U.S. Papal Visit 2008!

What an incredible gift of hope for our nation to experience the presence of our Holy Father! I had the honor of attending the Papal Mass in New York on April 20th. It was an inexpressible blessing to experience the Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, gathered in unity with so many Catholics to receive Christ through His vicar on earth! As a young adult, it is so impacting to have such a humble, wise and joyful Shepherd who so deeply loves the youth! Below is an excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI's homily in New York last Sunday:

Real freedom, then, is God’s gracious gift, the fruit of conversion to his truth, the truth which makes us free (cf. Jn 8:32). And this freedom in truth brings in its wake a new and liberating way of seeing reality. When we put on "the mind of Christ" (cf. Phil 2:5), new horizons open before us! In the light of faith, within the communion of the Church, we also find the inspiration and strength to become a leaven of the Gospel in the world. We become the light of the world, the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-14), entrusted with the "apostolate" of making our own lives, and the world in which we live, conform ever more fully to God’s saving plan. This magnificent vision of a world being transformed by the liberating truth of the Gospel is reflected in the description of the Church found in today’s second reading. The Apostle tells us that Christ, risen from the dead, is the keystone of a great temple which is even now rising in the Spirit. And we, the members of his body, through Baptism have become "living stones" in that temple, sharing in the life of God by grace, blessed with the freedom of the sons of God, and empowered to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to him (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). And what is this offering which we are called to make, if not to direct our every thought, word and action to the truth of the Gospel and to harness all our energies in the service of God’s Kingdom? Only in this way can we build with God, on the one foundation which is Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:11). Only in this way can we build something that will truly endure. Only in this way can our lives find ultimate meaning and bear lasting fruit.

The final segment of Pope Benedict's homily was directed toward young people of America! His words are so encouraging and challenging - I hope that myself and the young people of America can truly give our hearts to Jesus and apply the words of our Holy Father to our personal lives. The closing of His homily is below:

Yesterday, not far from here, I was moved by the joy, the hope and the generous love of Christ which I saw on the faces of the many young people assembled in Dunwoodie. They are the Church’s future, and they deserve all the prayer and support that you can give them. And so I wish to close by adding a special word of encouragement to them. My dear young friends, like the seven men, "filled with the Spirit and wisdom" whom the Apostles charged with care for the young Church, may you step forward and take up the responsibility which your faith in Christ sets before you! May you find the courage to proclaim Christ, "the same, yesterday, and today and for ever" and the unchanging truths which have their foundation in him (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 10; Heb 13:8). These are the truths that set us free! They are the truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world -- including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother’s womb. In a world where, as Pope John Paul II, speaking in this very place, reminded us, Lazarus continues to stand at our door (Homily at Yankee Stadium, October 2, 1979, No. 7), let your faith and love bear rich fruit in outreach to the poor, the needy and those without a voice. Young men and women of America, I urge you: open your hearts to the Lord’s call to follow him in the priesthood and the religious life. Can there be any greater mark of love than this: to follow in the footsteps of Christ, who was willing to lay down his life for his friends (cf. Jn 15:13)? In today’s Gospel, the Lord promises his disciples that they will perform works even greater than his (cf. Jn 14:12). Dear friends, only God in his providence knows what works his grace has yet to bring forth in your lives and in the life of the Church in the United States. Yet Christ’s promise fills us with sure hope. Let us now join our prayers to his, as living stones in that spiritual temple which is his one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Let us lift our eyes to him, for even now he is preparing for us a place in his Father’s house. And empowered by his Holy Spirit, let us work with renewed zeal for the spread of his Kingdom. "Happy are you who believe!" (cf. 1 Pet 2:7). Let us turn to Jesus! He alone is the way that leads to eternal happiness, the truth who satisfies the deepest longings of every heart, and the life who brings ever new joy and hope, to us and to our world. Amen.

To get more information about Pope Benedict's visit to the United States go to Zenit News.

Youth Arise!

"The term evangelization has a very rich meaning.[4] In the broad sense, it sums up the Church’s entire mission: her whole life consists in accomplishing the traditio Evangelii, the proclamation and handing on of the Gospel, which is 'the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes' (Rom 1:16) and which, in the final essence, is identified with Jesus Christ himself (cf. 1 Cor 1:24)" (Doctrinal Note on Evangelization).

