Fall: Change For Christ

Here at Saint Gregory's the season of fall is finally showing its true colors. Colors of deep contemplation and shallow shades of browns, yellows and greens are all starting to cover the trees as well as the floor. Every morning before class I make my way down the paved walkway and am surrounded by leaves all on the floor, and cool fresh air that I can't get enough of. From spring to fall colors I have come to the analogy that Christ is allowing us to change. Change colors that is. We can be bright and colorful in the springtime. When fall comes I think It's a reminder that no matter who we are, whether its people of faith or not. We are all experiencing Christ calling to change who we are, and whether we like it or not, we do change colors. The fact of the matter is what draws us deeply more in Christ is Christ himself. So when we think of fall and the colors of it. We are really accepting the change that comes within us. Fall break, it's time for a change, change for Christ.

EarthQuake...Another First!

This lovely Wednesday morning at 9:06:29 I experienced my first earthquake...
I was lying in bed and I felt a sudden shake, it was about 3 seconds long, then it stopped. At first I thought it was someone across the hall moving their beds or jumping off the walls. Good Lord, I thought, who the heck is jumping so early in the morning, then my second thought was an earthquake but I was exaggerating, at least I thought I was. That was cool, its nice to experience something new every know and then. That actually helped me realized that I'm not just living day after day, or going through the motions. I am living life.

By Your Love

You know what I was walking to class one day and I just felt the need to slow down and pray. Have you ever felt like that? Maybe your going to fast that you feel like you just got to slow down. We'll that's how I felt. I started praying in my head, then I came to wonder why us humans just want more of everything we get. We aren't satisfied with anything, I know I'm not. At the same time I am grateful for everything I have. But first of all, what makes us come to that thought? It is the Love of God. I think that we all know that God's love has made us to be who we are now.
Since I have been here I have been so grateful for what God has given me, with my education and a great chance to serve him. I know that it was only by the graces of God that made me who I am now, and where I am today. Everyday I praise God and thank him, because I know it was by miracle that everything worked out. I wrote this song when I was playing the guitar that same day, It helps me remember that God knows exactly what he is doing with us, some times we might forget that he is shaping us to be better people. Playing this song, I am reminded that everything happens for a reason, and that wherever we are in our lives would not be possible without God. Here is the Song :)

By your love, we are made new
By your Grace, we are drawn to You
Let Glory Fall, on you who made us all
Honor and praise, to you God we raise

Each and everyday I am drawn to you
Your love and mercy fall, it all surrounds
Living this life, and doing what you chose
I still seem to wonder if its around
Each and everyday its always me that you impress
You leave me searching, for love that cant be found
Draw me close to you lord, It's my soul that i'll undress
Everywhere I stand, Everywhere I go, I'll Know that...

Now is where I Stand, open to your hands
Living day to day, knowing that its all part of your plan
The Love you set before me, makes me hunger and thirst
The grace you implant in me, makes me praise and shout
Where I am now, would be nothing without the life you bring
Where I am now, just makes me want to lift me hands and sing!
I know why I am here. I know how you got my ear...

Lift my voice and sing, cause we are loved
Jump, praise and shout, cause our God Reigns
Let glory fall, on you who made us all
Honor and praise, to you God we raise!

Heavy Heart is now Light

Today I went to confession before student mass. I felt like I needed to go, because I felt so heavy, everywhere I went I felt like everything I did was heavy. when I would walk up the stairs to get to class. I felt Heavy and I couldn't make steps. The books I picked up seemed heavy. I became out of breathe, and tired, I felt almost like I was carrying a weight on my shoulders that is unbearable, like I was carrying a cross or something with sins and acts I have committed.
After confession, I felt very relieved, I felt like this path I am walking has been made so much easier and with so much more guidance. For my penance, I was asked to pray for a change of heart, soul and mind. So I can find a deeper calling to God's will for me. I think I should write another song from it:

