Rooted

First off I have no clue how to blog so excuse me for my lack of blogger etiquette. (:

                This summer has been one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had. Being exposed to some intense retreats and conferences, I realized that the Lord must be an active part of my everyday life, and that I can no longer ignore him. Knowing this I prepared to embark on my journey and I lived happily ever after.

Well that is what I thought it was going to be like and now about a month later I found that this journey was a lot harder than I thought. The part of this journey that I was truly struggling with was having the strength and trust to be able to allow myself to really let the Lord work in my life. Knowing this I took my struggles and placed it at the feet of the Lord by going to adoration. In adoration I read the story of how Jesus cursed the fig tree. If you guys don’t know the story it was basically when Jesus was like HEY FIG “TREE I’M HUNGRY! WHY DON’T YOU HAVE ANY FRUIT?!?! THAT’S IT YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO HAVE ANYMORE FRUIT!”  And then the fig tree died… yup that is our Lord just having a typical day.  Anyways reading that story Jesus tells us that if our faith is so deeply rooted then our prayers will be able to do anything include making a fig tree died. I sat there and at the moment I really was not aware of what I just read; to me I felt that Jesus had just told me a story about how he had a fight with a tree and won.  I realized that there was a deeper meaning here and after meditating on it I realized that what the Lord was doing was giving me the answer I had been longing for. I had been struggling to figure out how to really invest myself in this journey that the Lord was taking me on and how I would be able to have the strength to endure all that would happen on this path. Through scripture and through just looking into his face (the most Blessed Sacrament) for the first I really understood what he was trying to tell me. He told me that to be able to make it through this journey that I must trust him and that I must have continuous faith in where he is guiding me because without that rooted faith and trust I would fall prey to all the corruptions of the world; that those who are so firm in their faith will be able to do anything through prayer and be able to truly speak with him.

 Brothers and sisters, all of us are a faith journey of our own and through this journey we will have to endure many hardships and pressures from the outside world, but if we stay rooted in our faith and endless in our trust there is nothing we will not be able to do because the Lord is our strength.

Your Brother In Christ,

Trong Do 

Coming Down the Mountain

      Before I begin, I would like to make one thing clear. I am seventeen years old. I don't have all the answers. I have not throughly studied Catholic doctrine or theology. This blog contains my opinion, thoughts, and experiences, and does not constitute as Church teaching. I say this because I cannot guarantee that what I will say in this blog will be in line with the truth of church teaching, no matter how much I wish it did.   

  

      Alright let's begin.

      

      "After the retreat, I was on a spiritual high, but then after being back at home for a while, I fell off the high, and into my usual routine."

      If I had a nickel for every time I've heard this, I could probably buy a new pair of offbrand Crocs. The truth is, I've been guilty of getting on the same spiritual rollercoaster. When Adoration or Mass is no longer a part of an assigned schedule, and the responsibility to engage in the Sacraments and in prayer rest solely in our hands, it's easy to revert back to our normal routine, where daily Mass, frequent trips to confession, and praying the rosary are activities that are considered more of prizes to be redeemed when we have free time, rather than moments which hold priority in our daily lives. 

      

      When Peter encountered the glory of God during the Transfiguration, he immediately wanted to pitch tents and stay up on the mountain. Peter is a lot like us in that, after having an amazing experience with Christ, he wanted to stay there forever. But realistically speaking, you have to come down the mountain at some point. So how are you going to let your experience at the peak affect how you live your life in the valley? 

      Typically, profound spiritual emotional experiences with God do not occur on a daily basis. Ouch. That means that living for God outside of retreats may involve us praying and engaging in the Sacraments without sure promise that your going to physically feel God's presence in your life. Can we persevere through desolation and have faith that God is still working as much in our lives now as he did on the retreat? 

      I hear all the time about people "falling off the spiritual high." Several years ago, while I was at a Catholic summer camp, I decided to break my own spiritual cycle. I decided not to let go of God again. Little did I know, that meant letting go of the spiritual high. Since then, I have grown exponentially in my spirituality and  I have centered my life more around Christ. I still fell down, and sinned, but when I did, I did not stop praying, or going to mass and confession. In my darkest moments, I walked confidently through the night,  trusting that God held the reins, simply because I let Him do so. 

      

      All that to say this: If you feel yourself falling into your normal routines, remember that God is always persistent in His love for you. Your spiritual life might feel like a roller coaster but if you continue to pray and receive grace in the Sacraments, God will not fail to work in your life. 

      Here's a practical suggestion that has worked for me. If your trying to cope with returning home from a retreat, try to find a time when you can sit before Jesus in adoration or the tabernacle and pray for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart. The Holy Spirit is the foundation for a relationship with our Lord, Jesus. 

      I hope and pray something I wrote may have helped you in some way. I would love to hear how the Lord may be working though this blog. 

Here's my contact information:

Cell: 972-825-3477

Email: walexfry@sbcglobal.net

If you have any questions of concerns, I would love to hear those as well. 

