but rather gives personal care to those who suffer from ALS.  I figured this would be a good way to undoubtedly remain consistent with my Catholic faith and not contribute or potentially contribute to unethical means of finding a cure for ALS.

Something that's been occupying my mind lately is hearing about all this news about the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Iraq. I'm not hearing a lot about it in mainstream news, but for sure via Catholic channels. It sucks. Totally sucks. The militant extremists are essentially forcing everyone to convert to Islam and if they don't, they are killed. Families are having to flee from their homes and if they stay, they're subject to either high taxes or death. People kidnapped. Women raped. Men executed in groups at a time. Children dying from starvation and beheaded. Terrible. They are systematically driving out Christians and killing them if they don't submit and convert. Crazy terrible. For the people fleeing, they're essentially leaving everything behind and have nothing with them except the clothes on their back.

It's escalating towards genocide status. It's terrible because these acts violence are objectively crimes against humanity.

And I don't know what to do.

The other day at work, for whatever reason my cubemate seemed to be upset or sick or something such that he was pretty much silent the rest of the afternoon. That's unusual. I didn't ask him how he was doing. I remained silent and didn't take any action even though it seemed obvious to me that something wasn't right/normal. I know I should have said something or asked him how he was doing to let him know that I was concerned. But I didn't. I was silent, minding my own business.

Earlier in the week, I had heard on Catholic radio that the Knights of Columbus have set up a fund to help with humanitarian efforts for Christians and minorities in Iraq. 100% of donations will be used for those efforts. That's awesome! They're looking to raise $1M total. That's not a lot, but every little bit helps.

I keep seeing how virally successful that the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is and how much money that has raised in a relatively short amount of time.

Considering all these things, an idea hit me that afternoon when my cubemate was silent. A challenge. I should start a challenge akin to the Ice Bucket Challenge.

After some thought, the idea converged to the following...

A two-part challenge:

1) One minute of silence in the car. Silence because I feel like driving in silence with the radio off is uncommon. How often do we allow ourselves to be silent and still, especially in the car? Prayers can be offered up or just simply existing. Maybe you could have a print out of the Prayer for Iraq. No music. No talk radio. Nothing. Mainstream media has been quiet on this issue. Let our purposeful silence resonate and bring light to this issue.

2) Donate money to the Knights of Columbus fund. Again, 100% of the donations will be used to help those in need. You can find the link here: Knights of Columbus Charities. At least a $5 donation would be good if the challenge was accepted to do a minute of silence in the car.

Challenge people you know to take one minute of silence in the car for persecuted peoples in Iraq as well as offer a small donation. You have 24 hours to accept and complete the challenge.

Here's me accepting my own challenge and nominating others:

Thanks and God bless,
- JD

Prayer Request: For Chris Lee's Rehab

I just learned recently that one of my friends from college was involved in a pretty serious car accident that resulted in brain injuries last week. The good news is that he got out of a coma, but he still has a long road ahead of him. Fortunately, he will be transferred to a really good hospital for the type of brain injuries he suffered through.

I humbly ask for your prayers for Chris Lee that he has a speedy recovery and that his health is fully restored.

I met Chris through the Philippine Student Association (PhilSA) at Texas A&M while I was in college. Really nice guy. Funny, too. I got to know him a little bit through all the different activities we had in PhilSA, and I wish I could say more but my lack of words isn't an impediment for my desire to help him out in ways that I can.

If you feel called to donate towards his medical expenses, one of his best friends set up this GoFundMe account: Chris Lee's Rehabilitation Fund.

Maraming salamat...thanks and gig'em,
- JD

Blessed John Licci, patron saint of head injuries, pray for us!

Hope: 10 Minutes With A Homeless Woman

Another year, and another Christmas Eve morning spent at Beautiful Feet! I blogged about my experience last year, and how that made an impact on me.

This year was pretty much a repeat, and while I don't want to rehash all that, I do want to blog about a particular moment during that Christmas Eve morning that stood out to me.

We had already sorted clothes and everyone was downstairs helping serve that "Thanksgiving-esque" meal graciously cooked by my brother Knights of Columbus. Space was tight with all the tables filled. Some of the homeless decided to eat at the tables outside, which was totally fine because the weather and sun outside late in the morning were quite beautiful!

I decided to walk outside too just to see who all was hanging around outside. I stumbled upon some of my parish peers engaged in conversation with this elderly woman. I didn't catch some of the beginning parts of that conversation, but I caught on and started paying attention when she started talking about the Virgin Mary.

And. How. Much. She. Loved. The. Virgin. Mary.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

So I guess she started giving a sort of life story and how Mary has given her strength and hope through her difficult times. Listening to her, we found out that she was in an abusive relationship, her now ex-husband molested their granddaughters, she used to be a cocaine addict, she's been assaulted physically, she currently lives in a homeless shelter, her teeth were knocked out by one of her relatives, many other homeless people don't like her and will throw things at her, and I'm sure she covered other sad events.

