A weekend in Minnesota

For almost 2 years I have been waiting to watch my favorite band and one of the greatest of all time play a concert at the new TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Last summer they had to cancel their world wide tour due to emergency back surgery that their lead singer needed to have. Well almost 2 years was well worth the wait. On Saturday night I went to the concert of a life-time, the legendary U2 did not disappoint.

I was attending the concert with a group of 12, which I soon found was a tough number to keep together at the concert, or even getting to the concert. The opening band stopped playing around 8, that was also the time that we entered the arena. I had hoped to get there a bit earlier to get nice and close to the stage, so at this point we were going to try and get as close as possible. We wondered up to the right hand side of the stage and got about 10-15 rows back from the catwalk type stage that extended and formed a circle around the main stage.



I looked to the right and noticed people filing in to another area. I realized that these people were going to be inside of that "catwalk". I went over and ended up knowing the guy that was counting people that were allowed into this area. I asked him how he was doing and then asked how you got to be one of the people to get in that area. He told me that anyone could go but that he was allowed to let 400 go and he only had a few spots left. I told him that I was with a group of 9 people, he shrugged and said I can only let 4 more people through, there are x number of spots around the stadium and each spot can let 400 through. I looked at him for a second and begged, I've got 9 could you let us through? To which he replied, hurry up and get them. I later realized that I had mis-counted our group, there were 12, but we all made it through. And ended up about 5 rows back from the main stage. And had the concert event of our lives. We spend the first 15 minutes in complete awe, really just shocked, and so excited. The 4 band members entered the stage area at about 9pm and the place exploded. They calmly, stoically, almost without emotion strolled out, they know how cool they are. As the began their concert with 3 tunes from an album they released in 1991 we began to sing our hearts out for the next 2 plus hours. Once the concert started I did not check the time until 10:40pm.

This is a look up at the "claw" from where we ended up



A look up at Bono from our viewpoint



< Even amidst weather short of a torrential downpour we sang, jumped, and danced the entire time. The band never even hesitated in the weather. They went along as I'm sure they planned, light up jackets and all. At one point Bono was on the stage with an American flag umbrella and sang "Rain" by the Beatles and several times sang "Singin in the rain". One of the highlights of the night was when they played Beautiful Day, Elevation, and Pride (In the name of love) in a row. Especially the intro to Beautful Day which was recorded but given by astronaut and husband of Gabrielle Gifford.

As the band left the stage we ran over to where they would walk of the stage and were about 10 feet away as we waved and screamed an they looked in our direction and letf the stage area. What a night. We left completely drenched after the steady rain all night. But we were too excited to care. As we walked to find a taxi back to our hotel a few of us were quite sore from all the excitement and movement during the show.

Overall a great weekend and great show.

Alan Alda and 2 World War II battle tested vets

Yesterday I had a great day of spreading the mission and vision of FOCUS. I was visiting with an 87 year old man in Illinois. I set up an appointment with him last week on the phone, the whole time we were on the phone he tried to talk me out of visiting him, how he was just an 87 year old man, he didn’t want me wasting my time by visiting him. I assured him that I would be happy to meet with him to not only share my work with him but visit with him and learn about him and his family. To give you an idea of how our meeting went I showed up a few minutes before 5:30 and left at 7.

Before I knocked on the door we had never met each other and had only spoke on the phone a few times. One other time than the time I mentioned above. During our previous conversation I learned that he had a big family and that many of his children would be visiting him on July 4th. Not long after I arrived at his home yesterday I learned that he and his wife had 10 children. You think he’s Catholic?

