This past Youth Group with the high school teens really revitalized my soul. It was a night of saying "Praise God" for these teens are amazing. Our focus of the night was on the Eucharist and John Chapter 6. To sum up the Chapter "Mary Style":
After Jesus had performed the miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes, he tries to tell the Jews that he is the everlasting food. "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
But the people murmured and argued about what He said. Then Jesus said again, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
But still the people argued about what he was saying to them. Now at this point Jesus didn't say "Wait guys, I was just kidding about the eat my flesh stuff. If it makes you more comfortable, just look at it as a symbolic thing." No, Jesus states for a third time, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him."
After that, people told him that what he was saying was "hard to believe", but Jesus made no excuses for what he said. He knew that there would be those who would then leave him.
This chapter in John is the rock that steadies my belief in the Eucharist. It is not a symbol of Christ, it is not something just to remember the last supper, it is the true presence of Christ celebrated every mass.
Last night we had a teen named Joseph give a testimony on his experience with the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He really blew me away with his faith and growth! I know that it took me until I was in college to really start to believe in the Eucharist, and here he was just in high school already feeling the power of the host!
Joseph told a story about a Lutheran service that he went to recently. The speaker was a former military man that was talking about times when they used Goldfish and grape juice as symbols of the last supper. Joseph said that his faith in the Catholic Church was renewed, because he could tell that others were really missing out with their services. They didn't have or believe in the real presence of Christ. He had us imagine going up to receive at our church and the communion minister saying to you, "Receive the Snack that Smiles Back!"
Today I hold onto the joy of receiving Christ every week and hope that someday everyone will see and receive the Eucharist for what it really is. AMEN!
April 7, 2008
March 28, 2008
Office Space
There is nothing more refreshing, humorous, and real than a Dilbert cartoon. It is amazing how life can change when you get into the real world after college stuck in a cubicle cell.
February 22, 2008
It's Raining Cats and Dogs in Here
"Pinko Pig" ~ This was the endearing term my mom called me growing up. She said that I always had an unusual love for nature and the care of animals. While we were a nature conserving family (using reusable cloth napkins everyday), my mom felt like I had an over the top love for the environment. She might have gotten this idea when she caught me attempting to give cat food and a blanket to a dying squirrel in our back yard. Or maybe it was when I started collecting and keeping snails as a pet in my room, because I was disgusted by the fact that my parents would purposely step on them outside. What ever the reason, I was considered the Pinko Pig of the family.
Now I have two more reasons to be called a Pinko Pig; Duke and Daisy. After our first dog Lucy passed away so suddenly, Kevin and I knew that we wanted to get another dog. As we searched through the shelters, my "bleeding heart" started to show. Oh there were plenty of normal average loving dogs that would have been perfect in any home, but my heart always goes out to the odd ones. The pitt bulls that everyone thinks are vicious but really just misunderstood, the deaf dogs that people don't want to worry about training, and the brother and sisters that end up being separated because it's easier to adopt one dog not two.
Duke and Daisy, the two great pyranees mixes, looked like a bleeding heart case if I ever saw one. They had many strikes against them. A) They were a brother and sister that would likely be separated. B) They were so large and awkward. C) They would easily go through 20 lbs. a dog food a week if kept together ($$$). D) They were wild dogs, meaning they had no idea what a leash was or why a dog would chose to hang around a human (unless it was feeding it of course).
How could a labeled Pinko Pig turn down two dogs like that! So our peaceful little family of Mom and Dad and Cat got turned upside down with the new dogs. Some things have been great. They don't try to eat the cat, and the cat doesn't try to kill them. Some things have been sad. Our yard that was once magnificent now looks like people have been digging for treasure. All in all, our new larger family is very happy.
Now I think my pinko-ness is spreading to Kevin, because he is talking about finding another cat for Mae to be with! Ah, someone stop us! We just don't know when to stop, but maybe that's a good thing in the end. Wish us luck as our family continues to expand over the years. I hope to still have my sanity when I'm in my forties!
p.s. I soon found out after being labeled a pinko that it is actually a derogatory term for people who are communist sympathizers. Oh well... Not in my family!
Now I have two more reasons to be called a Pinko Pig; Duke and Daisy. After our first dog Lucy passed away so suddenly, Kevin and I knew that we wanted to get another dog. As we searched through the shelters, my "bleeding heart" started to show. Oh there were plenty of normal average loving dogs that would have been perfect in any home, but my heart always goes out to the odd ones. The pitt bulls that everyone thinks are vicious but really just misunderstood, the deaf dogs that people don't want to worry about training, and the brother and sisters that end up being separated because it's easier to adopt one dog not two.
Duke and Daisy, the two great pyranees mixes, looked like a bleeding heart case if I ever saw one. They had many strikes against them. A) They were a brother and sister that would likely be separated. B) They were so large and awkward. C) They would easily go through 20 lbs. a dog food a week if kept together ($$$). D) They were wild dogs, meaning they had no idea what a leash was or why a dog would chose to hang around a human (unless it was feeding it of course).
How could a labeled Pinko Pig turn down two dogs like that! So our peaceful little family of Mom and Dad and Cat got turned upside down with the new dogs. Some things have been great. They don't try to eat the cat, and the cat doesn't try to kill them. Some things have been sad. Our yard that was once magnificent now looks like people have been digging for treasure. All in all, our new larger family is very happy.
Now I think my pinko-ness is spreading to Kevin, because he is talking about finding another cat for Mae to be with! Ah, someone stop us! We just don't know when to stop, but maybe that's a good thing in the end. Wish us luck as our family continues to expand over the years. I hope to still have my sanity when I'm in my forties!
p.s. I soon found out after being labeled a pinko that it is actually a derogatory term for people who are communist sympathizers. Oh well... Not in my family!
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