But what really threw me off and intrigued me was how she endured all these traumatizing things by keeping close to our Blessed Mother. She had learned how to pray the Rosary way back when, and she had a sort of conversion moment upon praying it. And since then, she's been devoted to the Virgin Mary! She said something about how praying the Rosary keeps her sane while dealing with the craziness of her homeless life.

What throws me off the most is how freakin' excited and joyful she was in expressing this love for the Virgin Mary. I didn't really sense sadness from her even as she explained her dark past. Haha she was even showing off her Rosaries and Mary medals and all this other Mary-related stuff she had on her! And I really liked how she told us that she knows the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who live down the road.  Not only that, but how she utterly begs them for their ginormous Rosaries that they carry around with them! Haha, made me llol (literally laugh out loud).

Even more surprising to me was how she understood mostly what Catholics teach about Mary. She understood that we do not worship her, but rather honor her greatly because her Son honors her. And she totally understood that without her and her saying "yes!" out of love and obedience to God, we wouldn't have Jesus. She understood that Mary helps lead us to Jesus as He leads us to God, the Father. She also understood that she's surrounded by demons and how Mary protects her. (Side note: I forget which Catholic saint said this, but when he was interacting with demons, he asked them, "What are you most afraid of?" and the demons answered, "Mary." I mean, it's not like...Mary crushes the head of serpents or anything...)

Anyway...You see, I don't think most Catholics even understand some of these concepts of what the Church teaches about Mary. And she was here...telling us all this...and how her life relates to it all...with such joy and hope! So, I was definitely amazed and impressed.

Green Scapular

Because of her past and need for physical and spiritual healing, I felt called to give her the green scapular I had in my wallet (lately, I try to keep scapulars and Miraculous Medals with me to hand out). The green scapular is a devotion Our Lady revealed to a French religious sister named Sr. Justine Bisqueyboro in the mid 1800's. It centers on Mary's Immaculate Heart, and the prayer that should be prayed daily is, "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death." The fruits of this devotion can be help in the areas of physical health, peace of mind, and spiritual conversion. After I gave her my green scapular, my youth minister friend gave her a brown scapular which is a totally different devotion with different fruits.

She so was grateful that we gave her these scapulars, and she pretty much took it as a sign. She said that these were amazing gifts for Christmas.

Then she went on her merry, joyful way. Towards the end, I got pulled away to help bring in more donated food into the building. But I couldn't help but be amazed at her joyful hope. She was so incredibly happy when she left, and that was really awesome to see! Geez, she seemed so happy even as a homeless person. I find difficulty in finding us who live in suburbia oozing with the kind of joy and hope she had.

Hanging out with her got me thinking about the theological virtue of hope the rest of the day, and I later looked up what our Catechism says about it:

1818     The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

And how Mary plays in the role of hope for us all:

64     Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith, and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.

Awesome.

So in that short 10-minute conversation with the elderly homeless woman, I gained a better appreciation for the power of hope and how Mary can strengthen that hope. Without a doubt, the hope of heaven through Mary (through Jesus) is sufficient enough to sustain her, and it is definitely a blessing to have witnessed someone en fuego for the faith like her.

Please pray for her, that she may receive healing from her physical and spiritual sufferings and for her to find not just a house, but a home. And also pray for people of good will, who find it in their hearts to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

If I remember correctly, her real name is Tammy, but her street name that she goes by is Maria Cristo.

Faith. Hope. Love.
- JD

Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from Wikipedia
Picture of the Green Scapular from Our Lady of the Rosary Library

Because of Eli

A little over a month ago, I blogged about this Catholic Answer's radio show featuring Chad Judice as the guest. If you recall, his son, Eli, was diagnosed with spina bifida and wasn't expected to live or have good quality of life. As I heard Chad talk about this story regarding on his son on the radio, I was inspired to hopefully read Chad's books regarding Eli someday.

Well, I didn't mention it after I had written that blog post, but literally the following week I found out my parish's Respect Life Committee would be hosting Chad Judice at our parish in the month of November to kick off their new series of events entitled, "Fridays for Life", where they will invite someone every quarter to talk about pro-lifey things. Like, I had no idea that they were planning on inviting him! So when I found out he would be coming to my parish to come speak, I couldn't pass up that opportunity. 

And that happened the other day!

What did he talk about?

Even though I had heard the basic gist of Eli's story via that radio show and a little bit from Chad's EWTN appearance on The World Over, it was definitely more gripping to listen to him speak in person. He shared with us the state of his life prior to Eli and how normal it was. He's a history teacher and coach, and one time one of his students asked Chad before he got married what his greatest fear was, and he answered with having a child with special needs. Before Eli, Chad's faith was meh.

After giving us this background, he began to recount the process of how he and his wife found out about Eli's condition with spina bifida. Their doctor recommended abortion and for a moment, she considered it. But something stirred within them to decide to keep the baby.