Our conversation was all over the place but it was great. We talked about Vatican 2, although my perception and understanding of it is much different than someone who lived through it. My 87 year old friend did not seem particularly happy with Vatican 2, but it was clear that not only is he proud to be Catholic, but he really lives out his faith. He showed me a few books that he particularly enjoyed about the Catholic faith. Both by the same author, one titled “Papal Sin” and the other “Why I am a Catholic”, he strongly suggested both of them to me. Then he got up to look at his book shelf and handed me “Rediscovering Catholicism” by Matthew Kelly, and said that it presents a different angle than the other books he mentioned. He told me to keep it. I’ve never been to an appointment where I am supposed to be presenting the gospel and sharing the Catholic faith where I have been given a book about the faith. I thought it was a very kind gesture. He told me that he usually orders that book “by boxes, about 100 at a time” to give away to his friends and then they usually call asking him to send more so that they can give a copy to their children. I told him it was quite a ministry he was running, he shrugged off my compliment. Then he started to tell me about his 10 children and that he gave each of them a copy. He shared with me where a few of them were at in their faith lives; one of his sons is now a Catholic Deacon after being out of the Church for 30 some years!

I was really enjoying our conversation, but finally my friend said, “Well what am I doing all the talking for, you’re supposed to be talking to me.” I smiled and began to tell him about my work with FOCUS and Varsity Catholic. I told him about the importance of my work with male student athletes and one particular baseball player that I had the privilege of working with this last year. When I finished he said that he had heard of FOCUS before and that he knew about it and was impressed with it. He went on and said that when I started talking about Varsity Catholic he wasn’t sure about the need for it, but after I told him more about it, he said he got it. He understood why it is important for college athletes to make faith a part of their lives, because of the positive impact they could have on their teammates, peers, and community. This gentleman had invested in (supported) a missionary before, so he told me, “What you do is not easy and I would be glad to give to this cause. If you send an envelope here each month, I will send you a check each month.” I told him that I would be honored to have him investing in me each month.

Before I left I used the restroom and on my way out I noticed a giant poster of Alan Alda and another poster full of pictures from MASH. I asked him about these two posters because they seemed out of place on the floor leaned up against a wall full of family photos. He said that he had found them rolled up in the attic where one of his kids left them. He pulled them out and put each one in a frame so that whoever they belonged to could have them. He said he did this because one of his children told him they might be of value. Then he talked about how he was in Korea during the war. Then I told him about something my grandma had given me earlier in the day. My grandma gave me a photocopied article of my grandpa’s hometown newspaper when he was honored for his service in World War II (while he was near the end of his service)Here’s what the article said…. “Sgt. Albert Garcia Receives Promotion Mr. and Mrs. Albert Garcia have received word that their son, Albert Garcia, Jr. was promoted to technical sergeant May 24, in Germany. He has been in combat for ten months and is up for decoration. He holds the good conduct medal, combat infantryman badge, five battle stars and the presidential citation ribbon for the rescue of the lost battalion at Mortain, August 16, 1944. Four other sons in the service are, Tony in the Marines in the Pacific, Anselmo in the Army in Germany, Mike in the Army and back from overseas, and Adolph in the Navy at sea.” As my friend read this about my grandfather he said wow over and over again, he said how impressive it was, and how proud our family should be of him. I had no idea since I was 9 when my grandpa died, asking him about World War II was not of much interest to me back then, I wish it was.

Sharing the mission and vision of FOCUS is another one of the great things I get to do as a FOCUS Missionary and imitator of Christ. I am so thankful for opportunities to do so and grateful for the families that invest and become a part of this incredible work happening in the Church today.

Please say a Hail Mary for the intentions of all those who make an investment with FOCUS.

And if you’d like to become a part of my mission with FOCUS, remember that it is just a click away above in the box titled “Join me in my mission” above on the right hand side of the page.

God bless you.

14 for a Week

From last Sunday through this Friday I had the opportunity to lead a group of middle school students at “Madison Missions”. I spent the week at Blackhawk Church in Middleton, WI. For 3 or 4 weeks each summer Blackhawk Church hosts Madison Missions and each week is a different age group. There was something special about the week that I was there. There were about a dozen visitors from Honduras. Our friends from Honduras ranged in age from 18-29 and it was a joy to serve with them. Once every few years Blackhawk sends a group of youth to work in Honduras, this year they returned the favor.

