Quotable Quote

Today's quotable quote:

“I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.” —Elbert Hubbard

Thankful for Family

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I slowly recover from my turkey hangover from celebrating two Thanksgiving feasts, I am able to take a few minutes to reflect upon this wonderful weekend.

This was a weekend filled with family. I had the opportunity to spend this holiday with both sides of the family: my side and my wife's side. Although some people dread the holidays because of family, I actually look forward to spending time with both sides of the family.

The saying goes that one cannot choose their family. Family is truly a blessing, and a gift from God. I am so thankful for the gift of my entire family and for what each member brings to the mix. Every individual brings their own gifts to the family, which makes the family unit complete. That is what makes this family thing so great. Without one of the members, the family is not complete. Each person is needed to make the family whole.

God loves us so much that he gave us a family who will love us no matter what. This is a great reason to thank the Lord for the gift of family - not only during the holidays, but always!!!

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

I am a worrier! I worry a lot!

I first became aware of this when I was younger. I worried about everything: taking tests, meeting girls, dating girls, being rejected by girls (which happened more than I care to admit), finding a job, finding a wife, being a good husband and a good father. Today, I worry about whether or not I will be able to keep my job, and having enough time to do all of the things that I want to do.

I think we all worry to some extent. And as we move toward the end of 2012, more fear is being conjured up about the end of the world on December 21st, according to the Mayan calendar. And yesterday's gospel seemed to go right along with these fears and worries because it talked about the end of the world. But if you read it closely, it is really about the coming reign of God, not about doom and gloom.

We worry that the world will pass away. But Jesus' words will not pass away. Well, what words is Jesus talking about? It's his words that he spoke throughout his entire ministry, and the words we find throughout Mark's gospel. Words such as: be made clean, your sins are forgiven, follow me, don't be afraid, have courage, be opened, and your faith has saved you. These are the words that will never pass away!

When we hear these words, we begin to see the light. We begin to move out of our darkness. We begin to realize that it is not the cares of today but the care of tomorrow that weigh us down. Worrying puts us in a place where life cannot be lived, where love and happiness cannot exist.

All of us will have moments in our lives when we think that our world is coming to an end. In these times, we need to trust in the Word of God to bring us back to life. It is our fear that leads us to the one who can help us. It is our fear that leads us to the realization of how much we need God in our lives.

We must cling to the truth that our Lord's teaching is not a warning about the end of the world, but a lesson on living in it: a lesson about how to live life now! And while we do need to prepare for Jesus' coming, we should not miss his presence already in our lives: through the people we encounter, our gives and talents that we were meant to share with others, and by receiving his real presence in the Eucharist.

It's all about making God a part of our daily lives. It is about recognizing that God does not abandon us when our lives are filled with darkness. It is about knowing that even during our weakest moments, when worry brings us down to a new low, God is there to give us a hand.

Jesus' words should not frighten us, but inspire us - to live each day as a precious gift from God and to live each day knowing that Christ is truly beside us. So don't worry, be happy!

Whenever you are consumed by worry, just sing this song (to the melody of Don't Worry, Be Happy):

Here's a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note. 
Don't worry, be happy.
In every life we have some trouble, when you worry you make it double. 
Don't worry, be happy.
God will strengthen and comfort you, and that's two reasons not to be blue. 
Don't worry, be happy.
Cause when your world seems to fall apart, God's right there with his loving heart. 
So don't worry, be happy.

The Coming of the Kingdom of God

A little girl was standing with her grandfather by an old-fashioned open water well. They had just lowered a bucket and had drawn some water to drink. She asked her grandfather, "Where does God live?" The old man picked up the little girl and held her over the open well. "Look down at the water, and tell me what you see." "I see myself," the girl said. "That's where God lives," said the old man, "He lives in you."

In today's gospel, the Pharisees asked Jesus about when the Kingdom of God would come. Jesus surprised them with the answer that the Kingdom of God cannot be observed. It's not "here" or "there," but "the Kingdom is among you," that is, within our hearts.

