Reason number one: Julie, one of the girls I disciple, came with me on campus for a form of "bare handed evangelization". We decided to get lunch and sit with someone who was sitting alone. We grabbed food at the UC (their student union of sorts) and headed to the dining area. There she was - the girl we were going to sit with - at the first table. Her name was Brittney. We got to know her a little and then one of her friends joined us, too. Meet Kayla.
[Aside: Being a missionary, it's super easy to nonchalantly turn the conversation to Christ. All I have to do is ask what year they are or what they are studying and they turn it right back and ask me. I get to say something along the lines of, "Actually, I'm a missionary here!" Works every time. :)]
Brittney wasn't very interested in this piece of news, but Kayla was. She kept bringing the random conversation back to it by asking little questions. She was very interested in what I did and told me that she was Catholic and sometimes went to church at another parish in town. I invited them both to our ugly sweater/Christmas karaoke/gingerbread house making/white elephant party at the Catholic Campus Center on Thursday. Brittney works, but Kayla wants to come! She didn't want to show up alone, so we exchanged numbers and talked about meeting up sometime for coffee, too. Yay!
Reason numero dos: A girl randomly came up to me and a few students and asked if we were with BearCatholic. She said she wanted to get involved, but didn't know how. One of our students, Natalie, immediately started talking to her about our events and Bible studies and grabbed her contact info so they could stay in touch! The Holy Spirit truly is working in people all around us and they are searching for Him!
Reason three: No ballroom class. sad face.
This was the first Tuesday that I didn't spent two hours dancing! I don't know if I can explain how much I love this class or how much I've grown in my relationship with God through it. It's also been a great way for me to make contacts with students in the music/theater department. I need to be clear - I'm not actually IN the class. They were short 4 girls and two of my students are in the class, so they invited me! I showed up and the teacher was glad to have another girl and let me come every week even though I wasn't registered. That brings me to why I wasn't there this week. They have started testing. Two of the boys were injured over the course of the semester and dropped so they didn't need another girl for testing - especially since I didn't need to test for the class I wasn't actually in. ie the class is over for me.
I was sad to not be guaranteed two hours of dancing a week anymore, but also sad that I wasn't sure how I was going to keep in touch at all (and not be TOO creepy!) with the people I met in class.
But PRAISE JESUS! God is bigger than I. I ran into two of the students on campus - and they happened to be two that I had formed more of a relationship with. God grants us divine appointments when we ask for them. (and a lot of times even when we don't.)
Reason four: There was an exorcist in town. Yes, you read that right. Have you seen the movie The Rite? The priest whose life the book and movie were based on, Father Gary Thomas, came to our campus. We ended up getting a crowd of about 1500 people to come hear him talk about exorcism, satan, and Christ's victory over sin and death. He spend about half an hour speaking and then another two answering questions from the crowd.
I was excited that his talk was a similiar format to what we call a "Gospel presentation". Basically, when you are sharing the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with someone there are four main parts:
1. We are made for relationship - specifically relationship with God.
2. Because of sin, this relationship has been broken and the consequence of sin is death.
3. Christ came into the world and died once for all of us so that our relationship with the Father can be restored.
4. Do you want that relationship?
Fr. Thomas did just that - he shared the salvation found in Jesus and then offered all of those in attendance His gift of life through starting a relationship with Him.
Last, but not least... Reason 5: Some friends from out of town came for the talk and we were able to hang out with them afterward!
Now, after a typically long Wednesday, Guten Nacht! Buenas Noches!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Pirate Prayer and Giving Thanks
One of the things I'm doing with the girls I mentor is pray together. Every time we get together, we do something called Lectio Divina. This is latin for Divine Reading. Essentially, it's praying with scripture. We usually pray with the Gospel reading for daily Mass - since it's chosen specifically for that day by the church to speak to the people. I like to use lectio divina in a form I was taught called pirate prayer. :) It's called this because the acronym we use is ARRR. (Get it? ha.)
A. Acknowledge. First, we place ourselves in God's presence and acknowledge to ourselves the things distracting us, the emotions we're feeling, the things on our mind...
R. Relate. Second, we relate all of these things to God. We tell him honestly how we are... the state of our soul and heart, we can thank Him, praise Him, ask Him for help, tell Him our frustrations and joys.
R. Receive. Third, we allow Him to speak to us. This is where the scripture comes in - He speaks to us through His word. We read it and look for things that stick out to us. We take those parts and ask what God is trying to tell us through it.
R. Respond. Lastly, we apply what God spoke to us to our lives. How does it relate to what we told Him in step 2? What was revealed to us about ourselves? Do we need to change something in our lives? Do we need to just be aware/have a perspective change?
