Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Part B-Helping Yourself)

Yesterday, I posted about keeping others from leaving the Church. With this post, I want to focus on keeping yourself in the Church.

I sometimes worry about myself. I love Christ, and the way He is revealed through the Eucharist, but sometimes I wonder if I'm always going to be this faithful. My friend tells me constantly that he is sure I'll be an atheist one day, to which I always reply, "And I'm sure you'll be Catholic." I pray I'm right.

I feel like there are two main reasons people leave the Church: their own doubt and the 'hypocrisy'  (every Christian's favorite word) of others. So, I'm focusing on those two reasons.

Keep in mind this is not an in-depth analysis. Questions about church teaching and problems with the 'hypocrisy' should always be brought to a priest. Or even better, 2-3.

In my short few years of life, I've experienced and seen doubt firsthand. Let me assure you, doubt is a natural human reaction that can be helpful. Particularly when you receive an email from an exiled Nigerian prince. We see these emails as ridiculous claims, partially because Nigeria isn't a monarchy, but mostly because a prince contacting you is too good to be true. Something else that is too good to be true? An all powerful being descending from paradise to our crappy planet, taking our form, living as a peasant, subjecting Himself to ridicule, and dying the most horrific death ever known to man so we can live with Him in paradise...but wait there's more. Then he RISES FROM THE DEAD, FLIES to heaven, makes Himself present in bread and wine, and establishes an indestructible Church so He can always be with us. Oh, and He left us with a vessel to be forgiven again and again because he KNEW we'd keep sinning.

Every sin we commit hurts God. All He had to do was turn His back. But He did all of this, created an ever-expanding universe, just to be with us.

It's more unbelievable than a Nigerian Prince, am I right.

So, what was the point of that insane monologue? Doubt is understandable. Christ knew we'd need proof of His divinity, which is why he performed so many miracles. So the glory of God could be shown through them. There's an entire section of the Gospel of John dedicated to these miracles called the "Book of Signs," these signs were written down to point to Christ's divinity.

"But don't just take my Word for it," then Jesus gives us His Body. Eucharists exists as a proof of Christ, and God's existence. Eucharist sets Catholicism apart from other Christian religions, and has been given to us as another sign.

The reason why I'm saying all of this is to give you an idea of where the truth in Catholicism lies. The Church wasn't founded on the idea of not letting gay people be married, or not letting people get abortions. The Church wasn't even founded on an idea, period. The Church was founded on a person; Jesus Christ. Her teachings stem from the teachings of Christ, and branch off in different directions, like a tree. Sometimes, one branch by itself can be confusing, but remember: that branch is connected to another, and another, and is ultimately rooted in Christ.

The Church has been around for 2000 years, which is 1900 years longer than the oldest person who could possibly be reading this. We so often say that the times have changed, but that idea conflicts with the fact that humans nature has never changed. Even though we have different technology and ideas, my human nature is the same as the twelve apostles. If you doubt a teaching of the Church, know that that teaching has been around for a VERY long time, and has been reviewed, contemplated, and studied. Nothing is there by accident and certainly not ignorance. So, study the reason behind the teaching and pray to understand it more clearly

But when all else fails remember: The teaching is rooted in Christ. And we should be as well.

Also, don't feel overly guilty about doubting. St. Thomas (the poster child of doubt) ended up traveling further than any of the other apostles, spreading the gospel as far as India. All because his doubts were satisfied.

Hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense

Now that that definition is out of the way, let's talk about its usage. 'Hypocrite' comes from the Greek word  hupokrisis  thich means "to play a part." Christ used the term a lot to describe the 'devout' Jews that would pray on the street corners to make sure people saw them. Christ teaches us that our true measure of faith comes from what we do behind closed doors, or within ourselves.

Remember, Jesus said "Hypocrites pray on street corners," not "everyone who prays on a street corner is a hypocrite."

So many times in today's culture, people who are vocal about their faith are called hypocrite because they were caught *GASP* sinning. Everybody sins, guys. Everybody has their faults. You become a hypocrite when you act like you have no faults but indulge yourself in sinful behavior when no one is watching.

