Author: Jesse Roca

“The best job in the world is one where you get to hold the hand of Jesus” – Angelo Saludo (AKA Gelo the Explorer)

Last week I spent the week cooped up in a house full of missionaries. It was good.

There’s so much to say about the Mission Volunteer Summer House Training (SHOUT), but I think the Lord’s message to me in the end was very simple, He wants me to hold His hand.

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If you’re an observant person and have ever had the chance to worship in the same room as me, you might notice that during worship my left hand is usually open in the air reaching out and praising the Lord, while my right hand is usually resting firmly on top of my heart. I never really paid attention to the physical posture of my body in worship but last week it became so clear as to why my body chooses to worship in that position.

When I hold Hannah’s hand, I hold her right hand using my left.

During the SHOUT we did a reflection activity where we would write a covenant to the Lord in order to process our discernment in the MV Program. We wrote our covenants on a small piece of paper and we’re asked to stick that paper on a large cross at the front of the room.

I placed my paper where Jesus’ right hand would have been nailed to the cross.

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Praise God for the gift of mission.
Mission leads to God’s perfect plan for the family.

– Jesse R.

Yesterday at 1pm EST, Apple Inc. played a video to an eager audience to kickstart their annual worldwide developers conference.

Here’s a link to that video: http://www.apple.com/designed-by-apple/

In the keynote that followed, Apple’s CEO and senior staff took the stage to announce new products and updates to their popular mobile and desktop operating systems. As an Apple employee I was very excited to see what the company was up to, but in all that craziness, what struck me most about the presentation was how proud the entire staff was of their work.

Apple’s signature, “Designed by Apple in California” was proudly showcased at the end of the keynote.

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“what do we want people to feel?”

One of the many lessons I’ve learned from this community is that we’re not meant to keep our faith to ourselves. Who we are as people of faith is something that is meant to be shared, something to be proud of. So when I reflect on the work this community had enabled me to accomplish over the years I ask myself, “what do we want people to feel?” I’m left with a simple answer, joy.

“then we begin to craft around our intention”

In all aspects of my life, I’ve sometimes made compromises that confused convenience with excellence. Time constraints, poor communication, and unknown variables sometimes force our hand into making poor choices in this community, but if we’re really focused on our goal of bringing joy to others, “then we begin to craft around our intention”. If everything is centered around joy, then it will undoubtedly lead to God.

“only then do we sign our work”

In our desperate pursuit for God are we led to excellence. We need to give a firm YES in our decisions, but equally important can be a firm NO when we realize that God is calling us to search for a greater solution. When we are confident and soaked in God’s Holy Spirit, He will make the decision His own, and “only then do we sign our work”.

– Jesse R.
We are, young people being and bringing Christ wherever we are.

“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” – Andrew Bernard (AKA The Nard Dog)

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Last night a few of us Montrealers were hanging out at our sister MJ’s new place. It was a simple night of sitting around, eating chips, playing Jungle Speed and of course, Space Team. In His simplicity God chose to reveal something to me while we were hanging out, His message to me is that recently I’ve been blessed with a great many good days.

Some days, we might feel more blessed than others. God provides, but God also withholds at times in order for us to develop character. At least that’s what I like to believe.

If we’re in the good old days right now, God is asking us to appreciate it, to love it, to cherish it. Because when it comes time for us to suffer, when it comes time for us to experience desolation, God will ask us to remember the good old days so that we might realize how He has blessed us not necessarily in the present, but in our lives as a whole.

Our God loves us in an insanely great way, and just because we might not feel His love all the time doesn’t mean that His love for us isn’t timeless.

Cherish these good days.
Cherish the memory of them.
Cherish the good days to come.

– Jesse R.

Being a man is a lot harder than we sometimes put on.

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This Saturday the Region Canadien of Montreal and Ottawa had our RYC. One thing that’s very clear about our region is that there are a lot more sisters than brothers. Not only that, but the sisters are strong, crazy strong. Praise God for that.

As much as I would love to talk about the strong and faithful sisters that I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by, this past weekend God revealed Himself to me through our brothers.

Men of Action

John Magtibay
This brother’s YES to become Area Head this year was truly reflected in his closing Praisefest. Through John I learned that God does provide when we respond to his invitation. Praise God for John.

Kenneth Empaynado
God really transformed this brother during RYC. Kenneth was not the same person at the end of the day. God showed me how to remain trusting in His Spirit through this brother. Praise God for Kenneth.

Jon Eric Marababol
Through all the stress and technical difficulties of leading the A/V committee, Jon Eric showed me how to remain joyful in service by appreciating every little victory. Praise God for Jon Eric.

Dominic Lat
Serving logistics is a sure-fire way to feel stressed, and although Dominic had a lot on his plate for RYC, he showed me the importance of remaining calm before the Lord. Praise God for Dominic.

Marko De Guzman
God calls us to be flexible, and Marko showed me how during RYC by having to completely readjust the competition schedules on the go. Praise God for Marko.

Jon Paul Marababol
JP is a man who really listens to his counterpart. His respect for Michelle clearly illustrates to me that God calls brothers to care deeply for sisters. Praise God for JP.

Edward Alvarez
Serving for RYC by taking pictures means you that at times you need to be disconnected from what’s happening. Edward showed me how to sacrifice for the mission by putting himself last. Praise God for Edward.

