Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

With the help of a friend, it was brought to my attention how much I have failed to give God all of me. All He wants is my love. This is not just the “I go to Mass every Sunday because I have to” or the “I pray my daily prayers because it is part of my routine but I am really just going through the motions” kind of love. No, this is the kind of love where I go to adoration and sit with Him in silence, not because I am expecting anything out of it or because I expect to feel a certain way after I have prayed. This is the kind of love where I sit and just be in the presence of God because I love Him. I should not expect to always gain some feeling, some reward, or some sort of accomplishment from the time I give to Him.

A love such as this takes time and discipline but mostly an open heart. It won’t be easy. There will be times when we feel empty and prayer is the last thing we want to do. It may not feel like God is even there, but He is. It is in these times that we show God our faith, our devotion to Him, and our willingness to give of our time in order to gain something far greater than we can fathom. That is the love God wants. That is the love God expects from each and every one of us. He wants all of you. He wants you to pray, to read the scriptures, and to receive the sacraments. Through these we gain tremendous amounts of blessings and grace. When our focus is prayer everything else falls into place.

He has given each of us an incredible gift of love through His precious son Jesus. Through our Redeemer, we are able to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. But we cannot just expect to enter heaven without effort, without trying to give back to God as much as we are capable of in return. One way to give back is to love others, and to help others cultivate a relationship with God just like the disciples did.

Upon returning from World Youth Day, I took away the conviction to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” as Matthew 28:19 says. We can often take our Catholic faith for granted. But as Pope Francis said, he needs us. The Catholic Church needs every one of us. We must live out our faith, not just by words, but through our actions. Pope Francis said, “Go, serve, and don’t be afraid.” I have taken that to heart. I often get scared of putting myself out there. Scared of what others will think, scared of not saying the right thing, and scared of backlash from others. But in all my fears, I forget that God is always there; He never leaves. And by praying with Him out of perfect love, I can gain the confidence and ability to overcome all that stands in the way.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:18-19

Infinitely impossible

John 15:16 -
 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 

How beautiful His word is. Yesterday I was talking with a friend "Bob" who seemed as though he was up against impossible odds in achieving his dream. He made the comment that the chances of him succeeding kept getting smaller with every small obstacle. Then I got the urge to tell Bob something to comfort him but I was a at a total loss as to what I should say. So I just kinda said my own little quick prayer and started talking hoping God would know what to say. He did. 

This is some of what I remember saying:

Bob do you have any idea the likelihood of you ever coming into existence? Think about all of the hundreds of generations that came before you. Now consider that each month during the few days of ovulation, there is a 25% chance of a woman becoming a mother. Bob do you understand the implications of that fact. It would be more likely for you to win the lottery ten times in a row than for you to come into being!  It is 100% impossible that you are even here now. The chances of you ever taking your first breath were infinitely improbable.  Yet here you stand. Well, do you think that maybe God doesn't give a hoot about how impossible something seems? 

Our God is not confined by statistics or chances. He breathes the impossible into life everyday! So Bob I charge you with this; leave your dreams in His miraculous hands. And if you are faithful to His will and prayerful for your goal He will reward you in ways you will only be able to describe as impossible.  

Leave it at the Cross

World youth day was an amazing experience. One I will never forget. The preparation, fundraising, friendships, experiences, traveling, churches, and people, everything! I will forever hold onto the memories and friendships this trip has given me. There are plenty of stories I could tell you all about, and probably some I should keep to myself... but there are also many moments that were indescribable. There were some moments that words just can't do justice. But I do have a lot of moments I want to share and so picking one to talk about was really tough. The people I met, the sessions, the closing Mass, the universal church, the Pope, I could blog about all of these. But the thing that impacted me the most at World Youth Day was the Cross. 

I've always had a difficult time putting together in my head that the Jesus I talk to everyday is the same Jesus that died on the Cross for me. In my eyes its a strange problem to have and I didn't know why I couldn't connect with the Cross like other people did.  So many people really cling to the Cross and connect to Jesus through it. I wanted that. Before WYD, I prayed that I would understand the Cross better. I said this prayer so early before WYD that I forgot about it once I got there. 