The people of the Church are called to evangelize, and many young adult have the desire but lack the means to do so. Ryan O'Hara, executive director of "Youth Arise", is very involved in the training of young adults to be apostles for Christ! In ChristLife's most recent podcast, Ryan shares his testimony and the exciting opportunities for young adults to gather together and learn more about their faith and how to share it with others.

Listen in to ChristLife's most recent podcast here, or press play below:

Shadows Prove the Sunshine

So begins the fourth song on Switchfoot's album "Nothing is Sound." And isn't it true, somehow in the darkness of this day - we find ourselves looking heavenward with open hands - to the Savior of all mankind?

I went to mass today the second day of the great Feast of Christmas with my girlfriend and afterwards a few guys invited me to go downtown into Baltimore to feed the homeless and pray with them. Brilliant idea!

One interaction particularly impacted me. A man named Tony who was sitting under the roof of some stores. He looked 50 or so. We gave him some food, socks, hugs, kind words, prayer, and medical attention. He was visibly moved, shaken to tears to sobs in gratitude to Jesus.

He used to be an organ player for his church and we closed by singing "amazing grace" with him. Very powerful.

This interaction in the "shadows" of Baltimore really impacted me. As I changed his socks and smelt the urine and funk in which he sat - I knew I was serving Jesus Christ in "the least of the brethren." And he was so blessed by the food, etc. - but it seemed our prayers for him and the song we sang with him - impacted him the most. And not just the exterior fact of our "prayers" - but God himself, I believe, was speaking to Tony - calling him out by name and speaking his love into his heart.

I share all of this to really give glory to God how a homeless man in the shadows can "prove the sunshine." I share to encourage myself, to encourage you, to reach out to the poor around you with your material generosity and with your spiritual generosity. And lets pray for Tony and all those, especially the poor and lonely and spiritually sick, who are far from God's embrace in Jesus this season.

Finally, and fyi the whole idea of combining evangelization and works of mercy is beautifully expressed in a ministry of a couple in the Bronx called Lamp Ministries. Check them out.

Join the Advent Conspiracy

A pretty neat movement of Christians called Advent Conspiracy [AC] has launched a campaign to restore the true message of Christmas. From their Web site, we read in stirring simplicity "Christmas was meant to change the world. Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption."

Checkout out the following video. It is excellent! The whole point is to spend less this Christmas so we can give more to others relationally and to the poor. On their Web site they also have a list of relational gift ideas that may be helpful in considering gift-giving this Christmas.

Beyond this I really like how the dude on the video shares his faith in a simple and down-to-earth (kinda like the incarnation) way :)

The Light of the World!

"The People who have walked in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (Isaiah 9:2)

During this advent season I have been meditating on the anticipation of Jesus becoming man! He came in such a humble way, and because of that He brought such hope to the poor and suffering. It is hard to imagine life without the hope and peace that He brings, and yet many people don't know or care to know Him!

On ChristLife's most recent podcast, random college students answer the fundamental questions - who is Jesus to them and does God have an impact on their daily decisions? It was interesting to see what their veiws were, and how so many of them considered Jesus to be a good man but just not the savior of the world.



Also on the podcast are some testimonies of some students from the same campus who went through Discovering Christ and how the Lord radically impacted their lives. It is so encouraging to see the Lord at work. Hopefully during this advent and Christmas season, Christians will share the light of Christ with all those they meet!

You can listen to the most recent podcast here, or press play below:

Making Disciples!

"Go therefore and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

The calling from the Lord of every Christian is to proclaim the Gospel to the world! I have found that in my own life God provides so many small opportunities to share Him with others. It doesn't have to be standing at a podium in a huge public square (though it could be), but simple, small ways of telling others how Jesus has impacted our lives.

I am a waitress at a restaurant and one day I was waiting on an elderly man sitting by himself. He asked me why I seemed so happy, and I ended up telling him about my relationship with the Lord. It was a great conversation and he talked about his life in the military, and how he knows he needs the Lord more in his life. It is these daily, small opportunities God puts in our lives that can have a lasting impact on people's lives, and I need to be more open to them!

The beautiful thing about sharing Christ is that we are not expected to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit comes and anoints our words so that we are simply instruments of the Lord. Dave Nodar expands on how to share Christ with others through the power of the Holy Spirit in Christlife's most recent podcast "Called to Share Christ". I hope this podcast will inspire us all to enter into the mission field of making disciples by sharing Christ with others!

Listen in to the latest podcast here, or click play below:

Blog Evangelism?