Today:
Acknowledging how I was I realized that these past couple of weeks I've struggled with the virtue of charity. I've struggled loving people in their weakness, where they're at, accepting them for who they are and the fact that I can't change them. I've struggled with being generous and patient. I gave this to God, let Him know who and what I was struggling with in particular and then went on:
Today's reading is Luke 17: 11-19
The first thing that stuck out was, "As they were going they were cleansed." Then, "Where are the other nine?" As I was thinking about these I realized that I can really relate to these lepers. They came to Jesus, as they were and asked Him for help. They trusted Him by going to show themselves to the high priest even though He didn't heal them right away - they weren't healed until they took that initial leap of faith to follow His lead. Then the second part... Where are they? They are where He told them to go. They were still doing His will. They are getting their reward for trusting Him. They are rejoicing in being healed, going back into society, to worship at the temple, to their families whom they have been separated from, to their jobs... they are going back to their lives! What a gift from God. But that one leper, the one who thanks Jesus, trusts that this gift will still be there if he takes ten minutes to thank Jesus for it. He (the one who doesn't know God) understands that something incredible has happened to him when the other nine are used to hearing stories of God's power and witnessing it in their own lives. They've grown accustomed to it and expect it. Got me thinking, what is my reward? Do I expect or feel entitled to what God gives me for trusting Him? Do I love Him for being God and creating and loving me or for the things He gives me? Do I stop to thank God for the little things He gives me every day or take them for granted? This brought to mind a quote I saw somewhere and didn't think much of at the time:
What if we woke up tomorrow with only the things we thanked God for today?
When I get frustrated with my teammates or annoyed at a student or upset when things don't go the way I want do I still thank God for them? Given the option, I'd still rather wake up with them in my life tomorrow, so why am I not still thanking God for them? They are His gift to me today. Gratitude feeds charity. Thanks for the kick in perspective, God! Needed that one.
A little insight into my life with students, my prayer, and my heart today. Hope you enjoy :)
A. Acknowledge. First, we place ourselves in God's presence and acknowledge to ourselves the things distracting us, the emotions we're feeling, the things on our mind...
R. Relate. Second, we relate all of these things to God. We tell him honestly how we are... the state of our soul and heart, we can thank Him, praise Him, ask Him for help, tell Him our frustrations and joys.
R. Receive. Third, we allow Him to speak to us. This is where the scripture comes in - He speaks to us through His word. We read it and look for things that stick out to us. We take those parts and ask what God is trying to tell us through it.
R. Respond. Lastly, we apply what God spoke to us to our lives. How does it relate to what we told Him in step 2? What was revealed to us about ourselves? Do we need to change something in our lives? Do we need to just be aware/have a perspective change?
Today:
Acknowledging how I was I realized that these past couple of weeks I've struggled with the virtue of charity. I've struggled loving people in their weakness, where they're at, accepting them for who they are and the fact that I can't change them. I've struggled with being generous and patient. I gave this to God, let Him know who and what I was struggling with in particular and then went on:
Today's reading is Luke 17: 11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."
The first thing that stuck out was, "As they were going they were cleansed." Then, "Where are the other nine?" As I was thinking about these I realized that I can really relate to these lepers. They came to Jesus, as they were and asked Him for help. They trusted Him by going to show themselves to the high priest even though He didn't heal them right away - they weren't healed until they took that initial leap of faith to follow His lead. Then the second part... Where are they? They are where He told them to go. They were still doing His will. They are getting their reward for trusting Him. They are rejoicing in being healed, going back into society, to worship at the temple, to their families whom they have been separated from, to their jobs... they are going back to their lives! What a gift from God. But that one leper, the one who thanks Jesus, trusts that this gift will still be there if he takes ten minutes to thank Jesus for it. He (the one who doesn't know God) understands that something incredible has happened to him when the other nine are used to hearing stories of God's power and witnessing it in their own lives. They've grown accustomed to it and expect it. Got me thinking, what is my reward? Do I expect or feel entitled to what God gives me for trusting Him? Do I love Him for being God and creating and loving me or for the things He gives me? Do I stop to thank God for the little things He gives me every day or take them for granted? This brought to mind a quote I saw somewhere and didn't think much of at the time:
What if we woke up tomorrow with only the things we thanked God for today?
When I get frustrated with my teammates or annoyed at a student or upset when things don't go the way I want do I still thank God for them? Given the option, I'd still rather wake up with them in my life tomorrow, so why am I not still thanking God for them? They are His gift to me today. Gratitude feeds charity. Thanks for the kick in perspective, God! Needed that one.
