A Deeply Profound Moment with a Taylor Swift Song

This was back in February.

I had just gotten back from my week long trip to Colorado to go snowboarding with some friends. I previously mentioned in another blog post how that I was undergoing a lot of stress and internal conflict regarding personal matters.

I barely had any recovery time between snowboarding and staffing a (Confirmation) retreat away from home. Needless to say, the retreat was largely on my mind while I was on the slopes. It was definitely part of my stress.

While on the retreat, I had the opportunity to go to Adoration on my own. Actually, we had some logistical challenges because we would be having a Daily Mass on Saturday, but our tabernacle was malfunctioning. Because we couldn't lock or unlock it properly, we would be without a secure place to repose the Eucharist. After some brain storming with my retreat core team, we thought it would be a good idea to set up the Eucharist in a monstrance and have private Adoration with assigned hours until Adoration later that night with everyone on the retreat.

I volunteered for the first hour as it was during lunch time, and by the time my hour would be over, it would be necessary for me to get back to my retreat duties.

I finished my lunch rather quickly and couldn't hang around to socialize.

I approached the chair closet-now-turned-into-a-small-chapel with care and reverence knowing Who was dwelling within.

I walk in, knelt, and adored.

Honestly, at the time, I was carrying a lot of burdens primarily from the all the stuff that was on my mind and heart from the snowboarding trip. I was just about ready to share my vulnerabilities with Christ in the Eucharist when the seminarians, who were also helping with this retreat, came in to devest and put away their vestments (the chair closet was also our makeshift vesting sacristy) from Daily Mass.

Rude. Lol, jk. #Forgiveness

After they left, I attempted to center myself back on Christ and just give Him all that I have interiorly.

Around this time, the retreaters outside had mostly finished their lunch and many were talking loudly just outside. Of course, whenever distractions like this happens when I'm in solemn moments, I realize it's an opportunity to focus all the more on what I should be focusing on. It's a skill I've learned from being at Mass with a bunch of crying babies.

I was almost successful at tuning out the voices of the crowd outside the door, but that's when they busted out the guitar. And started singing.

At first I couldn't tell what song they were singing as it was a combination of me trying not to pay attention and how things tend to sound muffled through a closed door. After a while, the tune became clearer. The words became recognizable. And the Filipino in me wanted to karaoke right then and there!

The nerve! Beyond this chair closet chamber door, they sang a T-Swift song that leaveth my mind never more.

"You Belong With Me" was that catchy tune at Saturday noon.

Because it took me a litle while to figure out what song they were singing, the part when I finally caught on was the chorus:

If you could see
That I'm the one
Who understands you
Been here all along.
So why can't you see--
you belong with me.
You belong with me.

Whilst my ears were towards the door and the crowd singing, my eyes were gazing at Him.

Not a stock photo--this is actual

Then it freakin' hit me. It was such an incredibly real realization how listening to the words of this chorus and adoring Him fuzed together in a gloriously profound moment for me. It was somehow the most perfect thing for me to listen to at that moment because given that all I was praying about and going through internally. Taylor Swift's words were no longer Taylor Swift's words. Rather, it seemed to make sense that He, Himself, were saying these words to me personally.

If only I could see that He's the one that understands me. He's been here all along so why can't I see that I belong to Him?

One more time

Geez.

I guess I was rather shaken by that realization. It was comforting though because most of my struggles stem from the fact that I tend to carry the attitude that I belong only to myself, but this reminder in knowing that I, in fact, belong to God gave me a sense of peace in regards to my struggles. I don't know that I can properly express this in words.

The only downside was not having tissues handy because a strange clear wet liquid was emerging from my eyes. Not out of sadness, but of joy.

But yes. A really deep and profound moment involving a Taylor Swift song while in Adoration. Life is comical sometimes.

It's been a long while since I had this experience. I guess my response has been that this profound moment is now a tangible reminder of God's love for me as a way to fill my sense and need for belonging. He is sufficient enough. It's been easier dealing with weak moments or falling into the lies that I'm not good enough or loved enough.

Now, because I know that I belong with Him, I've got a smile that could light up this whole town. :-D
- JD

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

Executive Decision: Aggie Awakening 100

Whoop! I am registered for Aggie Awakening 100!