So, hypocrisy has to do with what happens when no one is watching. So how are we able to tell when someone is a hypocrite?! Hint: You can't.

The sad, yet comforting, truth is you will NEVER know everything about someone no matter how hard you try. Even if someone is swearing like a sailor, they could have a heart of gold. Noe, they need to fix that mouth...but who are you to judge?

In fact, judging is sometimes what makes the boy cry 'hypocrite!' Sometimes we feel judged by a Christian and we feel alienated (and rightly so.) But if you know who Christ is, you know He doesn't judge, and that person who is being judgmental needs more of Christ. So pray for them. Don't let it push you away from your faith and love for Christ. If you feel a push away from something, its not God. Christ never pushes. He leads.

I posted about the term "Quo Vadis" the other day. Peter was fleeing Rome, but Christ appeared and led Peter back. God was calling Peter to be a martyr, but Peter didn't hear this call because he was too bus giving in to the push. Christ never pushes us away from things, he leads us to greater things.

I have a friend who has said he is leaving my youth group, which isn't the same as leaving the Church. But when I asked him where he was going, he said he didn't know. That's how I knew his calling wasn't from God. He felt pushed because of the attitude of some people in the ministry, but like I said before, everyone is fighting their battles with sin. Don't let one person (or even thousands) dissuade you from following the path Christ has for you.

God bless,
Patrick

Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Part A-Helping Others)

Hello, everyone!

So, I've been pondering lately, which according to a certain animated film is a dangerous past time.

I am part of a leadership team in my youth group and on our recent leadership retreat I wondered something: How inviting are we?

If you are someone who reaches out to people and evangelizes regularly, you know that sometimes its easy to go talk to the quiet kid and bring them into the conversation, after all, they're not as threatening. Also it makes us feel good.

But what about the rest? The people we see every day? Its a shame when people leave the Church, but an interesting statistic is: 100% of people who leave the Church, were, at one point, in the Church.

There are countless stories of people who were on fire for their faith, but for some reason, that flame was choked. A lot of it is on their part, but there are some things we can do.



I'm going to tell a story now, of a boy who was in youth group for three years. He loved Jesus with all of his heart, and was a dedicated leader. One weekend, he went on a leadership retreat (this story actually happened by the way). On this retreat, the boys were separated from the group to make dinner for everyone. Of course, on this retreat, the adults made every activity a learning experience. (This story is now going to switch to first person.)

While the rest of the guys were making dinner, I watched our youth minister pull that boy I was talking about out of the kitchen without anyone noticing. He whispered something in the boy's ear and the boy sat down at a table. It was a test.

The test was to see how long it took for the boy to be invited back. Now, this boy was well-known and people noticed he was gone immediately. In fact he made eye contact with another guy in the kitchen. No one did anything. The guys in the kitchen picked up his slack while he sat there, bored, and they started talking about him.

After five minutes, they all were talking about him being gone. At seven, they were laughing about it and calling him lazy. At eleven minutes they all unanimously laughed about how his laziness would cause him to not eat dinner. After fifteen they finally invited him back, still not sure.

What really broke my heart was that even after they found out it was a test, they still made fun of him, even punishing him for being able to sit at the table for fifteen minutes. After a series of kind of mean jokes, and desperate attempts to deflect them, he was getting pretty angry.

What started out as a test turned out into a reflection of attitude of the group. I was really disappointed in them. This kid who sat off by himself was being made fun of even though he didn't have a choice. I asked the guys later, "Is that how we treat new kids in our youth group?"

One replied, "No we just thought John was being John. We thought he was sitting there because he was lazy. It's different."

Was it different, though? Sometimes, we as Catholics are too quick to judge. Sometimes, we even judge the people we know very well. What the group didn't think about was, what if John was having a really bad day and he came to youth group to try to get away from it? What if that was his breaking point?

We, as Christians, need to be welcoming of everyone. Even the people who we think are already in it for good. Because, like I said before, 100% of Catholics who leave the Church belonged to the Church at one point.