Though I’m thoroughly part of the wonderful postmodern generation - I own a cell phone, blog, email, podcast, surf the Internet, watch Youtube, watch movies – I have never been a huge fan. Two things mitigate against techno-mania in my life: 1) the fact that I love the outdoors, and 2) I have a history degree (ah, I think to myself, wasn’t it so much simpler back in the day...)

So, while I don’t advocate super crazy amounts of time using technology – I do think that if St. Paul used a ship to go across the Mediterranean to proclaim the Gospel, than we should use the modern ship of information technology to proclaim the Gospel. Cardinal Ruini, a top clergyman at the Vatican, sparked this whole blog idea off with his comments the other day: "I don’t understand the Internet, but especially young religious ought to enter blogs and correct the opinions of the youth, showing them the true Jesus.”

Ha, I like that. He doesn’t even use the Internet, and he’s all for using it to proclaim Jesus :) And, while we do need to use technology to evangelize, I think some of us young techno crazy people also need to think twice about the amount of virtual contact we have with people versus real contact – especially when sharing Jesus with others – through a blend of witness and word – something hard to achieve online. For more on this subject see JPII's letter, Internet: A new forum to proclaim the Gospel.

Hat tip to my little sister, Julie for this blog idea.

What's happening at UMBC

While most college students are enjoying the last of their weekends, finishing up last minute homework, and getting ready for the start of a new week, 30 young adults are joining together Sunday nights at UMBC for fellowship, teaching, and prayer! That’s not something you see everyday.

ChristLife has joined forces with UMBC’s Newman club to start a 6-week course called “Discovering Christ”. The purpose of this course is simply to introduce or reaffirm in young adults the love of Christ and the impact of having a relationship with Him. The course consists of: dinner, fellowship, prayer, a teaching, dessert, and small group discussions. The themes of the courses include of variety of topics such as: “The meaning of Life”, or “Why do I need a savior?”. There are about 30 young adults that come each week, including a core group of 10 young adult leaders who help to facilitate the different aspects of the course.



The vision of this course can be summed up by the inspiring words of Pope Benedict XVI when he said:

"Those who allow themselves to be led by the Spirit understand that placing oneself at the service of the Gospel is not an optional extra, because they are aware of the urgency of transmitting this Good News to others...I assure you that the Spirit of Jesus today is inviting you young people to be bearers of the good news of Jesus to your contemporaries."
- Pope Benedict XVI, Papal Message for World Youth Day '08, July 24, 2007

The Pope does not give us the option; he makes very clear the necessity of sharing your faith with others. Hopefully through this course young people will enter into a relationship with the Lord and it will have a ripple effect as they pass it on to others.

As a participant in this course, I can testify to the impact that is has had on my life and the lives of many other young adults. This past week my small group discussion was about the love of God as our Father and how it is constant know matter what we do or how many times we fall. It was a tear filled conversation as we reflected on our own failings and the freedom that comes with surrendering them to the Lord. We ended the discussion each saying a brief prayer giving our individual burdens to the Lord and allowing His love to free us! It was a very powerful experience for me, and hopefully the rest of the group!

Bishop Sam is the man

Hey there blog readers! I thought I would mention the incredible good news that God is love and that love is our origin and our destiny! Isn't that great!?

This is just a snippet from Bishop Sam Jacob's address to 250-300 young adults at the Catholic University of America in DC last weekend. It was a powerful young adult festival sponsored by the great folks at Youth Arise.

After his talk, my sister Julie and I got a chance to interview him as part of ChristLife's 31st podcast! He shares his thoughts on the Youth Arise event, on being Christian in today's world, and sharing God's love with others. Listen in here or click play below.

Who said evangelism can't be fun?

Well, the one-day 42-mile hike went very well. Four of us "knuckleheads" woke up around 3:30/4 am and drove out to the Mason/Dixon Line (border of PA and MD) and began the hike at sunup around 5:45am.

As I had already accomplished this "feat" in one-day I suppose I was a bit confident in my hiking skills - so I decided to bring 1) lots of food, 2) bottles of water and gospels of John to hand people, 3) a camera, 4) an digital audio recorder for the upcoming podcast on this expedition, 5) assorted survival gear (compass, rosary, bible, guidebook, cigars, etc.), and 6) water for myself. Needless to say, my pack was very heavy - my feet now "bear the marks."

So what does all this have to do with evangelization?

