The Other Side: Meeting Two Angels

The other day I blogged about meeting Bobby and Jackie Angel. I mentioned how one of my former students, who is such a huuuuuuuuuuge fan girl, had the opportunity to talk to Jackie on the phone since she herself wasn't able to be there in person.

Well, she just blogged about it!

A snippet:

Not going to lie, I was quite jealous of all my friends who got to hang out, take selfies, and watch Jackie speak in the flesh, while I was stuck at home in bed with an injured foot. However, my day was made when one of the volunteers at my parish [hmm, I wonder who that is...], who was eating lunch with Jackie, texted me and was like "hey so can you talk on the phone right now? Jackie said she'd talk with you!" and I responded back with, "YES. OF COURSE" So later on after Jackie finished eating, she called me. I gushed to her about how big of a fan I was and how much a loved her, and she laughed and said thanks lol. I thought our conversation would just be a few minutes, because I figured she would just say hi and then hand the phone back. . . but I was pleasantly surprised when she asked me about where I'm going to college and what career I was interested in. I happily told her that I wanted to pursue a career in youth ministry and, God willing, become a traveling speaker just like her. She offered me some great advice and encouraging words that I'll hold onto as I pursue my dream. 

Read the rest here: A Wake Call From An Angel

I dig how Allie saw this opportunity as a wake up call of where she needs to be focused in her life, and it's a good reminder for even me as I read the rest of her blog post.

- JD

Meeting Two Angels

I recently got back from spending a weekend chaperoning a group of my parish's high school youth to my diocese's annual Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference.

In summary, it was a really awesome experience because some new changes were implemented, and our very own bishop was present the whole weekend. We had Mass all three days of the conference, and two opportunities to adore Christ in the Eucharist. Pretty cool! I certainly feel transformed after going back to the basics and encountering our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. Conveniently, the theme of the conference was, "Transform ME".

One of the keynote speakers for this year's DCYC was Jackie Francois! She's a pretty popular Catholic speaker and musician from Orange County, CA (shout out!). Her husband, Bobby, was also at DCYC helping sell some of her merchandise.

I've read some of her blogs, I've listened to some of her talks, I follow her on Twitter, and I've listened to some of her songs. She was in the local area several months ago at a monthly Catholic event to play her music, but I was unable to go though I really wanted to. I might have been in Washington, D.C. or Rio De Janeiro or something. As for her husband, I've read some of his blog posts, and I've heard a talk by Jackie on how they met, how they handle their relationship, and cool stuff like that.

I really like her talks because she's a really good speaker, and she isn't afraid to dive deeper on very real topics about real struggles regarding chastity, love, and relationships.

Recently, Bobby wrote a blog post about a really nerdy conversation he had with a priest about comic book superheroes and how Captain America is the most Catholic of the recent ones in the movies. It was really cool to read so I shared it with others since it gave me a deeper appreciation for Captain America. You can read it here: The Catholicity of Captain America

So, with Jackie being here at this conference, I couldn't miss the opportunity to at least meet her and her husband!

At one point during the first night of the conference they were sitting at their table, and I was nearby loitering with some of my fellow chaperones. I didn't want to go talk to them alone so I grabbed a few of my chaperone friends to go talk to them. I introduced myself, and I brought up how I really liked Bobby's blog post, and all of us talked about it. Ultimately, I wanted a picture with them, but our conversation was cut short because Jackie had to be on stage for her keynote. I mean, I wasn't upset, since there was still plenty of time to get that picture. Meanwhile, my teens were bragging about their selfies with them. lol...

The next day, I had the opportunity to eat lunch with them! Since I helped out my youth minister friend and another giving a workshop for this conference, I was entitled to attend the presenters' lunch. When I arrived at the lunch, I noticed Jackie and Bobby were sitting at a mostly empty table so me and my other workshop buds decided to sit at their table. Really odd, but hey! 'Twas an opportunity!

That was really cool because it was just totally casual talking about whatever. Because Jackie is pregnant and due in a few months, the topic of pregnancy and birth came up, which one of my workshop buds was anxiously awaiting the call from his getting-ready-to-give-birth wife. And the dynamics of everyone at the table somehow led to the logistics and technicalities of giving birth unashamedly told as it is. I mean, I can't think of a more appropriate conversation while enjoying hotel cheesecake and coffee... I just couldn't relate, lol. #SingleCatholicGuyProbs

During the lunch, we had the idea of asking Jackie if she would be willing to talk to one of our former teens on the phone. One of our former teens is such a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan of Jackie and aspires to be someone like her. We actually did ask Jackie, and she actually did agree to do so after we were done eating. Meanwhile, we let our former teen know, and she was freaking out and texting in all caps. When mostly everyone left except my buddies and Jackie and Bobby, she asked about making that phone call. So I let Jackie borrow my phone, lol.

It was cool! They had a ten minute conversation, and when Jackie was done talking to her and handed my phone back to me, I tried talking to our former teen. She was just speechless, possibly hyperventilating, possibly even sobbing. Lol, I told her to grab some tissues, and I'd follow up with her when she calmed down.

After that, we went our separate ways. Jackie wanted to take a nap before the evenings' events.

Later that night, I saw Jackie and Bobby at their table again so I finally asked them if I could grab a picture with them.

She says he looks like Leonidas...and by "he", I don't mean me

Pretty awesome!

Now that I've met Jackie, I really want to start listening to more of her music and more of her talks. I also want to properly follow their blog at jackieandbobby.com and keep up with it.