A little insight into my life with students, my prayer, and my heart today. Hope you enjoy :)
One Nation... under God
I'm sorry if you are extremely sick of election stuff... this is more about post election stuff. I promise to move on to other things after this, but as a missionary, the results of the election have been a major talking point in teaching students how to live a Catholic life.
My conversations have been a lot about why the church is against the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, why the HHS mandate is an attack on religious freedom, and some on the same-sex marriage issue.
There is one issue, though, that is starting to take over my current discussions:
Rendering unto Caesar.
["But it's OBAMA!?" Yes, I know... you can read my thoughts on that matter if you haven't already.]
Anyway... this is all coming up because of the astonishing piece of news that over 40 states have filed petitions to secede from the United States!
This is going to come out as an exhortation... forgive me in advance :)
This is OUR country! This is OUR government! We can't run. If we won't fight for America, who will? We need to fight for the goodness of our country and the principles it was founded on. We voted, as a country, and Obama was elected. We need to unite as a country - one country... if we are going to bring this whole country to the under God part. That means uniting behind Obama. Yes, certain things he stands for, we disagree with - I'm not saying we have to give in - just not give up! We need to fight for what we believe in and value. We need to fight him when he is unjust; we also need to work with him on the things he is willing to work with us on. Catholics were generally more democratic until the life issue came up - meaning the democratic party has a lot of good things that we as Catholics also need to be having a say in --- our Gospel is a Gospel of life AND social justice. We also care about the common good - which, luckily, (as long as we can't change Obama being in the white house) Obama is willing to work with us about. These areas are things we CAN make a difference in right now that DO need to be reformed.
"Be soldiers." These are the words of Pope Benedict. Soldiers don't leave the battle field. Soldiers don't watch from the sidelines. Soldiers stay and fight for what they believe in.
Yeah, 'Murica! :)
My conversations have been a lot about why the church is against the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, why the HHS mandate is an attack on religious freedom, and some on the same-sex marriage issue.
There is one issue, though, that is starting to take over my current discussions:
Rendering unto Caesar.
["But it's OBAMA!?" Yes, I know... you can read my thoughts on that matter if you haven't already.]
Anyway... this is all coming up because of the astonishing piece of news that over 40 states have filed petitions to secede from the United States!
This is going to come out as an exhortation... forgive me in advance :)
This is OUR country! This is OUR government! We can't run. If we won't fight for America, who will? We need to fight for the goodness of our country and the principles it was founded on. We voted, as a country, and Obama was elected. We need to unite as a country - one country... if we are going to bring this whole country to the under God part. That means uniting behind Obama. Yes, certain things he stands for, we disagree with - I'm not saying we have to give in - just not give up! We need to fight for what we believe in and value. We need to fight him when he is unjust; we also need to work with him on the things he is willing to work with us on. Catholics were generally more democratic until the life issue came up - meaning the democratic party has a lot of good things that we as Catholics also need to be having a say in --- our Gospel is a Gospel of life AND social justice. We also care about the common good - which, luckily, (as long as we can't change Obama being in the white house) Obama is willing to work with us about. These areas are things we CAN make a difference in right now that DO need to be reformed.
"Be soldiers." These are the words of Pope Benedict. Soldiers don't leave the battle field. Soldiers don't watch from the sidelines. Soldiers stay and fight for what they believe in.
Yeah, 'Murica! :)
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
... and the Election (FOR SOULS!)
Obama.
I'm not upset Obama was re-elected.
I didn't vote for him. I don't agree with a lot of what he stands for.
I DO, however, know our God.
The biggest disappointment I had was watching all of the Christians on my facebook feed give in to despair. "Who wants to move with me to (insert country that isn't the USA)?!" "The mayans were right, the end of the world will be in Dec 2012!" "How stupid are people that we re-elected Obama?!" "There goes religious freedom and protecting life. out the window. done deal."
Come on! Y'all are the CHRISTIANS! We don't fear. We don't worry. We don't complain about what God gives us - good or bad, comfort or suffering. We trust. We love. We have HOPE. We take the situation we're given and make the most of it and have joy in Jesus Christ. We don't need to agree with them, but we need to show respect and honor to every child of God.
Anyway, not the point of this blog post.
The point is, I'm not surprised that God allowed Obama to have another 4 years with us. Look at what has happened in these last 4 years within the church! As a church, we've become more united, we've been forced to know what we believe and why, we've been standing up for the things we value, we've been obligated to explain our beliefs and share them with the world, we've been praying and fasting, we've been trusting in God...
We've been actually acting like Christians.