So here’s how it worked. We were split into 10 teams, each team had a leader from WI and from Honduras, and each time had 4-7 students. There was one all male team and one all female team, the rest of the teams were a mix. Team 8, the team that I co-led had 3 boys and 2 girls. 2 of the boys of were twins and the other was a friend of theirs, they were all from Mount Horeb, WI. The girls played on a summer softball team together. All 5 were 14 and will start high school this fall. My team co-leader from Honduras was Carlos who is in college in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The first time we all met was Sunday night at our teams first devotional time. I felt like from the beginning that we would have a good week together. We started our service together Monday morning by dropping off bags around a Madison community asking for goods for new mothers and their babies, we were collecting items for a place called Care Net, a place where mothers who are not sure if they should have their baby go for help. Care Net provides health and parenting education for these mothers as well as a place to live and raise their child for 9 months. The plan was to drop the bags off Monday with a list of goods Care Net needs for their mothers and at the also on the list was a time that we would be back to pick up the bags.

Below is a picture of Team 8 on Thursday, pick up day, people were very generous and Care Net was grateful!

We did many service projects that ranged from ringing a bell outside of a grocery store for the Salvation Army’s “Christmas in July” to spending the day with residents from nursing homes with Alzheimer’s and different forms of memory loss. I think that the kids enjoyed hanging out with the residents of the nursing homes the most. We spent one of our mornings together at a nursing home playing cards with, talking to, and playing putt-putt with the residents. On another morning we met a group of women with Alzheimer’s right next to Monona Lake in Madison on top of building overlooking downtown Madison. There was a beautiful view of the capital building from where we were. We enjoyed a children’s program with the women and then had lunch together. It was very eye opening for me and I think the kids would say the same. I think it put life into perspective for the kids. For some of them I know that it was the first time they had interacted with a person with Alzheimer’s.

The devotional and large group times were a lot of fun. There were a few scripture verses that guided our conversations. Here are a few of them : James 2:14-17, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Cor 13 and a few others. The church I volunteered at is not the church that I attend, it is a non-denominational church. I think it falls under the category of "Mega Church" but I could be wrong. There are so many people that love the Lord there and the youth there are vibrant, it was a great community to be part of for a week. I was a bit surprised when I saw those few verses in our devotional time, those are common verses that Catholic apologists use when non-Catholics confront Catholics about their beliefs. I enjoyed the week so much, but it did start off a little slow and that was my own fault.

At the beginning of the week I really felt that I needed to share my beliefs about the truth and beauty of the Church that Jesus established, the Catholic Church. Eventually I realized that most importantly I needed to share the love of Christ with the kids and if the opportunity came up I could share what I wanted to about the Church. That opportunity came last Wednesday night when each of the team 8 group members shared their testimony. Since most of my testimony and conversion story has a large part to do with the Catholic Church I was able to share with the kids about physical presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Adoration, Our Blessed Mother, and the Rosary. Nothing too in depth, but I got to just mention and share about those truths, planted some seeds.

Our group had a great time together. Carlos and I really felt like we bonded with the kids. They were hard working and very mature for their age. The kids did not complain at all during the week and a few of our work projects were not the most luxurious. I look forward to keeping in touch with the kids and seeing how they live out their faith.

Here is a picture of our group on our last night together.


Please pray for me these next few weeks as I work hard to be fully funded so that I may continue to spread the love of Jesus Christ and truth of the Catholic Church at Seton Hall this fall and into the future. Please comment and post any of your prayer requests and I will gladly take them with me as I go before the Lord this week and pray.

God Bless you, VERSO L'ALTO

WI Holy Family Pilgrimage 2011

What a week. Coming off of FOCUS New Staff Training I had mixed feelings. It's hard to leave such a strong, faithful, and encouraging community. It's easy to be faithful to attending daily mass and a daily hour of adoration while at training but it becomes challenging to stay committed to that during the summer once missionaries are scattered back across the country. But as I end my first week away from my FOCUS family I am very encouraged.

