We Are Called

Blogs and blogging, what are they and what are they for? I could care less. I post this "Blog" with a story and a message that I would like to share to all who mainly struggle about their purpose in life. So without further ado let us begin with The Sign of The Cross, In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, Amen.

What I'm about to tell you here in this "Blog" is technically my witness with a message about The Lord touching my heart, giving me faith, and that he has called me to take action in my faith. Now before I tell my witness I would like to give you a brief experience of my past faith life.

As usual I was born into a Catholic family and from deep within I appreciate what The Lord has granted me. Although being born into a Catholic family I had my ups and downs. Ever since I started to learn who God was I've never taken my faith seriously. To me it was like a simple game of belief. I would go through the motions every time I go to mass and I would feel like it was pointless for me to be at church because I thought only the faithful really go to mass and I wasn't that kind of person.

Years go on and nothing changes within me. I started to wonder what is my life's purpose in this world. I've started to ask God what is the benefits of being me. All my life so far I've just been going with the flow, not caring much about what goes on in the world and soon I started to think Catholicism is lame. And when times come when I try to express my faith, I fear of doing it because I fear of others judging me. At that moment, I took into consideration to find out  what is God calling me to do with my life and that he could give me courage to stand firm with my faith. But taking into considerations wasn't enough.

As I started to close into Confirmation I begin to understand my Faith a little bit better than in the past. Although I was improving, I was only improving very little. Like I said it wasn't enough for me. I start to go into the motions over and over again and it just went down hill from there, until the confirmation retreat came. The retreat, at first it didn't impact me at all. All the teachings they were giving us, it didn't sync into me at all. Then at the end there was a teen speaker who shared basically her witness to us. At that point, I was completely slapped with inspiration. I can't specify exactly what her story was, but what really hit me was the commitment, the passion she had that she wanted us to know how great our God is and that he will do great things for all of us if we all acknowledge him.

From there I sincerely started to search for answers about my faith.

 From this point, I've taken the crucial step into the journey that will change my life forever. Everything started to unravel when I entered summer break of 2013.

It all started when I asked my youth minister what's going on this summer and she mentioned this retreat. From there I said go ahead and sign me up because I had nothing to do during the summer and partially to find some answers about my faith, like how can I get a better prayer life?

So it came to that day and I arrive at the retreat center in Alexandria, Louisiana. At first, I didn't know what to expect because this was a huge step for me in my faith (I usually don't sign up for these kind of things). As I went through the first two days with talks about prayer, and the Holy Spirit, and etc., I felt like I wasn't absorbing anything in and that it was pointless of me coming here. Then came an adoration session that we have at the end of everyday, specifically the evening of Wednesday, I was regularly praying to The Lord and all of the sudden at a random moment I started to tremble. I started to cry and as I was shedding tears I noticed that these tears weren't from sadness and grief, but from joy. It was the joy feeling that I experienced that God has touched my heart (and I tell you, I've never felt so open to The Lord). This experience somehow made my faith level from an inch from the ground to six feet from the ground, I was completely moved. As this was happening to me I started to endlessly thanking The Lord for what he has done. Now you think about it, God has chosen me at a strange moment and you would be right. But you've also heard from other catholic friends or families that "God works in strange and mysterious ways in which we do not understand." I was thinking that and I thought to myself, "yeah, that was kind of strange." So I thought about this and I started to realize that if God has done this for me, he must have something planned for me in the future. From there I was thanking him with all my heart and that I made a promise, a covenant, that I will do my best and dedicate everything that I do is good to God and not to fear to express my faith towards others.

Now confession was also being held during this adoration session. This would be considered as my TRUE confession, because my past confessions there are times where you hold back a few sins because they were so bad you didn't want to tell. That was me, but what had happened to me that Wednesday evening gave me the courage to fully confess to The Lord. So I confessed fully and at the end I shared my recent witness with the priest named Fr. Remi. When I shared it with him he helped me notice that God has touched my heart and he gave me a bible verse to read and that it connects to my recent experience, it was Matthew 11:28-30. He has given that bible verse to me as my penance and also told me to look at the story of St. Jose Sanchez Del Rio. He said the story and the bible verse resembles with me a little bit. At the end I thanked him and I walked out crying and then I went back to the Eucharist, God, and before I did my penance I knelt down and then I went prostrate on the ground and I went on thanking God over and over for this magnificent experience. From there my life was changed, faithfully.

Now when I was touched by God I felt I was being called. Called to take action, specifically in my faith. The few days or weeks after the retreat I felt that I needed to share the glory of God to all I knew. God has given me courage. Courage to express my faith. I started to evangelize in my own little way with my witness to my family and to my friends. I believe though that this is just my first calling to the next ones I have in the near future.

I share all of this with you, because we all struggle to find out what The Lord has planned for us. This witness I've shared with you gives you the idea what I've gone through to find out if God has any plans for me. You may have a stronger, more serious story than mine or you could have a smaller, less serious story than mine. It doesn't matter, that's besides the point. The fact is that if you're struggling with what God has in store for you and you start feeling lost that your life isn't beneficial in any way, don't lose hope. That's my advice to you, don't lose hope in God. Everyone has their time. Some may have their calling sooner than others. But the key is to never lose hope in The Lord. In my life I've learned that we are called since we were born, but we didn't notice it because we are not listening. That society has kept us from hearing what God has to say to us. Keep praying to him. Ask him what is it that you need to do and I promise you that before you die you will be "Called By Name"(Isaiah 43:1). The Lord shall redeem you and then lead you on the right path in your life.

The Lord has blessed me, but he has not given me all the answers to life.

Still if you would like to ask me a question, I will gladly answer it to the best of my knowledge. (:

My email: aznboy217@gmail.com

My cell number: 281-734-5941

Hopefully what I wrote here is all to your understanding.

God bless you all

Never lose hope!

Mark Le