I think another blog I read this morning put it really well:
If it takes Obama being in office to make Christians act like Christians, bring it on.
I'm not upset Obama was re-elected.
I didn't vote for him. I don't agree with a lot of what he stands for.
I DO, however, know our God.
The biggest disappointment I had was watching all of the Christians on my facebook feed give in to despair. "Who wants to move with me to (insert country that isn't the USA)?!" "The mayans were right, the end of the world will be in Dec 2012!" "How stupid are people that we re-elected Obama?!" "There goes religious freedom and protecting life. out the window. done deal."
Come on! Y'all are the CHRISTIANS! We don't fear. We don't worry. We don't complain about what God gives us - good or bad, comfort or suffering. We trust. We love. We have HOPE. We take the situation we're given and make the most of it and have joy in Jesus Christ. We don't need to agree with them, but we need to show respect and honor to every child of God.
Anyway, not the point of this blog post.
The point is, I'm not surprised that God allowed Obama to have another 4 years with us. Look at what has happened in these last 4 years within the church! As a church, we've become more united, we've been forced to know what we believe and why, we've been standing up for the things we value, we've been obligated to explain our beliefs and share them with the world, we've been praying and fasting, we've been trusting in God...
We've been actually acting like Christians.
I think another blog I read this morning put it really well:
One “positive” thing you can say about Obama is that he’s done more to unite the Catholic Church in America than anyone in the past 50 years. He got every Catholic bishop to stand against him. He also did a lot to unite the Christian Church—remember Mike Huckabee saying, “Today, I’m Catholic!” Heck, he even got evangelical Christians to back a Mormon for president.
If we had woken up this morning with the headline, “Romney is the President,” we might have gone back to sleep feeling secure in one nation under God. We could be thankful that this HHS nonsense is over and we can go back to our lives. We could be hopeful that abortions would be reduced thanks to government intervention. That’s how I hoped to start the day.
But God does not want us asleep. He wants us awake. He wants us to do the same thing we’ve been doing: pray, work, and fast for our country.
If we thought we could wake up and feel safe about these issues because Romney got elected then we’d be as foolish as those on the other side of these issues who think Obama is the “savior.” We can’t depend on the government for our spiritual “welfare.” We’ve got to go out and proclaim God’s truth with our lips and share His love from our hearts.God is bigger than an election - He is about winning hearts and saving souls. I'd like to take a moment to remind you that Obama isn't our enemy. Satan is our enemy. Satan wants souls. This war we're in is a war for souls. Satan wants Obama's soul. We are fighting to win souls that are victims of satan. Obama is a victim. He is one of the souls we are fighting FOR, not AGAINST.
If it takes Obama being in office to make Christians act like Christians, bring it on.
Reflection...
Yesterday, I took a day of reflection.
As a missionary, I am so blessed to be able to take a day once a month for reflection and recollection!! This means that I take a day off to spend all day in prayer (as in fasting and silence and hours of adoration) to reflect on my life and relationship with God.
In discipleship with my girls I ask them the same question every week: "How is your soul?" I love this question. It's the same as asking how someone is doing, but it brings their relationship with God into the conversation. We talk about their desires, their struggles, their values, the state of their soul and all of the things that affect it. This was essentially what I was asking myself and Jesus yesterday... How is my soul? How is my heart? How am I doing keeping God at the center of my life? Am I making this mission about HIM or about ME?
For those of you that have been reading my blog, I've been talking a lot about being busy and needing to reorder my life and priorities and being tired and how hard it's been to choose joy lately. You've also maybe noticed that I haven't updated in about 2 weeks. Two weeks ago, I got pretty sick. I was out of commission on and off for about a week. This is something that was extremely hard for me to deal with - I felt helpless. All I could do was lay in bed, sleep, drink some tea, sleep some more, answer a few emails, sleep some more... you get the idea. I couldn't do my bible studies, I couldn't get up for prayer in the morning, I couldn't meet wth my students for discipleship, I couldn't go out on campus and meet students... and all of this was made more frustrating because I was the one "in charge" for the week while our team director was in Rome. Power Hour didn't happen, women's night ended up just being a movie since I couldn't give the talk, etc... needless to say, I felt a little like a failure when Kelley came back and I had to recount all of this to her when she got back and asked how all of it went.
During prayer, I was praying with scripture and stopped to mull over for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be. What is my treasure? Is my treasure really God alone? Am I putting things above God in my heart? Not money, not worldly success, not what people think of me... Ah, yes. There was something. My idea of being "good", my plan for my holiness, reaching my expectations for myself. ME. I was putting more importance on what I needed to do to be a good daughter of God than the fact that I am a daughter of God.
