God's love is shockingly good!

My friend and brother in Christ, Chad, who’s currently studying for the priesthood, sent me along this brief reflection from Hans von Balthasar, a Catholic theologian who lived 1905-1988:

"The first thing that must strike a non-Christian about the Christian's faith is that it obviously presumes far too much. It is too good to be true: the mystery of being, revealed as absolute love, condescending to wash his creatures' feet, and even their souls, taking upon himself all the confusion of guilt, all the God-directed hatred, all the accusations showered upon him with cudgels, all the disbelief that arrogantly covers up what he had revealed, all the mocking hostility that once and for all nailed down his inconceivable movement of self-abasement - in order to pardon his creature, before himself and the world."

I read this again today and I am so thankful for theologians like Balthasar that, in two sentences, can come close to capturing Jesus’ supreme love for humanity.

-snip-

And this was exactly the message of this past week’s Discovering Christ course. It focused on how Jesus came to reveal the love of God the Father. It was a good session for me – but I’ve heard it many times and it was time for a real-life lesson in His very personal love for me...

So I’m all excited to go camping on Saturday afternoon/evening – to meet up with my close friends out in Western MD for an evening and a day out in God’s creation.  My friend joined me as we attempted to rendezvous with them.  

Until my car broke down :(  Not cool at all. In fact standing on the side of Rt. 70 in the early evening in the summer sun – looking over an overheated car was anything but cool.  

We pray for Jesus to heal the car.  Nope. But provision does come:

1. My wife, coincidentally, is heading the same direction with a friend that evening. The moment I call, they pass us by... Go to a gas station, get antifreeze and deliver to us.
2. This ends up not working. My car doesn’t get healed...
3. Then a tow truck suddenly shows up as my wife pulls away to pick up another broken down car 50 yds behind me. We appeal to the guy to help, he calls the other customer (whose car had been out there for over a week), and asks if his car can be delayed so he can help us... We wait... Yes!  So we get an immediate tow.  I tell the tow driver He’s “answered prayer”
4. We show up at a local car shop – which closes at 6pm – it is 8:30pm – everything looks open though. I go up to the front, it is locked. A guy comes out and decides to help me – he is very gracious - and has me come in the side door to get everything settled... At which point I see a sign on the wall, “quote of the day, ‘with God nothing is impossible.’” Awesome :)
5. Rings me up, no problem, I tell the two car mechanics, they are “answered prayer” and the Lord is looking out for me
6. Sunday, I find out, my car might be shot... Though I find out more later today... Pretty upsetting as it is my beloved 1989 chevy cavalier station wagon from my grandfather... The Floydmobile.  
7. Sunday evening my parents unexpectedly take my wife and I out to dinner- nice – and tell me we’re getting a very generous posthumous wedding gift ($) from my grandmother by the end of the week.  Wow, again, I know in my heart His very personal love.
   

This was just an amazing 48hrs where I got to see God does care about the particulars of my life, His love is very personal, and is watching over me. And even if my 89’ cavalier doesn’t resurrect I know He did - for me. And that is pretty amazing. Thank you Lord Jesus.

Has God shown you His personal love for you lately?

Discovering Christ--Third Week

Last Thursday we held the third session of Discovering Christ. Dave gave the talk, "What Did Jesus Come to Reveal?" We had about 60 or so people come, including new people, which was wonderful. I think it all went really, really well. My small group had a great discussion after Dave's talk and of course, the service team continued their great work by providing yet another fabulous dinner. :-)

Personally, the talk (which was about God's unfailing love) was pretty meaningful to me. Over the past few years I've struggled with understanding the crucifixtion, why Jesus died such a brutal death.

On Thursday night, during Dave's talk, it hit me. Dave was saying that God loves us and will forgive even our worst sins if we repent. And I realized that, in my own life, it's hurt to forgive those who have hurt me--even more so when they're people I love. So it all made sense: God, who loves us a billion times more than we could fathom, demonstrated on the cross how much it hurts Him when we sin.

I know, it's pretty basic. But it's fantastic that it finally clicked.

So Discovering Christ can have an impact on both participants and leaders, seekers and committed Christians.

Pretty cool to see the ways God works.

Here are some pictures from last week:




Guests eating dinner at the Friary.




Waiting for the talk to begin.




Pete kicking off the evening.




The beautiful dining room we hold dinner and the talk each week.

Christianity in Dialogue with the World

Dave sent this article to the staff at ChristLife the other day, and I found it pretty interesting. Peter Kreeft, a philosophy professor at Boston College and a Christian apologist, works from a logical perspective as he writes about 12 common beliefs that Christians come in contact with when they share their faith with others. The essay, “The Uniqueness of Christianity,” deserves to be read in its entirety, but here are a few key passages:

The objection is not that Christianity is not true but that it is not the truth; not that it is a false religion but that it is only a religion...This is the single most common objection to the Faith today, for “today” worships not God but equality. It fears being right where others are wrong more than it fears being wrong. It worships democracy and resent the fact that God is an absolute monarch.

This really is at the heart of it. Democracy is more comfortable than monarchy. At least in democratic societies, we can claim a vote, claim to have a little bit of power. If God is King, if Christianity is the truth, then we’re entirely dependant on Him.

It’s a lot more comfortable to think of religion as a journey in which we can take whatever highway we please and still reach God in the end. We get to be driver’s seat. We get to be in control. However, as Kreeft explains,

Christianity is not a system of man’s search for God but a story of God’s search for man. True religion is not like a cloud of incense wafting up from special spirits into the nostrils of a waiting God, but like a Father’s hand thrust downward to rescue the fallen.

That’s the message that we have to convey: that while God is an absolute monarch, King of the Universe, Lord of Lords, he is also Father, Abba, a Person to be loved and a Person who so loved the world that He gave His only son (John 3:16). That Son told us that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that all must go through Him to get to the Father (John 14:6).