The parts of the entirety of the story that stood out to me were those seemingly miraculous (or coincidental) moments. Chad teaches at a Catholic high school, and it was miraculous to him that hundreds of teenagers genuinely prayed for Eli's healing. This was miraculous to him because our culture today doesn't make it conducive for the average teenager to care about this sort of thing, AND the fact that they prayed showed him that they acknowledged that Eli is in fact a human being in his mother's womb and not just a clump of cells with deformities.

What I also found quite interesting is how the Daily or Sunday Gospel readings over the course of this process seem to fit soooooo well with whatever Chad was dealing with at the time. He shared with us those readings that were cause of hope and inspiration for him at major milestones throughout this process.

Chad also detailed how his life of prayer increased in dealing with all the emotional and spiritual challenges in accepting the fact that his son isn't going to live a normal life. He provided more seemingly miraculous moments when praying at the grave of Charlene Richard, who is on her way to beatification. Chad and his wife went to a "healing priest". His wife received a rose after praying a novena for St. Therese of Lisieux's intercession, which for every knowledgeable Catholic, that's a real deal. And he listed many more instances of how God seemed to have offered him and his wife consolations in their decision to have Eli, but not without challenges.

Eli was born in 2009. Despite spinal and neuro problems from his condition, he's doing pretty good. He cannot walk. He cannot go to the bathroom on his own--someone else has to manually empty his bladder or induce a bowel movement. He's on medications to prevent epilepsy and urinary tract infection. He loves to swim. He loves baseball. He's pretty cognitive despite brain problems. He's in pre-3K. It takes full effort from everyone around him to take care of him. Chad mentioned that his in-laws and his own parents are pretty involved in taking care of him and are on rotation for weekends.

How did this affect me?

I think spent 75% of the time reminding myself not to cry. In my head, I kept saying to myself "Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry!" I guess I was just moved by Chad's inner strength at dealing with all this because I realized that if I were in his shoes, I don't think I could handle it. But that's where his story is inspiring. Chad couldn't handle all this on his own. He realized he had to surrender to God's will, and in doing so, he found the strength to endure this. He also realized that he can longer live for himself. That whole idea of agape love (self-sacrificial love) made manifest in caring for Eli, because without the love and care of others, he would die. But to care for him demands so much time and effort, even if it's inconvenient or unpleasant. Chad said, "love isn't about feelings--it's a decision." And I see in the Judice's lives that self-sacrificial decision to will the good of each other and the good of Eli, which is authentic, profound love. Inspiring!

But yeah, I began to start reflecting on my own prayer life and thinking about my own inner strength while listening to Chad's story. I realized that I have a lot to improve on. Haha sometimes I feel like I'm too Catholic in a group of Catholics, but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to listen to Chad to help me realize that I'm not Catholic enough...that I'm not trusting enough of God's will for my life.

After his talk and taking some questions, I definitely went and bought his two books. The first one, Waiting for Eli, is the story about Eli. The second one, Eli's Reach, is about other people whose lives were affected by learning about Eli's story. Like, seriously--stories of conversion and hope because they've read Chad's first book. He gave us a preview at the end of the talk (ie. shameless plug, but that's understandable). Fascinating! I hope to start these books sometime after I finish some of the current books I'm currently reading!

Anyway, what a cool opportunity to hear him speak. Please pray for him and his family, especially for Eli!

You can follow Chad Judice at www.chadjudice.com, which has links to his social medias and books.

We need stories of hope and inspiration, and be reminded that there's only so much we can do and control. The rest is up to God. And I'm glad I had the opportunity to hear Chad tell this story in person.

Because of Eli.

- JD

Fire and Division (Luke 12: 49-53)

Thursday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time.

Today's Gospel reading is from Luke 12: 49-53 ...

49 “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three;53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

 At first glance, these are difficult words from Jesus. Without any context or background knowledge of Jesus' other words, and a fundamental and literal understanding, these words are challenging to grasp. Whaaaa?! Jesus is going to set the world on fire like a hellish blaze and he wishes it was already on fire?! AND He doesn't come to give peace but cause division?!

Sheesh! Difficult words indeed, and if I heard all that (or read all that) without knowing much about Jesus, then yes, I might just pull a John 6: 60 ...

60 Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

to which He replies with a John 6: 61 ...

61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?

Yes, Jesus. I do. I won't run away like the disciples (John 6: 66), but this is uncomfortable.

Because I'm not really comfortable with the idea that You want to set fire on this earth and wish it was already burning.

Because I'm not really comfortable with the idea that You wish to divide my family.

But what do You mean? How am I to understand this?

I started attempting at reading Daily Readings again the other day (which by the way, conveniently, the Catholic Church has a set 3-year cycle of Scripture readings for the entirety of the Church to divulge and learn), and this particular one stood out to me so much that I figured I should blog about it.

Fire. I'm not totally well versed in verses, but whenever I think of fire in Scripture, I think of God's presence and purification or refinement. Like, Moses and the burning bush. And that one praise and worship song, Refiner's Fire.