On Friday night Pope Francis led us in Stations of the Cross and it was through those stations that God answered my prayer. Stations were pretty distracting. Volunteers were moving about, people were talking, and even trading items with us. It wasn't the most reverent stations I've ever been too but at the same time it almost was. I can't describe it, it must have been one of those moments where God gives you the grace to understand. There were so many reasons that I wouldn't haven been able to take anything from the experience, but God remembered my prayer, even though at this point I had still forgotten it myself! I can't explain it, but from then on I understood the passion so much more. After praying the stations I felt like I almost witnessed the passion firsthand. I felt a personal connection to His passion and Cross in a way I hadn't before. I better understood what Jesus went through for me. The Cross had touched my heart. Pope Francis then said "No one can approach and touch the Cross of Jesus without leaving something of himself or herself there, and without bringing something of the Cross of Jesus into his or her life." He then asked us to answer three important questions before we left World Youth Day. He asked, "What have you left on the Cross? What has the Cross of Jesus left for you, in each one of you? Finally, what does the Cross teach us?"

Pope Francis then went deeper into the three questions. He said that "With Christ crucified, evil, suffering, and death do not have the last word, because he gives us hope and life: he has transformed the Cross from being an instrument of hate, defeat and death to being a sign of love, victory, triumph and life." I think that sounds pretty awesome. Nothing in my life can be labeled as something that can't be changed for the better. Because if Jesus can transform the cross, He can transform the crosses little and big in my own life. He can transform my fear to courage, my sins to forgiveness, my worldly ways of thinking into heavenly ways. But to pick up this new transformation I must first place it at the Cross and leave it there. And then remember to pick up what the Cross has given me back in exchange. In Brazil I left fear at the Cross and I received courage. Fear of what others think of me was really plaguing me and when Pope Francis asked his first question, "What are you going to leave on the Cross?", I knew immediately that I didn't want fear anymore. Once I truly left fear at the Cross, I had so much more courage. I really recommend everyone to do this and believe it! Jesus already died on the Cross, place your problems on the Cross, stop carrying them around and give them to Jesus!

I wear my cross that I was given at WYD everyday now. It's a constant reminder to me of what I left behind and what I received. It reminds me of what Jesus did for me at Calvary. And it reminds me of Pope Francis' words to us, "There is no cross, big or small, in our life, which The Lord does not share with us." The Cross teaches me that beautiful things can come out of suffering and that I am never alone in that suffering.

I'm placing the link to Pope Francis' speech at the bottom of this page. I encourage you to read it and answer his questions on your own after praying about it. What are you going to leave at the Cross? What is the Cross giving you? What does the Cross teach you? 


Pope Francis' Stations of the Cross Speech

The Pope's Words from August 4th's Angelus in Rome

I can't think of a better way of putting my thanks and hope for those I met and led at World Youth Day. These are the words from our Holy Father this morning:

I also want to emphasize my gratitude, my deep gratitude, to the Brazilian people. A great people, the people of Brazil, a people of great heart. I won’t forget their warm welcome, their greeting, their affectionate gaze, so much joy! They are a generous people. I ask the Lord to bless them greatly.
I want to ask you to pray with me, that the young people that participated in World Youth Day will be able to translate this experience into their daily journey, in their everyday conduct; and that they will be able to translate it in the most important choices of their life, responding to the personal call of the Lord. Today in the liturgy the provocative words of Qoheleth resonate: “Vanity of vanities . . . all things are vanity” (Ecc. 1, 2). Young people are particularly sensitive to the emptiness of meaning and values that surrounds them. And they, unfortunately, pay the consequences. On the other hand, the encounter with the living Jesus, in the great family that is the Church, fills the heart with joy, because it fills it with true life, a profound goodness that does not pass away or decay: we have seen this in the faces of the youths in Rio. But this experience must face the daily vanity, the poison of emptiness that insinuates itself into our society based on profit and having [things], that deludes young people with consumerism. The Gospel of this Sunday reminds us of the absurdity of basing their happiness on ‘having’. “The rich man says to himself: ‘My soul, you have many good things stored up . . . rest, eat, drink, be merry!’ But God says to him: ‘You fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’” (cf. Lk 12, 19-20). Dear brothers and sisters, true wealth is the love of God, shared with the brothers. That love that comes from God and makes us share among ourselves, and makes us help one another. He who experiences this does not fear death, and receives peace of heart. Let us entrust this intention, the intention of receiving the love of God and sharing it with our brothers, to the Virgin Mary.