Lance Gabriel
This brother’s worship showed me one simple thing, the importance of integrity. This brother is overflowing with it. Praise God for Lance.

Kevin Muico
Our new full-time pastoral worker for CFC-Youth Canada demonstrated to me how to be in communion with the Lord, by inviting his Spirit to the conversation. Praise God for Kevin.

These brothers may have not all been in the spotlight during RYC, but they deserve to be honored. They served as committee heads, worship leaders, session speakers, and this RYC could not have succeeded without their leadership.

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Being a man is tough.

There are so many expectations on us to be strong, to carry the weak, to lead, to be fearless and so much more. Being a male leader in this community should freak us out because of what’s at stake, but the Lord showed me how truly rely on Him this RYC. He asked me to be accepting of affirmation in our work given to us through the brothers and sisters that He has blessed us with in this amazing community.

God calls us to reinforce one another.

So.

Being a brother is tough, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

– Jesse R.

For those of you who don’t know, there exists a parody religion called Pastafarianism, who’s members worship a Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM for short). Feel free to Google more information on this movement.

Here’s a picture of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He is quite obviously made of food.

Here’s a picture of Jesus. He is a man. He is not made of food.

As Catholics, we believe that Jesus is the bread of life which we consume every Sunday during mass.

My senses can sometimes mislead me. And so, even though it looks, smells and tastes like I’m eating a piece of bread every Sunday, my Catholic reality tells me that I am consuming the Lord.

This is a reality I wholeheartedly accept.

I am proud to be Catholic. And I am proud to love bread.

– Jesse R.

On May 13th Daft Punk’s new album “Random Access Memories” became available to stream in full on iTunes. Since then I’ve been trying to find the time to listen to the 74 minute album straight but I haven’t had the time.

How disappointing is that? Very.

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I’ve fooled myself, as I believe a lot of us have, into thinking that I can become a master of multitasking. At any given point in the day I’ll be on my Mac with multiple spaces open and at least 4 open tabs in Safari. iTunes is usually streaming music to my Apple TV as I use 3 and 4 finger gestures to navigate my digital workspace. My iPhone is of course readily accessible to message using SMS, iMessage, Facebook Chat, GroupMe, Whatsapp and Skype.

Being hyper connected has enabled all of us to accomplish great things, but at what cost?

After work on Monday I was rushing to the west island of Montréal towards St. John Fisher to partake in an hour of adoration from 6pm to 7pm. A great friend, Glen, was driving me and a few other sisters, but due to traffic we got there a bit late, around 6:10. When we walked into the chapel I found a place to sit down and I immediately put my phone on silent and knelt before the Lord. After a few minutes of trying to focus solely on Jesus I was greeted with a familiar itch to check my notifications. I picked up my phone but somehow resisted the urge and ended up opening the Living with Christ app to reflect on the gospel.

At 7pm I did my final prayer and left the adoration chapel and the first thing I did was to check my missed notifications. I was waiting outside expecting Glen and the other sisters to come out, but they didn’t come. I waited and waited and started to feel sort of guilty for leaving right away. Finally, at about 7:10 Glen and another sister came out.

Later on that night I asked Glen quite simply, “how was your time in adoration?”, to which he replied, “good, I needed the whole hour”.

Lesson learned.

Today I commit myself to take the time to listen to “Random Access Memories” front to back, because there’s a beauty in the way the artists arranged this album. They put their heart and soul into it and hoped for us to experience it in a certain way.

The Lord gives us hope, and to receive it we just need to sit and listen.

– Jesse R.

“In order to express something about God, we use imperfect images and limited notions. And so everything we say about God is subject to the reservation that our language is not equal to God’s greatness. Therefore we must constantly purify and improve our speech about God” (Youcat, p.16).

If God exists, and He is infinite, then there must therefore be an infinite number of ways to express something about God.

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This past semester I had the opportunity to take a class on the philosophy of religion, which I’m confident has expanded my perspective on the search for God through reason. Catholicism makes the claim that man is receptive to God, and that man’s longing for God, which can be sought through reason, is ultimately what religion is there to address. The personal difficulty I have which, at times, prevents me from fully embracing Catholicism, is that a closed system can either be consistent OR complete, but never both. However, I do recognize the benefit from devoting oneself to a closed system in the sense that it allows for a life of consistent integrity based on that system’s beliefs.

Witnessing difference in religion is like a group of friends each giving their own personal reflection on a giant abstract painting that goes well beyond their peripheral vision, and for some reason the artist is nowhere to be found, also the painting has no title.

Catholicism is universal, but is it complete?

It’s pretty clear that all religions will consider their view on God as valid, and Christianity is no different. We believe that Jesus Christ has given us an exclusive, midnight showing, front row experience to the show. Have you ever listened to yourself recite the Apostle’s Creed? Objectively you would think yourself to be mad. This is what we believe, it’s INSANE, but it is what we FIRMLY believe.

Though I like to think it doesn’t end there.

If we are to be constantly purifying and improving our speech about God we MUST be inclusive rather than exclusive. Learning the beliefs and practices of other faiths does nothing to hurt your Catholic integrity as long as you trust that we as a church are blessed by God. It’s a beautiful thing to witness youth become so in love with the Lord that they seek different ways to express that love without limitation.

We are free as soon as we grasp the concept of our freedom.
Therefore, I make the claim that God is infinite.

– Jesse R.