Evangelization: It Starts With Us

It is important to stand up for your faith! Everyone can attest to this statement, but do we really do what we say? Everyone can be faith filled and have the urge to do God's work while they are in the middle of worshiping during church, but it is often a different story once we leave the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

Evangelization is not tolerated today. We are told, "It is okay for you to believe what you want to believe, just don't talk about it to anyone else." We are given the perception that religion is great in church, but we should keep it to ourselves after that.

A work friend of mine was recently in trouble with the law. She was arrested, brought before a judge and was given a 45 day jail sentence as a result of two consecutive drunk-driving charges. Her arrest has caused each of her co-workers to pick up her shifts while she has her paperwork filed and can return to work under Huber Law. As I take each one of her shifts I pray that the Lord can help her to feel His presence as she goes through this very difficult time. Shortly before her incarceration, I had a chance to talk to her. I found out that she is an atheist, but has not always had the lack this lack of faith. I found out that she had regularly attended a Catholic church while she was little, but her parents had ceased to attend and she found what she considered "better" ways to spend her Sundays.

In an attempt to show her that God still exists and is very much a part of her life, I told her that I was attending college seminary after graduation this year and offered to share my faith story with her. I was not trying to brag or show off my strong faith, but I wanted to show her that God has the power to influence our thoughts and decisions if we open up to him. It is my prayer "amid the pots and pans at work", that God continues to open up her heart to Him. Perhaps by some miracle her eyes can open to His love and her faith will be renewed.

Religion is a bigger subject than people think. God needs to be talked about wherever we go. The subject of God should not be stopped once we walk out of the church doors, but it should be carried to all those we come in contact with. Young people of today need to know God and know how much He loves them despite all of their faults and mistakes. This is our job as Christians and Evangelizers. Are we up to the challenge to take the Gospel to the streets?

"The End is Just the Beginning"

Well the end of a long beautiful summer vacation is slowly coming to an end. It felt so good to sleep in a little bit and not worry about homework and tests and grades for a while. Unfortunately school starts up this Thursday! To tell you the truth, I am not ready to go back to school, then again who really is ready for school to start?

This summer was an extremely busy one for me. I had the unique opportunity as many of you may know, working two jobs; one as a maintenance assistant at my parish and the other as a dietary aide at Heritage Assisted Living Complex. It was definitely an interesting and rewarding experience.

My job as a maintenance assistant began with a brisk five mile bike ride at 5:30 in the morning. It definitely helped me work up a sweat. I learned a lot this summer; I learned how to fix broken desks and chairs, how to strip and wax church and school floors but most importantly, the importance of hard work, taking initiative and never giving up when things get hard or difficult.

My second job as a dietary aide at Heritage Assisted Living gave me an excellent chance to meet and work with all different kinds of people. I am so fortunate to be able to create relationships with some of the residents, being able to talk to them, ask them how their day is going and just being able to put on a smile on their faces. These are things that I am so grateful for everyday. We are all called to live and show Christ to others, so I am so happy that I can bring just a little bit of joy and happiness to some of the residents with just in a simple "hello".

Since this is my senior year, it is also a year of continued college searching, continued studying for ACT tests, writing papers and doing homework, but also a year of making memories with my friends at Nathan Hale High School. It will be a different year with different teachers and different classmates but all in all, it will be a lot of fun! Starting something new is always great! I am anxious about beginning my last year of high school this year. I know that it will be a lot of work so you can bet that I will be leaning on God for help so that I can finish my high school career strongly and will also depend on Him as I move on to a new stage in my life. I ask you to please keep all students who are returning to school this year in your prayers.

"The end is just the beginning!"- From the movie "Soul Surfer"

Seminary Reflection- " What is "Your" plan for me? Part 1

The next few posts that will be uploaded are my own reflections on my past seminary summer camp. They contain thoughts that crossed my mind and things that I struggled with while there. These posts have been divided into parts, each part being posted on a different day to create suspense, allow time for reflection and prayer for those who are also going through some of the same things I am currently undertaking, such as being in high school and also discerning a call to the priesthood. I hope that you enjoy each and every part of this story and share it with others who are dealing with similar feelings and thoughts in their own discernment processes.


Discernment processes for those thinking of certain vocations, particularly the Catholic Priesthood, provide an opportunity to grow in your faith in God, to expand your love for our Mother Church whom you will ultimately give your entire life to and lastly, to learn how to trust one another. You also learn how to help and guide one another on your own individual journeys.

Despite all of the positive influences and opportunities that you gain while discerning a possible vocation to the Catholic priesthood; There are in fact a few things that apply unneeded pressure and negative impacts for someone discerning. Lately there has been a one thing that has been pressuring me, my current education.

