What To Do If You Get Pulled Over

After being a little over-zealous and just all around not thinking about what speed I was going, those flashing lights pulled up behind me on the way out of town to go skiing.
Being my first time having been pulled over, I was prepared and calm. Luckily, a few things I learned back in high school flooded into my mind.

Here is the basics of what you should do if you get pulled over.
1- keep your hands on the steering wheel where they can be seen and don't move them
2- don't move until the officer speaks to you
3- when he asks you for your license and registration, ask him if you can move your hands to get them
4- when he takes them back to his/her vehicle, keep your hands on the steering until he/she gets back

I was lucky and only got a warning.  But the officer also thanked me for keeping my hands where he could see them.
When we were taught this in high school, it did not make sense until the teacher explained some things.
One of the most dangerous things an officer can do is pull someone over. When they do, they are essentially walking up to the vehicle blind, not knowing what could happen. The simple act of keeping your hands on the steering wheel can give the officer a great deal of ease as they approach the unknown of your vehicle. The worst thing you can do is start moving around and rummaging through things.
If I were a cop, the scene from "Fargo" where they officer is shot when he is standing at the drivers window would run through my mind every time I approached a pulled over vehicle.

So, put the officer at easy, don't be stupid and maybe you to will get off with just a warning.

Peace all

Mountain Biking is an Addiction Cured Only by Poverty

Or in my case, a trip to the Holy Land.

This quote is from my favorite mountain biking website which pretty much sums up what mountain biking and bike building has done to me.
For some only poverty can stop the buying and upgrading of a mountain bike. For me, it's the realization that I will be traveling over seas and it would be nice to have some money for that trip and also for the upcoming gifts I will be buying.
So, for a while, I'm not buying any bike stuff. And as I have read many times on my favorite mountain biking website, I'm not the only person with this kind of problem.

And here is a glimpse of the bike build that is currently on hold.

Peace all

Ghosting

No one that I know of has ever flat out called me an asshole, still there are many moments in life where I feel like I have been one.

If you live in the state of Montana on-line dating is pretty much pointless... especially on the Catholic dating sites. There are about a grand total of 5 women that live in Montana on these sights. If I were to say live in California or anywhere on the east coast it might be worth the time.

Yet, there are a lot of women out there looking for a relationship and, unfortunately I've been one of those guys. A ghoster.

Not responding to e-mails from interested people or flat out stopping to respond after a few e-mails is kind of an asshole move. It shows a lack of maturity.

I've been ghosted and it really doesn't bother me that much, but I know I'm not like most people, especially ladies. 

I'm sorry for all those times I failed to be a mature adult.

Peace all

Sometimes, All You Can Do Is Pray

I'm at a point in my life that could best be described as an "in-between stage".

Single, living alone away from my family with a full time job. Yet I'm close enough to home that I go there once or twice a month and my mother still buys groceries for me... even though I don't ask her to.  I call that the "in-between stage". 

What else could I call it?

I don't quite have my own independent life as I see it. For all intensive purposes I do, still I call the home where my parents live my permanent address. Heck, I still get mail sent there (another reason to go home every once in a while). 

My immediate family is like everyone elses'... weird and not normal.  They are going through some major changes right now which I am not really a part of. I'm glad for that, because the changes are not easy nor are everyone happy with them. Change is always going to happen and all we as humans can really do is pray for help to get through the constancy of change. 

I've used my family as an excuse to move closer to home. Now that I'm home, I'm so glad to be back in Montana and that is not just because of my family. 

If I'm honest with myself, I don't want to leave Montana. That's not because I would be far away from my family again. I just enjoy living in Montana and I really don't want to go anywhere else. 

I'm praying for help and guidance for my family and also for some guidance for myself that will hopefully keep me here in Montana. 

I'm ready for whatever God has in store for me though. I can leave Montana but Montana will never leave me (how cliche is that!)

