"Come follow me" - Jesus

Here's to a quote that has changed the lives of many. Jesus had a lot of great one-liners! I think that this was one of His best. I was just talking to my friend in Colorado and we were talking about opening a business together...and having a lot of one line quotes from Jesus all over the room. We were laughing so hard thinking about it. But a little later I was reflecting on that one line that Jesus said to almost everyone He encountered and I just sat with those words for a while.

"Come, follow me" was a very simple invitation, He still extends the invitation out to us today! But what made people leave their nets and follow Him? What made two men leave their father in the boat and follow Him? What made a woman pour expensive oil on His feet and follow Him? What was it about Him? It said that Jesus was found "human in appearance" though He was God. So what made people follow Him? What makes people follow Him still? I think what it boils down to is this: People saw in Jesus something they wanted. Peace. There is something about following Jesus that brings peace!

We search for that peace in a lot of places. There is a lot going on in this world that says it can bring you peace but let's be real...can it? Can that massage really relieve stress? Well, maybe for a while...but those stress knots will come back. Can Dr. Phil really fix your relationship? I doubt it, maybe he can give you some common advice. Can Judge Judy bring you the justice that you so desperately are searching for so you can finally just be at peace with whatever it is that someone did to you? I can tell you now that the answer to all those questions is...well, maybe, but the result will not be a lasting one.

Following Jesus (and this may sound really corny) is the only way to gain the peace that we are searching for. I was anxious about a few things over the holidays...I couldn't figure out why my life was out of sorts...it bothered me and so I decided to take it to prayer...I walked into Adoration and immediately felt a sense of peace at just BEING in the presence of Jesus. This is what it came down to for me...I needed more of Jesus in my life. I needed to lay down my nets (all the extra work) and follow Him, I needed to offer all my material possessions (including my body which is only mine for a little while) to Him and let Him use me for whatever purpose He wanted. I needed to take that one liner that Jesus said "Come follow me" and (as Nike's one liner says) just do it! I needed to FOLLOW HIM...and everything else would be taken care of...Jesus promises life in ABUNDANCE! And we need that in a world that promises empty things and is full of darkness and uncertainties. We need to cling to the promise that when He said "come follow me" He would take care of us in every sense of the word, and bring PEACE! So my point is this...Jesus had some great one liners!

Follow Him!

Back from the dead

It's been a while. I feel like I was brought back to life recently. I was pretty wiped out for a while just being sick with first a cough and then a cold...man...the east coast is brutal! My new favorite thing is a vapor tablet that you put in the shower with you and it's amazing!!! ANYWAY...enough about that...I have been praying this Advent about the coming of our King and how blessed we are to have so many chances to run back to Jesus when we fall. I feel like December is a great time to be close to the Church because there are so many great feast days and Advent services to prepare yourself for Christ. Just yesterday in Mass we heard some of the most amazing readings because they were all about rejoicing...sometimes our world is pretty dark and twisty and we don't see a lot to rejoice in, but everyone loves Christmas, (except the Grinch) and it is a time to reconnect with our childhood. Or at least we should reconnect with our childhood...recapture some innocence that brings hope back into our hearts! Rejoicing in the Good News that was brought to Mary is a way that we see hope...we rejoice that she said "yes" to God even when she didn't know what would happen. We are blessed in this season to be brought back from the dead, and be brought to life in the celebration of the birth of our Savior...O come, O come Emmanuel, let us rejoice that you have brought us back from the dead!

Come Lord Jesus, Come!

We just started our New Year! What's your New Year Resolution? Did you make one yet? I never keep my "drop 10 lbs" goal on January 1st, that pretty much goes out the window on January 2nd. But as I prayed today in front of the King of Kings, I made a resolution that I intend to keep. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus talks about not allowing yourself to worry about tomorrow because today's worries are enough for you to handle. I sat there today and I heard just a LITTLE itty bitty voice say "I always take care of you, AnnaMarie." It took me a second and I heard it again, and I felt days of worry and anxiety melt away in a breath. Why do I worry? It's satan, that's all it is. He's nothing compared to Jesus! And what a wonderful time to remember that in this season of Advent.

The word "Advent" literally means "to come to" and the Church is very wise in giving us a time to prepare ourselves to allow Christ to come to US! I always try to be mindful of this season because it can get overlooked very easily because Christmas season is so much fun to decorate for and celebrate, but it IS a time to make ourselves ready FOR the Christmas season. See, our society just gets it wrong...we STOP celebrating Christmas after December 25th. That's just when it starts! But we can get carried away in the moment. This year I had to take a step back and say "God what do you want me to learn in this season of preparation?" And what I heard was the gospel reading when Jesus says "can any of you, by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan?" and later goes on to say seek first the kingdom of God, and don't worry about tomorrow because today is all God is asking of you. He is taking care of the rest. My prayer this Advent is that I can prepare myself for the celebration of the King of Kings who is coming to us every moment of every day saying "I always take care of you!" Come Lord Jesus, Come!!!

