32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
This weekend I joined almost 60 high schoolers from around our diocese for the winter High School Discipleship Weekend. These are young men and women serious about living out their Catholic faith: they want to continue growing in a deep and genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, they are learning to be active leaders in the faith, they are growing in intentional service to God and others, and they freely chose to give up their entire weekend in order to make these things a priority in their busy lives. Although I had basically lost my voice by Sunday morning, here is my homily from this amazing weekend!
Themes: trust in God, giving what little we have, God compares us to our former selves (not to other people), knowing when spiritual growth really begins to happen (which is opposite of what we usually think) - all of which, by the way, lead to a freedom in life, a freedom of heart, a deeper peace that we all want but that can only be given by God!
Diocesan Youth Rally
When I was little I loved playing basketball. As I grew I moved from a little foam basketball to a little heavy basketball to a women's basketball to a men's basketball, from granny shots to real shots; then, one day, I finally realized what it felt like to make the perfect shot - you may as well turn around and start heading down the court because as soon as it leaves your hand you know it's going to be a swoosh! That swoosh experience, that feeling of everything working exactly how it's supposed to (no matter what the sport or activity)...you know what that feels like! "That's exactly how it's supposed to be!" we say to ourselves. Now what if you could say that about life? What if you could get to the end of a day and say, "That's exactly how life's supposed to be!" With the Lord...you can!
What if I told you there is no scientific discovery that can disrupt our faith? What if I told you that the Catholic Church LOVES science? What if I told you that most of what you've heard about science and faith is extremely misinformed? Join me for this 1 hour presentation and prepare to have your mind blown!
What does the Church believe about life beyond death? How might that existence interact with life before death? Join me for this 1 hour presentation on death, judgment, heaven, hell, saints, souls, purgatory, ghosts, angels and demons. We have an amazingly beautiful and powerful faith that answers questions both in this life and beyond.