Giving and receiving new life: What is baptism all about?

Should I tell them that it was my first time or not? When to do it? It would be a great opener, and everything seems more special. But they might get nervous. I could tell them at the end, but by that time it wouldn’t mean much. 

Here I was about to perform my first baptism, both nervous and excited. We, men, like to achieve things, to do things for others. We like to be able to accomplish things that support and sustain others – earn a living, raise children, be the best.

Living the (Extra)ordinary: LC Deaconate Ordination 2012

It's hard to write again after so long. I've been a deacon for just over a month. My life hasn't changed a lot, then again, it's been completely transformed.

I'm still studying, working, eating, sleeping, praying, and playing. Just that, I'm a deacon and will be forever. But what does that mean?

This seems to be the story of our lives. I shared this in one of my first homilies because we all experience it. Often the most meaningful moments of our lives come and go with the most normalcy. We spend hours, weeks, and even years preparing for something that happens in the blink of an eye. Then it's over, and nothing seems different though we know that everything has changed. Marriage, birth, death, and so on.

Perhaps it hit me hardest in the actual ceremony of the ordination to the diaconate.

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.

Dating fast: filling our heart - sex, food, or true love?

Pleasures almost seem to have become human rights!

We not only have the "right" to food but any kind of free sexual expression. Topping the charts right next to abolishing hunger are the attempts mainstream abortion, contraception, and homosexual marriage. Somehow, it's all the same level.

What does fasting and Lent have to do with this? Reminding us that MAN is more than an animal. We don't just feed ourselves and reproduce. We were made to love, and love involves sacrifice. In Lent we are reminded of Christ's ultimate loving sacrifice on the cross, and we're called to imitate him in some small way!

Author Katherine Becker has a really neat take on things in the Dating Fast.

"The Dating Fast challenges each of us to exercise the courage needed to trust in God and trust in Him to lead us to the fulfillment of our hearts' desires."  

    —Fr. Luke A. Spannagel

Kevin McShane: Walk-on to Captain, a story of determination and passion.

“The first thing is, if you’re on time, you’re late. If you’re early, you’re on time.

"Come to practice early not because coach has you get up early or because someone else is getting up early. Get there early because you want to work hard and you want to get better.

"And if you are going to get to the gym early, bring somebody with you. It's really important to make this team and this whole Beaver atmosphere feel like a family and a brotherhood.''

Kevin McShane is an ordinary athlete with an extraordinary attitude. He plays basketball for the Oregon State Beavers. It's not the playing time, the points, or the rebounds that stand out. He walked on, and in fact his college career didn't get off to a good start.

But he was determined. “I was told it was going to be hard. I was told by my own father that it was going to be too hard and I didn’t want to do it.’’

But he did it. He's the lone senior on the team and receiving a basketball scholarship. 

What do we really want? Are we convinced of ourselves. What effort do we put in?

Read more here.

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?

The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood.

Edmund Campion was a man on fire! He couldn't be stopped. As a Jesuit and a missionary, he was a man convinced of who called him, who he was, and the task at hand. Nothing was going to get in his way! 

"And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league—all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practice of England—cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted: So it must be restored."

This reminds me of the Gospel Quote:

Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ -- can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing, or threats or violence;  as scripture says: For your sake we are being massacred all day long, treated as sheep to be slaughtered?

Rm 8:35-37

What about us? What's our mission? Are we convinced?

As a side note, please comment if you have any suggestions on the logo.

Anthony Robles: What it really takes to win!

Some of dream of being National Sport Champs, but most of us never made it despite the fact that we have two arms and two legs. Anthony Robles has one leg, and he made.

In high school, he won two State Titles and was took fourth and seventh place in the past two seasons at Arizona State. But this year he finally took the NCAA title in the 125 pound class.

Will he continue? Yes, he will the battle's not over. But now instead of on the mat, he will be at the microphone as a motivational speaker for young people. "I want to help those kids rise out of nothing and achieve their goals, especially in wrestling. So I'll definitely be around."

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?

Lessons from the Cockpit: Flying and writing to give us a new perspective on life.

