True definition of Love

Jn 19:16-30 "So they took Jesus, 17 and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha.
18There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews."
20Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews.'"
22Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.
24So they said to one another, "Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be," in order that the passage of scripture might be fulfilled (that says): "They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots." This is what the soldiers did.
25Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.
26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
27Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
28After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst."
29There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.
30When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit."

What kind of day will I have today?

I received an email from my sister today that I think is worth thinking about. It is kind of cheesy, but if we put Christ into these thoughts, and other thoughts that come into play during our day I think it is actually a very very beautiful way to view our day here is the E-mail:

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the day ends. I have responsibilities to fulfill today. I am important. My job is to choose what kid of day I am going to have.

Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or... I can be thankful that the yard is getting watered for free.
Today I can grumble about my health or... I can rejoice that I am alive.
Today I can mourn my lack of friends or... I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships.
Today I can whine because I have to go to work or... I can shout for joy because I have a job to do.
Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do chores or... I can feel honored because life has provided shelter for my mind, body, and soul.

There is a saying that I have heard for a long time, I do not know who said it, or where it originated but I love what it says, "Today is a day the Lord hath made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it!" I think this directly applies to everyone of the things laid out in the E-mail. For that matter I think it applies to everything we do, everyday. If the weather is not what we want or what we expect to have, be glad! We have water for green grass that is beautiful to look at and play in. We have sunshine that is great for going outside and spending time together, or for going outside to just realize that simple things like that, which I for one, and a lot of others take for granted, are able to make our days beautiful. We do have our health, we are alive, and we are living in this world that God created and gave to us. Even if our health is not perfect, maybe we have some limitations that health brings, but so what? WE ARE ALIVE! We need to offer all of this up to God and thank him for all of these beautilful, yet simple gifts. On the subject of friends. If we feel that we do not have enough friends or that we need more we need to realize that we have a friend in Christ. He is always there, and we should turn to him on the good times and in the bad times to offer every part of our day upto him. We also need to thank him for the people that come into our lives and recognize every friendship we have and ever acquaintance we make is becuase of him and nothing else. Work can be boring, and it can end up being dreaded because of the things that it puts us through. But think of this, there are people who wake up in the morning not knowing when there next meal will be and have no clue how they are going to shelter and feed their families. We should be so lucky to have a job, no matter what is and we should take time to make a concerted effort at making every day there a joyful one, not only for us but for the people we encounter. I said this in a blog a while ago, but smile at someone today. A real genuine smile and see what their reaction is. When was the last time someone smiled at you? Not for doing something nice for them, or for smiling at them first, but just smiled because they are happy? Having a hard time remebering when that was? Maybe becuase it is such a rare thing in this world. Chores. Who likes them? I dont. I hate cleaning my apartment, I dont like spending time on things like making my bed, or sitting down and paying bills. But the reasons we do these things is because we have been given the place to live, the heat, the bed to sleep in, and the food to eat from God and we need to do that as a way to show our appreciation and respect for the gift God gave us. I think this world could be such a more wonderful place if we could just focus in on all of this. I know its hard. Im not saying that I do this all the time, or that I'm doing this and you should too because I'm tired of being the only one. I'm saying it as a plead for all of us to work as a team, and build up this world to a loveing, caring and happy place that God intended for it to be. Take into consideration the things you do today and realize they are gifts from God. Thank him for the gifts he gives you.

Technology: The good, the bad, and the evil

I was thinking today about how much we depend on technology. We use it every single day, no matter what. With cell phones and computers being the main means of communication, have we lost the value of actual human, face to face communication? I was thinking about my interactions with people, and then I was thinking about how I communicate online. It seems that for me at least, it is easier to express my feelings and say what I want to say hiding behind my monitor, rather than saying it to someone in person. I dont know if this goes for anyone else out there, but I noticed it in my life. Also, Computers are the main way we communicate, what happens if we loose our computers for a day? Lets say the World Wide Web just all of a sudden stops for a day. What would you do? Would you be able to function? I wonder what would happen. I know I would have a hard time, I wouldnt be able to check my E-mail box which is always filled with the same, non important junk, I wouldnt be able to watch videos on YouTube. I would probably have to get off of my butt and go do something. Wow. What a dilema. I think that technology serves as a good thing in some cases, but overall I think this world has become way to reliant on it. I think that we need to devolpe communication skills again, and we need to learn how to interact with other people! I would like to see what others thoughts on this are, so please, feel free to comment, and voice your opinion.