Peace all

Persistence and Patience

Recently I have started seriously archery hunting. The bow and arrows I am using I purchased almost 10 years ago. They have sat in my parents garage until last year. Getting them out a year ago is about all I did. I shot it a bit but did not do any hunting, mainly because I had a new job and did not have many places I knew of close by to go.

A year later a year smarter has allowed me to do some hunting. Whenever I am out I am so thankful to be able to do so, even though I have picked one of the most difficult quarry to get with a bow... the pronghorn antelope.

They don't call them speed goats for nothing. These critters are fast and spooky. Getting withing 100 yards of them is a feat in itself. They like the open country so it is almost impossible to stalk up to them. 

On Wednesday I did. I got to within 150 yards and then let them close the distance, which they did, but the big buck was at 70 yards and I did not feel comfortable at that range. They spooked and ran off.  I met them at the other end of the valley and had them within 100 yards as they crossed a creek.

Yesterday instead of chasing, I sat and waited. I knew about where they were going to go, but I did not know when. Well, after 4 hours of sitting and waiting they came. They went right were I thought they would. Problem was, they didn't stop. The herd sprinted past me, 20 yards away, and I never got a shot. I could smell their distinctive antelope smell as their breeze blew by me. There were some stragglers that started me. I almost got a shot off, but I arrow fell off my rest. 

Needless to say, I have learned a lot this week about archery hunting and antelope hunting. Hopefully my patience and persistence will pay off, but if not, that's cool too. The experiences and views have been worth it. 

Peace all

Can't Sleep

Maybe it is because I do not have bats flapping over my head or the sound of other guys snoring... whatever it is I cannot sleep. I woke up two hours ago and here I sit at 5 a.m.... blogging. 

I did not write much over the summer. Being a full time camp councilor did not allow me many chances to put my thoughts down in writing. Each new day held new challenges so there was not much point on dwelling on things.

One post I did write over the summer was commented on. That does not happen often. The funny thing for me is it almost makes me feel validated as a Catholic blogger. The commenter is what I like to call a "Rad-Trad" or a radical-traditionalist who hates the Second Vatican Council and how it changed the Church. It's quite interesting what she posted, or most likely copied and pasted off of a website. 

Anyway... Vatican II was not the problem, it was the implementation and down right horrible understanding of Vatican II that has lead to so many problems in our Church. Almost all the bishops in the world could not be heretics. Their thoughts were great but their follow through was abysmal. 

Any-who... my summer is over.  It was a great summer and I feel blessed beyond belief for the friends that I made this summer and the youth that I got to interact with. 

Now for a new year of new and exciting changes and challenges!

Peace all!

Beautiful Wedding

The wedding of two people who are committed to ministry and God is an amazing ceremony to witness.
Unfortunately it is too rare today that couples have their first focus on God. I know that my two friends who just got married were questioned all along the way.
Moving to the same town most would think it would be normal for them to live together. They chose not to. A simple gesture like that shows how truly committed they are to each other but most in our society do not see it that way.
Father mentioned that for both of them their greatest goal now is to get their spouse to heaven. How often is that mentioned at other wedding ceremonies these days?
The greatest thing I took away from the ceremony was hope.
There is hope for the future as long as we have faith-filled couples like Jake and Tiff in our world.

We Need a Healthy Distrust of Our Spiritual Emotions

One of the best nuggets of spiritual guidance I've gotten this summer is that God does not care about our emotions and we should have a healthy distrust of those emotions, especially spiritually.
This makes a lot of sense to me, as over the years I have let my emotions lead me, especially emotions that I experienced during spiritual moments. I can honestly say that most of those did not turn out well.
As Christians, life shouldn't be easy or comfortable. As father said today, life with a healthy relationship with God will be better, not easier, and those are two very different words and very different lives. Our emotions, or at least mine, often lead to selfish desires and those emotions have really clouded my vision of Christ in the past.
Just a nugget I wanted to get down.