And really, she was just truly a blessing for the conference because having her there really added to the awesome experiences that we had. She's so down to earth and is really relatable in her message to the teens. Through her keynotes throughout the weekend, even I gained better insight about love, dealing with struggles, and allowing Christ to transform our hearts. And interacting with her and her husband was more of the same, but one-on-one.

Bobby's last name is Angel. And that's how I met two Angels.
- JD

PS Pictured are actually three (3) Angels. Hopefully next time I run into them, I'll get to meet Baby Angel! ;-)

Captain America // JackieAndBobby.com

I Inhale At Being Pro-Life

Before getting into the bacon and eggs (as opposed to meat and potatoes (maybe I just finished cooking myself homemade bacon and egg english muffin sandwiches)) of this blog post, I originally intended to have a really good intro. You know, to help introduce this idea that I particularly inhale (translation: suck) at being pro-life. In the first draft of this blog post, I began to talk about how f___ing cold it was at the March For Life in Washington D.C. back in January of this year.

Lo, and behold! That ended up being its own separate blog post. #BloggerProbz Read it here, for it is technically my intro to this blog post.

And I’ll awkwardly pause for you to re-read that because it is important to know. (the ellipses following all link to the intro)

…

…

…

Ok. Cool.

Like I said, I experienced different consolations for attending the March for Life. And again, the March for Life was actually just a particular event of a greater trip to Washington D.C., but the March itself was our primary purpose although we did get to experience other things. This year was pretty similar to my first time going back in 2013. This year I had a fantastic time, and going again really reminded me about the importance of continuing to defend the right to life of unborn human beings and behold the preciousness of life.

In recent years, I’ve grown to understand and appreciate the importance of responding to experiences. An example of that would be like my trip to Rio De Janeiro last year for World Youth Day. At the vigil the night before before the closing Mass, everyone was gathered at Copacabana Beach to hang out and pray with Pope Francis. There was a time when other members of the group that I went to Rio with and myself had to go use the facilities. The problem was, because there were a few million people squeezed into the Copacabana Beach and not really enough portable toilets, my group and I walked into a very crappy situation. You could smell the toilets from at least 50 feet away. The. worst. So at other points during that trip and whenever I returned back to the United States and attended large public events like air shows and festivals and had the need to go, I remembered that really crappy experience and respond with ecstatic joy knowing that over 9000+ other people didn’t use my chosen port-a-potty. I just need to remember to also respond with bringing hand sanitizer with me, too. x_x

Or another example would be trying a restaurant for the first time, liking it, then telling everyone about it. Because it was a good, enjoyable experience, I cannot help but tell the world that DeVivo’s is a good restaurant, even if their meatball sub received a bad review from one guy on Yelp.

Post by DeVivo Bros. Eatery.

I’m sure I can come up with other examples, but the basic idea is simple: experiencing different things evokes a response following such experiences. I can either respond or not respond with further action.

And that’s where I begin to inhale at being pro-life.

One does not simply experience the March for Life and not go do pro-life things afterwards. It’s a worthy, truthful cause because it does become a matter of life or death for those who cannot choose it for themselves. I mean, if you know any 10-week old human beings in the womb who can Chuck Norris their way out of getting sucked into a powerful vacuum that would suck their brains out or use knife hand blocks against scalpels attempting to cut them up during an abortion, I would love to meet them and blog about it. But otherwise, who will fight for them?

I would think that it should follow that after going to the March For Life, I should be more motivated to be more active in pro-life things. I mean, I distinctly remembered being rather motivated after going to the March. I remembered that I resolved to do more than what I was already doing. I remembered that this desire to help out in ways I could swelled all the more because of the March. I remembered that I’m not alone in this cause and it should be really easy for me to do stuff with the strength of others.

But no.

I have not done a good job with that at all this year, thus far.

Nevermind that I used to go pray in front of clinics and have actually saved a baby or two. Nevermind that I do, in fact, have some sidewalk counselor training and slight experience in the field. Nevermind that I have advocated and donated to a ministry that helps abortion clinic workers leave their clinics. Nevermind that I’ve helped make baby beds or raised money to help pregnant women in need. After the March for Life, I’ve not really continued to do any of these things. But after the March, I felt a fiery motivation to pick these up again and do more.

But I didn’t respond or follow through with resolutions after experiencing the March.

That’s why I inhale at being pro-life.

As I’m writing this, I’m trying to think of why I have so failed to respond. My only excuse is that I’ve been too busy since January. Sure, I’ve had some life transitions, and many other things going on, but that’s not a good enough of excuse (to me) to not continue what I’ve been doing for pro-life work. And then some.

To make it worse, the weekend after the March for Life in Washington D.C., I went to the Texas Rally for Life in Austin! I responded to the March with another march, AND I STILL DIDN’T RESPOND…

But just because I haven’t responded with doing actual stuff doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about what I can and should do. Ok, maybe once I did go do my usual pray in front an abortion clinic but Everyone’s Favorite Name Brand Women’s “Health” Clinic was closed for the day because no abortionist was available. Still prayed though. Even then, I didn’t resolve to keep up with my usual frequency of praying in front of abortion clinics. I’ve only gone once since coming back from both of those marches.

However, one idea kept haunting me since January. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. My idea, which I’ve been hanging on to since January, never came to any sort of fruition. I never responded fully to this idea. My idea was this: I should help out the local pro-life pregnancy center that’s within my city’s limits! They’re close by, maybe they could use volunteers for help, and maybe I can donate my time, money, or supplies. I like this idea because it’s something I haven’t done before. I mean, if this guy can bring pro-life women’s health to the front steps of abortion clinics, then maybe I can not do anything as intense as that but perhaps bring myself to the front steps of a pregnancy center and help out with whatever I can.