Change my heart O lord.
let it be lifted

Change my Soul O lord.
let it be renewed

Change my Mind, O lord
let it Glory in You

A Reminder of My Service

Today I was looking through some of my pictures on facebook from my senior year and this one caught my eye. I was reminded of my service to others. This woman Joyce, really helped me see that we are the image of Christ no matter who we are, no matter how we look, what we wear, if we use a wheelchair or not. I went on a mission trip to help paint and fix this woman's house. During the trip, I had an exorbitant desire to serve. I just started working as fast as I could, It was almost with a passion and with a cause because I knew what I was gonna get out of it. When I look back to it, it sort of brings tears to my eyes just know that Me, a sinner, a person who doesn't deserve the graces of God, had done this for a woman who uses a oxygen tank to breathe, I'm reminded of my call to serve, our call to serve the people of Christ. With that we remember the words of Christ,"whatever you do for the least of my people you have done for me."

Check This Video Out

I took small clips of my uncle "ordering" while we were on vacation a few years back.So I gathered all the clips are made a short video out of it, because I want to remember this one for ever. It's Hilarious every time I watch it. Check it out It's Funny...

In The Quiet

Inside the Abbey Chapel is beautiful stain glass windows that depict certain images from the bible. Theses pictures are the focus of most tour groups. It was built in 1942 and has imported brick from German is what I was told. It's a nice place to sit in the quiet and just pray and talk to Christ who did everything for us. There's silence, and the tile floors help cool the place, the altar is big and is under a crucifix that catches the eye. On the sides are where the monks sit during mass, or Liturgy of the Hours. This church has been the center of the campus of SGU for me. attending daily mass and saying the rosary everyday. My faith is growing by silence just how it is suppose to.

You Illuminate

The One the thing to remember as we are going through our days is that Jesus Christ is present everywhere. All we have to do is look, and notice what he has set before us. These past few months has been something really special to me, not only because I have been tested so many times but because these trials that come bring joy. Thank God that I have finally noticed whats been going on. Everytime I feel empty, Something tells me I'm full, full of joy, full of happiness, all I have to do is search for it. The fact of the matter is, is that Christ never leaves us, he always shines brighter than any trial we are facing and it's him we should turn to. As I noticed this that seems so far but so close I have come to write a song about it. The moral of the Song comes to those who see everything the way Christ would see them. Here is the song...

From the Moment I wake up
To the moment I go to sleep
Your love surrounds me, it covers me
It's everywhere I go to be

From the moment of sun's first light
To the moment of moonlight's final cry
You are there Within, to help make things right
You are there within, The Apple of Every eye

Stain my skin by loves bright sun,
illuminate on me your heat of newborn love.
So real is your touch,
So Divine is this blush

Chorus
Lord, you Illuminate
Lord, you Illuminate,
I see you everyday,I'm walking your way
Cause you Illuminate,
Nothings left to say but You Illuminate.

