Life, love, death, God, joy - making sense of it all!

How did we meet Christ? We ask this walking through the narrow passageways of the catacombs. Martyrs found their final rest here. Hundreds and thousands of Christians secretly celebrated Mass for fear of being discovered. Why do such things? Christ died hundreds of years before. It’s just a bit of bread and a sip of wine.

No, there’s something more. For the Christians, martyrs, and saints of the first century, Jesus Christ was Someone. He meant going beyond the pomp and circumstance of their daily Roman lives. He could offer them more than the cosmopolitan, capital of the world ever could, despite her delicacies, luxuries, and opportunity to satisfy every sensual pleasure. Christ offered his body and blood for food, the comfort of Christian charity, and the promise of the satisfaction of all desire in eternal life.

But have I experienced this? 

How can I be happy, humble, and trusting? What John, the priesthood, and our vocation have in common.

I stood nervously at the bottom of the steps, going over all the possibilities in my mind. Maybe I would get one of those great men that brought Christ to thousands like St. Patrick or St. Francis Xavier. Or it could be one of the saints that had a really specific virtue like St. John of the Cross and his prayer or Blessed John Paul II and his devotion to Mary.

What am I talking about?

Priorities - Who to love?

Life's busy! We have to do what's most important. Sorry, I haven't blogged recently. I figure that finishing my studies and getting ordained a priest is the priority for now. I hope you will agree - I'm counting on the prayers.

Now that I finished THE paper for my bachelor's in theology on St. Augustine's view of the human will, I hope to have a little more time.For now, I read this yesterday in the breviary. It's worth reading once, twice, three times!

What is love? Two easy steps (Lenten Virtues Part 1)

The last serious post was almost a month ago, Lent, grace, virtue, and so on. I haven't come down with a strange Asian flu. I haven't been abducted my a strange sect, and my social media accounts have not been hacked. I have, however, been very bad about blogging. Better late than never, I guess.

I promised to talk about virtues. Well here's the first: LOVE!

Yes, it's a virtue, not a catchword or a feeling. We sometimes equate love with happiness, emotion, even sex. Sometimes, it seems like we're on the outside looking in - we long to love and be loved. It just never seems to work. These are not love although they can be related.

Lent, Grace, Virtue, and Pelagianism: God's role in making us happy and holy.

Back to Tebow, just for a moment. Tebowing on the sidelines and preaching in front of the cameras, some seem to think every ball to leave his hand is divinely guided - nothing short of a miracle.

But is the football really some divine remote-control hovercraft, Tebow really a kind of divine puppet?

How to pray II: Okay, I'm kneeling, now what?

Got a little long winded on prayer last week - sorry. It's like an oral exam when the teacher asks an unexpected question. We may not have a great answer, but we go on and on to show you know something

This time, I'll keep this short - three questions on prayer and three answers. (1) It's not that easy, any suggestions? (2) Okay, I'm kneeling (sitting or standing for that matter), now what? And (3) Where can I read more about this?

How to pray: FaceBook, Twitter, What it isn't, and 6 Steps to Communicating with God.

We're constantly communicating with people. We prove that man is a social animal with the thousand different gadgets to talk and chat. We have computers, FaceBook, SKYPE, instant messengers, cell phones, IPads, and just about anything else possible to stay in touch.

But are we in touch with God? He's the most important person in our life, considering that he created, redeemed, and keeps us alive. Yet numerous excuses jump to mind - I don't have time; I don't know how.

He's not on FaceBook. He doesn't have email. We don't know his cell number. So how can we stay in touch with him?

Prayer! A whole lot could be said on the subject, but let's start with the basics of how to start a conversation with God.