Congratulations

I would just like to congradulate my Father on receiving Confirmation and First Holy Communion this evening. I am so proud, not only as his son, but as his sponsor to see how much he has grown, and see how much his life has changed after he let Christ into it. Big up's Dad. This man has come through a lot. I truly have just seen one of my prayers answered to its fullest extent. Thank you very much Lord for granting not only me, but my Father with the wonderful gift of yourself. I ask only one thing tonight. May the Lord's blessings be upon everyone who was confirmed and brought into full Communion with the Church tonight, I ask that they act as beacons shining through the darkness of this world and bring more and more people into the light of Christ. I love you Dad. I love you very much!

Confession and the loss of fingernails

I would like to apologize to all of my faithful readers. The millions of you out there who's definition of a complete day hinges solely upon the reading of my blog. I'm sorry that I havent posted in a few days I have had a lot of things going on and unfortunately this was pushed to the back burner. But now to the good news! I am back. How do you like me now? Okay, onto something more important. I went to confession today, and while waiting in line I noticed I was nervous. I dont know what specifically was making me nervous, or what I was worried about but I was honestly nervous. I have been to confession many times before, so it was not something along the lines of not knowing what was going to happen when I got in there, or worrying about saying my act of contrition right. I added the fingernails thing in there becuase I unfortunatley have the disgusting habit of gnawing my fingers down to the second knuckle when nervous, well actually I kinda do it whenever it seems like the thing to do at the time. Back to the topic at hand (no pun intended). After noticing what I was feeling I started to try and think back to my last confession and see if I could remeber being nervous. The more I thought about it I realized that I actually get nervous before confession everytime I go. What am I nervous about? Is it the fact that in a few seconds im going to be telling my sins to another man? No, because I know when confessing im not talking to another man im talking to Christ truly present throught the Priest. Is it becuase im affraid of what the Priest will say? No because I know he is there to help me and isnt going to reach through the divider and shake me around for my sins. I wonder what scares me. I wonder if it has something to do with the connection of verbalizing your sins and the realization of God's mercy and seeing how much he loves us. I dont know. I was wondering if this happens to anyone else. If it does, what do you think scares you? What do you think is the nerve racking thing is that gets us? Let me know. Im very curious. Also please keep my father in your prayers as he is getting confirmed tonight and receiving his first Holy Communion. Just ask Christ to help him see all of the wonderful gifts he is receiving tonight. I thank you for your prayers...

Please pray for those who do not see Christ

I received this email after telling someone I have known for a while about my blog, no names because it is not important who it was, but please pray for them that they may one day come to a realization that Chirst and his church are not just "crutches" and that its not only good for people to help them "get through life", but that a Relationship with Christ is what will bring them true happiness and peace. Here is the E-mail:

Jon, don't take this too personally. In my opinion organized religion is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind. I am certainly not an Atheist, but history has proven to me religion is responsible for millions of deaths for centuries. Just look at the middle east today. I think it was in the 16th century where they would string you up for publicly saying the "world was round and not the center of the universe" (just an example).
Having said that, religion can be a good thing too. It's a great "crutch" for some, and very helpful to get through life.

Your blog has a fatal word, and that was "Christians" for something. Not interested.

I did not take this persoanlly, I did not put this on here to call someone out on what they beleive. The reason this is on here is because I want everyone who come across this blog to pray for this person. That is the only reason.

Why?

Why are we here? What is our purpose in life and what should we strive for? I'm sure this question, at some point has crossed your mind. A lot of people would answer this by saying that we are here to live life to its fullest! We only live once and we need to have as much fun as we can, make as much money as humaly possible, and we are to accumulate as much material wealth as possible. Well some parts of that are true to some extent. Living life to its fullest is one part that is true, but not in the sense that we need to do everything we are offered. Unfortunately a lot of people apply this to drugs. We need to try every drug we can just to see what its like. I disagree. The reason that drugs are not a good idea is because as the Cathechism says in #2291 "The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly theraputic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law" This may now lead you to asking, what is Moral law? Well if we look in the Cathechism at #1954 "Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and evil,the truth and the lie:

The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and
every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good
and forbidding him to sin.
... But this command of human reason would not have the force
of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher
reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted."