Of course, as Kreeft points out, the exclusivity of this message tends to rub some people the wrong way. And he answers objections in this vein, like “It fosters religious imperialism to insist that your way is the only way,” and “All religions are the same, deep down.” While going through each of his responses would take more words than a reasonable blog post, I’d like to close with his reply to the belief “All God expects of us is sincerity.”

How do you know what God expects of us? Have you listened to God's revelation? Isn't it dangerous to assume without question or doubt that God must do exactly what you would do if you were God? Suppose sincerity were not enough; suppose truth was needed too…
The…implicit assumption here is that there is no objective truth in religion, only subjective sincerity, so that no one can ever be both sincere and wrong… True sincerity wants to know the truth.

As these objections are obstacles that we must overcome in the new evangelization, it’s great to have Kreeft’s essay as a resource for simple answers to some common questions.

May the Holy Spirit make us truly sincere and grow in our desire to know the Truth, which is Christ.

Getting to know the other intern!

Since you’ll be hearing a lot from me over the next couple months as one of two interns at ChristLife, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Maria and I’m a rising sophomore in college. After spending my first year at Mount St. Mary’s, I’ll be headed to Carroll Community this fall, sticking with my double major in English and Communications. What can I say? I hate math more than I love writing, so I’m staying far away from numbers.

I may be younger than expected, considering most kids during their first year on the search don’t land internships as great as ChristLife, so I find myself blessed to be here this summer. I combine communication skills (through things like podcasts and blogs—like this one!) with my faith—what could be better?

Born and raised in a devout, Irish-Italian Catholic family of nine, I’ve always had a deep love for my faith. I remember being offended, even as a little girl, when people assumed I went to mass, said my prayers, read my Bible, and practiced my faith merely because my parents brought me up that way. Of course Mom and Dad have influenced my faith life, but we all have a choice with religion (thank you, God, for free will!) and I chose to truly delve into my faith and follow God.

I’m doing the best I can to reflect my faith in my personal life, serving as a witness to others especially of my generation. Actions preach without words, and I’ve even been able to bring a couple friends back to the faith.

In that sense, I guess I’ve already done some evangelizing in my short 18 years. I love bringing people closer to God; I’ve never classified it as “evangelizing,” but that’s what it essentially is. Being here at ChristLife has helped me realize the large number of people who are still seeking God. I just want to be able to aid them in finding Him. I’m excited to have that opportunity with ChristLife this summer.


God bless!

Last night we held the second installment of our Discovering Christ series. Turnout was even better than last week; about 60 young adults gathered for dinner, discussion and the talk, "Why Does Jesus Matter?"

It was my first experience with Discovering Christ, and I thought the evening went really well. The other people in my small group were very enthusiastic and it seemed that the message had touched their hearts. I'm looking forward to next week.

Here are a few pics from last night:

Small group leaders and helpers meet in the library to prepare.

Our wonderful volunteers cooking a delicious dinner.

Father Arnold giving the talk, "Why Does Jesus Matter?"

Hi from the new intern

As the newest intern here at ChristLife, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Brittany and I just graduated (three days ago!) from Ohio University with a degree in journalism and a second major in Russian, which, naturally, have prepared me very well for work in the new evangelization.

I kid. Unless, of course, any Russians show up to Discovering Christ tomorrow night. Which would be awesome.

But actually, I think journalism is a great basis for evangelization, because journalism is all about asking questions and being tenacious enough to find answers. I kind of researched myself into a deeper faith.

Like many people of my generation, I had a general Catholic upbringing. I did 8 years of CCD, made my First Holy Communion and Confirmation. My family celebrated St. Nick’s feast day every December 6 and ate mac ‘n’ cheese or pierogis on Lenten Fridays. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t believe in God. But my faith was pretty basic. In high school, I could name the seven sacraments, but I’d have struggled to explain what a sacrament is.

Then I went to college. While I had grown up in a kind of Catholic enclave—the Diocese of Youngstown boasts over a hundred parishes—OU was different. For the first time in my life, I was being challenged by evangelicals (I love their passion for the Lord!) for what I believed and why.

God meets us where we are and knows exactly what buttons to push. For me, He knew the best way to get me interested was to make me mad. So He sent me a guy who was firmly convinced that Catholics needed evangelizing, which irritated me enough that I decided I was going to prove him wrong.

And so I read the Bible on my own for the first time in my life. I scoured the Internet for information on why Catholics honor Mary and what exactly transubstantiation is and why we have a pope. I read Scott Hahn and Christopher West. Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body rocked my world.

I learned a lot—most importantly, the depths of my ignorance. And within a few months, I was no longer reading and researching in order to prove someone wrong—I was doing it for me, for my own spiritual growth.

Because I’ve come down this path, I’m really excited about being involved in the new evangelization. There are so many more people like me out there—they’ve grown up with some basic knowledge of the faith, been baptized and confirmed, but their faith hasn’t really been nurtured beyond that.

So I’m blessed to be here this summer at ChristLife and very much looking forward to doing my part.

God bless you all.

The first night of Discovering Christ

Well, I thought last night went superb... My guess is we had somewhere around 45 or so young adults - with a good healthy service team of probably 25 people to serve dinner, setup, cleanup, etc.

It was lots of fun and I can't wait till next week! Here are couple pics from the night:

Me (left) loading tables, Maria (intern), and Jean (our wonderful plant/artistic person!)

Phil R from Wired Different Media with a priceless face prior to the start

A few minutes before dinner begins

Fr. Arnold with a guest talking during dinner

peanuts

Love it :)

ChristLife will be stocking this "evangelism" book this Fall! :)

Hat tip: Fr. Mike at Intentional Disciples