Peace all

Adaptability and Harmony

As part of our training week for the upcoming summer camp all the councilors did this thing called strength finders. Basically we took this test and it told us our top five strengths, according to this test.
Two of my top three are adaptability and harmony.
For the most part I agree with my top five, but it's these two that drive me crazy!
Basically, when I read these I think "wow, I'm a hippy"... since I'm all about going with the flow and peace and harmony and all that jazz.
The funny thing about all of this was our priests response to the whole thing. We could tell he was not into it from the start. By the end if you wanted to hear a good rant all you had to do was bring up strength finders around him.
Father had a good point though. It's great to know what are strengths are, but as those who have read at least some of the Bible know, God likes to work through people's weaknesses.
Moses, huge amount of stage fright apparently, God still had him be the leader of his people.
Peter, definitely not the most faithful or upstanding of Jesus' followers, but he was named the rock.
God works through our weaknesses and thankfully I have many of them.

Peace all

Marriage Cannot Be Redefined

"every child comes from a man and a woman, and has a right, a natural human right, to know and be known by, to love and be loved by, their own mother and father.”

“Love is the answer. But love in the truth. The truth is that every child comes from a mother and a father, and to deliberate(ly) deprive a child of knowing and being loved by his or her mother and father is an outright injustice. That is our very nature, and no law can change it.”

~  Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco speaking at the “March for Marriage” on June 19, 2014 as quoted in Archbishop Cordileone calls for a 'civilization of truth and love' on Catholic News Agency.

10,000 Pageviews!

I'm sure the vast majority just stumbled upon my blog in a random Google search... but nonetheless, 10,000 separate page-views is pretty cool.
I haven't been writing much these last few months. Mostly because I've been busy and simply haven't gotten around to writing anything. There has been no shortage of things I could write about, mostly knee-jerk reactions that I wanted to vent about. After a few days the desire to vent goes away and I sense that what I would have written would not have been all that helpful.
Since I don't have anyone I feel comfortable venting to, I use this blog. Most people are more comfortable venting to me, which is the way it's been for most of my life. Not feeling comfortable venting to people is what has kept this blog going.
Anyways... I'll be busy all summer working as a camp counselor so there won't be much time for blogging, but never say never. I'm sure I will have lots of stories by the end of the summer.

Peace all

Lifeguard/Youth Minister- the Double Threat to the Devil

This last weekend I went through lifeguard training for my summer job as a camp counselor.
I'm sore from the immediate 300 meter swim test (with no warm up) and multiple hours in the pool. Also, I reek of chlorine and will for a few days after spending so much time in the pool.
Anyways...
We had a great instructor. I actually competed against this guy in high school in track and field, so that was neat. He was very passionate about his job and about teaching us the life saving skills we need to know, along with some great tips that make the duty of being a lifeguard easier and more enjoyable. Quite often he had a story to go along with something he was teaching us. Usually in these situations I have found that people really stretch their stories to fit what they are talking about. His, however, his fit every time with a clear point to every story he shared.
One story connected on a youth ministry level with me.
He had a mom that came with her 2 year old child to the pool. Being fairly new to lifeguarding, his skills in confronting people and explaining dangers and why rules are in place were not that great yet. This mother sat in hot tub for apparently the vast majority of the time and simply let her son run around the pool area unattended, apart from the occasional scream she let out directed toward her son. As time went on, that little boy put the lifeguards on duty in 7 different rescue situations. Each time, the mother just sat there in the hot tub.
With the skills he has today he explained that that situation should not have happened. He would have forced that mother to take charge of her child or leave. Lifeguards are there to prevent injuries, not to babysit.
Sometimes, that is the role of the youth minister. I've had a whole year of classes and I have not meet the majority of the youths' parents, nor have I even seen many of them. Sunday mass is vacant of the vast majority of my youth, which means that their parents are not there either. Every Wednesday though, there are all these kids and some days I feel like I'm simply babysitting. Like the mom who didn't care about the life of her child, too many parents today are failing to care about their childrens' eternal souls. It is the parents job to educate their children in the faith and try their best to save their souls, but too often today they are putting that job on the youth minister.
I'll try my best.
This summer I'm going to save souls and lives now that I'm a double threat.  
Still, I pray that more parents will begin to understand how crucial their role is in saving their children, physically and spiritually.

