First Born Son

We hear the Bible Verse John 3:16 all the time! I remember first seeing it on the TV watching a baseball game when I was 7 years old, and I remember thinking to myself, I guess that is important if someone took the time to place it on a huge sign. It turns out that verse is important, very important and I think I took it for granted until just this past weekend.

As most of you know I have a dashing, handsome 11 moth old son named Dominic. Just like any baby, Dominic has had his ups and downs throughout his eleven months of life. Then this past weekend happened. Dominic got really sick. It was his first real sickness, and I have never been so scared in my life. It started late Friday night when he woke up during the night and his body felt a little warm. We took his temperature and it was 102! I was freaking out. He settled down that night but the next day was a roller coaster of his fever going up and down. Saturday night was the worse when Dominic got the chills and couldn't sleep because of them. I was holding this shivering 11 month old baby in my arms not being able to do anything except pray. The next day Dominic's fever broke and we were extremely relieved.

It wasn't till my personal prayer the few days after that I realized how much our God did for us. Dominic is eleven months old, can't talk or take care of himself and it was truly tormenting me that I could do nothing but watch him suffer. Never in my life have I felt so connected to the Bible verse John 3:16. It turned out that my son was ok and recovered, but the Father's Son didn't get a pass. He walked the path to Mt Calvary, carrying a cross he did not merit, and dying for us, all while His Father watched.
I pray that we may come to realize the extent that God loves us, that He would give His only Son to die for me, for you, for us! Take some time today reflecting upon the Father's overwhelming love, I know I will.

The Lie of the Child Free Life

Time magazine recently ran an article entitled "The Child Free Life: When having it all means not having children." There are several things that I could rant about with this article but I will hold back....some.

The article talks about the idea of having it all is not having children. That there are couples out there who find their life much more fulfilling without having children. I have lived the single life and also the married with children life and I can say hands down, 100 percent that I have never been more fulfilled in life than when I am with my wife and son. In no way am I saying that women who cannot conceive, who do not get married, or choose another vocation( ie religious life..etc) are any less of a woman than ones who can bear a child. But it is how a woman's body is made- to carry another person, to give life, to have children.

We live in a culture which is focused on "I" so much. "I want...""I need..." "I deserve..." Not a culture of "I'll give..." "Do I really need that?" "I'll sacrifice..." The reality for me is that if I gave into every want in my life I would be leading a pretty boring life. I think sometimes we (myself included) get overwhelmed by the idea of children because of the enormous responsibility that comes with them. We can be overcome with the responsibilities and fears that come with children or we can live in the truth that this other human being is helping me be holy! I get to look into the eyes of my son and see my Maker and that is a truly humbling gift I do not deserve.

To close I share with you the words of comedian Jim Gaffigan who says it better than any of us. 

"I watch the faces of single people in their twenties after I bring up that I ‘have children.’ I imagine them taking a small step backward as if to avoid contagion, with a look of ‘Sorry to hear that’ on their face. Like I naively volunteered to contract leprosy, forever quarantining myself from the world of having fun by having children.  Well, why not? I guess the reasons against having more children always seem uninspiring and superficial. What exactly am I missing out on? Money? A few more hours of sleep? A more peaceful meal? More hair? These are nothing compared to what I get from these five monsters who rule my life. I believe each of my five children has made me a better man. So I figure I only need another thirty-four kids to be a pretty decent guy. Each one of them has been a pump of light into my shriveled black heart. I would trade money, sleep, or hair for a smile from one of my children in a heartbeat. Well, it depends on how much hair."

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands

My wife and I have a son named Dominic who recently turned 9 months old on Tuesday. Dominic is an amazing child and all credit goes to his mother. Dominic has been crawling, eating solid foods, and pulling up on everything. Although, the greatest trick he learned recently has been how to clap. My wife has been determined to teach him how to clap. So she came up with a jingle of her own "clap, clap, clap your hands, clap your hands to the beat." Over and over and over we sang this jingle and moved his hands back and forth showing him how to clap. We were desperately hoping that he would understand and start clapping, and to our great surprise two days ago he started clapping. We were elated and so excited! We couldn't contain our excitement. Like any good parent we made him clap over and over and over until he became tired of it.

I know what you are thinking, where is this going Joey?  Let me tell you. My son's clapping is like the spiritual life. Say what? Yup I realized driving to work this morning that my son learning to clap is probably similar to what God does with us! He shows himself to us again and again, yet we don't really get it. He taught us how to pray and yet we don't always do it. But just like one day it clicked for my son with clapping, I see it time and time again in youth ministry that the spiritual life will click with one person. Then they can't contain themselves and continue to use these skills.

