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.

Annie Asmussen: adventure, love, joy, and peace - where to find it.

Life's been busy, and blogging hasn't. I figure that there are priorities and life, and living them is more important than writing about them. Exams have been very interesting, and I have one more on Baptism. Preparation for ordination continues to be intense, and life always brings surprises.

One of these surprises has been the story of Annie Asmussen. A young woman giving her life full-time  to God and others. I got the chance to ask her a couple of questions, and here are the answers. You can find out more on her blog: Way of Love.

"So I am a missionary to love the empty, unhappy, and falsely happy. I've seen the most hardened hearts find peace, freedom and joy in Jesus."

Church-a-thon

I'm busy studying and working, and therefore, not blogging. Hope to change that this week, but in the meantime...

We’re organizing a Church-a-thon.

890 Churches spread across an area of 5.4 square miles – that’s Rome! We plan to visit 30 by foot on one Saturday—no subway, no cars, no hitch-hiking… and no motorinos (Italian for moped).
 

Here is where you can help me.  I need your prayer intentions: people who need prayers - family situations, projects, or worries to put before Christ on the altar.
 

Find out more and please send this on.

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.