Peace all

Body Language at Mass

A person's body language at mass tells a great deal about the current relationship they have with Jesus, or at least I think so. I usually try to make a point to be always in a respectful body position for whatever is happening at any point in the mass. If prayers are being said or Scripture being read, I'm sitting up, being attentive. If it's a time of quiet, I might put my head down or fold over a bit in prayer. Most importantly I try to never be a distraction to other people. I can be easily distracted, therefore, I try to not be a distraction to others, hoping that they won't be a distraction to me. Very few catch on to this though...

At Holy Thursday mass, I saw a dad, and from what I know a good and faithful dad, sitting, hunched over in his chair with his hands around his face. With his kids sitting around him, he looked like he was in the last place in the world he wanted to be. It upset me and made me wonder what kind of message he was sending to his kids simply by the position his body was in. Looking at him made me almost automatically sit up straighter in my chair as prayers were being read.

People are funny. At my current church, an unfortunate product of the 80's, it's very easy to people watch with its semicircular layout. I close my eyes a great deal more during mass at this church simply for that reason. I can look across the room right at the faces of others who are hopefully praying and participating in the mass with me. We also do not have kneelers which is very frustrating and was extremely disappointing during the Triduum services.   

As the months role by I understand more and more how important the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is to myself and many others. I pray that more people can also come to this understanding and behave and act as respectfully as they can at any celebration of the mass. How we enter, sit, stand, pray, receive Christ and then leave are crucially important.

Here's to remembering that the mass is not about us, it's about God and His unending love.

Peace all

I Love Conversion Stories!

Like most Bible Studies, the one I lead doesn't always stay on topic. Things come up, people want to talk about this and that... it seems normal to me. Put a group of people together in one room they will undoubtedly share their own insights and experiences. That is part of why I enjoy my Monday night Bible Study so much. 

We've had a gentleman come to our Bible study a couple of times now. I do not remember what conversations led up to this but he asked if we would like to hear his wife and his conversion story.

Of course we did!

I will do my best to retell it here.

"My wife and I had been church shopping around for a while. This particular Sunday was cold and miserable so we didn't feel like traveling far. The last church in town we hadn't been to yet was St. Peters so we decided to go there. For as awful as the weather was there were quite a few people there, my wife and I thought. We found a place to sit and mass started. Well, the music was terrible, not to offend anyone who might have been there, and the homily was even worse. As the mass went on we noticed how everyone got up to receive communion. Returning home after mass my wife and I talked about our experience. We wondered why there were so many people there, on a miserable day, listening to terrible music and less than inspiring homily. It dawned on us that there people were not there for those things at all. In the end those things did not matter as much as what they were receiving there. The people were there for the Eucharist. After that realization we both decided the Catholic Church was where we needed to be."

Did I mention I love conversion stories? 

This one is so simple, but also so right to heart of the what the Catholic Church is all about. Receiving Jesus, His body and His blood is the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Bad music and bad homilies don't matter. We go to mass to receive Christ because we need Him. We also need to do what He told us to do, and He told to eat His flesh and drink His blood. 

Peace all

I Broke Down

I broke down

pushed to the edge.

How does she stay so strong?

Never ending bickering

 name calling.

Was there ever love?

What happened to it?

A comment here,

an outburst there.

Why?

What is accomplished other than causing us pain?

We are adults,

but I feel like a little kid.

I don't know what to do. 

Separate already

or grow up.

She doesn't need the added cross to bare.

You can spare us the pain.

Why won't you?

What can I do to make you see

the pain you cause?

I don't know what to do so I left.

I broke down.

For whatever reason my parents seem to just be getting on each others nerves.  My mom will make a remark, with very little compassion in her voice, and my father will lash back in anger. My father says she's lazy and she flashes back with name for him. 