On July 5th & 6th I had the privilege of attending 3 of the most Holy and Catholic sites in WI. I was lucky enough to share my experience with 4 great people. Fellow missionaries; Nick (serves at Ball State University), Kelsey (will serve at North Dakota State University), Mario (serves at Ramapo College in NJ), and my girlfriend Janet whose mission field is at the Mayo Clinic as a nurse.

We began our adventure at about 10am on the 5th and began a two and a half hour drive to Champion, WI to visit the only Marian Apparition site in the United States. On our way we prepared ourselves by praying the Sorrowful mysteries. We also read about the history of the site in Champion, which is just east of Green Bay, WI. What a story. In 1859 a young girl, Adele Brise, had visions of Our Blessed Mother on her way home from mass, she had these visions only a year after the apparition occurred in Lourdes, France. At first many people did not believe Adele. Adele would become a sister and teacher of the Catholic school in Champion. Many local priests and religious thought she was crazy. These priests went as far as to deny Sister Adele the opportunity to go to mass. In fact she once went and the pews were blocked off for her use, so she knelt the entire mass in the aisle. What a witness! There was also a great miracle after Sister Adele saw our Blessed Mother. Here is a quote from the Shrine's website, know that the town the Shrine is in has changed names and here is referred to as Robinsonville.

"Much has been written about the great Peshtigo Fire, which claimed an estimated 2500lives; 10 times more than the great Chicago Fire, which occurred the same day. Our intent here, however, is to show how this tragedy played an important role in the events which occurred at Robinsonville.

In early October of 1859 Adele Brise received her first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the following Sunday, October 9th, when the Blessed Mother appeared to Adele for the third time, she warned:

“If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them.”

We do not propose to pass judgment on the reasons for this catastrophe, but, one day short of 12 years after the Robinsonville apparition, on October 8, 1871, the great calamity fell and a tragedy begat a miracle. The Belgian colony which embraced a large part of the peninsula and included Robinsonville, was visited by the same whirlwind of fire and wind that devastated Peshtigo.

When the tornado of fire approached Robinsonville (Champion), Sister Adele and her companions were determined not to abandon the Chapel. Encircled by the inferno, the Sisters, the children, area farmers and their families fled to the Shrine for protection. The statue of Mary was raised reverently and was processed around the sanctuary. When wind and fire threatened suffocation, they turned in another direction to hope and pray, saying the rosary. Hours later, rains came in a downpour, extinguishing the fiery fury outside the Chapel. The Robinsonville area was destroyed and desolate…except for the convent, the school, the Chapel, and the five acres of land consecrated to the Virgin Mary. Though the fire singed the Chapel fence, it had not entered the Chapel grounds. Those assembled at the Chapel, realizing that they had witnessed a miracle, were asked by Sister Adele to retire to the Convent, where they were made as comfortable as possible for the rest of the night."



Please see more for yourself here: http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/

We spent close to three hours on site at the Shrine and loved every minute of it. We began in the Chapel, which is not the large but beautiful and some stunning images and statues. From the Chapel we began towards the crypt where Sister Adele had the visions and we were feet away from Sister Adele's grave. Before we went down to the crypt, we sang the Salve Regina. Our first time down we spent maybe 10-15 minutes there, and it was 10-15 minutes of deep and meaningful prayer. When we left the crypt we went to pay our respects to Sister Adele, a few of her fellow sisters, and some of the children they taught who were orphans. On our drive up as we read about the history of the Shrine, we read that Sister Adele passed away on July 5th! What a day to visit! At her grave we prayed for her intercession and the intercession of Our Lady of Good Help. We prayed for each of our own ministries, the mission of FOCUS, for our families, and for the conversion of sinners-especially those in Wisconsin. I dubbed her the patron Saint of Wisconsin born missionaries, read her story and you will know why. (As far as I know the cause for Sister Adele's beatification is not in process).

Next we prayed the Rosary around the Rosary walk which was on site at the Shrine, we prayed the Glorious mysteries. As we finished it began to rain so we went into the gift shop, where we spent about a half hour and a good amount of $$. After this we met up with another missionary, Kyle (serves at the Naval Academy) who was there with a student he works with. Together we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.