I'm new to blogging. Finding a new blog and thus, blogger is like uncovering hidden treasure. New perspective, experience, difference, and similarity. Things we agree on and things we don't! But all with a lot of insight to teach us. 

Christopher Laney and www.lessonsfromthecockpit.com
offer new insights on flying and life. See what he has to say.

"States!": How Flint Catholic won the State Championship, through Macauley Rybar's eyes.

It seemed impossible. Flint Powers High School started off their seaon 2-4, and just suffered through a 1-8 season over a year ago. Macauley Rybar, a senior offensive guard and captain of the team wasn't going down without a fight.

They believed and did the impossible - coming back to win the State Championship. They beat Lansing Catholic Central in the final 56 to 26, a team that they lost earlier, 17 to 37.

I got a chance to ask Macauley some questions about the season, and his words speak for themselves.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good! The Story of Paul.

The other day I walked into the Basilica of St. Paul, Outside the Walls. It's a little different from the other patriarchal basilicas in Rome. It's kind of stark, bare, imposing. I rather like to see it as a little like the apostle itself - strong, straightforward, powerful, and to the point.

This comes one day late, but yesterday we celebrated the conversion of St. Paul. We don’t know much about his early life other than that he mad tents. The first even we hear about him is when he's actively killing Christians, specifically St. Stephen. Little did he know that we would not only undergo the same fate but would suffer the same sort of thing multiple times.

Pilgrimage revisited - Mass in St. Peter's, just bring your own priest.

If you've had Mass in St. Peter's with me you've heard this phrase, but it's true. There are Masses in languages from across the globe - all are welcome. A great memory from a couple years back.

I glanced around me.  Here again, yet every time there was something different, something new.  It was always a novel experience, not with the novelty of the latest gadget or newest philosophy – rather the deeper eternal freshness of a truth, a reality never fully comprehended.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Workouts, masochism, and Velcro. Four common pitfalls and the elements for true success.

Kind of a strange topic? Well, I spent two years of graduate philosophy researching it, and I would agree. But to succeed at the project of life, very necessary.

As I was looking for some kind of definition or motivating quote, everything that kept popping up was either Nietzche or Machiavelli and the will-to-power. I decided against the quotes, but I dare to say that willpower for you is probably tainted by these ideas.

"What's up with the title?" - Part II: Project, what project?

Seems everyone's quoting Tebow to insult or praise. I must be stuck with the fever: 

"This is an opportunity where great things can happen and lets be great right now. Everybody believe and we went out there and achieved it because our faith and our relentlessness to keep fighting."

His faith is making big news, but we're going to focus on the second part - relentless fighting. Tebow wasn't born a national championship football quarterback or with a superbowl ring on his finger for that matter. What did it?

CampionProject: the first half of "What's up with the title?"

What the blog about, anyway? Why is it called the CampionProject? The two-part title doesn't seem to have to do with the content. Once in a while, I want to post directly related to the title to fix this, and this time about the first word - Campion.

As I mentioned blog explanation, it's about renewing our vision of man, his destiny, his happiness, and thus ourselves. But how?

Chad Regelin: Going Home

"Feels like home." This doesn't happen right away. We move to a new city, a new apartment, or just remodel the kitchen, and it takes a while to warm-up to it, so that it feels like home.

But honestly, there's always something. We have to make it more like HOME. Put in some last minute furnishings, change the color scheme, or complete the household - but it is never quite HOME, completely.

Brad Sonntag: holding the football for a MSU Bowl win

The Big 10 didn't fair too well in bowl games this year, but both Michigan teams did manage a win... in over time, and one in triple over time at that. It just takes Michigan State a little longer!

Okay, sorry, just tough to bring myself to write about Michigan State with two proud Spartan grads and fans for a dad and brother. But Brad Sonntag was a little to hard to pass up. I don't think I have ever read, heard, or seen anything about the holder for the kicker until this guy.

5 Step New Year's Resolution Thermometer - how healthy are they? are we?

Here's a great quote for New Year's I came across yesterday:

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

Mark Twain

A little depressing, but how true. January 1st we make a firm decision, on the 2nd we're already having second thoughts. On the 3rd, third thoughts, and by the 4th, we've forgotten.

So how healthy are they? Are they going to make us happier, better? Or not?