I can't get the image of the hate in her eyes as she spewed out those four words. 

Getting to the kitchen table it was like everything was forgotten. All is okay...

All is not okay. 

I told my sister I would pray for her as I said goodbye. That's when I felt the tears coming to the surface. I pushed them back.

My mom heard me say it and had a look of disbelief and bewilderment. 

I got into my car and cried. Cried for my sister who has to live with them. Cried because I can get away, but my sister can't. She has enough burdens on her life. Why do they make it harder for her? Why does she have to be the constant mediator? Why can't they see the pain they cause? 

Maybe it's just me. My sister is the strongest person I know. Maybe she can handle it. But she shouldn't have to. 

What can I do?

I'm praying the Novena to St. Joseph. Yesterday, this awful day, I read how he is the patron of the family. I asked St. Joseph to pray for my family. Is that all I can do? Is that the best I can do?

I'm almost 27 years old. I can't imagine what this would do to a younger child. I always felt blessed that my parents never separated. Times like this make we wish they would have. There seems to be no love between them. Now it's just anger, and my sister and I have to bare the brunt. We have to be the adults. The tides have turned and I cried for 30 minutes because it fully hit me for the first time. What good is parental love towards their children if they don't love for each other. That love is supposed to be what created my sister and I. Now that lack of love is driving me further away from them, and all I have the courage to do is pray. 

Saint Joseph, head of the Holy Family, please pray for my family.

More Snow!

Yesterday was a beautiful spring-like day. It got to upwards around 50 degrees and I saw the first robin of the year.

This morning I woke up to 3 inches of heavy snow on the ground...

Good thing I'm now practically a ski bum or this would have made me as mad as that robin probably is!

Peace all!

Skier's Thumb

If you are one of my very few regular readers you know that I have taken up downhill skiing. I live 30 minutes from a pretty good mountain so why not, right?
Well, skiing down a mountain is only so much fun. The real fun is the terrain park. Catching air is awesome if not slightly terrifying sometimes. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to catch up with some of my youth from youth group who have the same idea I do, only they are a lot better then I am at this point. Following them through the park gave me a lot of confidence and I was having a great time.
I should have stopped then.
Cruising to the last jump, I now know that I had a bit too much speed. Up and over and boom. It could have been a lot worse, but I'm paying for that last jump and will be for at least a few more days.

My left thumb is pretty much immobile. Just try going through your day without using your thumb at all... it sucks and is difficult. 

If my own Lenten fasting was not enough I now have this to deal with. Still, I'm trying to look at all of this in a positive way. It's painful, but not unbearable. Sure, I have to put a bit more thought into everyday tasks, but its okay. I can offer all this up for the glory of God's kingdom.

Peace all

Remember that You are Dust and to Dust You Shall Return

I got to distribute ashes for my parish yesterday. When Father asked me I immediately rattled off my favorite phrase to say when applying the ashes... "remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". The shocked look I received forced me to ask what the other phrase was that could be used. Clearly, Father did not wish me to use my favorite phrase, so I didn't. "Repent and believe in the Gospel"... won't be forgetting that anytime soon after the number of times I said it yesterday.
The morbidity of my favorite phrase is really what makes it my favorite. Too often in this day in age death is an afterthought, something normal people don't talk about or think about, until they really have to.
I say screw that! Death is going to happen for all of us and we need to remember that. One big reason why churches are empty nowadays is for this very reason. We don't think about death and by the time it catches up to us, well, sorry, it's too late. If more people thought about their death and then in turn the afterlife churches and masses would be in much higher demand. Is that why most of the people at daily mass are 30 to 40 years older then myself? Is the reality of death and the need for forgiveness something that the majority only realize after they are "over the hill"? It shouldn't be that way, but seems like it is.
Maybe I did a disservice by not using my favorite phrase...

