Stop! Sit! Pray!

Let us Pray.

Loving Father, we stand before You in the midst of confusion and complexities of life. Our future sometimes seems distant and unknown. Give us, O Lord, the vision to see the path you set before us. Grant us the courage to follow Your way, that through the gifts and talents You have given us, we may bring Your life and Your love to others. We ask this through Jesus, Your Son and our Brother. Amen

Lately, everything has been kinda crazy. Between everything that's going on in the world and at home, sometimes it feels like you don't have time to do anything! The other day My schedule was just packed yet I could not concentrate at all. I do online school, so not being able to concentrate is BAD! I sat at my computer, staring at the screen and then a thought occured to me. Doesn't the bible say something about placing our cares in His hands? ;P of course! John 14:1 says"Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me."

So that's what I did! I went over and sat on my bed and prayed for Jesus to calm my fears and take my worry. I have a chaplet to St. Padre Pio (He's awesome!) and at the beginning of each set you can add in your petition. After I had finished my chaplet I sat there in silence because first of all, it's hard to hear God if we never hush and second, ending prayers with quiet time is really peaceful to me. Giving everything to God is not easy, believe me, I struggle with that a lot. I tend to be a control freak, so the thought of giving my problems to someone else to handle kinda freaks me out. But when we place total trust in God, we will know true peace.

Praying helped me to calm my thoughts and to know that I'm not alone. This world can be extremely hectic, add that to our personal lives and it's like a nuclear bomb went off in our heads and it tends to cloud our thoughts. When our thoughts are clouded we tend to ignor the fact that God is by our side saying, "Don't worry. I got this." Instead we say "no, I've got this," when in reality we don't have it--at all. 

Saying "I got this" without God is like saying "I can eat this tomato soup with a fork! It's all good!" When in reality, your soup will slip through your fork, you will get a minuscule amount actually to your mouth and it will take you a million-bazillion years to get even close to the bottom of the bowl and you will never be able to get that last little bit at the bottom. But if you say, "Lord, I can't do this by myself. Help me." It'd be like Him saying, "here, have a spoon!" and He'd be there with you.

Yes, I know, I'm weird. But think about it. God is the key to our problems. God doesn't give you an impossible task, without Him it is impossible, but with Him you can move mountains (Matthew 17:20   "...if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”)

Next time you are stressed or worried or feel alone. Pray! You're not alone

Matthew 7:7-8

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

God Bless you!!!

Padre Pio once said, "We have so many faults to criticize in ourselves, why pick on our brothers?" 

 

 

Alleluia!

The Fifteenth Station: Jesus is Risen!!!!

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"Then the angel spoke, addressing the women: 'Do not be frightened. I know you are looking for Jesus the crucified, but He is not here. He has been raised, exactly as He promised.'" (Matthew 28:5-6)

 

 Alleluia! Alleluia!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Stations of the Cross

The First Station: Jesus is condemned to death

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world

"When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak, Pilate said to the, 'look at the man.'" (John 19:5)

The Second Station: Jesus takes up His cross

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world

"When they had finished mocking Him, they stripped Him of the purple, dressed him in His own clothes and led Him out to crucify Him." (Mark 15:20)

The Third Station: Jesus falls the first time

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"He advanced a little and fell to the ground, praying that if it were possible this hour might pass Him by. He kept saying, 'Father, you have the power to do all things. Take this cup away from me. But, let it be as You would have it, not as I'" (Mark 14: 35-36)

The Fourth Station: Jesus meets His mother Mary

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world

"When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour onward the disciple took her into his home." (John 19: 26-27)

The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"As they led Him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the fields. They put a crossbeam on Simon's shoulder for him to carry along behind Jesus." (Luke 23:26)

the Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

 "Then the just will ask Him and say, 'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and welcome You or clothe You in Your nakedness?' The king will answer them, 'I solemnly assure you, whatever you did for the least of My brothers and sisters, you did for Me.'" (Matthew 25:37-40)

the Seventh Station: Jesus falls the second time

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world

"It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that He endured. He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. Upon Him was the chastisement that make us whole, and by His stripes we are healed." (Matthew 25:37-40)

the Eighth Station: Jesus comforts the women of Jerusalem

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"A great crowd followed Him, including women who beat their breasts and lamented over Him. Jesus turned to them and said: 'Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children'" (Luke 23:27-28)

the Ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

Jesus said, "the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I solemnly assure you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit." (John 12:23-24)

the Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His garments 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world

"Then they crucified him and divided up His garments by rolling dice for them to see what each should take." (Mark 15:24)

the Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"When they came to the place of the Skull, they crucified Jesus there and the criminals as well, one on His right and the other on His left. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do'" (Luke 23:33-34)

the Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"It was around midday, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. Then the veil of the Temple was torn in two. Jesus uttered a loud cry and said, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit.' After He said this He expired."

