Worth the Few Minutes It Takes To Watch It

Howdy, Gang!  We're not sure that there is a better way to kick-off Holy Week than with the mindset that this video portrays.  It's definitely worth the few minutes to watch...

An Unexpected Moment

While in church on Sunday, I experienced a very unique moment in a very powerful way. It was a beautiful Mass, filled with incredible music, a great homily by the Bishop, and, of course, the beauty of the sacrament of Mass, but one moment eclipsed that and captured my heart. One moment in which I was touched by the grace and faith of one person.

After the congregation was finished walking to the front for communion and everyone was back in their pew kneeling, one small, much older man was standing about 2 rows from the front. The woman next to him was in scrubs, and obviously his nurse. As he stood, one of the extraordinary ministers of communion approached him and gave him communion. His nurse sat down, motioning for him to join, but he remained standing. As I watched him, he remained standing until the altar had been cleared and the people brought the Eucharist past him to return it to the tabernacle in the back of the church. He slowly sank to the pew, and I marveled at the beauty of his reverence. Not 3 minutes later, as the priest was making announcements, another man pushed a wheelchair up to the pew, and three people helped the man into his wheelchair with much difficulty. This man couldn’t even walk!! And here he was, not only at Mass, but doing everything in his power to reverence the Sacrament. A simple gesture, but so meaningful for him.

Seeing this beautiful display of faith really made me look inward and wonder how much I appreciated the Sacrament of Communion. How reverent was I? How many times during Mass had I goofed off, let my mind wander, or missed the true importance of what I was experiencing? I challenge you to not just let this man’s simple gesture not only touch me but you as well. Understand the privilege that Mass is and don’t take any moment of it for granted, because that old man sure didn’t!

Breaking Through the Busyness

Have you ever noticed how it is so easy to get overwhelmed with every small thing that is happening in your life. It begins with a few commitments, and then all of a sudden you have way too much to do. Your life feels like a driving force, like you are some kind of zany hood ornament clinging to a car speeding along. All you can do is hang on for the ride as you are continually pushed forward. What happened to the summer? It is already July!

So many times, we are so consumed with all the time that we don’t have that we miss the small amounts of time that we do have. Riding in the car on the way to something, laying in bed after you wake up but before you get up, laying in bed at night before you fall asleep, the time spent watching TV, brushing your teeth (both times!!!), the 40 times you check Facebook a day…

I propose a challenge this week.

Try to take advantage of those small chunks of time. Check Facebook one less time, turn the TV off 10 minutes earlier, lay in bed for 2 more minutes, and dedicate that time to God. Use those small moments to think about God working in your life, count your blessings, ask for help, or just marvel at His beauty and they ways you have seen Him today.

Suddenly you will no longer be hurtling along this path, merely hanging on, but begin to recognize you are in the passenger seat with the only person ever who has a driving record without a blemish.

This week, break through the busyness and take advantage of the small moments. You might be surprised how many you have…

On This Day of Days

Hard to believe that mid-summer is upon us.  Yet on this day of days, one in which we remember our short, yet triumphant heritage as nation, let us pray for those who cannot be with us to celebrate this 4th of July.  Let us pray for those heroes who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.



May you all have a blessed long weekend filled with joy and fireworks, and perhaps some potato salad on the side.  Peace and may God bless America.

Alive Again

Are you alive in Him?

When Heaven Kisses Earth

How often do we question the real, true, substantial presence of Jesus in the Eucharist?  Do we ever doubt?  How would it change our Mass experience if we meditated upon how we are united to God in the communion sacrament, even if only for a few moments while walking to the altar?  Matt Maher reminds us of the power of Communion.

Matt Maher - The Journey of Alive Again: Communion (3 of 4) from Provident Label Group on Vimeo.

I'm Only Going to Break Your Heart...

Recently I was sitting in the chapel looking at the Tabernacle, trying to have a quiet moment of prayer with God. I don’t know about you, but this is very difficult for me as it seems that every time I try to slow everything down and find a quiet moment, the noise in my head only gets louder. Stressors, things I need to get done, things I am worried about, songs stuck in my head…

So, as I am kneeling in front of Christ, trying to clear my mind, a song starts building momentum in my head. Every time I attempt to squash it, it comes back louder and louder, and soon is reverberating in my head.

“I’m only going to break break your, break break your HEART…”

I started to get so frustrated that I could not just concentrate. Thanks SO much Taio Cruz, I really appreciate the fact that your new song is catchy, but not so much the fact that I can’t get it out of my head when I am trying to pray!! As I sat there wrestling with that song, a light bulb went off. I started thinking more deeply about some of the lyrics of the song…

“There’s no point trying to hide it
No point trying to evade it
I know I got a problem…
Now I’m only going to break your heart
And shatter and splatter it all into little itty bitty pieces…”

I began thinking about Christ and His sacrifice. How he gave up his life for us, but if it had just been me, He would have done the same. How he was thinking of me as he walked Calvary, was nailed to the cross and slowly suffocated. How he was consumed by love… and here I am sitting in front of him for 5 minutes and thinking, “I am only going to break your heart.” How true those words actually were at that moment. How appropriate. I am only going to stumble and fall, sin, destroy the beauty that God has made for me with my own selfishness, and continue to torture Christ by condemning Him to death over and over and over again with my rejection, poor choices, and disrespect. AND YET, he continues to love us. He takes that chance. He lays down his life for us, a bunch of lowly heartbreakers, and makes our struggle for grace beautiful.

“Indeed only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
~ Romans 5:7-8

That is the beauty of God’s love for us. That despite what we do, He still remains; loving, caring, never giving up.

After all the junk we have done, will do… If you were the only sinner in the world, Christ would still die for you.

A God that loves us THAT much… ludacris, huh?