Cool idea!

Never did anything with it. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Until…

Now. May, as in…month of.

One of my unofficial bros is a middle school youth minister for my parish. Nine months ago, he had a night teaching his middle schoolers about the importance of pro-life and why we are pro-life. Middle schoolers. That's awesome! And as a way to make the importance real, he had them all spiritually adopt babies and name them. I’ve done that before. My first one’s name is Melody and my second one is RJ, but that was a year or two ago. Well, fast forward 9 months, and we are here in the month of May. They decided to have an end of the year party to celebrate not just the end of the year, but to celebrate the birthdays of their spiritually adopted babies because it’s been 9 months. How fitting! There were Coke floats, pizza and cake.

An aspect to this end of the year party was for the middle schoolers to bring baby supplies. Oh and get this! These supplies are going to be donated to the pregnancy center that I’ve been constantly thinking about since January! So when I heard that my Middle School Youth Minister Bro was doing this for that pregnancy center, I simply couldn’t resist. I was like…”chyessss!!!! FINALLY! An easy, achievable way for me to contribute!” And contribute, I did. Yes, because I’m single-but-hopeful-for-kids-one-day-but-striving-to-not-be-jealous, I still find it awkward to be in the baby supply aisles at Super Target. What do I get? What brand should I get? Would they need more diapers or wipes? Shampoo? Heck, I’ll get all three…

Mission success, awkwardness not-withstanding. I threw in my stuff along with the other baby supplies, and between the other adult volunteers and students, we have a nice pile of supplies to donate to that pregnancy center.

No, I don’t feel totally satisfied with this simple act of buying some stuff. I feel called to do more. Or maybe re-called to do the stuff that I used to do on a more consistent basis. I don’t know, but I need it to make sense for where I’m at right now in life. That doesn't mean I'm compromising my position in any way regarding abortion. I'm just trying to figure out the best way for me to help out in a productive way. Maybe that means continuing to make awkward trips to Super Duper Awesome Target or Wal-Mart SuperDuperAwesomeCenter to pick up more supplies to donate.  Maybe that means praying in front of abortion clinics again with more added emphasis on me sidewalk counseling because that’s totally uncomfortable for me. Maybe that means that I try to reach out to abortion clinic workers and literally try to help them find other jobs in case they harbor a conflicted heart because of the way they are applying their profession. Maybe that means actually, physically volunteering at that pregnancy center. The options are many. How can I still respond to my experiencing the March for Life (and the Rally for Life)? It’s not good enough for me to just experience these rallying moments for the movement without responding in kind.

I don’t want to inhale at being pro-life. As a man, I want to be heroic at it because it’s so totally worth fighting for saving lives. Maybe not necessarily in the biggest ways, but at least in the trivial ways. It's not easy. It's going to inhale. Not everyone is necessarily a friend of pro-life work. It makes me uncomfortable. It's not going to be convenient. I'm already hated for doing this or even desiring to do this. And I'm okay with that. Challenge accepted.

Ponder this more, I will. Then action, will I do. I just need to…

-JD

Regarding the Need for Healing

At the beginning of Lent, I attended our parish mission. A parish mission can be thought of as a time for the parish to rekindle zeal and grow in faith, especially during special liturgical seasons (like Lent!). We usually bring in Franciscan Friars of the Renewal to lead our parish mission, which for us occurs over the course of three consecutive evenings (not every parish mission is done the same). This year we had Fr. Juan Diego--Canadian by birth, beard by choice. And then there was Fr. John Anthony, who is still a toddler priest since he was ordained sometime after Rio last summer (because I met him in Rio since he was with that other Texas group we happened to share the hostel with, and he was only a deacon then).

They covered three different topics each of the night. The first one was on the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The second night was on Confession. The third night was on healing.

Of all the three days, the third one stood out to me the most. 

Fr. Juan Diego gave the talk, and he began by reading from the Gospel about the hemorrhaging woman. She suffered some sort of blood flow illness for twelve years, but had heard that Jesus was nearby. Knowing that He could heal and perform miracles, she made the effort, in faith, to get near Him. While He was teaching, she touched His garment or a part of His garment, and upon doing so, His power flowed and healed the woman. Jesus, noticing that power had gone forth from Him, asks the crowd, "Who touched me?" and the woman tells Him the truth. He says to her, "Daughter, your faith has made  you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

After reading this account from the Gospel, Fr. Juan Diego carried on with his talk. He recounted various stories in his life as a friar where people recognized their need for healing. One particular experience he had was rather gut wrenching. When he was newly ordained as a priest, he was assigned to go to Central America. Upon arrival, he got to know a beautiful family with many kids. One tragic day, one of the youngest, Francisco, was run over by a bus. The family was utterly devastated, and Fr. Juan Diego was called upon by the family to pray, to counsel, and to help with the burial process. Not only that, but he had to deal with the families on both sides of the tragic accident including the bus driver and his family. In telling us this, Fr. Juan Diego made the point that God allows bad things to happen so that a greater good can come out of it. Inevitably, the question, "Why, God, why?!" comes up. While I won't discuss the problem of evil, the point is that even though bad things happen, it ultimately points back towards God. We can respond in despair or seek healing. The reality is that we're going to suffer at some point. The question is...how do I deal with it? Do I let God help me through it? Or do I cast Him aside?

I wish I can convey the cohesiveness and fullness of Fr. Juan Diego's explanation of these stories that he told to illustrate the need for healing, but it's one of those, "you had to be there!" sort of things.

