Just a Walk

The season of Lent is finally here, a time of repentance, a time of noticing our sins and making a commitment to change them. The season of Lent calls for a time of fasting to focus more on prayer and the continuous conversion that we have. This year I am trying to only eat one meal a day, and two small meals. So far It's working good. It makes me more grateful then I have ever been with the food that I eat. I was so happy to eat such a tasty meal. It made me see what I have, and what others don't.

The bible says that Jesus is led into the desert by the Holy Spirit after he is baptized in the Jordan. He is led for forty days and forty nights to a place that is dry. No water, no food, no animals, no shade, it is a place of sorrow and sadness. The desert is a symbol, just as the Cross of our Lord is a symbol. With the cross, we are called to carry it, take it up, and engage in journey with it. The journey carrying the cross is not easy, we will fall, we will experience pain and suffering but in the end it is all worth it. Same thing with the desert, It is not going to be easy to walk in the desert, Our goal on the other side of the desert is not going to be easy, we are going to be tested, tried, tempted.

I was sitting in Mass today, and I just felt drawn. I didn't know what to, I didn't know what for. It was just like a calling deep inside, I wanted to just close my eyes and sit there in the presence of God. I closed my eyes and felt so comfortable, so relaxed and so warm. It felt like I was at home, like when you have nothing to worry about, nothing to think about. Deep inside I know that God is with me where ever I go, even when I feel he is not, he is. It seems like God knows me so well that he just wants me. He wants me for whatever it is that he has planned for me. Lately I have been moving from his own plans, but I can feel his tug and hear his call. This is my desert, It isn't going to be easy, but with God, It's Just a walk.

Just Visiting

The past two weeks of mine have been pretty spontaneous. Some friends and I decide we will just go to someone's house and be there for the weekend. It's been pretty fun, meeting different parents and grandparents. They feed us and give us a place to sleep, we get to hear some pretty amazing stories. Last weekend we visited some parents of a friend of mine. We got there and they had a beautiful house, two-stories, fireplace, nice kitchen, beautiful backyard view of the neighborhood pond, and not to mention a really cool dog! The kind parents feed us dinner, salad, on the nice table that they set up. It was really great, we hung out played "Yatzee" the game of rolling dice, drank coffee, and stayed up pretty late working on our talks for the retreat the next morning. The house is really a gorgeous house, it is one of those houses where you can just drop your job your plans and just retire in it. It's beautiful, the couple seemed to have everything under control, there wasn't ever really a mess in the house. I happened to grab a picture from the second floor.

The whole night we worked on our talks for the retreat. It was a very long night, but we got some great rest and finished off the retreat. When we came back to the house, I had a bathrobe waiting for me. kelly's parents wanted me to have it as a gift. I had a ton of fun hanging out and getting to know some different parents. They make some great coffee I don't think I will ever forget this one!


That was last weekend...This weekend we are staying at my friend's grandmother's house. Along with her hospitality, she has a very funny husband. this man could very easily go for a comedian. He does accents, has great stories, they are just a sweet family with a nice house. She fed us a ton of food, doesn't even care to sit down, she is so worried about caring for us. In the house she has probably over a hundred antiques that she doesn't even know about. In the house is a picture of her brother, who is the inventor of the push pop can opener for the sodas, with Pope John Paul II, the soon to be saint.She has an autographed picture of Don Larson's perfect game from the 1958 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. They got a picture of my friends great grandfather with the Hall of Famer, Lefty Grove. Not to mention a New York Yankee autographed baseball from the 1977 World Series with signatures of Lou Pinella, the Chicago Cubs manager, Billy Martin, the current Yankee manager, and a lot other big league names. So being here is an adventure for me, the hospitality is great, food is wonderful. Mom, we're visiting next!

Silence Me

You ever lie in bed and just think back on how fast your day went, so fast that sometimes you can't even remember what happened, who you ran into, who you smiled at, who smiled back or what you were doing. At the end of my day, I find myself thinking back on what I did right, what I did wrong. Possibly what I can change or what I can do better at, and I think a lot of times we find ourselves searching, and searching trying to find or remember what it is that we lost or what it is that we can't quite remember. It's like when you meet someone that you've been wanting to meet for a really long time now and today is the day that you are introduced and then by the time you know it you just can't remember their first name. I think a lot of times we go through our days thinking that we have another one tomorrow, we go through the motions, not really acting but just being present. Today I wrote a song while I was praying. It came to me as I was strumming, just because of my thoughts on the day. Lately my days have been missing what they should really hold, I feel like I am moving to fast, so fast that I pass right by Jesus and don't even recognize his being. I pray that for all that feel like their days are caught in the wind and just moving so fast that we don't even have time to pray or sit. I pray for all those that move so fast that they pass right by Jesus, just like me. This song is called Silence Me

