Identity

Ephesians 5:1- Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Every person perceives his life through what he believes his identity is. This view of himself influences his every action. We form our identity through imitation: of other particular people and through conforming to certain norms or philosophies. For example, if your strongest conviction about your identity is that you are a child of God, then you will imitate Christ’s life and conform to His teachings. Certainly for the non-Christian but even for the Christian himself, his identity will not remain fixed throughout his life, but becomes a search born from his experiences. In other words, one’s answer to the question “Who am I?” is challenged by what he’s done and what happens to him.

We need to realize that we are made in God’s image and likeness, which means that we have tremendous value and dignity. We are also made to love and serve God and others as His beloved sons and daughters. This is our identity. Everyone is lovable. Our perception of our identity is influenced by our day to day life. We are not always treated the way we should and our perception of our identity can be distorted. We often get tempted to believe that the way someone has treated us reflects our worth and identity. For example, if someone tells someone that they are a waste of time, then the person could be tempted to believe that they are a waste of time. But, it is really the other person’s failure to realize your value and/or that person wasn’t living in a way that conforms to their nature. We need to deeply realize who we are in Christ and stand firm in the truth.

Secondly, as humans we need to conform and imitate something. If we aren’t trying to conform ourselves to Christ, we probably are trying to conform ourselves to someone else. Of course we don’t do this perfectly and it requires discernment on one own spiritual journey. It is clear that, when someone is in their High School years, they are tempted to conform themselves to what is popular and acceptable. Students may start conforming themselves to what their friends think is cool or to what celebrity they think is cool. Then they start acting like, dressing like, and speaking like that person or persons. The person’s perception of their identity constantly changes according to the fad of the day or the current friends they have. Of course, there are celebrities and friends that are good influences but at the heart of it they really don’t know who they are as God made them. This is fleeting. With the increasing relativism in our culture, especially in regards to identity, it is often thought that there we can just conform ourselves to whatever we want and be happy. So the belief that there isn’t universal human identity is common place. So it is easier to get lost in fads of the day in our culture. On retreats, we help students realize their identity in Christ and on a recent retreat a student shared how he realized the emptiness of constantly changing the view of who he is. I believe he was coming to realize the joy and freedom that comes with having an identity in Christ and God was defiantly already working on him! There isn’t a better time to pray and think about your identity than during the Christmas season. As we celebrate the coming of the Son of God, we can reflect on how we are God’s beloved sons and daughters.

Merry Christmas,

Dennis

Fan Girl Type of Love

Who do you think of first when you read this statement?
When they say his/her name you are the first person everyone thinks of because they know you love him/her so much.

I've come to realize that no matter where I am or who I meet everyone will eventually learn of my love for Gavin DeGraw (a musician for those of you who don't know him). In fact I bet everyone who knows me is laughing and rolling their eyes right now at the fact that I'm actually posting about him. For this reason Gavin would be my answer to that question. I've never been one to shove this "love" down people's throats or force them to like him. Some will and some won't (cough*Eric*cough). But I've realized that simply by being joyful about him and having no boundaries for showing that joy, people who've never even heard of him all of a sudden love him too! At this point I've had multiple of my teammates even ask me to put the CD in without my prompting and they'll get excited for me whenever he's on the radio. (FYI this brings me a ridiculous amounts of joy haha) Bear in mind none of them really knew who he was before I joined the team.

However, while converting people to Gavin fans is absolutely amazing, I've come to realize that this is how it should be with Jesus! We should all have this fan girl/guy type of love for Him, where sharing the excitement that comes with it is just natural and often times hard to contain. In fact, I should be even more excited to tell others about Jesus over Gavin any day. And just like with Gavin, simply sharing this excitement does not mean I'm shoving it down people's throats. This genuine joy is what people are actually going to respond to the most. Simply by acting out of my love for Him with no shame, people will begin to notice and wonder why, which may be the push they need to start taking a personal interest themselves. If we can have this crazy fan type love for someone we've probably never met and know very little about then why wouldn't we have it for the person we are called to have the most intimate relationship with?