If we aren't helping people get to Christ, we're hurting them. If we mess up and are judgmental and unwelcoming, then God has to send someone else to clean up the mess we made in that person's life. We need to be a bridge to walk across, not a wall to get over.

One way to do this is to embrace our private faith life more than our public prayer life. I met Jason Evert once, and asked him how he became a prominent preacher of his faith. He told me this:

"Your faith is like a skyscraper. What the people see can be dazzling and spectacular, but the foundation, what they don't see, must be rooted deeper than the tower is tall." -Jason Evert 

So, in your efforts to evangelize your community, remember to make your personal faith life deeper than it is tall. And honestly, the best way to do that is to pray.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Contemplate that verse, (and better yet, take it to prayer), keeping in mind that the best way to pray without ceasing is to set aside specific times to pray. It sounds strange, but trust me.

God Bless,
Patrick

PS: Part B is coming. I just have to go to rehearsal first. Yay! School's back in session! (slight (heavy) sarcasm)

Quo Vadis/A Simple Thought

"Quo Vadis?"

I just returned from a retreat in my diocese called Quo Vadis, which is Latin for "where are you going?" Traditionally, these are the words that Jesus spoke when He appeared to Peter on his way out of Rome, attempting to escape death. Jesus was entering the city, carrying His cross. Upon hearing these words, Peter returned to Rome, embracing his martyr's death for Christ.

Heavy stuff, right?

It seems that priesthood is like that. Taking on a burden and being like Christ, even to the point of sharing in the way He died. It's definitely not for the faint of heart or the weak in spirit. (Maybe the meek of heart and the poor in spirit.)

There is a lot of talk about celibacy, obviously, being a rather large part of the priesthood. In the early years of my discernment, it was the biggest stumbling block. It seems, however, that the people who truly embrace celibacy are the happiest people.

Maybe sex isn't the quintessence* of human existence. Maybe loving in the way Christ did (and does) trumps 'loving' the way the world tells us to love. Huh. Imagine that.

(*That may have been a Secret Life of Walter Mitty reference. (It was.) Good flick. Check it out.)

Anyways. I plan on writing more on celibacy. My seminarian friends had a lot of beautiful things to say about it.

Oh yeah! I'm back, by the way.

My main reason for not posting as much, is it takes a lot of time to research and write full length, life-changing articles. Particularly because I am one person on a tiny little blog. (A "voice crying out in the wilderness," if you will.)

While on this discernment retreat (I brought it up for a reason). I remembered that we're all called to sainthood, and we're supposed to use our gifts accordingly. As I wrote this down in my journal full of awesome adoration/mass/reconciliation/etc experiences, I realized I'm not sharing that part of me, and I'm not using those gifts.

So I'm back.

What I recently realized is a lot of Catholic Anons (on twitter) have blogs, and they just post about their lives as Catholics. Maybe that's what I can do.  I am, after all, a Catholic with a life (or what I think is a life) and I have a blog. So why not use it?

My 'simple thought' is this: Maybe not every word out of my mouth, or blog, has to be profound. After all, saints didn't always speak in eloquent verse or colloquial sayings. They talked like people, and demonstrated their faith in a way that made them relatable to other people.

So, I hope I'm relatable enough for you. Thank you for reading!

God bless,
Patrick

P.S. It seems like I always get back into my blog in August. Please pray for my diligence in this endeavor. Thanks!

Fire-Bending: Set the World Ablaze with Your Inner Flame

Hardcore Zuko

A few weeks ago, the readings at mass were very interesting. They focused on fire. This was an interesting theme, so I decided to write about this "hot topic," (I apologize for my pun....WAIT...no I don't ;D)

The first reading was from the prophet Jeremiah. He was in a position that many prophets found themselves in. He was being persecuted by the authorities. Jeremiah was being led by God to tell people about Him. When he was told to cease his ministry, he said:

"But if I say 'I will not mention His word or speak anymore His name," His word is in my heart like a fire. A fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9

A fire within him and it exhausts him to REPRESS it. Jeremiah was being persecuted by the princes that were offended by his preaching. However, he explains to the people that God's word is like a fire within him, and it is tiring to try to hide the flame. is flame was so strong that he could not contain it. His solution? Let it set the world on fire.