So maybe when Jesus says He wishes to "cast down fire", He wants to make known His presence like He did with Moses. But this time seems to imply something more dramatic. I mean, how dramatic would that be for the Lord to make known His presence with the casting down of fire? An all-consuming type of fire just to really make the point that He is, indeed, present? Scary thought.

Sometimes the earth is called the "Blue Marble" and because sin entered the world, this "Blue Marble" is not as shiny anymore, if I were to think of it as an actual ceramic marble. Perhaps, because of sin, it is caked on with dirt and grime. But Jesus' fire purifies it. Removes the dirt. Analogies are never adequate but I hope you follow it anyway.

Either way, Jesus seems to mean serious business when talking about fire. His presence. His purification love. Real stuff. Serious business.

Which leads to...this part about division.

I love my family, and I don't want to be divided from them, and it doesn't initially make sense why Jesus seemingly desires that He will be the cause of division for us. But the thing about Jesus is that He desires our hearts. Our souls. Does my heart burn for Him? If He makes Himself known (like, with fire) in order to save us from our sins, I only have two responses: 1) Follow Him or B) Turn away from Him.

I think that is what will cause division--the split between those who follow Him and those who do not.

Earlier this evening I got to listen to my pastor give his vocation story (and brief catechesis on the priesthood). He's an Episcopalian priest convert to the Catholic faith. The main driving factor of his conversion was realizing that in the Episcopal tradition, they do not have the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He realized, over time as his heart burned for Jesus present in the Eucharist, that he will follow Jesus in the Catholic faith because of the Eucharist since Jesus is truly present (fun fact: a red candle is lit near any Catholic tabernacle to let the faithful know that Jesus is present) which fire makes me think of God's presence) see above))).  When he made the decision to convert to the Catholic faith, this caused some division in his family of the Episcopal congregation that he was part of for 4 years. Granted, many were supportive, some even wanted to make the jump with him, but still others weren't too keen on the idea.

And then please pray for one of my friends. She's seriously thinking about joining a religious order because her love for Christ burns so much so that she is willing to drop everything and follow Him. I have a limited understanding of her situation, but I know, for whatever reason, things have gotten complicated with her family. A sort of division.

Not everyone is prepared for Jesus' presence and purifying love. This will cause division. But! What are things that I can do to help others and prepare them to come to a better understanding of Jesus so that we are not divided on the Last Day and for all eternity, but rather unified in the Mystical Body of Christ sharing in the beatific vision of God in heaven?

"If you are who God created you to be, you will set the world ablaze." - St. Catherine of Siena

En fuego.
- JD

PS Pardon my lack of coherent think-blogging...I need to gain more experience points on reflect-blogging on Mass readings

Fire // Thomas's Pics, Flickr

The Reality of Death

And I can say with confidence that...

We're all going to die.

My grandparents' graves

It is inevitable.

When I was younger, I attended the funerals of distant (both in blood and literally) family members, and it never really mattered to me. Like, I had no attachment to them. Sure, it was sad, but being young and not really fully appreciating what it means to grieve and mourn, it never hit me. I knew those distant family members were gone, I understood why my parents were sad, but I didn't really, truly care. It wasn't until I was an underclassman in high school that the reality of death became real to me with the death of my grandparents on my dad's side.

I actually got to know my grandparents. Even though they lived in California and I in Texas, my parents made sure that we got to visit them and that they got to visit us frequently while I was growing up. When all my dad's siblings immigrated here from the Philippines, we held annual family reunions! So, losing them at the beginning of high school was pretty hard.

With their deaths, I began to ask myself, in sadness..."How can I cope with the loss?", "Are they in heaven?" and other usual questions.

I lost my grandfather at the beginning of my freshman year of high school. Things were going downhill for him that summer. I forget what caused him to decline, but I think it had something to do with cysts that developed internally that compromised his health. I remember visiting him in the hospital and a month later having to attend his funeral. His was the first funeral I've ever been to for a close family member.

My grandmother passed away almost exactly a year later. Her memory was declining at the time of my grandfather's death, and I remember my aunt telling me that she could hear my grandfather calling out to her from beyond the grave. Creepily romantic, yeah? Late in the summer that year, she fell down and hit her head. She survived it for a while, but eventually she passed away.

When she passed away, yes, I was indeed really sad about it. But having gone through the process of grieving and mourning for my grandfather the year prior, I was more prepared this time around. But even more so, in that time between my grandfather's and grandmother's passing, I grew in my Catholic faith.

I started attending religious education classes at the start of high school as part of my learning and education in preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation. My grandfather passed away at the beginning of my freshman year, and I didn't really know how to cope. Thankfully, through those classes, I began to pay more attention to and learn more about the faith that my family has passed on to me. While I may not have understood the Catholic understanding of suffering and death at the time (maybe I still don't, or not that well), I knew that in dealing with my losses that the Catholic faith was something I could turn to. And yes, with both of their passings, I'm pretty sure I leveled up in my praying.