As we got ready to leave we went through the Chapel again and visited the crypt one more time. This time we entered 5-10 minutes of intense prayer. Kneeling before the very spot that Sister Adele saw our Mother, we offered prayers up to Mary to go and beg her Son on our behalf. What a gift, that as Jesus was leaving this world, he would leave something so great and precious for us, His Mother. Telling his beloved disciple from the cross, to take this woman as his mother, as our mother. (John 19:26-27)

We left Our Lady of Good Help to go to mass in De Pere, WI to St. Joseph's National Shrine. We made it in time for mass and then explored St. Joseph's Shrine. We learned a lot about the Order of Norbertines and how the Shrine was established and recognized by Pope Leo XIII in 1892.

http://www.shrineofsaintjoseph.org/

We spent close to an hour praying next to this statue of St. Joseph and baby Jesus. There were about 6 relics at the altar behind the statue. Some of well know saints like St. Therese and some lesser known Norbertines like Blessed James Kern and St. Herman Joseph. St. Herman Joseph has a great story and I enjoyed reading this about him, "Feeling that the work had left him too little time for prayer, Mary appeared to him and consoled him with the words, "You have no higher duty than to serve your brothers with love". There were also about 12 altars surrounding the statue of St. Joseph with stories about several different saints including St. Augustine, St. Terese of the Child Jesus, St. Monica, St. Mark, St. John and several others. We ended our time in the St. Joseph shrine by praying the Joyful mysteries.

At this point we were ready for dinner. We went to a place that some Wisconsinites would consider a 'pilgrimage site', Lambeau Field. Lambeau has a few dining options and we chose Curly's Pub. We had a great time recapping the day and already planning another WI Pilgrimage for next year. On the 2 and half hour drive home we thanked God for our day and prayed the Luminous mysteries.

The next day and final day of our pilgrimage we went to Holy Hill and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians. I have been here several times before, but learned quite a bit about the Shrine on this visit. The Shrine is run by Discalced Carmelites.

https://www.holyhill.com/





Just as we were about to leave the Chapel we asked a visiting priest for a blessing. He spoke to us for almost 10 minutes, he did not know that we were missionaries, but he encouraged us to be bold, to love our families, to look to reconcile with our families, and to pray deeply to our Mother for her intercession. After this touching blessing we explored the grounds. We climbed 187 steps to the top of one of the steeples, prayed for the intercession of St. Therese, and prayed at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Then we were headed for the gift shop when we ran into the priest that gave us the blessing. Fr. Bernard spoke to us this time for close to 10 minutes. He told us that he had been visiting the United States for 3 weeks from Italy and he told us how much has noticed the sad state of our culture in the short time he has been visiting. He talked about the lack of faith in our culture as well as the self serving attitude. He shared something interesting with us about praying for signs from God. He said so many people look for signs, for their rosaries to turn into gold or to have visions instead of knowing, learning, reading, and living the Gospel. He just questioned why people don't turn to the the Gospel, why people don't turn to Jesus. This man had a great zeal for souls, he was so expressive and sad as he spoke to us. But he was so grateful that we did stop to talk to him.

Our 1st Annual WI Holy Family Pilgrimage was a success and like I mentioned earlier I am planning to do it again and pray that it will be even better.

Our Lady of Good Help, St. Joseph, Our Lady Help of Christians, Pray for us. Jesus, have mercy on us.

Here is a link to the Facebook page with other pictures" http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/media/set/?set=a.10150695713985394.705539.570665393

Set All Afire

"If you are who you were meant to be, you would set the world on fire." - St. Catherine of Siena. Although this is something that we as FOCUS missionaries hear often, I don't think we can hear it enough. Our President and Founder, Curtis Martin, has shared this with us several times this summer and I love it every time I hear it. If you really think about what it means, its incredible. If you can truly and deeply align your will with God's will, you would set the world on fire! Let's go!! If only it were that easy. Each day we struggle to align our will with God's in the fallen world we live in, but as we move closer to uniting our will with His sparks are flying and you need sparks before a fire right?