When we talk about the coming of the Kingdom, we need to also address what God is doing for us:
1. God is always at work around us.
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with us that is real and personal.
3. God invites us to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways.
5. God's invitation for us to work with Him always leads us to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. We must make major adjustments in our life to join God in what He is doing.
7. We come to know God by experiences as we obey Him and as He accomplishes His work through us.

So the Kingdom of God begins from within and transforms our hearts to be like God, and a people who know the power of His love, mercy and forgiveness. The Lord is present in His word, in His body the Church, and in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus reveals Himself in so many ways to those who seek Him with the eyes of faith. 

Words from Mother Teresa

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."

Are You There, God?

This is a blog post by Joshua Madden that I felt compelled to pass along. Enjoy these five ways to prove God exists...

I’ve heard it. You’ve heard it. We’ve all heard it. “You can’t prove God exists!”

It seems like more and more people these days only believe in what they can see, touch, hear, taste, and smell. It’s all about what our senses can experience and what we can wrap our brains around.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared a Year of Faith for us all to get back to the basics and proclaim that there is more to life than only what we can see! Every Sunday we proclaim, “I believe in God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible.” At every Sunday Mass we reaffirm our belief that God has created all things and that the visible world is not all that there is.

Right about now, it would be a really good idea to take a good hard look at where Faith and Reason cross paths. You see, as Catholics, we know that there is nothing that science can discover that will contradict our faith; our God is the Creator of the whole universe and He is the author of truth. So anything that is true, anything that we can find out about our world, just leads us to know our God more and more.

One of the most wonderful aspects of our Catholic faith is that we have 2,000 years of reflection and teaching on all areas of our faith. One of the most famous teachers we have at our disposal is St. Thomas Aquinas, who just might be one of the most intelligent men to ever walk the earth. St. Thomas came up with five ways that we can prove the existence of God using our reason, without ever having to use the Bible or the Catechism or anything that people who aren’t believers wouldn’t consider real evidence. So, let’s dive in!

1. Motion

Everyone can see that motion exists in the world; your eyes are moving across these words right now. Everything that moves is caused to move by something or someone else, your living room furniture isn’t just going to rearrange itself (let’s hope!). If everything that moves has to be moved by something outside of itself, there has to be a “first mover” that caused motion to exist for the very first time, or else we just have to keep going back in time to infinity, which is impossible! This first mover is what we call God.

2. Cause & Effect

Everything that exists was caused to exist; fire causes heat, rain causes crops to grow, your parents caused you! If a lump of clay is sitting on the table in front of you, it’s not going to shape itself into a vase. That’s impossible, and unless you form the clay yourself it’s just going to sit there. So since everything that is created needs a cause, there must be a first, ultimate cause, which we call God.

3. Existence

Our third way is the argument from existence. The computer or smartphone that you are using to read this article on did not exist at some point in the past, it had to be put together and created. The same is true with creation! It exists now, but at some point it had to come into existence, which every scientist in the world would admit. And since “nothing” can’t become “something,” there must be something that exists by its own power that makes everything else to exist. And . . . that would be God.

4. Progression

So then we have the argument from progression. There are things that are good, better, and best. However, we can only say that things are better and best if we know that there is something out there that has to be the maximum of all these things – fire is the maximum of heat and makes everything else hot. God is the cause of all other things, and He is the maximum of all that can be.

5. Design

The last argument is from the design of the world. An acorn will always grow into an oak tree and the sun will always cause plants to grow as long as there is water and oxygen. The world has order and our universe obeys certain laws, St. Thomas uses the example of an arrow that is fired by an archer. The arrow will only fly through the air and hit the target if it is directed by an archer, and what directs our universe to act the way it does with knowledge and intelligence is what we call God.

Pretty cool right? With some basic logic (and a little bit of time to think about things), believing that there is a God isn’t as unreasonable as some people out there might think. Too bad we can’t use these steps to figure out if unicorns exist . . .