I've had the conversation with people in my new community about what to do if death is looming. Hearing from a couple people that should they ever be seriously injured or in distress to call a priest before an ambulance has caused some self reflection for myself. These people understand that death is it and ya, it's going to happen, so make sure the good old fashioned, but not used anymore term of extreme unction is there before a paramedic is even on the road.  
The severity of having an unforgiven mortal sin on your soul at the time of death registers with very few.
Since the application of ashes is meant to signify our realization of our own sinfulness and mortality, we should all look more like this on Ash Wednesday anyways...

Peace all

We Have Room for Everyone on this Boat

One of the perks of getting a new car is now having satellite radio. Programmed #1 is Catholic Radio, for many reasons, hopefully some of them obvious. One of the many things I enjoy about Catholic Radio is even the commercials between shows teach something.
I believe it was Mark Hart who gave a very brief explanation of how the ark... aka a big boat, was an early symbol of Christianity. He explained how all are welcome on the boat, just as Noah brought all kinds onto the boat.

I think this is a perfect way to look at the Church today. We have Tradition and the Bible, the building blocks of our faith. They make up the structure of the ark of the Catholic Church.
Trying to steer the boat through a sea of death and destruction is the Magisterium.
On the boat, diligently working for all those aboard are the faithful priests, with a great deal of support from the faithful nuns and brothers.
As passengers are all the faithful laity. We are on the ship, with the support of the religious, floating on the one stable boat in an ocean of death and misery.
Clinging to lifelines are many women religious and priests. They want to be on the ship but for some reason can't quite pull themselves up onto the safety of the deck where they could stand and stretch. Instead the chose to keep floating out in the sea, clinging to rope but letting it slip through their hands day by day.
There are other boats out there, floating ever so slightly above the water, yet gradually filling with water.
Many loan souls are adrift, gasping for air. Some are looking for help while others are content to keep drowning for fear of what might be required should they find the ark and be pulled on.
As a youth minister I feel like a lonely deck hand who is trying very hard to throw out lifesavers to youth and families who are adrift on the sea. Many have in their arms the life saving flotation devices, and I am trying to pull them in, but the currents of the sea of death keep pulling against me.
The story of Noah's ark doesn't say much of the sea it was adrift in. My mind wonders what it looked like though. It had to have been riddled with death. Dead bodies of animals, humans, plants and debris. Very similar the how I see the world is today, a culture of death.
I will continue to pull on those lifelines and throw many more out to those in need. My greatest fear though is ever saying or doing anything that might cause someone to just ship.
Lord, please don't ever allow me to cause anyone to jump from your life giving ark.

Peace all

Need Prayers and Guidance from the Holy Spirit

My middle school youth group was going pretty well. I shared the story of the most recent eucharistic miracle and a decent discussion followed. For a group of middle schoolers this group I have wears me out every week. I wasn't prepared for what happened at the end of our discussion though.
A hand shoots up, with only 5 minutes left until I had to start greeting high schoolers as they were supposed to be coming in. For the next 8 minutes I felt like I was taking body shots and blows to the head.

"Why does the church hate gay people?" was the question I got. It wasn't asked in a nice way... there was a good deal of attitude and general middle school snarkyness in the question.

I didn't have a good feeling about what was about to happen but I tried to do my best. What followed was a glimpse into the understanding of our modern day middle school kids. It was clear right away that the current societal view of "do whatever makes you happy and feels good" dominates their understanding. Politics came up, gay marriage and dating... it wouldn't end. The questions eventually stopped and blatant statements beginning with "I don't think the Church..." started flowing and all I could do was... I don't know.

It came down to "well, this is something we can talk about next week" and we left it at that.

So what do I do now? I have a week to come up with a way to try to help my youth understand one of the most misunderstood teachings of the Catholic Church.

I need a lot of prayers.

Crappy Super Bowl, Blah Ads and Downhill Skiing

The game sucked and the only funny commercial's were the ketchup and the dorito's ads.

Okay, onto something more important. 