Post by AA 100.

Awakening is a 3-day college retreat loosely based on Cursillo and Search, which are retreats for women and men on Catholic teachings.  For many college students, Awakening is an opportunity for a real, genuine encounter with God. Maybe even for the first time.What also makes Awakening great is the tight-knit community that develops during the retreat and how it even continues even past the retreat.

I made Aggie Awakening #75 in the Fall of 2005, and then staffed Aggie Awakening #85 as a Table Gopher in the Spring of 2009 (I think, if I did my math correctly, with 3 Awakenings a year).  See, the problem with being an engineering major involved in other organizations at Texas A&M makes it difficult to spend entire weekends on retreats. I wish I could have staffed more but...alas, I did not.

But either way! I'm attending Aggie Awakening #100! ...the conference part of it, anyway!

I'm pretty excited because any legit excuse I can find to return to my other home is a good enough reason for me! In true Aggie Catholic fashion, it'll be a wonderful time coming together as family in Christ and as Aggies.

I'm also pretty excited about the speaker lineup! Which you can see here.
I mean, Fr. Mike, Fr. Brian, and Fr. David? A great trifecta of the priests I had while I was in college! Shawn Carney?! Duuude, he freakin' help start 40 Days for Life! And then Marcel LeJeune?! We're social media friends, and I'm a follower of his blog, lol.

I was scouring Facebook timelines from 2005 to find a cool retro picture to post on here...but no such luck. But I realized that both my table dads for #75 and #85 are now seminarians...no big.

Anyway! Other fun facts about Awakening:
Aggie Awakening History - A memoir from one of the first staffers of AA #1
Awakening Retreats - A website with a schedule of all the Awakening retreats throughout the country

There's something about being an Aggie Catholic that just makes...being an Aggie... more importantly, being a Catholic...mutually awesome.  I should (eventually) blog about that and how my Awakening retreat impacted me.

If you've made an Aggie Awakening, I highly encourage you to register!
Look, I'll even put the link right here: http://aa100.aggiecatholic.org/

I look forward to March!
- JD

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 8)

--- 1 ---

A test of my Filipino skills! ...when it comes to packing.  I have to somehow pack for 1.5 weeks during my trip to Rio De Janeiro in one carry-on or hiking backpack.

The temptation, as a Filipino, is something like this:

Challenge accepted.  Thank goodness I'm a guy.

#DontForgetYourPAHNTEE

--- 2 ---

One of the beautiful things about being Catholic is the ability to really dive deep into Christian spirituality.  I need to further talk about this in a separate blog post since I'm grossly undertalking about it, but I'll be doing the Total Consecration as prescribed by St. Louis Du Montfort for my trip to Rio.  Along with some friends at my parish, I started this past week!

--- 3 ---

This past week we finally set up a pet gate for my dog to be contained in the kitchen. We actually had a ghetto lattice-fence looking thing from my previous dog but...my current Chihuahua seems to have kangaroo powers and easily climbed/jumped over the old pet gate.  This one seems to work a little better, but ...she's tiny enough to pass through 4" spacings...

--- 4 ---

So there was this one time where I got super bored.  Maybe I had a lot of downtime while traveling across the country.  Maybe I had just started my (older) blog.

Maybe I was being a really nerdy Catholic.

Maybe Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" was the popular song of the day.

Maybe I put the two together.

And the result was this: "Last Sunday Night".

Maybe some people I know are actually filming a music video with my Catholicized lyrics. o_O

--- 5 ---

I'm running a retreat this weekend.  It's focused on reflecting on the life of Christ...particularly His Baptism, the Wedding at Cana, Proclaiming the Kingdom, the Transfiguration, and the Institution of the Eucharist.  AKA, the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.  We're going through these scenes from the Gospels and prayerfully meditating through those passages to come to a deeper understanding of the Word and to see if there's something that God wants us to know through these particular pieces of Scripture.

Cool stuff yo.

--- 6 ---

Visas. Obtained!