[Take a moment to pray in silence...]

 

 

 

 

 

the Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove Jesus the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it, so they came and took the body away." (John 19:38)

the Fourteenth Station: Jesus is placed in the tomb 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You,

because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world 

"Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in clean linen and laid it in his own new tomb which had been hewn from a formation of rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away." (Matthew 27: 59-60)

  

Integrity, Courage, Love

This is such a beautiful quote by Blessed Mother Teresa. I've always loved it and I hope you like it too! :)

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway

If you are successful, you will winsome false friends and some true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have , and it may never be enough.

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, 

it's between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

God Bless You! <3

Ah, public speaking...gotta love it!

We all have something that scares us. No matter what we do, we just can’t conquer that fear. For some of us, maybe it’s a spider, for others, maybe heights; maybe it’s of small places, or getting lost. But no matter what we’ve tried, that fear still grips our mind. You see, our problem is, we try to handle stuff on our own instead of offering it up to God. But God doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves; He will carry us through our struggles and give us strength to mount up on wings like eagles, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

In the book of Joshua [1:9] we are told to “be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

For me, I’m terrified of speaking in front of people, which is funny because I wish I could be a catholic speaker (ironic, right?) I know I dream big, but hey, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!” (Phil. 4:13) I have wanted to conquer this fear for forever now! I’ve tried reading more in the class room (yes, I’m even scared to read in front of my classes at school) I’ve helped out more with my youth group and reading and speaking in front of them, but every time I get up there and I see everyone looking at me, I start shaking and my voice gets really quiet and I stutter and it’s just not a pretty sight. I’ve gotten better, but I’m still nervous. I even get nervous practicing before I go up in front of people!

Towards the beginning of the school year, I had made a video for my youth group on adoration (sorry I can’t post the video online) and we played it at youth group right before our first adoration of the school year. (Movie making is just one of my hobbies and I’ve gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself) My priest, who knows how much adoration means to me, was in the church when we played the video and he gave me thumbs up as he was watching it. After adoration was over, I went back to tell him thank you and he told me that he really enjoyed the video and asked if I would be willing to share it at the other church that he is pastor for. Of course I said yes! I was so excited that Father approved of my video and liked it enough to share it with the other church that I didn’t realize what he was asking me at first. Then he asked me if I would do a presentation on the Eucharist along with the video… Ah public speaking, such a wonderful thing…

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests be made known to God.” (Phil. 4:6) This is the bible verse that popped into my head when Father asked me if I would give a talk…and I said yes. So, for the past couple months I have been editing my witness to surround the Eucharist.

As I was writing this blog post, I decided to look up bible verses on fear and I found one I really like and I hope you like it too. It’s from the letter to the Hebrews [13:6] “we can confidently say, ‘the Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” how true!? So often we worry about what other people think of us, “but in the end, it was never between you and them, it was between you and God.” (Mother Teresa)

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4)

Next time you have to face something that scares you, remember that nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37)

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. ...” (Psalm 27: 1-14)

God Bless You!!! :)

To all the girls out there...

I know, every girl out there has looked in a mirror and wondered, "Am I Beautiful?"

Let me just say, that is one thing I have struggled with ever since I was little. I never felt beautiful and certainly didn't think others thought so. This is a problem most girls face.

Beauty is something that is much deeper than a lot of people realize. Ever heard of people having "inner beauty?" To me, inner beauty is what makes up a person. Our inner beauty consists of our love for God, how we treat people, our thoughts and actions, and basically who we are as a person. Outer beauty, isn't neccessarily what makes a person beautiful; Make up doesn't make someone a better person...

There's a song by Johnny Diaz that has really spoken to me, it's called More Beautiful You (you can click the link to listen to the song)
Basically, in this song he is talking to a girl who tries to fit into the world's deffinition of "perfect" and she is weighed down by the pain.

 

"Well, little girl twenty one you never thought that this would come
You starve yourself to play the part
But I can promise you there's a man whose love is true
And He'll treat you like the jewel you are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don't buy the lies, disguises and hoops, they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you, more beautiful you"

 

 

I can't say that I don't let society get to me.

I can't say that I don't see the scars of past regret. 

I can't say that I always see myself as beautiful...

 

What I can say is that I'm not alone. And neither is any girl out there. To all the girls who have been called ugly, or feel ugly, you are not alone and you are NOT ugly! To all the girls who feel useless, you are not alone and you are NOT useless! To all the girls who feel like no one loves them, you are not alone, and YOU ARE LOVED! You are loved by the One who made you, The One who loved you enough to die on a cross, for You! For all the girls out there, who feel worthless, pointless, stupid, unloved, ugly...tell Satan to get out of your head! You are GOOD, BEAUTIFUL, and BELOVED <3 God made you and He loves you so much!

You are Beautiful...