Lord Silence Me, Silence Me
Slow Me down, help me live in the spirit
Lord silence me, silence me
Slow my Mind, help me learn to clear it
Silence Me, silence me
Ease my Heart, help me to give it, to you

Lord Speak to me, Speak to me
Draw me to you, help me see you forever
Speak to me, speak to me
Bring me down, down to my knees to pray
Speak to me, speak to me
Calm my soul, by the music of your voice

Silence Me, Silence me
Slow me down, Slow my mind
Silence me, silence me
Ease my heart, Draw me to you
Silence Me, Silence me
Bring me down, and Calm My soul

A Beautiful Revelation

These past few days the school has been covered with fresh snow. On Monday, we got word that Tuesday classes were canceled due to the weather. The forecast said that we were suppose to get about a foot of snow by ten that morning, and we did. The snow covered the ground and it was freezing cold, on Tuesday we got word that Wednesday classes were canceled and on Wednesday, Thursday classes, and on Thursday, Friday classes as well. So we had about a four day break out of the week.On Friday, I woke up, got dressed and headed out to the gym. Today was different, It wasn't cold, It wasn't like the days earlier in the break. When I stepped outside it was so radiant that I had to squint my eyes. The earth seemed still, no breeze, no noise. Snowflakes feel from the sky the size of quarters, It was beautiful. It reminded me that all life is new and bright, all we have to do is see, that snow was there I just didn't see it. As I trudged through the snow with my head up, I couldn't help realize how beautiful the scene was. I started to think back at past days and how I have been just so frustrated with my thoughts. My mind has just been cluttered with all sorts of things, by the words that I say, and the things that go through my head. I remember seeing the flakes fall, and thinking to myself, what am I doing. These things I say about other people isn't me, the thoughts that go through my head about others is not my mind, it's not mine. I prayed as I was walking that God help me to control my thoughts and my words of and to others and to see all life as new life, to not judge at first sight. Snow is a beautiful thing and you can see a lot of things through it, I think God wanted me to realize what I have been doing to him and myself. Of that, I am grateful that he helps me see what I fault in and what I need to improve on to live a life that is based on the imitation of Christ. Today happened to be that day he helped me see new life, through a beautiful revelation.

Our Voice. Our Strength

On Monday, I finally got to stand up for what I believe in and attend the National March for Life in Washington, DC. Just being there is one thing that you know is amazing and well worth it. Even after a 26 hour long bus ride. Thousands of people gather in this march so that the pro life voice can be heard by congress an all other bystanders. 300,000 people marching trying to make this cause known by holding up all different kinds of signs and wearing all different sorts of colors. The sounds of drums and yelling was in the distance, chanting songs and praying went on as the fog of our very own breaths came out of our mouths upon exhaling the cold air. It didn't hit me until I was on the hill and I looked back and saw this huge mass of people covering up the street. Then I had a thought come to my head, I started thinking about all 38 years that this March for life has been going on and how powerful it is, even on Monday. You don't really know how powerful something is until you actually visualize. During the March, I saw power, I saw one, by the speakers and the people who showed up everybody just seemed to be all together in this fight. It was great to see that even though we are separate as human beings, we can still rise together and all fight for the same cause. I was in shock at the devotion that our country has at trying so hard to stop a massacre that more people are becoming aware of, and I think that as Christians and as pro life body, that our voice only cries out for more help, not only to put an abrupt end to abortion but to start something new, something that the world rarely sees. A new start at love and what it truly means to be part of the Pro life movement. This is our voice, This is our strength.

Buckley Team

This semester I took on the challenge and service project of being on the Buckley team here at St. Gregory's University. It's sort of strange on how I came to know the team because a few years ago while I was in High School, I went to the Regional Catholic Youth Conference (RCYC) in Amarillo. While I was there I met a few people and I remember hearing something about the Buckley Team, Long story short, I think I met the team there.
Now I am on buckley 4 years later, quite coincidental. We'll anyways this weekend was the Buckley Refocus Retreat where everybody learns about each other a little bit more than what they already do, we plan the semester and talk about some of the things that the team has done, that is handed down traditionally. Our job is to strengthen teens into becoming better disciples in Christ, that way they learn to take on the leadership role that we provide and use it back home. The semester should be pretty fun and exciting. Just like our personal lives that are always seeking conversion, in that same way the team I think is still on that conversion process. It'll be fun, It'll be fun. Personally, I am glad to be on the team as I explained to the team while I talked for about on hour about the things I have gone through in my life, in terms of service projects and the ups and downs. I told them that being on the team will help me, and also us live out the message that I, we, even we, have been giving from Christ, to serve.

