Illuminated By Joy

Tomorrow begins the season of Lent: a time to reflect on the Passion of our Lord and turn back to Him through fasting and penance. It is a time to walk with Jesus and strengthen our relationship with Him. However, I know that many people, including me, might not look forward to this season very much. I admit, it is a very hard thing to reflect on the passion of our Lord. We don't want to suffer. We just want to keep life as it is and not think about it. But if we truly wish to follow Jesus, we must be loyal. Even contemplating His passion can show how truly loyal we are. We can be like Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene, who stayed at the foot of the Cross. Even that simple act took tremendous courage. They could have been killed or walked away at any time, but they were so loyal that they stood by until Jesus took His last breath. Are we as loyal as them? Usually not. But even if we haven't been loyal, there is still hope and a call to repent. That was the case with Peter, Dismas,...

Hey everyone! So sorry none of us have been posting lately! I'm going to be talking about a difficult subject today -- telling the truth. Now, to be clear, that doesn't just mean owning up when you do something wrong. It also means correcting other people's errors when it's your job to do it, and even, at times, correcting yourself when you fall into error. This can be very hard. We don't want to acknowledge those areas, so we just stick them in the back of our minds and pretend they aren't there. However, that in itself is a lie. We must be cautious about being kind, but we must admit the truth. If it's in ourselves, we must admit it and work on improving ourselves. If it's in someone else, we must pray for them and, if necessary, tell them. We must find a balance between being too harsh and too soft. This can only be done through the grace of God and much prayer and examination. But when we do find that balance, it is very rewarding. St. Paul tells us:...

 Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting! As you all know, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8th, just a few weeks ago. Some said (ridiculously) that she was immortal. She did reign for 70 years, but that's besides the point. Did you realize, though, that she died on the birthday of an even greater queen? Mary, the Mother of Jesus! It reminds me that no matter how much we achieve in life, or how great we become, we will all die in the end. We will all be dwarfed by Jesus and His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, just as Queen Elizabeth was. So, if we truly wish to become great, we must strive to live for the next world. For then, only then, will we become part of the royal family in Heaven, which is much greater than any royal family here on earth.

Hello everyone!  Sorry about the lack of posts. I've been stuck on a post that's taking me ages to write, so I'm taking a break from it and writing other stuff.  Now, to give you some background before the tips, a few years ago I started developing a deeper spiritual life due to just one talk I heard when I was eleven or so. It was a talk by a priest about the Eucharist. Now, he talked about the parallels the Eucharist has in the Old Testament and Jewish Law but that part didn't really effect me. At the end he asked us (I was with a group of girls) how we prepared for Holy Communion and thanked our Lord after. I usually said a couple prayers after that were in my missal, but I didn't prepare, and left as soon as Mass was over with my family. He told us about the amount of preparation and thanksgiving we should do, and said they were equally important. He said that we should stay in church 15-20 minutes if we could after receiving Jesus, because it is only after that...

 I believe - we say those words at each Mass, at the beginning of every rosary. In fact, we say that phrase frequently in everyday life: "I believe in you", "I believe in this cause", etc. But when we say "I believe" at the start of the Apostles' Creed what do we mean? It's not enough to simply believe that God exists, that Jesus Christ, His Son, died for us, that He established the Catholic Church.  We might superficially know this to be true, but not really believe .  This is where the theological virtues come in. Faith is believing in God and everything He promised and commanded, hope is acting on that belief in our lives, and charity is what makes it pleasing in God's sight.   When we say "I believe" we need to renew with our whole hearts, our faith, hope and charity. We need to believe with everything. Faith is nothing without hope, hope is nothing without charity.  It's easy to believe 2+2=4, we know that by logic, it's...

  The other day, I came across a quote posted on a billboard somewhere. It is quite an old quote, but very relavent to teens today and I thought I would share.  Words for teenagers   Northland college principal John Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth.  "Always we hear the cry from teenagers 'what can we do, where can we go?' My answer is this: go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy, and talent so no one will be in war, in sickness, and lonely again. In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are importan...

 Sometimes it's easy to become complacent. In our own spiritual lives yes, but also in regards to the world.  We can become complacent about the world in two ways: 1. "The world is evil, it always has been, and there's nothing I can do about it." 2. "The world's not so bad, people do wicked things yes, but they are hurting and are right in their hearts." They are both dangerous in their own way, and sometimes we need a jolt to start us out of them. The first is wrong because, although the world as a whole is evil, every single person was created to be a saint by God, and it is never too late until they draw their last breathq. We must have hope for the world.  The second is wrong because, actually, a lot of people aren't right on their hearts. Despite all the 'be nice' talk going around, the world is getting crueler and crueler. Violence, abortion, sexual immorality, revenge, gossip, and selfishness are all increasing.  I was unconsciously in...