How can I cope? I don't know, but perhaps asking God to give my grandparents a nice little plot of heaven would be great. At least I know they'll be taken care of.

How can I deal with this sense of loss? I don't know, but maybe by asking God for a sense of peace and calm for my own sake would help me move on.

I'm pretty sure that in going through the process of the deaths of my grandparents helped solidify, in a real way, for me about being Catholic. I first realized I had to have humility. My grandparents don't belong to me nor to my dad and his many siblings. They belong to God. I had to acknowledge that there really is a God and that whenever we pass away, we hopefully return to His loving embrace in heaven. I also had to realize that the Church has given me ways to pray. When my grandmother was in the hospital, I took up a devotion to the Rosary because I didn't know how else to pray for her. Or myself. Or my family.

With praying and beginning to dive deeper into my Catholic faith, I could begin to make sense of death and how to deal with it.

So, with the passing of my grandparents, it became so, so, so real to me that...

Death is a reality. 

But there was this jerk who lived 2000 years ago who Death could not hold (that's why He's a jerk...to Death). He rose from the dead in all glory and power like He said He would. He showed us that death is not the end, and He invites us to be with Him and the Father who sent Him. Because of Him, the gates of heaven burst open! And heaven is where we can enjoy a sense of eternal joy and peace!

O Death, where is thy sting?!

...well maybe if Death had a stinger... o_O #joke

Knowing about Jesus, His Death, and His Resurrection...and His Church, I can arrive at a sense of peace when dealing with a loss.

And perhaps that's the attraction of Catholicism--that it provides a way of peace and sense in dealing with the reality of death and the teachings of Jesus on the reality of what comes after death. Catholicism doesn't have a cheap or cheesy understanding of the matter, but rather a beautifully rich and full sense of death and resurrection. And the "last things": heaven and hell.

So yeah. Looking back since then, I think coping with death always helps me turn towards my Catholic faith because through it, at least I know there is meaning and purpose. My understanding of the Church's mind on these matters is still a process of learning, understanding, and appreciating even as I deal with the deaths of others that are or are not close to me.

Please pray for my grandparents and for the repose of their souls! That they may enjoy the beatific vision of God in heaven!

- JD

Scared to Die

Yesterday, going down the nursing home's hallway, I finally came up to her room and saw that the door was open. I knocked on the door out of courtesy but no response.  I enter quietly, and I see her there fast asleep.  I made a few attempts at calling her name in order wake her, and she eventually woke up. But she started crying as soon as she woke up.

I have the privilege of visiting nursing homes about once a month. Inspired to do this after doing a week-long service camp last summer, I am part of my parish's ministry to the sick at nursing homes. We visit Catholic residents at many of the local nursing homes in order to pray with them and to minister the Holy Eucharist to them so that they receive God in Word and Flesh because they normally don't have opportunities to go to Mass due to their current health situations. I've been doing this for about a year now, and just due to the nature of interacting with elderly and sick individuals, the reality of death is very apparent to me. But, on this particular visit to one of my usual residents, the reality of death was not something I, myself, personally related to in a profound way.

In the previous times I've interacted with her, she was coherent and very talkative and good-natured.  Sometimes she has short-term memory loss.  In recent reports from my fellow ministry volunteers, it seems as though her health has declined recently. Knowing this ahead of time, I wasn't sure what to expect upon arriving.

This happens frequently where I stop by a resident's room only to find them sleeping. And I usually make a few attempts to wake them up, and in her case this time, I was able to wake her. But like I said, she started crying.

I didn't know what to do but since she's a talkative one, I kind of waited for her to explain.  She kind of apologized for being a mess because had been crying a lot. And she said, in flowing tears, that she's scared to die. I didn't know what to say.

She further explained that she had a choking episode earlier in the morning.  Through this unfortunate experience, she realized she could have died had no one helped her. And after the fact, as I was dealing with this after the fact, the reality of death must have been ... totally real to her. 

I'm not gonna lie. I'm sensitive to death. And I nearly started tearing up out of sympathy for her because that's a certain kind of suffering that I can't totally fathom, but I understand. I mean, it's understandable to be scared to die. But since I've grown deeper into my Catholic faith, death for me personally is something less to be scared of, but I know that other people aren't at peace with the idea.

She went on for a bit expressing her fears, and I tried giving her some comforting gestures like pats on her shoulder and head and that's okay to be scared. I mentioned earlier that she has some mild short-term memory loss or has a short attention span. Thank goodness though, because I was half-expecting my interactions with her to be me having to listen to her cry for a long while.  But out of nowhere she stops crying and gets distracted by the TV that was on. That led to her noticing the verse of Scripture that someone had banner'd across the top of the wall above the TV:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)

She explained that she's glad that [whoever] had posted that on her wall because it helps her deal with what her fears. I then felt it appropriate to let her know of a quote by St. Augustine.  I only offered it because it's something that I've been reflecting on a lot lately, and it just somehow felt fitting to give her:

...our heart is restless until it rests in You. (from his Confessions)

The way I was understanding her fear of death was that it is out of anxiety and not being at peace with the idea of death. A sort of restlessness.  In my own life right now, I'm terribly restless and have only found peace by resting in God (usually through Adoration of the Holy Eucharist). And it's been a frequent reflection of mine for a long while now.