Thank you.

      

Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord

Hello brothers and sisters, my witness is how I trusted in God and how He led me to a faith-filled community.

Again the famous words are repeated, I was raised Catholic. I lived in a household that went to Sunday mass and was an active family in the church. So I knew that God was there but I never had a trusting relationship with Him. At this point in my life I thought I was fit for heaven. 

At school, I didn't have much of a social life, or talked to anyone in general. I never fitted in with any crowd of people. There would be people who are car fanatics, or athletic stars. I felt so alone and separated from others. I put up so many walls to keep myself away.

One summer, my mom signed me up for Covecrest, which is a week long Catholic summer camp in Tiger, Georgia.

I wasn't looking forward to it because I only knew one person and there was 99 more strangers.

But on one night of the week, there was an opportunity for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
I remember kneeling and praying to God to answer why I felt so lonely. I had my eyes closed, and after I kept questioning God, I saw a vision of God with his arm extending outwards towards me, as to include me into His divine love. I quickly opened my eyes, ('cause it was my first vision of Jesus so I kinda sorta freaked out) and when I looked in front of me, the priest was holding Jesus Christ in the monstrance right in front of me.

 It was such a glorious sight that I wish everyone could experience. I remember feeling a burning sensation in my chest like my heart was set on fire. Every second that passed, one of the walls that I put up in my heart, burned away to nothing. At this point, I'm freaking out and I was like,  

"This is not heartburn!" 

In that same moment, God spoke to me saying, "Son, Guide my church, and there will be people there that will journey with you, for you shall never be alone" I prayed in thanksgiving for God answering my prayer and I put my entire trust in Him.

After the retreat, I came back home and decided to respond to God's call and register to be a Teen Assistant at my church and became more active with my fellow teens. The first few days were rough, I still didn't understand why God would call an outcast to be active and lead others. Soon after I realized that God was putting people in my life to journey along with.

So yeah, after year or so, its still challenging to trust God fully sometimes. But I know with the people that God himself put in my life, that I do not have to travel this life alone.

To all of you struggling with trust, loneliness, or social anxiety, know that God has a plan for each step of your life. Put your trust in the Lord and you will never regret it!

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."--Jeremiah 29:11

If you want to talk my email is: chris.landa.cl@gmail.com, phone #: 936-494-9831

God Bless,

Christopher Landa

I was raised Catholic... But

      What's crackin'? Sorry, I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Anyways, welcome to the blog, Modern Day Disciples. Before I write anything else, I would like to make one thing very clear. The authors of this page, including myself, are not saints or anything close to holy. We do not have VIP passes that get us a relationship with God. No, we are just like you. We struggle with you, and we share in your loneliness, doubt, confusion, depression, addiction, and all other insecurities. So do not be discouraged by our stories and think,"I'm just not holy enough," or "I just have too many problems to be a good Christian." God came to save sinners, and that's who we are until we die. If you are looking for an encounter or an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe, He will meet you where you are. You probably heard the saying, “The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” That's true, and the stories that you'll  find on this blog are stories of healing, 'cause God knows we all need it. 

      Alright, now it's time for my story. My name is Alex. I'm 17 years young, a rising senior, from Ennis, Texas. (Which is such an obscure small town that autocorrect doesn't know what to do with it.) Anyways, my story begins much like many of the stories on here will begin...

I was raised Catholic...

      I went to mass every Sunday with my family, and at Sunday School I learned about God and Noah's Ark and David and Goliath, but until the summer after my 7th grade, I had never truly experienced God, or encountered the Love he has for me. I was missing out on the reality that God has an amazing plan for me. 

      That summer I went to The Pines, a week long Catholic summer camp, where with the help of my camp counselors and cabin mates, I was able to open myself up to God. During the week, I had the opportunity to go to confession, but I was reluctant to go because I hadn't been to confession in... a long time, and I barely even knew how to go to confession. 

      However, the priest was incredibly gentle and patient with me, and as uncomfortable and scared as I was before confession, as the priest helped me recall my sins and recite the act of contrition, I began to feel every insecurity, everything that made me so uncomfortable about confession fall away, and instead I felt calm and peaceful. I knew that this moment of my life had been planned for a very long time.

      At the end of the confession, the priest asked me if I had a rosary, and I said no. He then pulled a rosary out of his pocket and handed it to me:

      It is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. 

      The love that I felt that day, the love that priest showed me, created a burning inside of me, an insatiable craving, that would continue to grow after that day to the point where I am now discerning if God may be calling me to the priesthood, where I can share His love through the ministry of sacraments.

      Brothers and Sisters, if you haven't been to confession in a long time, if you have chains that are weighing you down, sins that make you feel unworthy, if you have never tried opening yourself up to the Lord, I encourage you to go to confession, and let Him in. He is waiting. He is ready, at all times, to unleash upon you every grace and gift. 

John 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."       
If you want to talk, my email is walexfry@sbcglobal.net and my cell phone number is 972-825-3477
God Bless,
Alex Fry