STRL Youth Minister's Blog

It’s been a while, but I think things have finally calmed down here at STRL YM (for a little bit!). Before the rush of December events heads our way, I thought I’d post a blog that was inspired by today’s bike ride to the parish.

I really like the route from my apartment to the church, because I get the chance to ride through “el parque de los patos” (duck park for you non-spanish speakers). Today as I was passing by the soccer fields I noticed a young boy, no more than 10 years old, playing soccer with his mom. It really got me thinking about how our view of our parents changes from childhood to adolescence.

It seems like when we are little, our parents are rock stars. Everything they do is hilarious and we grow up wanting to be just like them. I remember when I was about five, my grandmother took me to this gathering at our local parish’s convent. One of the nuns asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and without even thinking I uttered “a bartender!” I wish I could have seen the look on my dad’s face.

As I became a teenager, however, I remember that feeling of admiration fading. Maybe it was just me, but in my teenage years I remember shrinking in my seat with embarrasment every time my mom dropped us off at school. During my teenage years my parents were no longer rock stars… just rocks.

I think we’ve all felt some embarrasment towards our parents at one point or another. Sometimes because they’re too old, fat, skinny, tall, or short. In my case, because they have a thick accents. But when we get asked the question, “who’s your daddy (or mommy)?” how do we respond?

I think that just as we’ve experienced embarrasment because of our earthly parents, we sometimes also eperience emabrassment because of our heavenly one. Is it embarrasing to pray before eating in a public place? How about speaking up when someone uses God’s name in a disrespectufl way? When we pray and worship, are we worried about what other people might think and say about us?

For all the times I felt embarrrased of you Mom and Dad, “I’m sorry.”
For all the times I felt embarrased of you my God, “I’m sorry.”

I pray and hope that we can always be like the boy I saw in the park today; not embarrased to be seen playing with our loving parent.

Blessings

How many times have I heard myself say this before, “I just don’t have time to (insert things we should find time to do here)”

I recently had a discussion with some co-ministers about daily prayer and personal spirituality. In our conversation, I became aware of how often we view our prayer life in terms of what we do instead of our response to what GOD doesfor us. I think a lot of us have a tendency of reducing our prayer life to a list of chores that we check off at the end of the day, but what if we began to see our prayer life as a response to God’s action in our lives?

When we take a moment to recognize that God is present and at work in every single moment of our lives, there emerges in us a basic need to respond to God’s great and unconditional love. A basic need is something that you cannot live without. Eating, breathing, sleeping, even the lesser ones like brushing your teeth; It is simply impossible to ignore.

If we focused the attention of our prayer more on God’s action and less on our own, then we would begin to feel the basic need to respond to the advances of the God who is constantly seeking to “woo” us. Maybe then we would find it easier if not necessary to do as St. Paul instrucsts and “pray at all times” (Ephesians 6:18). After all, when was the last time you ever heard a busy person say, “I don’t have time to brush my teeth!”

Blessings

It’s been a while since my last post. Our parish is getting ready for a huge benefit dinner next Sunday evening and I am responsible for recruiting, training, and directing more than 500 volunteers. If you’re interested check out the page for the “Simi Valley Dream Cuisine” on Facebook (if you haven’t been scared away by all the new privacy issues they’re having these days!).

One thing that really struck me about todays spiritual reading was how people appeared like walking trees to the blind man of Bethsaida. Its too often the case that when things get busy for me I begin to see people as just that… a walking “it.” When things get hectic, its so easy to get distracted with our own problems that we forget the feelings, thoughts, and sincere concern for others. The ”I” to “it” mentatlity leads us to see people not for who they are, but for what they can do for us. If you’ve never read the story of the giving tree, definitely check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Tree.

It’s sad to say, but there are many times when I’m working in my office that someone stops by to visit and I’m so focused on what I’m doing that they just appear like “walking trees” (Mk 8:24). I’d venture to guess, that I’m not the only one who needs help seeing people through God’s eyes.

God creator of light,
You opened the eyes of the blind and allowed them to see your glory.
Help us to see others as you see them and value everyone for who they are;
your image and likeness.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Open My Eyes, by the incredible Jesse Manibusan

In today’s spiritual reading, Jesus has just finished multiplying the fishes and loaves, but the disciples still do not understand the significance of this event. Nevertheless, people are drawn to him like a magnet. It seems amazing to me that in just three years of ministry, Jesus would become so popular that people who had never met him could “immediately” recognize him (Mk 6.54). Once recognizing him, they would scurry to lay down the sick before him (Mk 6.55).

The question for us is “how do we recognize Jesus today?” I completely disagree with the statement, “people need to bring God into their everyday lives.” The fact is that God is always near! It’s not about going to where God is, but about opening the eyes of our hearts to see Emmanuel, “God with us” (Mt 1.23). 

Where is God at work in our lives? Are we able to “immediately” recognize the divine presence in our midst? And when we do, do we respond by laying down our brokenness and the brokenness of our world at the feet of the healer, lover, and teacher?

Blessings