-samba dancing-

--- 7 ---
For what it's worth...the mandatory 10-hour overtime per week is still a mental block to get over.  But! As consolation, my Catholic nerdiness is able to grow because that's more Catholic podcasting time!  I usually catch up on Catholic Answers podcasts (see sidebar)...and this priest, Fr. John Riccardo.  I highly recommend 'em if you're interested!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

- 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

The Source

This past weekend I helped out with a retreat for young Catholics. It's called Youth 2000, and it's a Eucharist-centered retreat with the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal. I won't provide a detailed recounting of my experience like I usually do when going to various events. Rather, I want to highlight something that stuck out to me.

First, allow me to reiterate that the Catholic faith teaches and upholds that Jesus wasn't being symbolic at The Last Supper. And so, lengthy theological discourses aside (for such a thing deserves its own fair treatment and study), the Eucharist is Jesus' Body under the appearance of bread. He is truly present: body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist.

So yes, this retreat was a Jesus-centered retreat. Quite literally, as Jesus, in the Eucharist, was placed in the center of the room the whole weekend as we had our retreat.

He's not actually in the middle yet in this picture, but He will be placed on that pyramid-shaped thing (explained below)

There was a point on Saturday when the retreaters were dismissed to go to workshops to dive deeper into discussions following a talk given by one of the friar priests. Since I had unique roles for this retreat, I didn't have to go to a workshop and thus had some time to kill while everyone else was off doin' their thang.

Because of my unique roles, I didn't have time to just focus on Christ because I was always thinking about other stuff or worried about others. Since the gym space used for this retreat was cleared out by most everyone, I decided to seize this opportunity to behold and adore Jesus.  I had been sitting afar because the crowd, now no longer there, had left.  So, I went up closer to a spot that wasn't all up in Jesus' grill with respect to the faithful who were already up front with Him.  I positioned myself so I was decently perpendicular to the Eucharist.  As I was there kneeling with my head bowed down for a while, I decided to look up and stare at Jesus directly.

This is what I was looking at:

Cool shot, huh?  Let me explain.  For the retreat (and unique mostly to this retreat only), we had this structure of candles known as the "Burning Bush" to signify the original of Exodus fame where God talks to Moses.  That gold thingy with rays atop the pyramid structure is a monstrance, a vessel used to show (think Spanish, "mostrar"..."to show") Jesus in the Eucharist, especially when adoring Him.  It makes sense, right?  That in a Eucharist-centered retreat, we're there to listen to what God has to say, much like how Moses was there before the Burning Bush to listen what God had to say to him back then?

Awesome.  Before continuing, I must remind you that I'm Filipino.  Here's the flag:

Yep. The Filipino flag is on the back of my iPhone. In LEGO. (missing a white piece...)

Back to what I was blogging about...

I'll admit, it was cool having that direct view of Jesus in prayerful adoration.  But when I looked up...my attention was definitely on Jesus, but at the same time, something caught my eye.

Particularly, this:

Apparently it was 2:37

Notice how Jesus in the monstrance replaces the sun on the Philippine flag.  Ok, I confess that I got up to get my camera and returned to my spot to capture a more perfect perspective, but truly I say to you that when I looked up at Jesus for a little bit, I noticed how the monstrance was directly in front of the Philippine flag.  And I was at a good enough of an angle to see how the monstrance covers  up the rays of the sun on the flag.

I reflected on this because it just seemed so...purposeful. I wasn't really actively praying...but rather...staring and listening. Adoring.  And that's probably how I noticed my perspective revealed this monstrance to seem as if it is the sun of the flag.

Reflecting on this, I realized that being Filipino is definitely a part of who I am. Born and raised. I've embraced my culture and greatly appreciate it, and I am not afraid to share and promote Filipino culture, especially since that was a good chunk of my college experience.  I mean, it's not like I choreographed, taught, and performed Filipino cultural dances at Texas A&M or anything...

And here Jesus is radiating like the sun at the center of the Philippine flag!  Now, I know Catholicism is very central to western Filipino culture.  Catholicism is central to Filipino identity (at least in my experience).  Looking at this and reflecting on it more...if being Filipino is central to my identity as JD...is Jesus the center of my identity?

Again, is Jesus the very center of who I am?

