...until the good becomes better and the better becomes best.
-Fr. A. C. Fabian OP
We are called to improve every day. This is a thing I love about the Catholic Church. The Church is a constant reminder that we are never meant to be content with ourselves. We should always accept ourselves as we are, but not to be content - we should always strive to be better.
Something I just read in Matthew Kelly's "Rediscovering Catholicism" which I found to be profound is this, "You cannot become more like Jesus Christ and at the same time stay as you are" (40). Really profound - I had to think about this one for a while. It is completely true - there is no argument. We are all called to become more like Christ at every moment.
This is a great message - brought to you by the Catholic Church! If you are a couch potato, you can do something about that, you don't have to be a couch potato the rest of your life. You have been empowered with the tools of a rational mind, a willpower, and an encouraging community. This goes for any person. We are not doomed to be the same person with the same bad habits and vices for our entire life. And what is more, if we desire to follow Christ (which we are all called to do) we mustn't stay as we are, because he is calling us to follow him! And he wants to help us follow him more than anything else. If we ask for his help, he will give us the grace, the strength, to follow him where he leads.
The reason the Church raises up the Saints is because they did this better that anyone else. They started out just as we all do, as sinners trying to makes heads and tails of this world. But once they got on the right path, they ran toward Christ with all their will every day. Every time they messed up, they got right back up. They tried to better themselves, becoming more like Christ, until the moment of their death. In this way, they are meant to be examples to all of us, for we are all called to be saints!
In case anyone was wondering what we do in the seminary, that is it for the most part. We strive to be the best version of ourselves; to be who God made us to be. We strive to become more like Christ in order that should we be ordained, we can be examples and sources of Christ's love for everyone whom we serve.
St. Monica, pray for us!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
He's Got Our Backs
This is the story of my struggle with back pain:
About two years ago my neck started too hurt very consistently. The cause is uncertain, but I have been attributing it to that semester's intense practice schedule in preparation for my 200-level music exam, combined with the various others stresses in my life that semester. My neck hurt, and then the pain started spreading to my upper back. I went to the chiropractor that summer, but the sessions had little to no long-term effect. I've struggled with this pain for over two years now. I've seen chiropractors on and off, and the pain has been so bad at times I have wanted to do nothing but go to sleep.
The past four months I've been lifting weights on a consistent basis with the goal of strengthening my whole body, but especially my upper back and shoulders. I also just started going to a new chiropractor about 6 weeks ago. I thought all this work was in vain, until just the last few days. I've realized a change, and I have also realized what a gift from God this pain has been.
I've been told that God often allows us to experience suffering in different forms in order to bring a good out of it. I have been telling myself this and trying to believe my back pain is some sort of gift, but it is hard. Especially when the pain has been the worst, I have been prone to great frustration with God.
Just a few days ago I started trying very hard to sit and stand with good posture at all times. I have tried this before, but because my upper back and shoulder muscles have been too weak, I have tired out quickly and given up. But I have been able to do this most of the day for the past few days. It is paying off big time. My back is now able to heal because my vertebrae are not constantly being squished.
I believe God allowed this to go on for so long for a few reasons. First of all, it made it a little easier to leave ISU and my music major. My back hurt very much every time I practiced because of this problem, and I loved everything about playing music except this one thing. Perhaps if I did not have the pain it would have been too hard for me to leave ISU for the seminary. Also, I have learned a great lesson from it recently. I often get tired of constantly trying to follow God and to strive for holiness and virtue ALL THE TIME. But by my persevering everyday through the constant discomfort of sitting up straight all day, I have been learning a lesson physically which I can adapt to my spiritual life. I believe it is God saying, "This is effective for your physical health, and I need you to do this for your spiritual health." He taught me this lesson just when I needed to hear it.
God loves us, and he always has our best interest in mind - even when it doesn't seem that way!
St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us!
About two years ago my neck started too hurt very consistently. The cause is uncertain, but I have been attributing it to that semester's intense practice schedule in preparation for my 200-level music exam, combined with the various others stresses in my life that semester. My neck hurt, and then the pain started spreading to my upper back. I went to the chiropractor that summer, but the sessions had little to no long-term effect. I've struggled with this pain for over two years now. I've seen chiropractors on and off, and the pain has been so bad at times I have wanted to do nothing but go to sleep.
The past four months I've been lifting weights on a consistent basis with the goal of strengthening my whole body, but especially my upper back and shoulders. I also just started going to a new chiropractor about 6 weeks ago. I thought all this work was in vain, until just the last few days. I've realized a change, and I have also realized what a gift from God this pain has been.