My Reflection on Discernment

I was suppose to write an essay reflecting on my discernment of religious life within the Roman Catholic Church, so I typed it up and emailed it to Saint Gregory's. hopefully they will call me soon with the news if I am accepted or not. Well I thought It would be a good idea to post the essay on my blog so here it is:
To discern means to reflect and find the interior of yourself as the person God has set for you. To think beyond the average person and see what you know God would see. An Important factor in helping that phase of discernment takes a life of prayer, humility, faithfulness not only God but to others. Live a life of solitide, quietness and peace. I believe that putting yourself in a prayer ful environment always helps the process of discerning God’s will go a lot easier and a lot more fuller than what you would experience in a loud and busy surrounding.
My Name is Vincent Carrasco and I have been discerning my vocation to the priesthood for quite some time now. Everything that I have mentioned above, I have in some way or another experienced it to the extent that it has had a major effect on my Catholic faith and formation growth. My first few years in High School, I never really liked to say or think about myself going to the priesthood. In fact I don’t think anybody did. I told my self that If I did, I would only do it for praise and recognition, that was my excuse for not thinking about it. During those few years in High School I attended a youth group at my local church of St. Anthony’s called LifeTeen. These two hour classes every Wednesday and Sunday nights for 4 years really shaped me into being a better person. The retreats and conferences we attended brought me to really understand my calling and the path that I was to follow so much easier. My Junior year was very congested going on all sorts of trips, visiting the third world country of Honduras to build homes for homeless, Steubenville of the Rockies, a Leadership Conference at the University of Notre Dame and our end-of-the-year retreats. By the time it was all over the notion of becoming a priest was in my head. Little did I know I wasn’t leaving. At this time I had already experienced being faithful to others by serving them. I had this desire to serve that was like hunger or a burning flame that only desires more and more, I wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing so I did the one thing that helped my be satisfied, that was to serve more. When I left for my first semester in college that calling only became more and more brighter as my inner self. People would come up to me telling me that It looked to them as if I was glowing with happiness and joy covering my face, then they would ask, “Do you happen to be discerning the priesthood?” Not being ashamed I would answer back with a head held high, “Yes I am” I was happy, I was at peace to know that God was with me It felt so comforting and so new, there was nothing I could do but smile even more. Even When I see priests, they bring light and peace, and happiness to me. I feel like this is something that I was truly called to be. In College I was blessed with the opportunity of living in a two-story home that was walking distance from the Catholic Church. I was living by myself so I believed it was a much more easier and laid back environment for a more prayerful life. Rather than being in a house with a family of five in it, would make my prayer life full of distractions that exist. To discern a person has to have to live a life of humility, if somebody comes in with a bad attitude or let’s say negative the discerner receives feedback off of that and it creates a not so well prayer life. Same thing with school, where you have all these distractions and downsides of live that the world today is a professional at bringing people down. One thing I always had in my mind was the fact that if you look at life, the plants the morning sunrise and evening sunset, even the formation of our very own bodies in the womb. They all grow in silence, not in music or noise, silence. In that same way, we are called to live just as we were created in silence and in humility; because its through silence that brings prayer and meditation. At the same time, I was committed to a life of solitude and service by being a Core Member for the Church’s EDGE Jr. high kids. I gave talks and teachings that were even surprising to me. At the peak of it all, I was forced to move out and withdraw from school my discernment went down the drain from there. A few months later I received a call from the vocations director wanting to meet up, at that point I knew that God truly does follow through with what he does. Strange enough, for some reason that desire to do what I wanted was still inside me. The thought of being a priest still crossed my mind even when I had forgotten about it for three months. When I see priests, they bring light and peace, and happiness to me. I feel like this is something that I was truly called to be.
Months later I am still waiting for that single door to open so I can finally make the step that I know is a stepping stone from Christ. The thought of being a priest to once again serve the people of Faith is something I am really anticipating. Deep inside I know that I was created to serve, we all were, however to know that I have been giving the want to and the “gusto” to carry forth with this is something that I would not want to go to waste. Finally I would like to say that the process of discernment has been a breeze so far only because what I have learned and what I have gained through faith formation classes and all the retreats I have been on. Just to understand that Christ died for me on the cross is something that motivates and drives me to do what we are called to do, just like waves are driven to the shore I am the exact same. Being Catholic I know that Christ created us to be Holy, Its our obligation and its our calling. Saint Gregory’s Scholarship Committee, please help provide what I need to carry my cross, just as my savior did for me.

Saint Gregory's University

This past week I had a unique experience by visiting a Catholic University that I think maybe the one perfect for me. Saint Gregory's University is just about an hour east of Oklahoma City, In Shawnee. When I first drove up the "family circle drive" I was so astounded by how much this reminded of being so at peace, because it's been so long since I have experienced that peace. I noticed right away that here my everyday worries and troubles were burned and brought down to a sense of peace, right here at St. Greg's.
When I arranged a tour, I set it on a Thursday. It turned out that I was the only tour for the entire day, so I got tons of help and information that was really needed. I was so grateful, the facility members were all doing their normal things, all accepted me with open arms even if I had, for some odd reason made the decision to go to the Baptist College which was right down the street. I felt as if God had put everything in his hand, and was just holding it out to me to reach out and grab.
Hopefully, everything works out for me. Saint Gregory, Pray for Me.