I haven't written anything in a while. Been busy, what can I say. There were a few times in the past few weeks when an idea popped into my head to write about, but I didn't follow through. Again, this blog is for me because I think maybe only 1 or 2 other people actually read it. All the other hits I get are from random google searches I believe.

Anyway... I have discovered a new sport.

Okay, it's not a new sport, but it is to me. 

Downhill skiing.

Fun? Oh yes!

Expensive? Oh yes!

Worth it? I think so...

It's great getting up on mountain, breathing the cold air, and even face-planting into the snow a few times isn't that bad.

Downhill skiing is kinda like my life. I would say God is like my skis. There are moments of complete fun when I let go and let the skis take me. Working with them, never forcing turns... that's when things are great. When I don't trust them and try to control them I face plant. 

When I make it down the hill, all I can do is get on the lift and take the slow ride back up to the top, anticipating the next run down the mountain. 

Ups and downs, falls and fails, exhilaration and excitement, fast moments and painfully slow moments. That's life and also downhill skiing.

Until I write again...

Peace all

Be Enchanted

Weekends with such a mix of emotions like I have just had are not necessarily fun, but are growing experiences. 

I helped a friend pack up and move back to, well, essential home. This is one of the only true friends I had even relatively close to me and now this person is across the country. It was a sad weekend because now, I'm not needed. If this friend ever really needed someone for serious help I would have most likely been the go-to person. Now, I'm not needed and for some reason I feel even more alone. Having a friend three hours away was a lot more comforting than having one 20 hours away. 

Also, I stepped back, though very, very briefly, into the college dorm life. Having friends living all around you, walking down the halls laughing or talking through the walls. Going out to movies and dinner or just random trips just to do something to not be bored. I know seeing all that is adding to me feeling very alone in the world.

I am very happy for my friend for accepting a new challenge and getting out of tough situation. Still, all weekend I was basically a dud and just did what I was asked. Lets face it, I don't handle my emotions well and one thing I hate to do is put my own stuff on other people. Hence, I use my blog as a one and only outlet most of the time.    

About the only thing I can do at the moment is relay what Father said in his homily this morning, as a small gesture of love.

Be enchanted by God because God is enchanted with you. 

I can't do Father's homily justice... definitely can't pull off the Irish accent. But that is basically what he said. 

'Enchanted' isn't a word that is used much nowadays, but it's the word he chose. God is so enchanted with us that He made us and loves us. After our baptism it is our turn to become enchanted by God. Love God deeply and let that love infect all that we do. 

Father also talked about the year ahead and a year in review so the homily and subsequent talk look a long time. I didn't mind though. 

And I can't explain it, but for one of the few times I was brought to tears, but held them back, after receiving communion and singing some of my favorite songs. It's almost as though I had a glimpse of heaven and what it might feel like. I long for that feeling again... of complete and utter gratefulness to God. I was enchanted by God, fully and completely, and now, after being pulled back into the world, the sadness thickens and all can pull myself to do is type.

Peace all

St. Matthias

St. Joseph is a saint I have started to communicate more with. I guess he is my patron saint at the moment. Pretty sure I have written about that a bit. Anyways...
I was reading another blog that suggested finding a patron saint for the year ahead. Well, I figured having just recently started a small devotion to St. Joseph, why not have another saint to converse with? The more the merrier right!
Well, using the random Saint's Name Generator I found another saint. The thing is, I've known about this saint. The name of this saint is one of my favorite names. His name is the same name of one of my favorite characters from a book series I read as a kid (and would like to get back to reading some day). It's a name you'd think would be more common, but I don't think it is.
I was very surprised and extremely excited when this saint popped up on my screen.
Drum roll please...
My new patron saint for 2014 and hopefully longer is...

Let me just say, he is an awesome saint! He waited patiently and when his name was called he jumped in and filled the vacant spot among the Apostles and did a bang up job from what I read.
Here's to learning more about St. Matthias and a wonderful 2014!

St. Matthias, pray for me.

Peace all