The last part was the procession. Before explaining that, I've mentioned in other blog posts how Catholics believe that the Eucharist, under the appearance bread, is really, truly Jesus Christ present: body, blood, soul, and divinity. Each of the nights, during the friars' talks, we had Jesus exposed in the monstrance (the gold thing, Spanish "mostrar" means "to show"...see the etymology, kind of?). This last night of the mission, we had a special kind of Eucharistic procession that really brings to life the account in the Gospel with the hemorrhaging woman. We become the woman in all our brokeness, our sickness, and our need for healing. In this kind of procession, the priest walks from person to person while holding the monstrance containing Eucharist. He is cloaked in a humeral veil to cover his hands, and this physically signifies (which points to the spiritual reality) that it isn't the priest who is walking around from person to person, but rather Jesus Himself. As He goes from person to person, we have the opportunity to "touch His cloak" like the bleeding woman in the Gospel.

I was one in of the first few groups of people-in-the-pews to approach the altar rail of our sanctuary where Fr. Juan Diego was processing with Jesus. But of course I was moved because I really prayed about something where I needed healing (future blog post(s), maybe). When I returned to my pew, I reflected on how much I need the healing love of Christ, and in a very tangible way, I experienced this opportunity to allow Him to heal me.

Apart from the very real, truly personal effect of this Eucharistic procession for me, I was probably more intrigued at seeing everyone else have this opportunity to touch His cloak. Like I said, I was one of the first few groups of people to do so, therefore I got to glance up every now and then and see others experience Jesus as healer. I could tell by the look on many of their faces that they really needed this. Some were in tears...many had solemn faces (not in a sad, depressing way)...and some had a look of joy! Now, I don't know each person's story, but over and over again, seeing everyone's response after they touched His cloak really drove home that we all have this very real need for healing for our sufferings.

Obviously, when I've got bronchitis or some other sickness, I'll go to the doctor (maybe that happened once...or thrice...). When I have chipped my tooth, busted up my face, and potentially suffered a concussion, I'll go to the ER and dentist (maybe that happened once...). When I'm suffering in these physical ways, I obviously don't want to let it keep bothering me or causing me to suffer. I will go seek help to get healed. I mean, that's not an unreasonable response, right? Not only that, but I obviously wouldn't go to my podiatrist to give me a root canal. My doctor probably wouldn't be able to give me a prescription for my contacts. In other words, when I'm dealing with certain ailments and problems, I'll go to the correct person to help heal that problem.

So what about when I'm sick on the inside? This totally happens from time to time where I suffer in a way that isn't physical yet my mind is clear but heart is troubled. Who can help heal me when the problem isn't necessarily something tangible that a normal doctor can heal? How can I have a restored sense that I'm genuinely loved? How do I break away from despair, from sadness, from hopelessness? How can I endure all my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual sufferings? To whom shall I go?

The hemorrhaging woman knew.
- JD

Picture of bleeding woman from Wikipedia
Picture of Pope Francis with monstrance from Catholic Sun

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

This Week's Moments

Something that we often do in small groups at my parish is briefly talk about a high point, a low point, and a "God moment" from the past week. We do this in order to build community through sharing a little bit of ourselves.

It dawned on me that this type of format would be good blog material because it would be quicker and easier, since I don't have a lot of free time. And as much as I love 7 Quick Takes, those take time to think about and write about, and I often find that I never have time to finish them. Maybe down the road I'll hybridize the two...

Low Point

Several nights ago, I was doing some Internet searching and didn't exactly find the results I was looking for. I was a little dismayed at this, and got pretty discouraged when the results came back rather lacking because it is information I need. And I'll leave it at that. O_o 

High Point

The other night, the young adult community at my parish launched their first ever event! It's a speaker series + restaurant format and Thursday was the first one. Our pastor was the first guest speaker, and he talked about his conversion story (Episcopalian --> Catholic) and the priesthood. I gained more appreciation of him now knowing about his story. On top of that, the restaurant this was held at is a restaurant owned by fellow parishioners and it's delicious! They make everything from scratch! And their cheesecake rivals that of some found in certain factories!

God Moment

God moments are moments when you feel God's presence or God working in His mysterious ways. I have two from the past week. First, the obvious! Our middle school youth ministry had Adoration a few nights ago, and I decided to join in and spend that time adoring Christ truly present in the Eucharist! It's a lot easier to talk face-to-face. Got to hang out with my fellow young adult volunteers and our high school students too with a scrumptious potluck afterwards!

The other God moment I had was yesterday on my drive home from work. I decided to take some time with the radio off. Earlier in the day, at work, I had listened to some podcasts that got me thinking about stuff. And yikes. Silence is a scary thing. It forces me to be alone with whatever I'm dealing with, and be free from the distracting noises of life, which sometimes comes in the form of the radio. I was just reflecting on those podcasts, and I had a very real moment with God. I think I arrived at a moment of realization of brokenness and humilty with a sincere desire to make like a Michael Jackson song lyric and "make a change".

So,  those were my low point, high point, and God moment from the past week. How about you? Comment below! You can sign into Disqus with popular social media platforms!

- JD

After World Youth Day in Rio

Very official looking banner at the street where they usually do parades like for Carnaval

It's been a few weeks since I was in Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day. I had a rough time upon returning! I got back home in the middle of the afternoon Wednesday, a few days after the closing Mass. The very next day, I went to work. That Thursday and Friday was rough because I hadn't yet returned to a normal sleeping schedule. And because I make some ridiculous Catholic decisions sometimes... that Friday after I returned, I went to a young adult Catholic conference at a nearby parish! Had that all weekend! In brief summary of that conference, I liked the keynote speaker, the workshops were helpful, but more importantly, it was great for networking!