She really liked that quote. I'm not sure that she'll remember it, and I regret not having written it down for her, but I could tell that it did strike a chord with her.

After that, I offered to read her Sunday's Gospel reading, though I read the shorter version. These were the parables that Jesus told regarding the rejoicing of finding the lost sheep as well as the woman who lost one of her coins and rejoiced after she diligently searched for it and found it. Since I read the shorter version of Sunday's Gospel reading, it didn't include the fan favorite: the parable of the prodigal son.  She really liked hearing the Gospel that I read, and she even offered her own personal reflection (briefly) from the reading.

And we kind of got back into the conversation of being scared to die. To which I then asked her if she wanted to receive the Eucharist (because she sometimes doesn't).  She was a little hesitant because she let me know that she wanted to go to Confession as well.  Haha, she actually asked me if I could hear her confession, but I told her that I can't do that since I'm not a priest, but I offered to have a priest come visit her at some point sometime soon.  She very much liked that idea.

She ultimately decided to receive Jesus in the Eucharist because she felt that it would help her deal with her restlessness and fear regarding death.  So after humbly obliging to rinsing out her dentures at her request so that she could talk better and eat better, I was able to minister the Eucharist to her.

After she received the Eucharist, she was just incredibly grateful for my visit.  And she was just really grateful for us praying together and her receiving the Eucharist. By that point, I had to leave to go visit other residents, and I assured her that I would continue praying for her and that I would call our parish office to have a priest come by and visit to hear her confession.

I left her room feeling really grateful myself for having had this opportunity.  This was my first time talking about the reality of death with a nursing home resident. They're usually A) asleep, B) wanting to talk about other things or C) incoherent.  It just seemed really providential that it all worked out this way.

I was thinking just now how this little episode visiting her kind of ties in with this past Sunday's Gospel. Would a lonesome sheep not be scared that he is separated from the rest? The woman who lost her coin was probably scared because she lost something valuable.  The prodigal son was probably freaking out once he lost everything and was fearful in coming back home.  Yet, as Jesus shows us, there's much rejoicing to be had whenever the lost has been found.  And when we know this and take it to heart, we have nothing to fear, not even death itself.

I did call my parish earlier today, and a priest will be visiting her soon! :-)

Her name is Judy. Please pray for her! ...that she finds rest and peace in God and that whenever her hour has come, she's ready to come home.

Pax.
- JD

The Return of the Prodigal Son (1773) // Pompeo Batoni, Wikipedia

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 11)

--- 1 ---

So last weekend, my parents and bro were in Canada for my mom's sister's wedding.  That pretty much left me at home to fend for myself, which is no biggie. It was just me and my dog.  I took off work last Friday so that I could go to the doctor for a checkup and for my dog to go see the vet for her checkup and annual shots.  I spent most of the weekend away from home because of errands and prior obligations.

--- 2 ---

One of those prior obligations was sitting/standing outside in the Texas heat.  After all our (English) Masses this past weekend, I was outside collecting prayer requests from our parishioners so that my pilgrimage group for World Youth Day can take them and pray for those intentions while we're on our trip in a few weeks.

Despite the heat, it was worth it.  It was really cool to see how grateful most of the people who decided to leave us an intention were.  It's going to be great because there will be plenty of opportunities for us to go pray while we're in Rio.

If you would like to submit a prayer request that you would like me to pray for while I'm there, please feel free to check out my online form that I set up:

--- 3 ---

In addition to my after-Mass heat endurance exercises, I visited nursing homes on Sunday morning for my parish's Ministry to the Sick.  It was a really weird day because a good chunk of the residents I visited were asleep! One of my residents kept falling in and out of sleep which made consuming the Eucharist a little awkward as me and my helper stood their awkwardly. A little bit of water really helped.

But, this is an important ministry even though it can be awkward at times, and I'm gratefully unworthy to be doing it!

--- 4 ---

My dad and bro got back from Canada on Monday.  My brother then moved out of the house into an apartment on Monday.

Haha, so my bro will not be returning to the dorm life for his second year of college.  I got to visit his apartment after work on Monday.  It's pretty decent in a not-so-shady part of town and it's about 10 minutes away from his campus.  I'm not worried.

Despite him moving out, I feel like I've seen him everyday the past few days because there are things he had forgotten.  Yesterday, on the 4th of July, we spent a good chunk of the day with him to buy him some necessary things like food, a bed, and other practicalities.

This is sad.  My grandmother and brother have moved out of the house before me...

--- 5 ---

And my mom returned from Canada on Thursday.  She spent a few extra days spending time with her family and seeing other awesome places in Alberta.  Le gasp, she even crossed the border on a boat! But! Ya know, Montana. Canada.