Call to Imitate

I am back at Saint Gregory's after my long and exhausting Christmas break, I had alot of fun though hanging out with family and friends. Overall I would say that I learned alot of new things, being about myself and others things like what I should be doing with my faith as far as making it last and stretch out to others. One of the things that remains in me more than anything during the break and even after the break was the call to Imitate. Not just to imitate your favorite quotes from your favorite movie, No, much more than that, something like imitating people that you know are reflecting the love of Christ himself. One of which is my father. My whole life was basically founded by my father and I have always wanted to be like him and only hope to gain the knowledge that he does. I mean what child doesn't want this from a father of their own? While I was spending some good working time with my father, he was telling me a story about how he was gone for a truck driving trip in Wichita Falls and he happened to come across a call girl, he told me he was praying deep inside. His heart was crying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Throughout the night, God answered his prayer sending him a good friend of his own that he had happened to know. Crazy how God works right, we'll he invited this woman to mass, and prayed with her. I thought to myself, man, my dad is a strong man in his faith, there aren't many men who can resist something like that from a woman, It goes to show that God isn't just a three letter word, it's hope, its refuge, it's strength. I was amazed on how he had gotten through this, as I was listening I became even more in awe just by listening to his Evangelical life, having conversations with people who he doesn't even know and praying with them, giving them at least something to stand on. I am thinking to myself, you know what, I want to be like him, I want to tell people of Christ and what he has done for me, I want to be a living testament of him. After hearing a simple story of Strength I have come to understand almost a whole new calling, the calling to imitate not only my father, but also Christ.

Jesus, help me reflect the image of your love to others the way you would do, help me to see all that you see, Make me a beacon of light for all to see, and that they see your message of Divine love through me, Amen.

Our Lady of Guadalupe--Consecrated

Today's the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and we want to remember Mary as much as we can right? Sure, sure I mean only a true catholic would keep in mind what Mary did for us. Our true faith lies in Mary, not only today as we celebrate her feast day but, everyday of our lives. Just think about what would happen if Mary was ignorant of her calling and obligation and totally blew everything away. Where would we be know? For one thing, we wouldn't have the Catholic church, we wouldn't have Saints, we wouldn't have mass, therefore no Eucharist or sacraments. To thank Mary for everything she has done is what we are called to do as Catholics, One things for sure, it must have not been easy for her. She went through the regular things that most parents go through. So I thank her.

33 days ago, I started on the Saint Louis de Monfort consecration to Jesus through Mary, prayers daily and devotions to help come closer to Jesus through Mary. After all, Christ did become known to us through Mary, we wouldn't have Jesus if it wasn't for Mary. Through this consecration we do everything with Mary, for Mary, in Mary, and by Mary.

As we attend mass today, and consume the Eucharist, take it in as you are taking in christ. With a whole heart and with a change of heart. Remember what Mary did for us and remember that you are in someway consecrated to Jesus through Mary, go to confession or Holy Communion with the intentions of giving ourselves to Jesus Christ, by slaves of love. through the hands of Mary.

Thanksgiving: Be Thankful

Take a good look at this picture. Some people don't ever have this big of a meal in their lifetime. an we are able to have it every single year, Be thankful. This Thanksgiving I ate less than what I usually do. For some reason, I just didn't feel up to eating. I was more thankful for everything that I have been blessed with. If you have been keeping along with my blog, then you know that I have been blessed big time. I needed to be thankful, and Thanksgiving was a huge reminder that I needed. Also a reminder that thanksgiving is not the only day to give thanks, we should do it everyday of our lives just because we wake up in the morning. Another reminder it brought to me was the reminder of the Eucharist. The foundation of my Catholic faith is the heart of being thankful, it's a reminder to love not only others but everything we have been given in our lives. The Greek word for Eucharist, is Eucharisteo, which means thanksgiving. When we take part in the Eucharist we should be thankful from the moment of the consecration to the moment it lands on our tongues. Not even that, we should be thankful everyday of our lives, because the Eucharist has taught us, and Christ wants us to be thankful by the Eucharist.

Bed Races

Yesterday was one of those unforgettable days, one of those days where you do something just out of the ordinary. We'll here at Saint Greg's we hosted our 1st Annual Bed Races Competition. This is were certain organizations can join in and create your own bed that you think can resist speed bumps and sharp left turns. The Knights of Columbus Decided to get together and make one, The Mach 5. We welded our wheels on, used some cardboard and paint. Game day, we got 1st place prize, which was a trophy and a few benjamins for the organization. It was alot of fun