But the idea of "set all afire" is the mindset that I am living FOCUS New Staff Training 2011 with. I cannot believe how fast 5 weeks has come and gone in Champaign. I am so excited for my missionary brothers and sisters; some to begin their ministry and for others to continue theirs. In this post I want to do my best to sum up the last 2 weeks or so of training.

2 weeks ago, we had the privilege of listening to Jeff Cavins present his "Bible Study Timeline". Last year for training myself and the other missionaries (who at the time were in our first year) watched a video presentation of Jeff Cavins "Bible Study Timeline." We great to appreciate him, his sense of humor, and his Biblical knowledge. We also began to place bets on what color shirt and tie he would wear, by the end we realized he really like blue. So to welcome Jeff Cavins we really went all out. Please see here for yourself how much Jeff appreciated our effort to welcome him.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150206351930927.302059.282672400926

We all wore shades of blue, made signs, and even presented Jeff with some of his famous "Mannana Bread". In this picture Jeff asked all the staff present with Varsity Catholic to take a picture, we were honored. (I am the 2nd from the right)
Although Jeff was only with us for a day, his presence was appreciated. What a intelligent and faithful man.

The rest of the week myself and the other 2nd year FOCUS missionaries had the honor and privilege of listening to Dr. Ted Sri. He has written several books and is a professor at the Augustine Institute. He is very passionate about what he does and for 4 days, he shared his passion with us. Mostly he spoke to us the effect of media on our culture, it was really eye opening and led to some really good discussions amongst the missionaries. Overall we talked about the false reality/worldview that the media presents and that we too often easily subscribe to and the promotion of moral relativism in movies and tv shows. He pointed out to us how often media presents a view opposite of what Jesus instructs and instead of Jesus, Hollywood becomes our basis for how we relate to people. Dr. Sri's talks really got me to thinking about how I use social media and the idea of "egocasting". Dr. Sri also spent some time on apologetics with us, mostly about the Bible and why "Catholic " Bibles have 7 more books than those of our Protestant brothers and sisters. And finally Dr. Sri spoke to us about the new Mass translation and why the changes are happening, changes will go into action during Advent later this year.

Our last week of training was FOCUS's President Curtis Martin talking about worldview and motivating us one last time as we end training and start transitioning to life as a missionary in the world. In this talk Curtis just really talked what we're up against with the culture and on a college campus, that we are in a spiritual battle. He gave us some statistics, which are really sad. It was a poll taken by the Knights of Columbus in 2010. The topic of the poll was "Believe that the following are morally wrong", the responses were in 2 categories, American and American Catholics. Surprisingly the percentages were very close and a few where "Americans" voted more morally than the Catholics. For example on the subject of having sex if you're unmarried, 39% of Americans said this was not ok while only 29% of American Catholics said that it was not moral. I was very surprised to learn this about Catholics, but this is why FOCUS missionaries have a job. We're crazy enough or we trust in God enough that we can and that we are changing the world. To see the growth that FOCUS has made in just 13 years, I would say that it is. To demonstrate just how it is I want to tell this story which I've hear a few times this summer. One of the top women's prep volleyball players in the country was on a recruiting visit to the University of Texas (Longhorns). Her parents told the coach that their daughter likely would not go to a school that does not have FOCUS. So the coach made some phone calls, talked to some people, made some connections, and FOCUS will be at the University of Texas this fall.....I don't think the top recruit has made a decision yet, she's going to be a senior in high school this fall.

The bottom line is there is a need for FOCUS missionaries (or any Christian missionary) on every college campus. I'm thankful that as a FOCUS missionary we receive the best training in the country for college evangelization, apologetics, fundraising, and spiritual formation. Be assured that with trust in God and an openness to His Divine will, we are changing the world. Pictured here are almost all of the missionaries.