Please pray for her health's return though! Her feet absolutely do not react well to bug bites of any sort, and she endured several mosquito bites on her right foot.  Right now it is swollen and painful so it makes it difficult for her to walk.  Much appreciated!

--- 6 ---

Someone from my pilgrimage group had asked if there was going to be a blog that we would keep to chronicle our trip.  I decided to look into it and have gotten something together.  For me and this blog, I was definitely planning on posting about my trip here.  But! I may pull double-duty or do some crazy cross-blogging!

More details later.

--- 7 ---
Things got crazy this past week at the Capitol. But you can find other commentary on that elsewhere.  I was browsing through my Twitter feed the other day and saw an interesting tweeted picture...which I decided to comment on while chowing down on a Carl's Jr. salad (not burger...blasphemy, I know) on the 4th of July.

"Supporting women's health is patriotic." Love, PP. No matter what.

Sure, but ... coming from everyone's favorite name brand in all things "women's health"? And seeing the actions of their supporters? I suppose it is patriotic.  o_O Blog post here.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

- JD

Would you like me to pray for you?

I've mentioned before that I'm going to be attending and participating in World Youth Day 2013 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil next month.

The group I'm going with is approaching it as a pilgrimage to experience Rio with millions of others in the Church.  We'll be praying, going to Mass, visiting churches, learning more about our faith, spending time with Jesus in the Eucharist, Pope Francis will be around, and all in all a very Christian and spiritual experience. Many opportunities for us to pray!

If you would like, please allow me to pray for you while I'm on this pilgrimage!  World Youth Day is a visible sign of unity for us youthful ones in the Church united as the Body of Christ.

Please use this Google Form I have set up below to submit your prayer request or intention, and I will print them out to keep with me and pray for while I'm in Rio.

Peace be with you!
- JD

2013: Wedding #2

(Maybe I haven't specifically blogged about 2013's Wedding #1...but don't worry about that...but I do hint at it here: Quick Takes (Vol. 6))

This was the wedding that makes me feel really old.  You see, the bride and I go way back. The bride's father and I go wayyyy back since he was my Sunday school teacher (aka...CCD...or religious education teacher) back in 9th grade.

But fo realz, I feel old. I taught the bride how to march when she was a freshman when I was clarinet section leader.  That was like ... 9 years ago x_x. Perhaps I can take credit for her not tripping in her wedding dress down the aisle due to a glorious roll-step. 

I had the honor and privilege of being asked to Lector for the wedding Mass.  Simply because I'm a Lector normally for my parish and apparently I do decent job. If you don't know, during a Catholic Mass, Lectors proclaim the Word of God by reading aloud the readings of the day from Scripture for the Mass and congregation.

The Mass was beautiful! But I mean, what wedding Mass isn't beautiful because man and woman publicly declare to witnesses and God truly present of their love and commitment to each other? 

What makes this wedding experience unique for me is that the rehearsal, Mass, and reception were live-streamed over the Internet for friends and family who couldn't make it to the wedding. How cool is that?! One of the bride's uncles is tech-savvy (and the other Lector) and made it possible with a laptop, camcorder, and Samsung smartphone tether setup.  Same guy was also the other Lector.  It was fun and intriguing to me seeing him run those electronics to make it all work.  And apparently it was quite the success since I heard grandpa (the bride's) saying how he keeps getting texted by family members regarding their comments during the various segments of this whole wedding process. Kudos to that uncle!

Which, tangenting off that... Today was another big day for the bride's family because that same tech-savvy uncle got his papers signed officially ending (amicably) his involvement with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal as he pursues seminary to be a diocesan priest. 

#Lectors

So, as of today...he's officially a seminarian for my diocese!  He just needs to get accepted to the Catholic university/seminary that he wants to go to in order to take the next step.  Please pray for him! (and I hinted at him in this blog post: One of the Realities of Being Catholic)

At the reception, I got to hang out with my goddaughter! She's getting big and can walk so confidently now! Her dad was the youth minister of the bride, good friend of her family, and is the youth minister I volunteer for.  I'm thoroughly impressed with her skills at manipulating a fork. And dancing skills.  It's the little things in life.

Totes adorbz

Also, due to the miracle and magic that is smartphone tech...there's really no need for disposable cameras to use and capture memories.  The bridge and groom decided to use the app, WedPics...and I totally made use of it!  Perhaps you saw some other pictures floating around on Facebook/Twitter. ;-)

Anyway, Wedding #2...complete! Congrats to Jessica and Shea! Please pray for them in their journey together as husband and wife and that their marriage is a visible sign of love that is free, total, faithful, and fruitful.  