When we engage in the use of drugs, we are taking ourselves out of the state that God created us in. He created us with the will and the intelect to do right. We forfit the gift God gave us by doing drugs. God did not intend for us, his creation, to be in a state where we are not able to discifer between good and evil. He wants us to be able to choose right at all times. This to me does not only apply to the use of drugs, but the excessive use of alcohol too. Let me preface the rest of this by stating that I am not saying drinking is bad, what I'm saying is being drunk is bad. When we get drunk, just like getting high, we loose the ability to decide what is good and what is bad. We choose to do things that we would probably not even consider doing when sober. We as humans lead by example. People see others getting drunk and they see nothing wrong with it. If you do not beleive me, look at some of the statistics of fatal drunk driving accidents. Colorado State Patrol says this: "In 2003, 56.7 percent of DUI-caused crashes resulted in fatalities or injuries. When DUI was not the cause of the crash, only 29.6 percent resulted in fatalities or injuries."( http://csp.state.co.us/trafficsafety.cfm?Page_ID=4) When we are intoxicated, we put not only ourselves at risk, but everyone else around us. Alcohol is fine as long as it is used responsibly, and we drink in moderation. Going out to dinner and drinking a beer with friends, or drinking as a means of celebration is fine. Just remeber, MODERATION. The material and financial wealth that this world is so obsessed with is also a very very serious situation. Our main goal in life is to follow Christ, and to do his work. When Christ walked this earth, he was not actaully rolling around in a brand new Cadiallac Escalade with 22's. He walked, and anytime he was not walking he was more than likely riding a donkey. He was the king of this earth. When he entered this earth he did not come and present the qualities a king of that time possesed. He did not have a huge beautiful crown, or a huge castle to live in, he came humbly. He came as a regular man, and lived his life the way we are to live ours. We should take a look at our lives, and the way we lead them. Check and see if we are following Christ, or following this world and all of its possesions.

Well worth your time

Why do I always get the feeling that someone is watching me?

Have you ever wondered this? Well maybe the quickest and easiest answer to this question is, beacuse there is someone watching you. God watches over all humanity, he sees everything we do, he knows everything we think and guess what? He knows all of it beofore we do it! So I ask this, why is it that people walk around this world doing terrible things to others, and doing things in the dark behind peoples backs like no one can see them? Maybe it is a lack in faith and they do not beleive they have a Father in Heaven watching over them, or maybe they just dont care one way or another. What if the light of the world could pour out from us? What if at all times, we could be radiating Christ. as St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, use words when necessary". What a cool thought, that we could be preaching the Gospel of our Lord without even opening our mouths. It kind of makes you wonder how you are going about your buisness now doesnt it? Maybe there isnt just the Heavenly Father watching us, maybe it is our little brother or sister, son or daughter, neice or nephew etc... Maybe they are the ones who are looking up to us for guidance. Maybe they want to be just like us and emulate everything we do, and if living our faith is the biggest and most prominent thing we do, hopefully they will develope a stronger, deeper realtionship with God, and they will carry that into their lives. So maybe today, while your at work, at home with the kids, or just driving down the road, try and think about all of the people watching you. Think how you could act, or how you could treat them, to bring them joy. One more question. When was the last time you smiled at someoe you didnt know? Try it. Their response may surprise you.

Friends or foe's?

Has anyone ever noticed that the people closest to you are usually the first to turn on you, or criticize you? Like your best friend, of the same faith or not, who knows everything about you, knows how important your faith is to you and knows what you stand for and why? Then when you are doing what is right in certain situations, they give you a hard time, or they make fun of you for it. How many of those times is it because there is another friend there? Like they are trying to show off for that other person, even if it means turning on you. But when it is just you two, they have no problems with your beleifs, or the things you do because of them. Family members also have a tendency to do this. Maybe your parents brought you up as a Catholic because that is what their parents did, not because it was in your best interest. Maybe they have a very weak faith due to poor catachesis, or they see the church as being outdated or just a Christmas, and Easter event. Maybe when you try to do things to better your realtionship with Christ, or maybe ask to pray or go to Mass together they get defensive, or maybe just completely silly things come in between your realtionship with them and they dont even seem to care. When things like this happen, I beleive Christ is presenting us with a beautiful gift. He is giving us a chance to be a witness. Not only is it a gift, but he is asking us to do something for him. Stand up for him, bring his good news of salvation to all the ends of the earth, no matter if you start in your circle of friends, or in your own home. Just the chance to do something for Jesus is awesome. If in doing this, we suffer, either due to loss of friends or what have you, the sufferings we endure are great ways to build and strengthen our relationship with God. Offer those sufferings up, and unite them with the sufferings of Christ, and you will see the beauty in living your faith no matter what the cost.

Intro

The reason I titled my blog "wrestling with Christ" is because as young adults, and young Catholics particularly in this world, sometimes finding,developing, and living our faith can be kind of like a wrestling match. We go through trials and tribulations, we struggle to do good in this world and represent Christ in all of our day to day actions, and encounters. I think it is especially hard for teenagers and young people of this world to do this, with all of the peer pressures, and all of the junk the media feeds us it is hard to live out the Catholic faith. With this said, I would like to invite all to read, comment, or whatever you feel comfortable doing, so we can start to build a stronger populatoin of young Catholics. I will say this now, I'm no theologian, I'm no scholar, but I am a young Catholic, trying to live out my faith in this secualr world. I would love to hear the opinions and feelings of others like me and discuss the things that we face. So I invite you to check back and comment as much as possible.