So as Christmas and the birth of Jesus approaches we should all be acting as excited (hopefully even more) as if we are in anticipation for a concert with our favorite musician. I'm accepting this challenge. Now the question is, are you?


*Side note* I find a lot of meaning in Gavin's songs that I can connect with my relationship to God. For example this song: "Soldier" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_A4Sy5ZxP0

Community Blessings in the Advent Season

For the average person, it may be hard to grasp what living in community can be like. We all have communities of various kinds in our life, whether it be our family, parish community, friends we hang out with, etc.. However, living in intentional community that is centered on God and serving in a unified mission for Christ is very unique.

I have lived in a community setting for about two years now, and I feel absolutely blessed because of it. I am so blessed to have a spiritual family of brothers and sisters in Christ who I can share my spiritual journey with. Through our ups and downs, God uses us to help each other mold into disciples of His and to share in His mission and the glory of His most Sacred Heart.

As Christmas approaches, SPIRITUS is at the height of its community life. This is a time of reflection and a time of fellowship. Our community has bonded well and I can see God in each and every one of my brothers and sisters. I see the grace God has given them and how he develops them for His mission. And I see how they are able to bless so many souls because they said "yes" to God when He called them to "drop their nets" and follow Him.

Jesus has poured out His Love into our hearts and it overflows into one another. When we are on mission, this love drives us and sustains us. But most importantly, it pours into the hearts of students we meet. There is no greater Christmas gift than to share in God's love and there is no greater honor than to be called disciples of Christ.

The Vineyard we Larborers work in

Praise the Lord! Hey guys; I hope everyone is having a blessed Advent season and that your all feeling pretty prepared for Christmas. Come Lord Jesus!

Last time I posted a blog I talked a little about the diversity and the universality of the Catholic Church of which we are so blessed to be a part of. I'd like to focus a little bit on one of the groups that comprise this big old family we like to call The Body of Christ, that being the American Catholic parish.

Being on the Green Bay team, I do more parish youth ministry as opposed to retreat ministry. Working with Kate Ruth at St. Elizabeth Anne Seton Parish in Green Bay I have learned a lot about the way a parish and its people actually work.

I became Catholic when my parents both converted from non-denominational Protestantism. Coming into the parish setting, I came from a little house church full of recent converts who lived as a really tight knit community. People were constantly praying for one another, discussing Scripture together, worshipping the  Lord sporadically throughout the day, and even so far as going into the street corners of down town Portland, Oregon to preach and talk with anyone who would listen. There is a word for this that my dad was recently telling me all about and that word is koinania. Its a Greek word and it means intimate fellowship.

In Acts 2:42 it says " They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Now this passage is saying that the Christians of the early Church were doing four things as a community those being: being taught by the elders ergo the apostles, breaking of the bread which of course is the Eucharist, to prayer, and to fellowship or koinania.


When my dad was running this house church, which was full to bursting with this special kind of fellowship, he said that there was something...missing. As a Catholic I can see what he was feeling was an absence of the first two aspects of the Priesthood of the Faithful that being being taught by the apostles and most importantly the Eucharist.


Now I'm going to be honest with everyone I do not see a whole lot of fellowship within the Midwest Catholic parish. I mean look at the numbers only 30 percent of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practising. That's crazy! Another rather sobering number 10 percent of Protestants today are ex-Catholic and the majority of them left because "I just didn't feel God there." How can you not feel God?! He made you a tabernacle for His very Body and Blood every time you received Him in the Eucharist! I'll tell you why they don't feel anything, why they leave in search of a relationship with God that they didn't have in the Church of their youth. It is because today the Catholic Church, at least on a parish level, has let slip that intimate fellowship. We have lost koinania.


