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:

Does God test us?

Original image URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aftab/4224575176/
Title: Hope

God does not test us in the sense that he wants to see whether we pass or fail, whether our faith is strong or not. Do we encounter tests in our faith throughout our lives? Oh, absolutely. However, these tests are tests that life gives us, not God, and they allow us to experience the strength of our faith.

A Theme for Music, a Theme for Life

Yup... Those are my brothers.

I am blessed to have two brothers who know me very well, and each gave me iTunes gift cards for Christmas (Jonny also gave me Rickle’s Pickles, but I think they deserve a post all to themselves). I was a little slow redeeming those cards, but after I started purchasing my music, I realized that there is definitely a theme to the songs I purchased. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is more than just a theme that runs through my music, but it’s a theme that runs through my life: HOPE.

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!

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.

Give Thanks

Yesterday I attended the funeral of an 18 year old young woman. I have to say I was shocked when I heard that she had passed as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident. I was even more confused as to why someone with such a bright future and such a loving family would be taken away from this earth so suddenly. I was confused, but my confusion no doubt could not compare to that of the family. However, the family amazed me. Yes, there was the confusion and sadness that always accompanies the death of a loved one, especially one so young, but what really struck me was the unwavering faith that this family clung to in this time of grief and sadness.

I was not the only who picked up this amazing example of faith. The celebrant of the funeral mass also picked up on it. In his homily he quoted his grandmother and the words she told him at a funeral he attended when he was young. She said, “Jimmy, thank God for your faith. Thank God for your family. Thank God for your friends.”

In those moments of grief or suffering it is sometimes hard to be thankful. This family was an example of genuine gratitude to all their family members, to their friends, and to the community who supported them in prayer and presence. But most of all they stood solid in their faith. In those moments when we think that we may never feel happy again or that the grief is just too much, we have to cling to our faith. It is our rock, our stronghold.

Be thankful for your faith, and the best way to do that is to turn every moment into a moment for prayer and thanksgiving. Even those moments when it’s hard to see exactly what it is to be thankful for. Give thanks for the fact that God never leaves you in those moments of suffering. Or give thanks to God that Jesus knows what it’s like to suffer and know that he feels your pain. Give thanks for the angels and saints who are more than willing to pray for you.

There’s plenty to be thankful for even in the bleakest of situations. Just remember: “Thank God for your faith. Thank God for your family. Thank God for your friends.”