True North Missionaries Journal

I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve quite enjoyed the last few of Justin Bieber’s latest releases. I wasn’t ashamed of it way back when he was a young Canadian boy taken under the wing of Usher some years ago, and I’m still not ashamed now. People are quick to harp on him because of everything he’s gone through and all the changes he’s had, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. Disclaimer: I’m not defending him or his actions in any way, nor am I endorsing how he chooses to live his personal life, but I’m just using his recent success to drive a point. 

So, why out of all people am I bringing up Justin Bieber. It’s a little bit of a far reach, but I’ll try to explain what was going on in my head while listening to one of his songs earlier.

Simply put, regardless of circumstance, I think we should always rejoice in the ‘comeback’s. In the SFC and/or CFC-Youth community it’s not uncommon for people to go inactive. Although more rare, it’s also not completely uncommon for those who are inactive to come back. I’m sure some of us who have been in this situation may have been told, or may have been the one to tell someone else who was inactive, “Whoaaa look who it is! You’re actually here!” – usually said when there’s been some sort of hiatus from the community and then one day that person shows up at an event. I think we should consider how these comments, extensions of our thoughts, can make that person feel. I’ve heard it shared from others that this can actually make them feel like they maybe shouldn’t come back, or just plain uncomfortable because it’s been made into such a big deal.

When we enter the confessional each time, it’s almost like that same comeback situation. It’s like hearing that catchy Justin Bieber song after he’s been m.i.a for awhile, or like that person we haven’t seen that decides to check in with the community again. The Lord is quick to rejoice, quick to forgive, and doesn’t question why you’ve ‘come back’. He is simple in his forgiveness, and the Lord doesn’t make a show out of it. He doesn’t create a huge scenario when you leave the confessional where the curtains open, a blinking sign over your head flashes “Forgiven!”, and trumpets sound with your list of penance.

I think when someone, in a sense, makes a ‘comeback’, we should rejoice in that fact. We should rejoice in the recommitment of others, in their attempts to try again, and their willingness to come back. Forget for a moment why they left, why they failed, or what lies in their past. Just be…a belieBER…hah, yeah I went there.

This past Saturday, I attended the SFC CLP in Tri-Cities. The talk for this session was on Repentence and Faith,
The brother who gave the talk mentioned something that I’ve heard before, but needed reminders for over and over throughout my faith journey, and still do need!

Being a Catholic is more than feeling spiritually ablazed; it’s about continuing to pray even when your passion is empty.

Being faithful to God is more than just believing in Him because everything in your life is going right; it’s about believing in God even when you’re encountering obstacle after obstacle and you’ve hit rock bottom.

Being repentant is more than confessing your wrongdoings because you fear the consequences; it’s about choosing to fill your life with good deeds instead of simply avoiding doing bad deeds.

If all we did was “feel” like being a Catholic only when it’s convenient then how can we ever truly journey with Christ? How can we say that we want to be with God and want to go to heaven if we only take action when it’s easy for us? Feelings are fleeting; they’re temporary and change all the time. We must not base our faith on something so unstable and ever changing.

Believing in God is something so simple, but it is not by any means easy. Whether happy, sad, content or angry, we must make the conscious decision to always CHOOSE to be a follower of Christ, ESPECIALLY when it’s hard. It’s easy to give our all to the Lord when we’re feeling good and we’re in a good point in our lives, but our true devotion, love and obedience is tested when we’re in a bad point in our lives.

Like Peter who declares he does love the Lord, how are we going to show our conviction of love to him? What is the Lord asking you to do to prove your love for Him?

We pray because prayer is the most realistic thing in the world to do. It is our acknowledgment of reality, our right response to reality, our honesty with reality.

One moment of prayer, of weak worship, confused contrition, tepid thanksgiving, or pitiful petition will bring us closer to God than all the books of theology in the world.

A prime example of this is Job. He had three friends that spoke theologically correct truths about God and Job spoke to God in wonder and confusion if God was really just. ( Job 9:17-24)

Yet God spoke and said to the three, “You have not spoken rightly before me, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7)

The three spoke ABOUT God. Job SPOKE to God. He PRAYED.

So go ahead! The best advice I’ve read about prayer:

BEGIN.

