Lead Through Love: Pre-retreat reflections

Tomorrow is the retreat that my friend and I have been working on for months. I thought that since we want tomorrow to be an uplifting and transformative experience, I better start some serious reflecting and praying on the retreat motto: Lead Through Love.

When I think about leading... I think about Jesus. When I think about Jesus... I think about love. When I think about love... I think about the cross. When I think about the cross... I think about Dawson. Dawson made me think about the cross in a new way, but let me set the stage a little bit. When I graduated in 2010 from Aquinas College with my B.A., I did what every college graduate dreams-- I got a job. The job I got was the job that every theology major probably expects: baby-sitting. We aim high in theology.

Advent/Christmas Reflections

God has given me a lot to think about this Advent. If there's one lesson that I'm in the process of
learning, it's patience. I'm not a patient person, and the past year has been a test of my patience, will, and obedience. Out of those three, the only thing I don't have a problem with is the will, but only my will. Luckily, we have a built in season to reflect on what patience, will, and obedience really mean. The best example? Mary.

Stillness

There's something about a sunset over the water that just makes me want to be still.

never alone...

I’m never sure why this always amazes me, but I am constantly amazed at how God works in my life. What’s great is that I don’t have to look for the lighting strikes and thunder claps to know God is in my life. God is great because God works in more subtle ways. God works through the people that I interact with and most times it is in the off handed comments where I feel God the most. I love having real life conversations because that is where God is: in real life. Real life is messy. We are not perfect. We don’t always feel great about ourselves or life. Ignore me if I’m wrong, but we rarely feel like we truly belong. I can honestly say that I don’t wake up every day thinking: I’m never alone!

How can we spread happiness?

This was a question posed to me by one of the high school students in the parish youth ministry program. I have to admit, I had some trouble finding an answer, but that's why I like to ask around and see what other people say. Katy said, "Recognizing that you're happy thanks to the joy that only comes from God and being willing to spread that joy by being his light." This was the inspiration for the following response:

Resolutions 2013

New year, new resolutions. I don't know if I am alone in this, but whenever I make resolutions, they usually last one, two, maybe three months and then they fall to the wayside. Life gets in the way, or maybe it's just hard to keep them. This year my resolution is to find Happiness in the little things and not get so stressed out. This seems vague and challenging, but to quote Barney Stinson: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Deserves... not demands...

Last week, after music rehearsal for Sunday's Mass I mentioned that the Solemnity of Christ the King is my favorite day in the liturgical year besides the obvious Christmas and Easter. My fellow musicians asked me why and my initial response was because this is the day that we celebrate Christ as King, we give him the praise that he rightly deserves. After I made my theology need comment I walked out and continued to think about this.

After further reflection, I'm realizing why I really like this day, it's not all the pomp and circumstance that our Savior deserves, but I love it because he doesn't ask for it. When he emptied himself to come to earth from his throne in heaven, he didn't do it expecting praise and glory, but rather he did it out of love.
Maybe I like this day so much because I know it's a day where liturgically and musically we get to praise Christ for his kingship and we get to give him honor that he deserves.

But it doesn't end here.

Let your light shine!!

“Know yourselves… He who knows himself knows God… He who knows himself knows all men… He who can love himself, loves all men…” St. Antony

This is a thought that has always spoken to me: Know yourself. It’s nothing new—in fact it’s not even specifically Christian, but it’s a universal truth. Antony, however, makes this claim extend beyond the individual and extends it into the communal. He hits on three points: know self, know God, know others. This is seemingly obvious, but what is less obvious is how all these things can be connect through self-knowledge. I would think that it is simultaneously an interior and exterior knowledge. But how? And what does that mean?

It might be obvious that self-knowledge comes through an interior examination; of course we need to look within ourselves to know ourselves. It requires that we dig deep and acknowledge what we like and confront what we don’t. There’s no skating over our flaws when it comes to knowing ourselves. We love the light, but acknowledge the darkness. This is something that Antony knew well—we are made in the image and likeness of light – of God-  yet because of sin we have traces of darkness—not an opaque darkness, more of a shadow, a dimming. St. Teresa of Avila explains that our soul is an interior castle made out of the purest and finest crystal and at the center of our souls is where God dwells. From this center, from God, beams the brightest light. Yet some people live in a way that light is dimmed, the soul is covered so God’s true light cannot radiate outward from within. And you know when something in your life is amiss. You have a feeling that something is not quite right. This is when self-discovery begins—what in our lives is causing this light to be covered? Are we happy? Is it our hobbies, our actions, our relationship God (lack thereof?), our relationship with others, our relationship with ourselves? By asking these questions and taking a good look at what’s going on interiorly, we can begin to pin down why we act, outwardly, the way we do.