Well, Aggie Network-ing works too #AggieCatholics

Narwhal flu?!

So, because of the constant rain and being out and about in that rain nearly every day while we were in Rio, members of my group got sick. You know, usual cold and cough stuff. Praise God that I didn't get sick while we were Rio-ing it up, but I definitely became sick after we returned home! Again, typical cold and cough stuff. Nothing exotic like some sort of animal flu from...I don't know...Peru or something.



So yeah, it was rough after getting back from Rio. But now that I'm recovered and have caught up on sleep (mostly), and now that I've had some time living a post-World Youth Day life, I've had some time reflecting on how it has impacted me.

First, let's get the usual awkward question out of the way.

But let's have a prequel! A flashback!

So last year during Texas' tax-free weekend, I was out and about looking for new shoes and more specifically, new and good shoes for walking around for my trip to Rio de Janeiro a year later (yes, after my executive decision to go, I started making material preparations (and yes, those shoes worked out great)). But in the process of selecting those pair of shoes in the store, I ran into a high school friend that I hadn't seen in a long while. Insert small talk and brief catching up. While the purpose in visiting a shoe store doesn't leave much to be asked as to why we found ourselves in this shoe store, the obvious question was still asked by my friend as to why I was purchasing new shoes. I awkwardly and gladly explained that these new shoes were for lots of walking during World Youth Day. Thankfully my friend already had an idea of what World Youth Day is because her older sister went once and came back wanting to be Catholic (their family isn't Catholic). Not only Catholic but super Catholic. Insert awkward laughter. But then my friend asked me ...

...the awkward question...

"...so are you going to be a priest when you get back?"

Lol. I gave her the shortest answer I could, given the circumstances (I mean, shoe buying is serious stuff) while still being truthful.  I replied with, "haha, we'll see", and she gave this weird look. We then carried on with our tax-free shoe shopping sprees.

Now that I've been to World Youth Day for the first time and have had some time to let those experiences marinate in my memory and soul...my answer to that question remains the same from before World Youth Day. But here in this blog post, I am able to offer more explanation since I'm not in the process of purchasing tax-free shoes for some crazy out-of-country trip a year later.

My answer? Ultimately, what makes us the happiest and most at peace (in a profound way, though not without trial and suffering out of love) is living out life according to how God created us to be. He calls us to live our lives in various states and as Catholics, we call these states in life as single, married, or religious life whether as a brother/sister, monk/nun or priest. But it takes careful reflection, prayer, and discernment with God's help to figure out which of these states of life He's calling us to be that will bring about our greatest joys and peace. So, the short of it is...I'm currently single, but open to the idea of religious life or married life. One of them, I desire more because it attracts me more. But I think the best way I can describe where I am in all this is that I'm in an ice cream parlor with only enough money for 1 scoop of ice cream, and the two available flavors are both very good. But I keep coming back to the original flavor that looked good to me. And I'll leave it at that for this blog post. In summary, World Youth Day did not all of a sudden compel me wanting to be a priest. Or religious brother. Definitely not nun or sister =P. But I haven't ruled the religious option out.

Just tryin' to be more like St. John Bosco

What World Youth Day did help me regarding religious life is gaining a better appreciation for those who have already answered that call. World Youth Day was chock full of priests and religious! (In fact, remember that my group cheered every time we saw one! And we had a friar with us too!). Without a deeper understanding of who they are and for what purpose they serve, religious people in the Catholic Church seem like a bunch of suppressed but holy individuals who do nothing but pray all the time. It's easy to forget that they are just normal people. Granted, they've chosen a life that is radically different than our modern understanding on how to live life. They do not live for their own sake, and they have sacrificed life's greatest things not because those things are bad, but because they are really good. And that's a beautiful. Hence, we cheered. Not only that…but…there seems to be a rise of friends in my proximate circles who are pursuing the religious life, and I can't help but celebrate their decisions!

Now, to the meat of why I originally wanted to do this blog post.

How did World Youth Day impact me?

I don't know that it really did anything truly revolutionary for me. Some people come back from World Youth Day truly changed and greatly convicted to make life-changing decisions. So, as an example, while I didn't come back from World Youth Day wanting to become a priest, one of my second cousin's came back from WYD Toronto wanting to become one. From what I heard, he went through with that and is currently in seminary. One of my favorite Catholic speakers and apologists, Matt Fradd, had a deep conversion moment when he went to WYD Rome 2000. And, after some digging around, I'm sure it will be easy to find stories of people who come back from World Youth Day drastically changed. And more power to them for that! But that's not how I left World Youth Day.