It would have been easy for Jeremiah to stop preaching. He was a young prophet, so almost his entire life was ahead of him. Being put to death would have been a big deal for someone like Jeremiah. However, Jeremiah's love for God overcame his fear of death. This is something we could all learn from. Jeremiah fanned the flame in his soul until it burned hotter than he could handle, so he shared it with the world.

In the Gospel reading that day, Christ was talking to his apostles about why he came into the world. He is upset that the fire for God has not already consumed the Earth.

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Luke 12:49

Christ came to set the world ON FIRE. He started the flame, but it's our job to keep it going! Why haven't we consumed the world? Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to humanity! Why aren't we yelling, screaming, and jumping for joy? Why aren't we dancing in the middle of the streets?!

“Wearing a linen ephod [A royal robe to be worn under cloak. Basically, underwear.] David was dancing before the Lord with all his might while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” 2 Samuel 6:14-15

“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, shout from the rooftops!” Matthew 10:27

Wimpy Zuko

We have a problem. We were each born with a special burning to find God, but like any fire, it needs to be fed. The result of us not feeding our flames? Weak fire-bending. I don't know how many of you watch Avatar, so for those of you who don't know, this particular Fire-bender is Prince Zuko. He learns in the third season of Avatar how to truly master his flame. Before he learns to master true fire bending. This is what he looks like: a wimp.

When was the last time you praised God shamelessly like no one was watching? When was the last time you shouted about Christ from a the top of a building? You probably haven't recently, but if you have, terrific! We need more people to do things like this! We need more zealots for the faith. God saved you! Share that!

What's stopping us from proclaiming God's word boldly? Doubt? Fear? Embarrassment? Whatever your excuse is, kill it. Stab it, and get rid of it. You don't need excuses. There's no reason why you shouldn't stand up and proclaim God's word. That's the first step is to stand up. Once you're standing, you have to go somewhere. Don't sit down until you get there. Stand up, sing about Him, write about Him, speak about Him, tweet about Him! Set the world on Fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There aren't enough exclamation points in the world.

A lot of the time, we feel socially awkward when proclaiming our faith. I'll be honest, the real world is the hardest place to be a Christian. Unfortunately, because we all live in the real world, we have to try hard to be Christian. (I know, not fair.) Sometimes, following Christ is like joining the Mathletes. (That's a Mean Girls reference. Nothing against the Mathletes) St. Francis reminds us to preach the gospel at ALL TIMES. No asterisks, no “buts”, no what-ifs, no footnotes. ALL TIMES. The phrase isn't “Preach the gospel at all times, unless someone would get offended or uncomfortable.” We have to step outside our comfort zone in order to get anything done. Sometimes it feels like you can't handle the heat, but we're trying to set the world on fire, so a little heat ends up being a good thing.

Fire consumes all it touches, and as it consumes, it gets greater and greater. This is usually why we regard fire as bad, however, if we kindle a righteous, holy fire, the earth will be "set ablaze" the way Christ intended. Fan your flame every day. Mass, adoration, fasting, and prayer can help a lot to make your fire grow. I pray that your fire grows so much that it pains you to keep it contained. That way, you have to let it out!

My challenge for you is to stand up every day. Whenever you feel that desire to do something for Christ, don't wait for the weekend or your next free moment. Do it immediately. Good things will come from this!


God Bless!
-Patrick



Deuteronomy 31:6

Apologetics

Hi there everyone!

I figured you all need some illustration

Recently, I have been doing mostly advice articles about different aspects of faith. This has been partly because I've been testing the water with how this blog will be structured. Now its time to get down to the meat and potatoes of this blog.