Then it dawned on me... (#pun #dawn #sun #Son)

As a Christian, Jesus needs to be the center of my identity.  So as long as I call myself Catholic and Christian...Jesus must be at the center of my identity.  My life. And from there, Jesus should radiate through the other things I identify with.  For me, that is being Filipino. Being an Aggie. Being a band nerd. Being an engineer. Being a quasi-professional volunteer in extra-curriculars. Being (insert here). Being who I am in whatever I do.

And the crazy thing is...I didn't kneel before Jesus during this time trying to seek this realization.  It just...came to me in such a real, tangible way by apparent coincidence.

You see my current tagline for my blog? St. Catherine of Siena once said:

If you are who God calls you to be, then you will set the world ablaze.

...and that ties in so wonderfully with seeing Jesus radiate through the Philippine flag.  He didn't have to speak to me in any way.  He just had to show me.

Is Jesus the very center of who I am? That shall be my litany of prayerful reflection in response to that question this week.

This guy is on fire.
- JD

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This post is linked on Catholic Bloggers Link-Up Blitz

Rosarium Oro

For two years now, I've led a decade of the Rosary at a Youth 2000 retreat in my motherland's native tongue: Tagalog (Filipino).

Both times were nerve racking because I don't speak it fluently, and here I am reciting it for a thousand high school students. But I take comfort knowing that the Filipinos-per-square-foot number was relatively low at both Youth 2000s so I felt a little less embarrassed, haha.

I remember a year ago, I really wanted to learn the Rosary prayers in Tagalog because I thought it would be cool, and that it would help me learn Tagalog a little more. I almost had the Hail Mary memorized!

But there was one distinct time last year where I prayed the entire Rosary in Tagalog. With my cheat sheet of course. I found myself engaged in some heated apologetics discussions on Facebook and felt compelled to pray a Rosary for courage and peace. But I decided to do it in Tagalog...

Praying the Rosary in a completely different language is cool. It really helps you focus on the meaning of what you're praying. I think whenever I pray the Rosary in English, I tend to go through it without much thought and reflection on the Our Fathers and Hail Marys because I'm so used to them in English. While still focusing in the Mysteries, of course.

Though, I think it's only fruitful to pray it after getting used to the prayers in whatever language, otherwise you become too fixated on pronunciation and whatnot and that would make it harder to focus on the Mysteries.

And the other cool thing is... it's a neat thing to know that since our faith is universal, there are Catholics around the world praying the Rosary in their native tongue, but the goal is the same no matter what: to reflect on the life of Jesus through Mary.

Awesome.

Next goal: Rosary in Latin.

And here's a good website for the Rosary in different languages.
http://www.rosary-center.org/rosaryprayers.htm

Faith. Hope. Charity. Pater noster.
- JR

Youth 2000...2012

Today wrapped up another amazing Youth 2000 retreat.  Clearly from the picture above, the gym was packed with youth from all over the diocese and from places as far away as The Woodlands (near Houston)!  

This is my fifth time going on a Youth 2000 retreat.  I went thrice (SCORE! I can use the word "thrice" legitimately in a sentence) during high school: once junior year, twice senior year where one was local and another one in San Angelo, TX.  My fourth time, I went as a chaperone a year ago and ...I chaperoned again this time too!

Gosh, I think my parish brought mmmmmmm....100+ youth?  Pretty big group.  Relatively speaking.  

What I love about this retreat is Jesus is there.  Like, the whole time.  They're not joking when they say it is a Eucharistic-centered retreat.  Not only that, but the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal MC the retreat and give talks as well, and they are just a fun bunch of hardcore Catholic religious men who offer fantastic insight.    And let's not forget the two Franciscan sisters as well!  They're so cool.  I love how a good chunk of my parish's youth have befriended many of them.

When I went Youth 2000 in high school, it was more...for me, personally.  And now that I'm going as a chaperone, I have a different perspective.  It can kind of be represented in the picture above.  I can see from an outside perspective on how the retreat and Jesus Christ Himself is affecting the youth, and it reminds me a lot of the times I went during high school.  

I love seeing the healing that this retreat can bring because sometimes the life of a high schooler is really, really tough and just knowing that Jesus can bring forgiveness and healing does miraculous wonders for them who are open to it and need it.  

And not only that, but it's really cool to see how this retreat inspires high school students to consider religious vocations.  Really cool stuff.  The Church needs people to answer the call.