First, World Youth Day reminded me that I have grown lax in my day-to-day practice of my Catholic faith. Our group leader (and I love that he makes us do this) makes it a point that we try to make Mass every day any time we're on pilgrimage. We were supposed to have a priest with us so we could conveniently have Mass, but he had to back out of our trip at the last minute. Instead, we attempted at going to Daily Mass at various parishes close to our hostel in Rio. Daily Mass used to be something that I could make once a week, but work has been so terribly busy over the past year that it's been difficult to do that. Therefore, it was refreshing to encounter God through His Word and His Body in the celebration of Mass throughout the week while we were in Rio.  In addition to going to Mass every day (or attempting to, since we didn't make it every day), we prayed the Liturgy of the Hours every day! Like, we packed (Shorter) Christian Prayer books and 4-volume sets with us! And praying the Psalms at certain hours of the day is a great way to sanctify the day in union with the rest of the Church because the Liturgy of the Hours is the 2nd official prayer of the Catholic Church (1st being Mass, ;-) ).  Daily Mass and Liturgy of the Hours were things I kept up with for a while in the past few years, but I stopped due to being busy…not devoting the time… etc.  In addition to those, we had opportunities to go to Adoration throughout the week. I also used to go to Adoration on a consistent, once-a-week basis, but lately it's been super difficult due to my busy work schedule. And that's a shame, because spending time adoring our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is one of my favorite ways to pray. In Rio, it was really nice to return to our usual church to spend time in Adoration, usually after having a hectic morning and lunch. And then there was that time we had Adoration with Pope Francis and 3+ million of our bros and sisters. That was something. Really, our whole time in Rio for World Youth Day was an immersion in Catholic prayer life through things that are not new or foreign to me because I used to do these things consistently. But by having these opportunities at World Youth Day, I was able to engage in these prayer experiences consistently once more that are easily accessible and doable back at home. So, since getting back from Rio, I've at least restored praying Liturgy of the Hours (at Night, at the very least). Still working on how I can make it to Daily Mass and Adoration consistently again… and a daily Rosary, too.

Secondly, World Youth Day showed me what joy in being Catholic looks like. Yes, but on a grand scale! Through a worldly lens, it becomes exceedingly perplexing as to why anyone would A) want to be Catholic, B) be a Catholic and spend lots of money to travel across the world to a meeting place where the Pope will be, and C) be Catholic and be joyful about it. And yet, from the moment we were on our way to Rio at the beginning…it was evident that this World Youth Day thing is a big deal. And I began to savor what it all meant during our first day in Rio. That first day, we were warmly/enthusiastically welcomed by Brazilians, met so many others, sang songs, danced in the streets, photos taken, trinkets exchanged, smiles, laughter, and just pure joy!

The prevailing theme throughout the week was encountering people from all over the world and the Church and sharing our joy in being Catholic! I mean, it's not the same kind of joy that you'd find in Rio a year from now at the World Cup. That is a passionate, competitive joy and rivalry out of love for fútbol. The joy expressed at World Youth Day stems from this unity we as Catholics have in our faith because our faith is in Christ.  As much as I would love this explanation of joy to be longer than the previous explanation on how I'm a lazy Catholic, I don't know how to say in words the joy that I experienced and saw firsthand during our trip to Rio. It's one of those "you had to be there" sort of things. And then, on top of that…there was a plethora of religious people present and they too shared in our expression of joy! And we, my group, were often overjoyed in just seeing a priest or nun (and others) walk by! So yes, World Youth Day showed me what joyful Catholicism looks like. And that's great because even before World Youth Day, I was already joyful in being Catholic, but now it is nice to know that I'm not the only one, haha. After World Youth Day in Rio, I feel more comfortable in sharing that joy with others with no discrimination whether Catholic or non-Catholic.

Lastly, this World Youth Day inspired me to have an excuse to travel the world every few years. And if I start saving for the next World Youth Day after the previous World Youth Day…then… I should be okay. Just to name a few, it's been in the Philippines, Denver, Cologne in Germany, Sydney, Toronto, Madrid, Buenos Aires, etc and of course Rio De Janeiro. Come at me, Krakow 2016! YOU ONLY POLAND ONCE! Blessed Pope John Paul II is impressed.

In summary, I had a really positive experience at World Youth Day in Rio De Janeiro. While it didn't do anything totally revolutionary for me, I had a blast and such a blast it was to share these experiences with my fellow pilgrims from SEAS and STA and 3.5+ million others. I now have a better idea of what it means to be part of the universal Church united in Christ like I expected I would. And I definitely had all these bonus experiences like seeing Pope Francis in unique ways, making friends with people from all over the globe and so much more. Man, I feel like I could blog a lot about my experiences.

OH WAIT!

...I did.

...so maybe I blogged nearly every night/early morning of our trip to Rio on behalf of my group, including the pre-Rio retreat that we had. It also served as a way to let our family and friends know that we didn't get caught in Brazilian riots or other perilous foreign affairs.

Here's the link: setonaquinaswyd13.wordpress.com (or if you're already on this SEAS/STA blog and seeing this post being cross-listed...then...this is awkward)

Whew. This was a long blog post.

Can't wait to do it again! #Krakow2016
- JD

Narwhals // "Narwhal tracking project helps chart species' future", X-Ray Mag
Fr. Zoltan Lendvai // Day In Photos, NY Post
Bl. Pope John Paul II // Papal Pose for Photographers, Tradition In Action

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

Working Out In Silence

Shhh

About two months ago, I posted on my blog how I was MIA due to being super busy with other things, and how I grew in appreciation for spending time in silence.  I also mentioned how I was invited and encouraged to go on a silent retreat by a consecrated woman in Regnum Christi, which is an apostolic movement at the service of mankind and the Church.

Awesome.

Well...a few weeks after that invitation, I actually did end up signing up for this silent retreat she mentioned.  Specifically, it was a silent retreat for young men to do spiritual exercises according to St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was the founder of the Society of Jesus (or more commonly known as the Jesuits).  This retreat was led by a priest from the Legionaries of Christ (which is another movement in the Church, but who also shares the same founder as Regnum Christi...but the Legionaries specifically refer to the priests).

Actually, I signed up in a fleeting manner. One night, I thought to myself, "Self, if I don't sign up now, I'll never sign up."  Procrastination is a dish best served later, but ends with a gourmet of total ignorance.  So, I signed up with hesitation of potential hesitation.