- JD

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 5)

--- 1 ---

What a crazy week of intense weather!  Us North Texans and Oklahomans have not been so fortunate in dealing with the barrage of tornados recently.  A week ago, Granbury was ravaged by a tornado and that really worried me since it is not that big of a town, but I know some fellow Catholics who are from that town through diocesan events.  Thankfully, they're okay.  A few days ago, tornados ripped through central Oklahoma along with intense severe weather, and...the devastation got super real for me watching videos uploaded the day of the tornado that ripped through Moore, OK.  It is really sad to see all the destruction, but the positive stories that are a result of this tragedy are truly remarkable.  It's really awesome to hear about the teachers who did everything they could to keep their kids safe at the elementary school.  And then there was that interview of a woman talking about her lost dog when all of a sudden, the dog emerges!

St. Francis (like, of Assisi)...that clever ol' chap...

While I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with these crazy weather events at home, I was really concerned about work.  Simply because, my work is pretty much at the Texas/Oklahoma border.  Why would a commercial airline seat company be so far away in the middle of nearly nowhere...I'm not sure... But...it's so close to Oklahoma and they don't seem to get a break when it comes to tornado season...

Luckily, we do have flotation devices scattered throughout the plant.

--- 2 ---

Let's do take some time in prayer for the victims and families of those affected by the tornado in Moore.  It'll take time to recover, and it will not be easy.

Pope Francis invites us to join him in his prayers (via Twitter), as well:

I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children. Join me in praying for them.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 21, 2013

I know many organizations on the ground helping with the recovery efforts.  Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is one of the many organizations receiving donations (all kinds) to help victims in the long haul. And it turns out my work is going to match employee donations up to $10,000 so that's pretty cool.

--- 3 ---

On a happier note, I went to my high school's jazz concert on Tuesday night.  I was in the jazz band my senior year of high school and ever since, I've grown to really love and appreciate jazz music. My brother was in jazz band in high school as well, and he's pursuing jazz performance on saxophone at the University of North Texas, which is basically known to have a really awesome jazz/music program...and he also went to this jazz concert because he helped with a rehearsal or two in addition to helping some of the jazz band members prepare through private lessons.

--- 4 ---
Speaking to my brother's friends and former bandmates, I started remembering my college years again.  They asked me questions, and much like Radio Shack, I had answers.  Strangely, I ended up in a group of new Fightin' Texas Aggies who are starting this fall! WHOOP!

But I realized in my thinking of my college years that...wow, I went through a lot.  And my Catholic faith definitely played a role in my college experience and so I ought to share that via my blog at some point.  Stay tuned!

--- 5 ---

I'm sooooo stoked for my trip to Brazil this July! Maybe I did start obtaining items that should help with the trip like...last July...but...now that we're getting closer, I'm starting to take the packing list a little more seriously.  This has opened up a world of camping supplies (or the convenience of camping-caliber supplies) previously unknown to me.

I also started shopping around for small Texas giveaways to exchange with people around the world because apparently that's like, a thing to do.  Unfortunately, I don't really know of any Texas-centric stores other than at the mall.  I actually kind of dreaded going to the mall because traffic around the nearest one is terrible due to highway construction and ... malls are crowded...

Doing all the paperwork or obtaining of paperwork for my visa application was a bit of a hassle because I've never gotten something notarized at the bank before.  And yes, I did make newb mistakes like not actually bringing the necessary documents to be notarized.  Haha oh well, but...in the end, I succeeded! The trials are worth it!

Future blog posts on this, for sure!

--- 6 ---

Grandma is gone and now my family has to get used to doing the simple things.  These things include but are not limited to cooking every meal, folding laundry, yelling at my dog in Tagalog, opening and closing blinds daily, and keeping up with Filipino soap operas (which my mom pretty much has that covered since she also queen of the DVR).

It was funny last weekend because my mom escorted my grandmother to Canada and so that left my dad, my bro, and myself to fend for ourselves in terms of meals.  Yeah, we ended up dining out for breakfast and lunch last Saturday...and I ended up cooking Hamburger Helper for the first time in my life for dinner. Milestone moments in life, I know.

It was good! And browning ground beef is pretty exciting!

--- 7 ---
The familiar awkward question was asked of me at the jazz concert that I mentioned in --3--.  A band parent I have befriended asked me how I was doing since it had been a while.  My tired answer to the question is that I'm doing well and ...busy.  So, naturally that led her to ask what do I do besides work.  And  I told her that I volunteer up at my church a lot.  I would expect the next question to dig deeper as to exactly what I do in terms of volunteering up at my church...but no.

Her next question was..."have you met a nice girl at your church?"  Ah yes, the question regarding my relationship status.  I told her that no, I haven't yet... with the assumption that she really meant "are you currently in a dating relationship with a nice girl at your church?"  There are a lot of nice girls who go to my church, but I'm not currently dating.

If only she was Catholic...then I think it would make more sense for her to know that...

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY BE A SINGLE CATHOLIC
AND NOT CONSIDER ALL THE OPTIONS

I don't talk about my vocational journey on this blog enough (at all?), but I think I want to highlight others' first. More to come regarding that since...I found out in the past two weeks that FOUR of my Catholic friends are going to enter religious communities or seminary soon!

Dem takes are quick!
- JD

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff / Betty Crocker