Well, as the last post explained we stopped hikers along the way and asked if they would like a bottle of water and, if the opportunity arose, a mini-version of the Gospel of John (called "The Water"). That went pretty well. We met about 15 or so hikers, most of whom were hiking the whole 2000 miles GAME (Georgia to Maine)! We even met a couple dudes with kilts on - interesting!? But, all were very thankful for water and several accepted the gospels - one dude, who had, I must say, distasteful music playing in his backpack ... accepted the gospel and said, "I'll read it in the next few days." Praise God!

As we left each encounter we prayed for them and went on our way. Who knows what the Lord will do through those random acts of kindness and the gospels?!

While the hike was a success - the physical toll it took on our bodies was quite heavy - as my feet now show. I think we have a greater appreciate of suffering now :) We actually ended up running about 40 - 50 % of the hike (mainly to make up time due to one of the guys getting injured and to slacking off early in the hike).


Anyway stay tuned for a podcast devoted to the hiking trip - with lots of fun details and some teaching on begin missionaries: anytime, anywhere. Also, click here for more pictures from the hike.

Finally, just being out in God's creation was awesome. Seeing the beauty in Brazil this past May, Pope Benedict told the youth:

"When we see the beauty of creation and recognize the goodness present there, it is impossible not to believe in God and to experience his saving and reassuring presence. If we came to see all the good that exists in the world - and moreover, experience the good that comes from God himself - we would never cease to approach him, praise him, and thank him. He continually fills us with joy and good things. His joy is our strength.”

Amen to that!

Communicating Faith

Okay, so the real focus of this blog is communicating our faith to others - especially the personal experience of our relationship with Jesus Christ. It's not easy, though, to just begin talking with people about Jesus. How many times have I wanted to talk with others explicitly about Jesus and his importance in my life and his redemption and all of that great stuff - but felt like I would offend the hearer?

Well, I have two helps for this. First, Chad, ChristLife's 06-07 intern, and I had an awesome podcast interview with an international speaker and evangelist, named Becky Pippert. The podcast is called Jesus is Irresistible - check it out - it directly addresses the above fears of being "offensive" and makes evangelism much easier!

Secondly, some friends of ChristLife, Greg and Jennifer Wilitz, who have a great podcast called Rosary Army and are also connected with the Catholic podcasting hub, SQPN - are producing periodic short video clips called That Catholic Show. Its funny, creative, faith-building, and inspirational. Here is there most recent clip on "Statues and Icons"



What does this have to do with this blog? Well, a lot. While we don't spend lots of time talking about statues and icons - we do spend a lot of time talking about faith and communicating it to others hopefully. What I love is the way Jennifer explains this aspect of our faith in an easy, light-hearted, and Christ-centered way!

Did you find the video helpful? Why? What can you learn from the way Jennifer communicates elements of faith?

Jesus of Nazareth

Well I have begun to read the Pope's new book "Jesus of Nazareth." The book came out in English on my birthday, May 15 - and so two different sets of people decided to both get me the book (so I had two given to me ... but one is being re-gifted to someone else).

Anyway, I've only read the first chapter - but I have found it thus far a very good read. My main point in blogging is to point out the whole theme of the book, which the Pope lays out in the introduction-

“This book is… my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’"

And in sharing his personal search with us - beyond just dry doctrine etc. - he is really evangelizing. And it reminded me that - beyond all my own knowledge of Catholic stuff and biblical stuff - all of that is secondary to my own "personal search" and "personal experience" of the truths of our faith (see the quote from Pope Paul VI at the top of the blog).

This doesn't come natural to us Catholics a lot of times; however, thanks to the good work of Dave and Dianne here at ChristLife, we have some resources to help us to articulate our faith to others in a more personal way. For more on this, see our course Sharing Christ.

Spiderman III

From Fr. Mike, a Dominican priest who is a lead contributor at an excellent blog called Intentional Disciples:

Christianity Today has a movie review about the new Spiderman movie that might be interesting to read if you plan to see the movie... Apparently, the Peter Parker/Spiderman character has to deal with his own pride and vengeance. According to Mark Moring, the reviewer, "The movie's tagline is "The Battle Within," and the story is reminiscent of St. Paul's struggle with his sinful nature in Romans 7: "I do not understand what I do," the apostle writes. 'For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.' The film is rife with themes of love, friendship, pride, vengeance, confession, repentance, forgiveness and redemption. No kidding—it's all there … not to mention a critical scene in a church that I won't say much about here."