Now, I've never been on a silent retreat before, much less going to one with any sort of disciplined spiritual exercises.  I didn't really know what to expect or how to prepare.  The retreat was about a month ago, and it was held at a retreat center owned by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth (these sisters specialize in helping out families) in Grand Prairie, TX.  Apparently their convent also features this surprisingly nice retreat center.  So yes! I have stayed at a convent. Or rather...a convent's retreat center ;-).

The week prior to the retreat, I had a really terrible week at work.  I made an unintentional mistake that caused a lot of drama, and I felt really horrible about it.  Like, Wednesday and Thursday of that week were bad enough that I just wanted to be in isolation and not do my usual Wednesday and Thursday things.  The Friday of the retreat, I had opportunities to recover from my mistake and that translated to staying at work way longer than I intended.  My work is like...~60 miles from home and home is about ~20 miles from the retreat center.  That's almost 2 hours of driving with traffic!  The retreat started at 6:30PM. I typically prefer not to show up late to things despite my Filipino background (Filipino Time is a lot like Latino Time), and I left work at 4:30PM.  So you can see why on my way home I was freaking out because I left work late.  I was dealing with all my burdens from the terrible work week, and I was super worried about running into heavy traffic because it was Friday.  Long dramatic story short, I actually made it on time even though I had to stop by home to pack.

Whew.

This was a silent retreat.  I thought it meant "no one make a sound evarrrrrr" the whole weekend.  But no, it actually meant "no talking to others" with the motivation that all the talking will be with God only.  This is necessary to bring about the focus of mind and heart to be open and receptive to anything that God wants to say.  However, there were times we had to speak because in Catholic prayers, oftentimes a priest or leader will say a line of the prayer, and the rest of us respond vocally with the rest of the words.  I was also asked to lead a reading during our praying of the Way of the Cross (also called the Stations of the Cross, which is a prayerful way of walking through Jesus' Passion and death).  I also volunteered to proclaim God's Word during our celebration of Mass on Saturday.  So as you see, there were times when I could speak.  But when was I silent?

Our retreat master (fancy name for the one in charge, leading the retreat) led us through guided meditations through the weekend as prescribed by St. Ignatius in his spiritual exercises.  In these meditations, we focused in on different themes like God's immensity and existence, on Jesus' Passion, the purpose of man, the reality of sin, etc.  After guiding us through these meditations, we then spent some time contemplating these meditations.  This is where the silence was beneficial.

Now, I found out at some point during the retreat that St. Ignatius actually intended spiritual exercises to be done over the course of 30 days.  Most people who go through it follow an 8-day version.  We had to squeeze the highlights in a weekend.  o_O  So indeed, we did not cover every meditation, but at the very least we covered the highlights.

Reflecting on these themes we highlighted, I needed to ask God what is it He wanted me to know or understand.  But was I really listening?  Was I distracted?  Being in silence removed those external noises so that I could better hear God.  He often speaks in the silence of our hearts, and it's hard to pay attention when everything external ...and internal... are noisy.

By meditating and contemplating, I really spent some quality time with our Lord.  I mean, not just in silence but quite literally since the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth has a humble little chapel in their retreat center with the Eucharist in its tabernacle.  This is where I often went after a meditation to further contemplate.  And what I mean by contemplation is really chewing on (not literally) the theme of the meditation(s) and seeing if there's something God wants me to know about that particular theme.  I kept notes in a journal during the meditations and wrote down anything that made me go, "ah hah! that makes sense! thank you God for letting me see it this way!"

During meal times, we still weren't allowed to talk.  Our retreat master played either sacred music or a talk by Vr. Archbishop Fulton Sheen for further contemplation while we consumed our meals, which were all rather delicious and...

One does not simply go on a non-fasting Catholic retreat and go hungry--physically and spiritually.

Saturday night of the silent retreat, we had Eucharistic Adoration.  Our retreat master's original intention was for everyone to do a Holy Hour (which is pretty much a standard Catholic practice to spend an hour in Adoration whenever Adoration is done), but he was challenged.  You see, a few weeks prior to this retreat, Regnum Christi and the Legionaries held a similar silent retreat for young women, and apparently they were all like..."like o. m. gosh...we should totally Adore alllllllll night! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"  And they did.  And then they challenged us guys to do the same sort of thing.  And we're all like, "WE ARE MEN! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"

To make it easier, our retreat master assigned us partners and hours to go to Adoration throughout the night. I was assigned from 5AM to 6AM.  I "retired to my room" after the beginning parts of Adoration and was up for a while "real-life blogging" in my room.  On paper. With a pen.  And that's where I wrote the majority of this blog post. On paper. With a pen.

I got up to do my Holy Hour from 5AM to 6AM.  The night before, our retreat master had suggested we look at the reflection at the back of the book, A Doctor At Calvary by Pierre Barbet.  This was to further our meditations and contemplation on the Passion.  For me, I had asked Jesus if He could let me feel the darkness He felt in the garden of Gethsemane.  Such a profound stress bearing the weight of sin that He sweated blood.  Dr. Barbet, a surgeon, examines Jesus' Passion from a medical perspective.  I was engrossed in it because the medical perspective is fascinating and adds an even more terrifying dimension to everything He had to endure.  There was a point where I ...couldn't stand to read further because the medical descriptions were too graphic.  But I kept going. The fruit of me reading this reflection led to my blog post, Ecce Homo!, where I describe this meditation on the Passion and Adoration experience a little more.

As far as any other "revelations" or "lights" that I had during the retreat... Really, I mostly saw this time as a time of peace and rest because the week leading up to the retreat, I had a terrible week at work.  This time also helped me build confidence in my ability to shut out the world to spend quality time with God. But one thing did stand out to me rather clearly, which I won't blog about now because it requires further prayer.