One of the things that I have learned in discussions and talks at my local seminary is that education is extremely important. You need four years of college and at least a philosophy major and theology degree. This is my final year of high school coming up, so my life is busy with researching colleges and programs, taking ACT tests and working full time to save money for tuition. I'm realizing real quick that life is hard.

Before I even enter a college, I need to meet requirements. I need to match grade point average scales, ACT test scores and cumulative grade scores to the colleges that I am interested in. Lets just say that school has always been tough. To be honest, I am a horrible test taker. It certainly shows on my ACT scores, which were well below the requirement for a number of colleges I had wanted to attend. This has certainly made me start rethinking my vocation and filled me with doubt. After all I have taken the ACT test twice already, each time coming out feeling very confident, so sure that I had such a great score only to find out two weeks later that I had not met my expectations.

Thoughts began filling my head with, "How can I become a priest when I can't even get out of high school? What is wrong with me that no matter how hard I study, things just don't work in my favor? God does not want a dumb, uneducated man to become his priest! How can God lead me through all of these summer camps that I relish each and every summer while placing seminarians, priests and even bishops in front of me to inspire, teach and guide me, just so I can fall short of expectations and realize that the priesthood is no longer a possibility?" I became angry at God... What is "Your" plan for me?

-To be continued

The Highlight of Summer

It is said that summer is a time of relaxation, fun and getting away from stresses of school, homework and tests. But this year my summer has been the complete opposite. I have been hired to work two jobs; one at my home parish, St. Matthias, and the other at Heritage Assisted Living Nursing home as a dietary aide. This is my second year working at my parish as a maintenance assistant. Even though it is only a seasonal job and considered part-time, I work a full day, Monday through Friday, from six in the morning until two in the afternoon.

Sometimes I leave one job and directly go to the other. Even though working through the summer is not something that people usually look forward to, I consider myself very blessed to be able to have not only one job, but two.

With that being said I am pleased to be able to take some time away from work and return to the Seminary Summer Camps for the fourth year in a row. I treat every year that I go as a small retreat. Each camp brings special opportunities to relax, to meet new people who share the same interests and thoughts that I do, to be able to grow in my prayer life, and also to gain further insight into what God wants me to do with the rest of my life. I can easily say that it is the highlight of my summer each and every year. Each camp truly sets me on fire with the Holy Spirit, to continue to seek what God has in store for me in the upcoming months and years.

As I have done in the past, the next few posts that I write will be sharing some of the experiences and highlights of this year's camp: sessions and talks about subjects that influence both my own discernment process and those of my fellow campers, service projects and the impacts that they had, and I also will include guest posts from fellow discerners who camped with me this year and who want to share how they were inspired or influenced by the things that they participated in over the past few days. And so I invite you to continue to visit this blog to read, learn and discover the many ways God calls us to vocations (particularly to the priesthood) and how he constantly works in us and influences us to do His will.

Stay Tuned!

True Compassion

I recently got a new job at Heritage Assisted Living, a nursing home near my house. I work as a dietary aide, so my responsibilities include helping prepare food and then delivering it to the many different dining rooms around the home. After the meals are done being served, then I make my rounds again and take the dirty dishes back to the kitchen in order to wash and return them. It is not a very challenging job, and it can also be very fun and very rewarding.

One of the things that I love about my job is being able to work with people. Many of the people at the home are very sad. They feel helpless, no longer independent. They are no longer able to do the things that they like to do. They feel depressed and lonely, hardly getting to see their family except for a couple of times a year. When I bring food to them, I can't help but feel sorry for them. Here are people that worked hard all of their lives and now are being deprived of their independence.

When I prepare the food for the next days meals, I pray for each and every resident that lives their. I pray that they may remain healthy and do not become sick. I pray that they have a little joy and happiness in their lives, that they are not overcome with loneliness and boredom. I pray that they might see God in their lives each and everyday and know that he is right beside them always.

After preparing the food, it is now time to deliver it. When I do this, I make sure to put on a big smile and be friendly to the residents when I make my entrance in the dining room. As I make my way to each table, presenting them with their food I make a point of asking everyone how they are, how their day has been going or maybe throwing in a couple comments or questions about the latest Green Bay Packers score.
At work my job is to prepare food, but I think that it should also consist of spreading a little joy and laughter into the residents hearts. Perhaps some of them have not had or experienced any in a long time.

I like to look at my job as a great ministry opportunity. A priest makes hospital visits and house calls, visiting with people and showing them the love and peace of Christ. If this is what God truly has planned for me, then I think I am on the right track with what I am doing at Heritage. This job can be used as great practice for my future vocation. We all need a little happiness and love in our lives, and I am happy to give it to all.