Hopefully this ending story makes you chuckle. Last night my son woke up at 4am crying because of teething, tired, etc. I was rocking him in the chair in the living room and he was not having it! All of a sudden he rolled over on his back, looked at me in the face, and starting clapping and smiling. Hopefully we allow God to show us the way in our life, and have the same zeal my child had this morning at 4am! Allow God through prayer time, sacraments, and christian fellowship to show us the way for our lives. And pray for my 4am zealous child!

The Elect

I am not always the most optimistic of people in life. I often times find the glass half empty instead of half full, but recently I experienced an event where my glass and the glass of those around me was overflowing.

I have the amazing opportunity to journey to the Easter Vigil with a young man who has not yet been baptized. This month in the Diocese of Dallas was the "Right of Election" a time that catechumens(non baptized) are acknowledged before their own Church and later that day in front of Bishop for their preparation towards entering the Church. 

What an experience it was to be next to this young man when he stood before the Bishop at the Cathedral. He was beaming with excitement and joy throughout the entire process. I often take being baptized as a baby for granted. Most things I grew up with in the Church are foreign to these Catechumens. It makes me sit back and reflect upon the gift of faith. It makes me love my faith even more. 

Although the journey for this young man who was elected into the Church on Sunday has just begun, we pray that the good work that began in him and the good work that is happening in us continues in all our lives. For now we keep on waiting with joyful expectation as we journey through the desert with Christ, towards the light of the Resurrection at Easter. 

What Is Lent Really About?

I love my job as a youth minister! I especially love the insights that teens give me on different subjects because teenagers are so real and don't hold back anything or any thought! I recently had a conversation with some teens about Lent and what it really means.

While talking about Lent, one teen commented and said, "Well I guess it is that time of year for me to give up my chocolate." This comment caught me off guard at first. I thought to myself surely these teens don't think that Lent is simply about giving up chocolate! 

The more I talked with other teens the more I realized, that is exactly what they think Lent is about. All of them talked about how Lent is the time where you give up things that you like to eat or do, but didn't know anything about the season.

Thank goodness for the Church which tells us what Lent is truly about. Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. 

Prayer- 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "pray without ceasing." We see Jesus in the Gospel praying all the time. He would go to a remote place and pray. We see in Jesus a man who was praying so intently before he was going to give us his life for all us that he sweat blood! This inspires me this Lent to step up my prayer. Lent is about spending more time in prayer centering ourselves on Christ and surrendering our lives to him. If you don't have a regular prayer life take this Lent to start one. I recently did a P90X workout, which helps you to strengthen your body. 

This Lent I encourage to do P40X(Prayer for 40 days). Strengthen your spiritual lives. Maybe you dont know where to start? Start by setting aside a time each day to pray. Read Scripture, journal, pray the Rosary, go to Mass, or spend time in silence. The important thing, in the words of Nike, is to "Just Do It," - go out and pray.

Fasting- We take our lead once again from Christ. He entered into the desert for 40 days and fasted. Fasting not only helps us become more self disciplined, but also gives us self control. Fasting is always a tough thing for us, but isn't it so comforting that around the world on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday in Lent I am joined by over 1 billion other Catholics fasting! Image if we all take this opportunity to allow this fasting to strengthen us and help us build our spiritual lives. The same is true from abstaining from meats on Friday. Lets take the opportunity to let these things transform us for the better. So there is nothing bad about giving up chocolate, just make sure that this is something that is going to draw you closer to Christ and not some mindless choice you do every year. 

Almsgiving- I believe we forget about this aspect of Lent the most! I know the last thing that you want to hear is that you have to give more money out of your pocket! Well there is good news and bad news here. Yes, we do need to give financially to the Church, it is one of the precepts of the Church, (if you dont know the 5 precepts, stop and look them up now!) but we can also give in our time that we can donate to the Church. As my mom always says, "there is one thing that we can't get back in life and that is our time." The great news is that if there is one place that I would love to spend my time it is for the Church. Another great thing to do during Lent is to donate your skills to the Church. The Church is always in need of help so if you have a skill set offer it to the Church!

The great thing about these three aspects of Lent is that these things do not have to stop at the end of Lent. This is a way we can live and unite our lives to Christ every day. Now go be holy. Happy Lent!