I've been told that God often allows us to experience suffering in different forms in order to bring a good out of it. I have been telling myself this and trying to believe my back pain is some sort of gift, but it is hard. Especially when the pain has been the worst, I have been prone to great frustration with God.
Just a few days ago I started trying very hard to sit and stand with good posture at all times. I have tried this before, but because my upper back and shoulder muscles have been too weak, I have tired out quickly and given up. But I have been able to do this most of the day for the past few days. It is paying off big time. My back is now able to heal because my vertebrae are not constantly being squished.
I believe God allowed this to go on for so long for a few reasons. First of all, it made it a little easier to leave ISU and my music major. My back hurt very much every time I practiced because of this problem, and I loved everything about playing music except this one thing. Perhaps if I did not have the pain it would have been too hard for me to leave ISU for the seminary. Also, I have learned a great lesson from it recently. I often get tired of constantly trying to follow God and to strive for holiness and virtue ALL THE TIME. But by my persevering everyday through the constant discomfort of sitting up straight all day, I have been learning a lesson physically which I can adapt to my spiritual life. I believe it is God saying, "This is effective for your physical health, and I need you to do this for your spiritual health." He taught me this lesson just when I needed to hear it.
God loves us, and he always has our best interest in mind - even when it doesn't seem that way!
St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us!
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Universal Call to Holiness
Just today I was asked to give a talk to the college students at Illinois State University next week about Emmaus Days. I went to ISU for the past three years, and am looking forward to this visit. Emmaus Days is a weekend discernment retreat for men which helped me discern to enter the seminary.
I was told the four main points to talk about, and one of these is the 'universal call to holiness'. I believe this is a term coined during the Second Vatican Council, which took place during the early 1960's. I really like this term, and find that it inspires a lot of people to allow God into their lives, but I started thinking about why this is considered such a new idea. I am not sure where, but I know St. Paul stresses in one of his letters that we are all called to holiness (and if anyone knows where this is, please leave a comment for me with the verse numbers!) Considering the Bible was finished over 1500 years ago, this should not be a new idea.
But, as I learn more about world history, and Church history, I can see why this idea is brought up so much today. For so long, Christianity was not a personal choice. Kings would often declare a religion to be followed by their country, and everyone followed suit. Towns would raise their kids together, and would center their lives around the Church. When someone sinned, it was a public thing. This not only put a huge pressure on people not to sin, but it also put a pressure on the individual to obtain absolution. In this manner, people attained holiness simply by following their cultural norms.
As public education became more important in the world, and then individual freedom, one's values became more and more of a personal choice. That must be why Vatican II formally declared the importance of the 'universal call to holiness'. It is saying we are all called to lead lives of prayer and penance. We are all called to have personal relationships with God. The culture is not going to commend you for valuing eternal salvation, so you are going to have to make the personal decision to follow Jesus and strive for holiness. Every single person is called to this, and it only recently became a choice for the individual.
Happy Feast of the Presentation of the Lord!
John Paul the Great, pray for us!
I was told the four main points to talk about, and one of these is the 'universal call to holiness'. I believe this is a term coined during the Second Vatican Council, which took place during the early 1960's. I really like this term, and find that it inspires a lot of people to allow God into their lives, but I started thinking about why this is considered such a new idea. I am not sure where, but I know St. Paul stresses in one of his letters that we are all called to holiness (and if anyone knows where this is, please leave a comment for me with the verse numbers!) Considering the Bible was finished over 1500 years ago, this should not be a new idea.
But, as I learn more about world history, and Church history, I can see why this idea is brought up so much today. For so long, Christianity was not a personal choice. Kings would often declare a religion to be followed by their country, and everyone followed suit. Towns would raise their kids together, and would center their lives around the Church. When someone sinned, it was a public thing. This not only put a huge pressure on people not to sin, but it also put a pressure on the individual to obtain absolution. In this manner, people attained holiness simply by following their cultural norms.
As public education became more important in the world, and then individual freedom, one's values became more and more of a personal choice. That must be why Vatican II formally declared the importance of the 'universal call to holiness'. It is saying we are all called to lead lives of prayer and penance. We are all called to have personal relationships with God. The culture is not going to commend you for valuing eternal salvation, so you are going to have to make the personal decision to follow Jesus and strive for holiness. Every single person is called to this, and it only recently became a choice for the individual.
Happy Feast of the Presentation of the Lord!
John Paul the Great, pray for us!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