Don't get me wrong, though.  I enjoy writing those types of articles and I feel they have an impact, however, I would also like to write articles that educate about the faith. In case you didn't already know, this blog was created for the purpose of apologetics. (Its a pun! "Don't Apologize" Get it? :D) My hope is to have a number of posts dedicated to different aspects of faith, particularly those that are confusing, obscure, and potentially controversial, to answer questions and to clear up any doubts you may have. That is my goal through this blog: to defend and explain the Catholic faith.

What is apologetics? Well, I'm glad you asked. Apologetics is a practice of the Catholic Church dating all the way back to...well, Christ. Christ himself engaged frequently in the defense of his own faith by quoting from scriptures and applying morality to hypothetical real-world situations (parables.) This is exactly what an apologist does, unfortunately we can't all be as good as Jesus was. He did, however, have an unfair advantage (being the all-knowing God and everything.)

Often, Patrick Madrid will jokingly describe apologists as "People who go around apologizing for being Catholic." In reality, the word 'apologist' stems from the Greek word 'apologia' which has been adapted into English as meaning "a formal justification". This word was even used in the Greek legal system to describe what would now be a defense attorney. So, contrary to popular belief, 'apologetics' does not mean an 'apology' as we know it today. Usually, when someone makes an apology, they have some sort of guilt and a reason to be sorry. Catholics don't have anything to be sorry for. We believe what we believe. Don't apologize. (There, you see? The name of the blog has a purpose.)




Apologetics has a very real purpose in the church today. Evangelization (spreading the word of Christ) is one of the biggest objectives of the Church. In our world, Christianity is very widely known. This is both a good and bad thing. Because Christian ideas are so widely known, this means that misconceptions of the Faith are also very widely known. People nowadays are less likely to immediately believe when you tell them about Christ's message. This means that, when evangelizing, you have to be prepared for people to resist your teaching. People will call you out and try to make you seem less credible. Just as we are all called to evangelize, we are also called to be apologists. St. Peter tells us all in his first letter to always be ready to defend your faith.

"In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15

How does one prepare himself to give a defense? Well, I'm glad you asked that, too. There's no way to prepare yourself for every question you will ever be asked. However, If you have a solid idea of how to handle yourself when a discussion arises, you will be okay. Fr. Sebastian Walshe describes an apologist's process as "accepting a premise that the opponent himself holds and moving from that accepted premise to a premise that is agreeing with the Catholic faith."

By this, he means finding a belief that you share with the other person and reasoning with them leading their beliefs to better understand yours. Fr. Walshe uses an example of an instance where you would be discussing with a Protestant. Because you both agree that the Bible is truth, you would use this common ground to explain to them the reasoning behind a Catholic doctrine.

There are definitely right and wrong approaches to apologetics. Most of the wrong approaches can be avoided by a simple, yet effective, question "What would Jesus say?" If you feel yourself getting angry (which is a perfectly reasonable reaction to confrontation) instead of yelling at the other person for their belief, attempt to calm yourself by thinking of the Christlike way to deal with the situation. After all, we are attempting to promote the Christlike way of life.

An apologetics argument can be difficult. My advice is to study and pray about the faith as much as possible. St. Paul in Romans 2:17-24 warns against hypocrisy, and hits on the point that he who teaches others must also teach himself. If you keep yourself well versed, it will be difficult for you to be caught off guard. Reading articles and books as well as watching/listening to other apologists helps a lot. There are many men and women who are very gifted apologists. Take advantage of their experience, and read up! A man I met recently at a Steubenville conference, Matt Fradd, is an amazing testimony to Christ and offers terrific advice for apologetics in one of his articles. [click here]

I'm praying for all of you! I hope your apologetics ventures will be fruitful. The best advice I can give you is to speak with the Holy Spirit in your heart. Sometimes you don't have the right words, but He does. Also, when you argue, do it for the glory of God, not for your own. It is very easy for an influential speaker to grow cocky with his gift. Keep all of this in mind, and you will all be very successful apologists!

Philippians 4:8-9

God Bless!
-Patrick

If you have any questions you want answered or topics you want discussed, email me, and I will get to writing. The topic for my next article is "Blessings." Thank you!