I heard this quote from Curtis, I'm not sure if it's original or if he heard it somewhere else but.........."God does not satisfy our desires, He overwhelms them." Each of us FOCUS missionaries has a desire to change the campus we're working on (58 in the US) and to change the world we live in. Slowly, by the grace of God, it's happening. Jesus, I trust in you!

Please pray for all missionaries as they work hard this summer to raise 100% of their salary so that they may set the world afire this fall and reach the millions of college students that are in such desperate need of the Love of our Father.

God Bless you.

Father's Day and Porn Shop

That title should grab some attention......My Father's Day Sunday started off with mass with my girlfriend who drove down (5ish) hours to surprise me this weekend to spend a few days with me. The rest of my father's day was spent with my family, my mom, dad, and 2 younger brothers. In typical man style at about noon on Sunday my brothers and I set out to the store to get something for my dad for Father's day. Before we left I suggested we grill out and just play some yard games. My brothers agreed but we disagreed on who could grill the best steak. So went to the store, got a card for dad, 12 pack of Corona, limes, and each of us bought a steak to see who could grill the best one, dad would be the judge on this one.

We got home and turned on the grill. Each of us prepared them a bit differently, I went with the simple approach of just adding some steak seasoning and was medium rare. Andrew went for the spice effect, I'm not sure what he put on there, but it was tasty and spicy, Aaron was somewhere in between I guess and both were about medium. After my dad tried all 3 he reminded us that he has a cold and really couldn't taste much besides the meat, which got a good laugh out of us all.

After the meal we went outside to play some "Fris-beer" or as I have otherwise heard it referred to as "Polish Horseshoes" (which is not easy to say). Anyway about a 4.5-5ft pvc pipe stuck into the ground, an empty beer bottle on top and then you and your teammate throw a Frisbee trying to knock the bottle off. The object is to keep the other team from scoring. Points are scored when either the Frisbee or bottle hit the ground. So the "defending" team attempts to catch the Frisbee and bottle with one hand each. The other hand is holding a beverage of choice. Very entertaining, it was my first time playing and we laughed almost the whole time at each other's expressions when trying to catch the bottle or Frisbee or at the few times a Frisbee actually hit one of us in the face. Great father's day. Then I hit the road for a 4 hour trek back to Champaign, IL.

About 45 mins in I pulled over and took about a 20 minute power nap, it was great. I was excited to get back because yesterday, Sunday all the men of FOCUS at New Staff Training were going to be listening to a talk about purity and then praying in front of a porn shop. That's right, a porn shop. I pulled in to town to see a line of about 100 men lined up along a fence outside of the porn shop, WOW! I quickly joined them shortly into the first decade of the rosary. Appropriately we were praying the Sorrowful mysteries. I was standing at one of the ends of the line of men, I was a little nervous, but I also had a great vantage point of our surroundings. I was surprised to see several cars slow down to see what were doing, they're were a few inappropriate comments towards us from passers by, but also some cars that honked...hopefully in encouragement. I noticed that when we started the rosary, there was fairly loud music playing at the restaurant next door, that music was off when we left and there were a few people sitting in the patio. It was a great witness until we prayed the last decade of the rosary.......then it became incredible. The man that led the last decade for us has a booming voice (and I understand he has some military training)and I wouldn't be surprised if people in the store could hear him. I wonder what people thought as they walked out of the shop and all they heard was this booming voice "HAIL MARY, FULL OF GRACE, THE LORD IS WITH THEE, BLESSED ARE THOU AMONG WOMEN & BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF THEY WOMB JESUS....." I was smiling almost the entire last decade as I listened to him and his echo as all of the response grew louder as well. After the rosary we prayed the St. Michael the Archangel prayer and finally we sang the Salve Regina. I had chills throughout the Salve. Here is a version of the Salve Regina.



Hearing and singing the Salve in Latin with 100 other men felt so powerful and I'm sure our prayers to the Blessed Mother were answered by her Son, as He cannot deny when she asks for something.