Deo Gloria

I stopped, because I thought I couldn’t

What moves me?
What consumes me and pulls me
Away

My senses
Why do I ignore them?
Why do I pretend that I do not feel, I do not know and do not experience
While all along this is where
The Lord is taking me
To be

However, I am entrapped by my own preconceived notion of freedom
Entrapped, because it is my own
Free, because it no longer belongs to me

Am I truly free if I am consumed?
If I am being pulled away from what
I should be drawing near

Hidden in each of us
This desire
For the Divine

The presence of the vine
Compels the buds to grow and reach
To touch and to seek

So what about our senses?
Why do we fight it?
Why do we suppress it?

We are not confident in the vine

The Divine

We must allow ourselves to feel
To be sensitive
To His Holy Spirit

The Lord speaks.

I stopped, because I thought I couldn’t

I thought, therefore I can

I think the Lord is reminding me of grace; what it is and the ones I have received.

Yesterday, at the SFC Cluster Assembly, we heard a teaching on grace. I was reminded of God’s unconditional love for me. I’ve been graced with my service as a mission volunteer, as a household head, and as an ANCOP representative. It is through the service that I have been able to experience grace. I remember when I was in YFC, I yearned so much to be a facilitator and a household head. I prayed for God to give me the opportunity to do that kind of service. Now that I’ve been blessed with it, I am so scared. I realize the great responsibility it has, but by God’s grace, He continues to anoint me.

Today, during the RCIA meeting, the teaching was on grace again. We focused on the sacraments. I was reminded how graced we are as Catholics, because we have the sacraments. Hearing the questions the RCIA candidates have, allows me to learn more about the Catholic faith. This experience in itself is a grace, because I’m given the opportunity to humble myself and discover the Lord so much more.

These past two nights, I’ve learned that to be truly grateful for the graces we’ve received from God, is to receive them with integrity and humility – receive the graces remembering that I am a sinner and I don’t deserve them, but I will take it anyway because these graces are God’s way of “romancing” me and showing me His love for me.

On an almost daily basis there’s a sound that’s all too familiar to me, and I’m sure you’ve all heard it too – the sound of people sifting through their pockets and wallets collecting their change for their offering at Mass. There’s something about this specific sound that’s disturbing, although it probably shouldn’t be. I grew up in a family where we had more than we needed and my parents were quick to help or give, knowing that everything comes from God and will eventually go back to Him, and so generosity seemed to always come easy to them. This included how they easily gave whatever they could to my brother and I, and extended this same value to their weekly tithing at church, and then some.

Finances are always a touchy subject and I believe that I’m not the model for how to budget properly, give often, or help generously. I also understand that people can look at my life from the outside and think, “Easy for you to say because you don’t have many financial difficulties so you shouldn’t have an opinion on how people spend their money because you don’t know how hard it can be.” However, I still do believe that we can all give more, and that the tighter we hold on to the little we have the more we allow money to control our lives.

Consider that we have 24 hours in one day. How often do we use x amount of hours for work, then x amount of hours for sleep, x amount of hours for pleasure, x amount of hours for “other”, then what are we left with? Leftovers. And very often it’s those leftovers that we give to God. If we value our time with God and know the kind of model we should follow with how generous we are with our time, then why should it be any different with how generous we are with our money?

Maybe we, again with myself included, can consider arranging all our other (yet still highly important) finances based on the 90% we have AFTER tithing, or maybe even less than that if feasible. We all give according to our blessings and our own individual situations, so it’s definitely all relative, but let’s try not to ruffle through our change and give God just what we have leftover. If we are asked to give it all, let us give it willingly, and also give our leftovers if even then that’s all we have left.

You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him; because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. [Deuteronomy 15:10]

One evening, after supper, the kids reminded the dad it was dessert night. So the dad asked Josh to please run downstairs and get the popsicles (yes, popsicles for dessert:) from the freezer in the workout room. Joshua started to whine and asked why does he always get to ask to do things to which the dad answered, because I trust you.

Joshua is always asked to get the extra milk, fruit, yogurt because they really do trust him. That he will close the fridge/freezer door properly. Aside from of course training him to be independent by doing simple things like these.