Some cool things I witnessed:

• I led a small group during breakout sessions, and in getting to know some of the guys in my group, I was moved by listening to how their Catholic faith is a part of their lives. Some of my guys are from rough neighborhoods or have broken family situations but it was just cool for me to hear them talk about their Catholic faith in a way that helps strengthen them and overcome whatever they're dealing with.  Legit.  Not only that, a few also offered deep insight which I wasn't expecting!
• Oh man.  It was really awesome to see some of my parish's youth serve at retreat whether as part of the Mass or as an altar server.  We were well-represented at Youth 2000 happenings.  Even myself...I led a decade of the Rosary in Tagalog (Filipino) during the International Rosary.
• Seeing the smiles on the faces of youth after they had gone to Confession
• Saturday night at our before-we-get-on-the-bus meeting, we sang the Salve Regina and it was really beautiful
• Fr. Agostino, CFR, gave a really awesome talk!  As a Filipino, I can appreciate the integration of cultural jokes...even Hispanic ones.  Haha.
• Sitting with one of my students on the bus ride home Saturday night, I could tell that Adoration and Jesus' Procession was very impactful...and I'll leave it at that
• GOD MOMENT:  When Fr. Luke referenced a passage from Revelation and then there was a huge boom of thunder...and...there was a verse regarding thunder.  Can't make this stuff up!
• It was pretty cool awesome to see a good handful of our youth stand up acknowledging that they're open to the idea of pursuing a religious life
• Right now, our youth ministry's Facebook page is exploding with such awesome feedback regarding the retreat.  :-D

Anyway, personally...I needed this retreat too.  I had some things that I needed to pray about.  And it was awesome sharing this experience with my fellow chaperones and our youth.  Cool stuff.  The Holy Spirit is definitely on fire in the hearts of many youth after this weekend.  Can't wait til next time!

Faith. Hope. Charity.  Beards pointing to Jesus.
- JR

Seven Years

On this day, seven years ago, Blessed Pope John Paul II went home.

I was a senior in high school back then. Thanks to being involved in my youth group and learning more about Pope John Paul II, I started gaining more and more appreciation for the man and the office of the papacy. But to be honest, while I did know some things and learned a little more about him in high school, I didn't know enough to fully grasp him and his life and ministry. But that didn't matter. I still wept. The idea of being without a fearless leader who I knew to be very awesome was...kind of frightening, and hearing about his passing even though I didn't know a lot about him still made me quite sad.

And I wept because it makes me sad to see other people sad and crying too in addition to my own feelings. And I was in a Catholic school gym at the time with hundreds of other Catholic youth, mostly from the diocese, were also in that saddened state.

Blessed Pope John Paul II passed away while I was on a Youth 2000 retreat. All week prior to the retreat, we heard stories of the Pope's declining health, and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal running the retreat made sure for us to offer up prayers for the Pope. I remember at the beginning of the retreat, we all had that uncertainty.

I remember distinctly when we received word of his passing. It was Saturday afternoon of the retreat. Father I-Forget-His-Name paused the retreat in order to break the news. And I wouldn't say there was wailing and emptying of tissue boxes but the general vibe was definitely a sort of profound sadness.

But I know our sadness was not in vain. How can it, when Jesus was right there exposed in the monstrance?
We took a little while to just pause and pray for the repose of his soul and for the Church. Then we resumed the retreat.

Anyway, looking back and I can't think of a better place or time to receive the news of Blessed Pope John Paul II's passing. Right there with Jesus and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Beautiful.

Even though he longer walks upon this earth, the fruits of his labor continue today. I feel like there's this renewed sense of enthusiasm and desire of orthodoxy within the Church that wouldn't have been there had he not shepherded his flock in the right direction while he was Pope.

Truly, his work and leadership will continue to benefit the Church for generations to come. And his intercessions in our prayers will be fruitful as well.

Now, I hope to learn more about him and his work as Pope, and it's almost difficult to know where to start. Praise God I learned about his Theology of the Body at the end of college, but that's another blog post...or ten...

Anyway, Blessed Pope John Paul II...PRAY FOR US!

Faith. Hope. Charity. Pope is dope.
- JR