Jesus, Andrew, Peter, and Peyton Manning

Today’s Gospel reading is Mark 1:14-20, here it is from the USCCB website:

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

I’m always amazed at the instant response of these men. They knew very little about the man calling them and they seem to be in the middle of their work day, yet they immediately follow Jesus. During the homily today the priest asked, “What is our response? Are we quick to obey?” My immediate thought was that I never respond with quite the urgency of the disciples, but most of the time I am striving to obey – though not always. The priest then asked about our response to obstacles in life – which led me to a thought explosion for most of the remainder of mass – although not as distracted as that sounds.

Mass ended and I sat and prayed for a bit and thought more about my response and response in general to obstacles. I thanked the Lord for the attitude I’ve been given to respond to obstacles, I wouldn’t say I embrace them, but I endure them, attack them, take them head on. As I’m driving home I hear the news about Peyton Manning’s injury – that’s he’s played through a torn quad muscle for nearly a month. I’m still not sure if I think it was courageous or stupid of him, but he does deserve credit. I pulled my hamstring a few years ago, very slight pull, but I didn’t want to walk to the fridge, let alone get chased by dudes trying to take my head off! (So I guess Peyton was courageous). Man’s response to obstacles in our culture, largely sports, is called “heroic”, “unbelievable”, “amazing”, “unforgettable” and the list goes on. But when it comes to the spiritual, virtuous or moral life – all which require a serious amount of sacrifice, self-denial, service, and above all love – people are laughed at, mocked, and called weak. Self-denial, service and love although laughed at today are the best words we could use to describe the most heroic, unbelievable, amazing and unforgettable person that ever lived, died, rose and lived again.

Nothing in life is easy. College: both socially and intellectually challenging, marriage/vocation: beautiful, joy-filled yet faced with many trials, work: worth it, at times enjoyable yet demanding. Why would the spiritual life and a relationship with Jesus Christ be different? There are amazing highs and painful lows just like anything else in life – yet in the spiritual life why is man’s (myself included) response to obstacles often lazy, lack luster, slothful? Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Tony Romo (along with many others I’m sure) were willing to risk further, maybe even career threatening injuries for 60 minutes on Sunday. And for what?

I was sad and upset because this puzzles me. In every aspect of life I can think of man’s response is to face obstacles with confidence, toughness, a bit stubborn, some might even say defiant – every aspect of life but the spiritual aspect. Is a Super Bowl ring or another $100,000 really going to deliver something that lasts? That is truly life giving? That is eternal? Without a Google search, who won the Super Bowl and Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl XXVI? 100 years from now that will mean even less than it does now. Who were the first men to follow Jesus? 2,000 years come and gone and those guys are still being talked about!

Those men in today’s Gospel followed Jesus because they were attracted to Him. Those men saw something in Jesus that promised more than anything they would ever pull into their boat or that they could ever do on their own. It was not always smooth sailing for those 1^st men to run after Jesus, but I guarantee you they’re happy they did.

The priest ended his homily with the following questions, something I will continue to think about, “…the obstacle, is it a stepping stone towards or away from Jesus? Jesus meets us in our daily lives, how will we respond?”

Great Week

This last week, my second back in New Jersey this semester was great!

The week began on Friday the 21st and my 5 teammates, Fr. Gomes and I were taking a group of 45 students to Baltimore for a FOCUS National Conference. Everyone had a blast at Conference which was about 2 days. We listened to some great speakers and were all challenged to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. We were challenged to do this in several ways but one of the best ways that was suggested to us was through the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. On Saturday night 2 young women that are from Seton Hall went to confession for the first time in 9 years!! At Conference I had to work the Varsity Catholic information booth and even got to speak with my teammate Melissa about Varsity Catholic to an audience of over 50 people. Conference was also a great chance to catch up with missionaries serving at other schools that I have not seen since this summer and some that I had never even met.

Once Conference ended on Sunday afternoon my roommate Anthony and I stuck around at the hotel to watch the NFC Championship game. The result of the game was especially enjoyable and even more so since we watched most of it with 2 Bears fans.

From Baltimore we went to Washington D.C. on Monday for the March for Life. Last year I went to a local version of the march in St. Paul where I walked with a group from St. Paul's Cathedral to the steps of the state capitol. This year was a little different. This year I marched with over hundreds of thousands of people!! It was beautiful to see so many people united for the same cause, to end legalized abortion. People from across the country made the trip to DC to stand up for all to have the right to life. I was especially impressed by a group that I saw from Green Bay, WI. At the end of the march several of the FOCUS missionaries that were there gathered for a picture, there were about 40 of us. The rest of the day was spent with missionaries out for dinner and the night ended with the Seton Hall team of missionaries in Alexandria, VA. We stayed with Rosabel's (missionary) family.

Tuesday we made the trip back to campus and the rest of the week was pretty irregular. Wednesday I had my 2nd Bible study of the semester, 11 guys made it and we talked about chastity and purity. The guys really enjoyed it and had a lot to share. I'll post what I used to lead the discussion in a later post. Wednesday the school was closed because of the weather and the amount of snow that we were supposed to receive. Well it snowed so much that school was closed for all of Thursday. On a whim we (missionaries) invited over students to hang out and eat. Typically we host a Grilled Cheese Party each Thursday night so for this Thursday we extended that to all day and even threw in some tomato soup. In all probably around 30 students stopped by, it was a long day, but a fun day, what snow day isn't a great day after all?

Today, Saturday has been action packed as well. Melissa and I joined the women's basketball team for their pregame devotion. I watched the first half and then stopped by the swim meet for awhile. Then I got home just in time to welcome some guests. Some guys from the baseball team came over for some pizza and video games. This is their last weekend that they're not in season, so I wanted to get together with them. We had pizza and played some NFL Blitz and NHL Hitz and watched some golf and basketball on TV.

I also made a big decision this week, to go home to watch the Super Bowl with my family, which will probably be the next best place to be besides Dallas next Sunday.

It's weeks like these that really make me thankful for where the Lord has put me and thankful for the work that He is allowing me to do, I love my job!

GO PACK!!