So all this talk about busyness and such? Obviously I knew I needed to do something, but I hadn't. God kept tapping on my shoulder and showing me it wasn't good... and still I didn't. So what did He do? He slowed me down Himself. He let me get sick and stay in bed for most of a week. He allowed me the chance to be weak. He allowed me to see what was truly important. He allowed me the chance to not put me in the equation for what was done on campus that week. He allowed me to refocus on Him. He allowed me to trust Him and that He would be the salvation for the students at UNC. He gave me permission to have fun, to spread His truth in love and joy, to share His greatness through my own weakness.
God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong. - 1 Cor 1:27
God chose the foolish and the weak to be the ones He uses. If I want Him to use me, and make me perfectly into who He created me to be, I must allow that I am foolish and weak. AND I must give myself permission to be silly and weak in the eyes of the world (and myself!).
Thought to leave you with:
Let us think for a moment about the concept of vacation. We need to get away, relax, rest, enjoy life a little... so we go on vacation. Our lives have become so unlivable that we need to escape from them.
Living a life that takes time to enjoy spending time with our family instead of working long hours, tithing instead of giving ourselves a little more comfort, having true Christian values in America... looks foolish to our culture. We look weak. We look stupid. It looks inefficient and like we're not reaching our full potential or making as much money as we could. But I'll guarantee our lives are more livable. And that God blesses us with what we need.
As a missionary, I am so blessed to be able to take a day once a month for reflection and recollection!! This means that I take a day off to spend all day in prayer (as in fasting and silence and hours of adoration) to reflect on my life and relationship with God.
In discipleship with my girls I ask them the same question every week: "How is your soul?" I love this question. It's the same as asking how someone is doing, but it brings their relationship with God into the conversation. We talk about their desires, their struggles, their values, the state of their soul and all of the things that affect it. This was essentially what I was asking myself and Jesus yesterday... How is my soul? How is my heart? How am I doing keeping God at the center of my life? Am I making this mission about HIM or about ME?
For those of you that have been reading my blog, I've been talking a lot about being busy and needing to reorder my life and priorities and being tired and how hard it's been to choose joy lately. You've also maybe noticed that I haven't updated in about 2 weeks. Two weeks ago, I got pretty sick. I was out of commission on and off for about a week. This is something that was extremely hard for me to deal with - I felt helpless. All I could do was lay in bed, sleep, drink some tea, sleep some more, answer a few emails, sleep some more... you get the idea. I couldn't do my bible studies, I couldn't get up for prayer in the morning, I couldn't meet wth my students for discipleship, I couldn't go out on campus and meet students... and all of this was made more frustrating because I was the one "in charge" for the week while our team director was in Rome. Power Hour didn't happen, women's night ended up just being a movie since I couldn't give the talk, etc... needless to say, I felt a little like a failure when Kelley came back and I had to recount all of this to her when she got back and asked how all of it went.
During prayer, I was praying with scripture and stopped to mull over for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be. What is my treasure? Is my treasure really God alone? Am I putting things above God in my heart? Not money, not worldly success, not what people think of me... Ah, yes. There was something. My idea of being "good", my plan for my holiness, reaching my expectations for myself. ME. I was putting more importance on what I needed to do to be a good daughter of God than the fact that I am a daughter of God.
So all this talk about busyness and such? Obviously I knew I needed to do something, but I hadn't. God kept tapping on my shoulder and showing me it wasn't good... and still I didn't. So what did He do? He slowed me down Himself. He let me get sick and stay in bed for most of a week. He allowed me the chance to be weak. He allowed me to see what was truly important. He allowed me the chance to not put me in the equation for what was done on campus that week. He allowed me to refocus on Him. He allowed me to trust Him and that He would be the salvation for the students at UNC. He gave me permission to have fun, to spread His truth in love and joy, to share His greatness through my own weakness.
God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong. - 1 Cor 1:27
God chose the foolish and the weak to be the ones He uses. If I want Him to use me, and make me perfectly into who He created me to be, I must allow that I am foolish and weak. AND I must give myself permission to be silly and weak in the eyes of the world (and myself!).
Thought to leave you with:
Let us think for a moment about the concept of vacation. We need to get away, relax, rest, enjoy life a little... so we go on vacation. Our lives have become so unlivable that we need to escape from them.
Living a life that takes time to enjoy spending time with our family instead of working long hours, tithing instead of giving ourselves a little more comfort, having true Christian values in America... looks foolish to our culture. We look weak. We look stupid. It looks inefficient and like we're not reaching our full potential or making as much money as we could. But I'll guarantee our lives are more livable. And that God blesses us with what we need.
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