After we prayed we went back to the St. John's chapel and Fr. Jeremy led us in prayer. Here are the prayers, they are beautiful:

Prayer of Cleansing
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for awakening my sleeping spirit & bringing me into your light. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for transforming me by the renewing of my mind. Thank you, Lord, for pouring out your Spirit on me, & revealing your Word to me. Thank you, Lord, for giving your angels charge over me in all ways. Thank you for my faith in you & that from my innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Thank you for directing my mind & heart into the love of the Father & the steadfastness of all your ways. Fill me to overflowing with your life & love, my Lord & King, Jesus Christ.

After the time in the chapel was talking with a few other men about the experience and they told me what I missed. All 100 + men walked over a mile in silence to the porn shop, they said it felt like they were going into battle. It was funny because I felt that way when I joined them at the fence, it was like we were attacking. On campus as Christians and especially as missionaries we are constantly in a spiritual battle and one way that the devil most successfully lies to men is via pornography. It's something as Christian men we must take a stand against and pray for protection from it's evils and stand strong for the Man we love most, the truest and greatest Love, the greatest Father (3 in 1) in the history of the World. Happy belated Fathers day. I am so thankful I got to spend it with my father on earth.

VERSO L'ALTO

Lunch Time Miracles

Just another ho-hum day at FOCUS New Staff Training! Actually I've yet to have a "ho-hum" day here at training. The morning was full of "mission practicals" which is giving us missionaries instruction on how to evangelize college students (how to do our job). Have I mentioned before that I love my job? Well, I do! After listening to those talks I cannot wait for the next opportunity that the Lord gives me to tell someone about His Son.

After our morning classes we went to lunch. I joined a table of 5 men, all were 2nd year missionaries except for 1 of them. When I joined the table the conversations were about the goals of FOCUS, goals at each campus, and the topic of getting people to events vs. people that attend that are sold out for Christ. I heard some great insight from each person that shared and it was great to hear that everyone's heart could care less about how many people are showing up, but really desire for people to not only be involved but to be radically living for Christ. A priest had joined us at this point and told us about a time that he was doing a retreat at a church and 4 people showed up, the main pastor told him, "Remember Father, you're supposed to feed the sheep, not count them." Amen!

The conversation quickly turned to our Blessed Mother the Virgin Mary and Eucharistic miracles. I swear this only happens when 200+ faithful Catholics are gathered. I really enjoyed what one of the guys said about the Wedding Feast at Cana, John 2:1-12, it was a really good reminder of Mary's role in the life of Jesus (and for us all). Mary tells Jesus that they have no wine to which Jesus replies, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." Then Mary immediately says to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." (as if she knew He would obey her) Jesus then acts on his mother's request and turns over 100 gallons of water into wine. Which is amazing, but something underlying which was pointed out during our discussion by one of the guys today was this. Jesus chose to act after He told His mother "his hour had not yet come" meaning that by choosing to act His hour was now coming meaning his active ministry was about to increase as His greatest miracle, the greatest act in the history of the world was soon coming. And this was equally difficult for Mary because of the amount of suffering that she too would soon experience. We talked about the book The World's First Love by Fulton Sheen, Guadalupe, Mexico, and the latest Marian Apparition site in Green Bay, WI.

Again, quickly and unexpectedly, the conversation changed. This time to Eucharistic miracles. One of the guys asked the priest sitting with us if he had witnessed a Eucharistic miracle. Father responded, "A Eucharistic miracle? I experience one everyday during the mass". With a big smile. He then added, "Lately, as I've held the Eucharist at elevation, I can feel my pulse. And the host is very thin, but as I hold it, I also feel the pulse of Jesus, beating for us all." Beautifully put Father! We then went on exchanging Eucharistic miracle stories. Ones that we'd read about throughout history and others that we've been told first hand by priests or friends. After each story someone at the table would state, "Catholics are so weird!" And weird in a good way, a beautiful way, a way of truth. Eucharistic miracles may sound crazy, but I invite anyone skeptical of them to pray about it and do some research, just type in "Eucharistic miracle" into your google search bar. And if you're really up for some research, search for "Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano".

Thank you Lord for giving us Your Son, not once, but everyday. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.