You guys as Catholic we have two thousand years of teaching! That is ridiculously awesome! Some of the greatest minds of the human race have plumbed the depths of God Almighty and the fruit of that can bring a man to tears it is so beautiful. On top of this the Sacraments that we regularly celebrate were instituted by Jesus Christ, the High Priest, King, and perfect victim Himself! We have so much potential to set the world on fire with the unquenchable flame that rested upon the heads of the apostles and Mary on Pentecost day! 
Brothers and sisters we have the tools; we have to use them! "Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am with them" Matthew 18:20. You guys Jesus said this because He wants us to be a body, a body infused with the eternal life of the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God! Just imagine if we as a community got together and prayed for one another before and after mass. How much more beautiful would the Wedding Feast be! I'm not saying the Eucharistic sacrifice would be any different. God is there as much as He possibly can be, but are we? If you looked to your left during the prayers of the Mass and you saw a guy who's prayers over you not even an hour before had lifted your spirits and helped you overcome some trial wouldn't that make you more engaged in the sacrifice? All I am trying to say is that the closer we draw together as a Body, a living, breathing, Holy Spirit-filled Body then I don't think the Church would be having the problems it has today. At least not in the terrible measure that they are happening. Christianity is not the religion of the individual. It is the life of all the faithful. We are all One Body in Christ and We Will Not Stand Alone. COME LORD JESUS!

Thankful and Joyful

I am so blessed to be able to serve the Lord by bringing the Gospel to the youth at Resurrection Parish and throughout Wisconsin. We had a great retreat last night for the parish. Only 10 high school students came, with many missing due to illness, but I am thankful for those who were there, because it was a truly blessed experience. In four short hours, we experienced God in so many different ways right there with the students. It was awesome!

We also had a great Bible study on Monday night, talking about joy and its role in spreading the Gospel. We also talked about the source of our joy, and how it doesn't depend on things going well in our lives. In fact, it's in the midst of suffering that sometimes God helps us to find our greatest joy. The key is something I heard in the Thanksgiving homily at St. Mary Parish in Menasha... the way to be joyful is to give God thanks for everything, including the difficult stuff. So this Advent season, give thanks and experience joy!

Giving Thanks for These Experiences!

Hello blog readers!

As Thanksgiving was just last week I wanted to share something I’m thankful for. I’m thankful for all the great experiences I’ve had in this ministry, especially with youth ministry. I just wanted to share three quick experiences I’ve had recently with the youth we work with that have filled me with joy!

The first is a big one. I was lucky enough to be a chaperone on the pilgrimage to Indianapolis for the National Catholic Youth Conference in November. I can’t really describe it in words how amazing it was to be there. Over 23,000 high schoolers were there and they were beautiful examples of the Church today.  To be able to see the youth encounter Christ in such a personal way was beyond words. I could go on and on about NCYC but for now I’ll just end with a picture:

The second experience happened on Thanksgiving. I did the Turkey Trot (a two mile walk in downtown Appleton) with my family early Thanksgiving morning. As I was walking, one of the middle schoolers from St. Patrick’s recognized me and we started walking together. We ended up walking most of the two miles together all while talking and laughing. It was a simple experience but a great reminder to me how blessed I am to be able to do youth ministry with such great students!

The last experience was on Sunday when Jared and I were lucky enough to go to an Eagle Scout ceremony for one of the teens who we have come to know through SPIRITUS. The ceremony was wonderful and it was great to hear about his accomplishments. He even made a rosary walk for his Eagle Scout project – how awesome is that?! I’m thankful that I could be there to see him receive such a high honor!

These may be simple experiences but they are why I love this ministry. It’s why I love working with the youth. For moments like these. I’m excited for more to come!

I chose you

           I used to tell my mom that as the middle child of 12, I did not get treated as fairly as everyone else. I didn't get as much stuff, I didn't stay out as late, and they were stricter with me. She of course denied this for a few years until one day she finally said, "Michelle you are right". For a split second my jaw dropped, she admitted it! Then she added "And now you are holier because of it". I chuckled to myself because like usual God had something to tell me. "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you". John 15:16 

          God chose every one of us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. By being on SPIRITUS I am able to do God's will and I am also able to help others come to know Christ. We help others encounter Jesus because we say, "Yes" to serving him. I thank God for the grace to respond to His call. So, I want to thank those whom by God's great grace has made this possible for all of us on SPIRITUS. Thank you to those who have supported me through out the years especially my parents. Thank you to all those who support SPIRITUS and thank you God for allowing me to be here on SPIRTIUS!