If you've seen the film, would you recommend it to others? Is it something that might generate a discussion on the topics of temptation, repentance, confession, forgiveness, redemption or virtue with someone who is not a Catholic?

Cleaning toilets for Jesus!

Yes... the title says it all. Last night as a ChristLife/Newman Club (Catholic Campus ministry for UMBC) sponsored activity, we got a bunch of students together to go around and offer to clean people's bathrooms for free. Why? In order to show God's love in an incredibly radical way! Known as servant evangelism, this type of activity combines humble service with evangelization. I got a bit of a kick out of it, especially after seeing people's surprised, confused, and often suspicious reactions when we arrived at their doors.

So anyways, why did we even do it? Well, to be honest first and formost I thought it was pretty crazy, that's often reason enough for me to do something. But secondly, I do hope and pray (when my flesh isn't giving me a hard time about this) that people will see that there is such a thing as God's unconditional love, and that people can come into touch with that in the person of Jesus. Maybe showing up at people's doors and offering to do clean their toilets gives them a hint of that. Anyways, that's the idea... I'd like to offer this up for comments:

Does this activity actually demonstrate in a visible way God's love? Or is this too easily reduced to a stunt to get attention?

What are ways in which you have opened up someone's heart to God or evangelized through acts of kindness?

Missions...

For the last several days ChristLife hosted two missionaries from Slovakia we met while we were over there on a mission trip two months ago. Fr. Rast'o is a Redemptorist priest and Bohus is a married man who leads a lay missionary community called River of Life.

During our many conversations and times of prayer - two themes emerged from their missionary experience: 1) the great benefit of close collaboration of laity and clergy, and 2) the importance of the lay movements and missionary communities in the Catholic Church. Both of these factors have enabled these awesome guys to reach thousands of individuals and hundreds of communities and parishes throughout Eastern Europe! Praise God!

Keep your eyes open for an upcoming podcast with Fr. Rast'o and Bohus- which will highlight their missionary activity, especially their experience under communism. It should come out in the next month sometime.

Finally, a note on "missions." Traditionally "missions" has been understood as "out there" and "overseas." But for the majority of us we are called to the ever-growing mission field among our families, friends, co-workers, classmates, etc. This a change of mindset for me, for all of us I think! As Pope Benedict XVI said a few months back, “I believe that missionary responsibility must once again become strong within us: if our faith makes us glad, let us feel bound to speak of it to others. The extent to which people will be able to accept it will then be in God's hands.”

Drawing from this quote, what component of our faith, makes you glad?

How can we communicate the joy of it to others?

Do you find yourself not trusting in God's providence - and thus, not evangelizing - because you worry "the extent to which people will be able to accept it"? Why?

Evangelizing and Weakness

I'm a personal fan of Pope Benedict XVI... he is an inspiring 80yr old. I don't know how he does it... must be something about the Holy Spirit.

A few weeks ago at the Easter Vigil he prayed an inspiring prayer at the end of his homily-

“Lord, show us that love is stronger than hatred, that love is stronger than death. Descend into the darkness and the abyss of our modern age, and take by the hand those who await you. Bring them to the light! In my own dark nights, be with me to bring me forth! Help me, help all of us, to descend with you into the darkness of all those people who are still waiting for you, who out of the depths cry unto you! Help us to bring them your light! Help us to say the "yes" of love, the love that makes us descend with you and, in so doing, also to rise with you. Amen.”

The lesson I learned from this passionate prayer - was that we all (including those of us who evangelize) of us fall short and we all have "dark nights," but it is precisely in our weakness that St. Paul says Christ is strong...

I helped lead a high school retreat for the People of God Catholic Community in Nanticoke, PA a few weeks back - and we played a Christian "dating game" to teach the kids a lesson. The bachelor asked three girls all sorts of normal dating game questions (to find out who would be the best Christian among them to date) ... and the girls responded in the character of three stereotypical Christian personalities... the Colgate Christian (always smiling - thinks Christianity is synonymous with being jolly all the time), the Chameleon Christian (changes their character to suit the people they are around), and the Super Spiritual Christian (who couldn't really answer the questions - because she was so busy praying the Rosary and reading the Bible simultaneously!).

The kids loved it and the bachelor too - who ended up choosing the "Colgate Christian" ... but found that he should of chose none of them at the end.

Do you find yourself acting like a "Colgate Christian" sometimes?

What about the Pope's prayer resonates in your heart the most?

When has Christ used you precisely in your weakness to lift up others?