During my time during the retreat, I didn't really get to know the guys also in attendance apart from interacting with them before the silence went in effect on Friday night and after Mass on Sunday.  They all had their various reasons for attending this retreat, and they all enjoyed their own fruits from it as well.  I didn't recognize anyone in attendance so I really went on my own for this retreat, which is unusual for me.  Met a fellow Aggie! But that's not important.

So I mentioned how that we were basically covering a normally lengthy retreat with spiritual exercises into one weekend.  And so, it was pretty much constant meditation, contemplation, reading, thinking, praying, sitting, kneeling, standing, walking...with meal breaks.  And all of that was surprisingly exhausting!  Even though I didn't really do much physically...

These meditations and subsequent contemplation in addition to all the prayer is the core of spiritual exercises.  Hence, working out. Spiritually.  But since this was a silent retreat...this was working out, spiritually, in silence.  How often do I consider working out my interior?  If I'm willing to get up at 4AM on a Saturday morning to go running and swimming...am I willing to take the time to meditate? Contemplate? Pray?  And yes, spiritual reps do require spiritual resting time in-between.  And do I hold in higher regard my exterior than my interior? Do I spend as much time working out externally as I do working out internally? As a guy, what good does looking good externally if my interior doesn't look good?  These are questions I ask of myself for further reflection.

Silent "squats" and profound "pushups"
- JD

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 1)

--- 1 ---

I realized I'm not social among other (Catholic) bloggers, and I see how much I'm missing out.  Hence, I recently joined the Catholic Bloggers Network. and followed suit with "7 Quick Takes" hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler, who is a popular blogger for the National Catholic Register and runs her own blog at ConversionDiary.com.  She's an atheist-to-Catholic convert who basically...blogged her way to Catholicism.  She's also an Aggie! WHOOP! (but didn't graduate).  I'm not...biased or anything... O:-)

In all honesty, I need to work on my Short Blog Post skills since I tend to write long ones. Like here. Or here. Here. Oh yes, even here.

--- 2 ---

So, I had no idea salt could be used as a sacramental!  It wasn't until my coworker ninja-blessed my cubiclemate's desk with holy water and salt that I learned this was possible.  Apparently, she was worried that my cubiclemate would have a terrible, angry day.  And by spraying holy water (yes, spray bottle) and sprinkling blessed salt, she hoped that it would bless the space around his desk so that he, too, would be blessed.  My desire for the truth motivates me to find out more about salt used as a sacramental.

--- 3 ---

This has been a great past week having opportunities to hang out with my goddaughter!  I got to see her multiple times since the weekend.  It seemed like only yesterday that she was only an infant but now she's owning the world as a 1-yr old.  She has the prettiest eyes and that stereotypical baby smile that turns any man into a cooing, sensitive...well, ahem.  Ya know.

You can follow my goddaughter's adventures through her mom's blog at Bernie's Banter.

--- 4 ---

Tomorrow is looking like a really busy day.  My bro is performing with his university jazz lab band at a jazz festival in the afternoon.  And in the evening, I'm going to Adoration and partying it up with priests, brothers, sisters, nuns, etc. at The Shepherd's Café for their 6th anniversary.  I've been attending The Shepherd's Café for a few years now.

Usually on their anniversary, they invite religious and clergy to come speak and give their vocation stories.  Typically, they have musical guests perform while everyone chills with refreshments.  But! My main reason for going to The Shepherd's Café is for the opportunity to adore our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and to go to Confession.  And then have fun afterwards!

You can check 'em out here at TheShepherdsCafe.com.

--- 5 ---

Catholic Answers is hosting their second conference ever this September and I am...discerning if I should go.  I've got one vacation day left to spend before I get a refill in October.  I mean, it's not like I will spend 9 out of my 10 vacation days in Rio De Janeiro or anything... O:-)

Now, the reason why I'm even tempted to go to this conference is because...well, I really like the Catholic Answers radio show (podcasts can be found on my sidebar).  I've learned a lot through listening to their show, and perhaps deep down I want to be competent at explaining and defending the Catholic faith.  A useful skill since I'm a teacher of the faith.

And oh yeah, I do have family in San Diego, which is where the conference is located.  Excuses, excuses...I know...

--- 6 ---

A while ago (say, a month), I openly declared to the saints in heaven that they have permission to stalk me.  I think I did this when I went on a silent retreat, which I haven't blogged about yet.  Why?  Why would I do that?  I dunno...I thought it would be fun and interesting to see if they really do or not.

So how do I know that they are, in fact, stalking me?  Maybe I don't really know because I'm basing my evidence on apparent, coincidental occurrences with seeing an image of them or an associated object...or maybe just hearing about them in some random way.  These moments stick out to me moreso than before, and perhaps that's how I know that they are stalking me.

This past week?  Our Lady of Guadalupe seems to have graced the back of a lot of pickup trucks in my daily commute this past week.  Maybe I live in Texas.  But whatever.  And...I went to Confession the other day and while I was praying in my pew, the sun was just at the right angle that it shone through the stain glass window my parish that has of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Like, right on me. Like, no other window. Like, it was blinding. And oh, she's also known as "The Little Flower"...and my rose bushes at home are blooming ... a lot.  A sample:

--- 7 ---

It's been a crazy past week or two and bad things are happening in the world.  That's why I blogged about Divine Mercy.  It begs the question...what's wrong with the world?  Easy answer.

...I am.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Wow that was quick.

- JD