A Calling

I just got back from a retreat that was looonnnngggg....very long. I was completely exhausted from it, but after recovering for a weekend and praying over it for a couple of days I love to look back on retreats. I think about the word "retreat" and how it literally means to fall back. I know that I titled a blog "retreat" before but this isn't the point to the blog so I feel like I can fish back a little bit! Looking back over this past week with some pretty amazing seniors I am reaffirmed that I am exactly where God wants me to be. Sometimes it is hard to see that in all of the things we get caught up in daily. Sometimes people ask me how I came to be a youth minister and my answer has changed over the years a little bit but it always comes back to this simple fact: this is how God formed my heart. Let me get a little personal with you here.
I think that God has a unique plan for us, each of us. And I know that there are many times my heart has been far away from God, but He never stopped calling me back to what He wanted me to do. And ultimately it's this: youth ministry. I hear often that people are afraid of kids and that they think it would be hard to minister to kids in today's generation but to me, it's just what I am called to do. Am I good at it? Not always. Do I love it? Every minute! And retreats are a good reminder of that calling in my life and on my heart. Retreats are hard because everyone is at a different place, but I am so comforted when I put high school students in front of our Lord that He will give peace. It was something He promised: "peace be with you, my peace I leave with you." Our Lord never fails. Never!
God places a call on all of our hearts. Do you hear it? Do you listen? Like I said sometimes I didn't, but I know that in the midst of my darkest moments that call never stopped coming. The Fray wrote a song called "You Found Me" and there is a part in it that says, "I waited by a telephone that never rang" and it can feel that way sometimes but one thing I can promise you, one thing I am certain of: He will never deny you His peace if you ask for it. This call that God placed on my heart a long time ago is solidly founded in the teens that I am honored to serve. So retreat, even though it drained me of all energy, was rewarding because I was able to see God calling on the hearts of the teens who were there!

Saints and Souls

Some days there are no words for remembering. But it is so important to pray for the souls of the faithful departed and to invoke the saints for prayers! We need the mercy of God to pour down into our lives and we need to see how much we need that mercy! We are nothing without Christ dying on a cross, and rising victorious for us in our brokenness! Thank you Lord, for trampling death for us!

Pub Talk

My roommate and I frequent a certain bar in Fells and catch up on life. Last night was one such night. After dinner and talking we decided to walk down to the bar and have a drink...we got there and sat at the main bar with our drinks and started up a conversation that we had left off from earlier. Within a half hour of being there two men came up and sat at the bar beside us saying that we were the only two "normal" looking people to talk to in the whole bar (likely story). Oh how wrong they were...the first question that they asked us was what we did for a living. When we answered they knew immediately that we were anything BUT normal. Working for a church when you're 20-something isn't exactly normal...but the question that they asked is normally a very safe question for 20-somethings. The guys looked at us a little stumped because they didn't quite know where to go from there with the conversation. Now, all the bartenders at this bar know us and know what we do, so it's always really amusing for them to observe the men who approach us and how quickly they tend to retreat. But not these guys, they were determined to see this conversation through. After some really awkward questions about faith and politics I began to realize that this is what being a Christian should really be like all the time. That this is where ministry takes place...at the bar! That we are witnessing everywhere we go...not just at church but at bars, grocery stores, at the gym. The term "they will know that we are Christians by our love" is corny but true. There should not be a time when we aren't witnessing to our faith...but the cool thing is that we can still be normal and do that. I can have a conversation with someone in a bar over a drink.
It is always funny that the first question after people find out what we do is "are you allowed to drink?" People have such a warped conception of who Christ is and what religion is. So many people only see religion as a means of controlling people and oppressing freedom...but Christ said it perfectly, "I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly." He is not a God who oppresses His children...rather He is a God who allows us to live in freedom and love...His love! I think that G.K. Chesterton said it perfectly “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” We need to rise up and show the world that the Christian Ideals that we hold to as truth are worth the struggle that will end in victory with Christ. Maybe that starts with a conversation in a pub!

If not now...when?

Toby Mac just came out with a song recently called a City on Our Knees and the lyrics are awesome! I was reflecting on these lyrics and how the song asks:
If you gotta start somewhere why not here
If you gotta start sometime why not now
If we gotta start somewhere I say here
If we gotta start sometime I say now
I think sometimes we get very caught up in saving the world that we miss the mission right in front of us. On the home front, if you will, we are called to do something HERE and NOW. There is so much that needs to be done in our own communities. But we can't start until we start on ourselves. Remember the passage about not pulling the splinter out of your friends eye while there is a plank in your own? Did you ever stop to think that on an airplane they advise you to first put on your own air mask before assisting the person next to you? There is a reason that we need to take care of our own spirituality first sometimes. It helps us to minister (yes, we're all called to minister in someway) when we are being ministered to! As Toby Mac says, we gotta start here and now. That's just my thought for the day. Check out Toby Mac's song. Peace!