A Burning Desire

"When God visits you with measureless gifts, let your memory open immediately to receive what your intellect knows in His divine love, and let your will rise with burning desire to receive and gaze at the blazing heart of the giver, the gentle, good Jesus. Thus, you will find yourself burning and clothed with fire, and with the gift of the blood of God’s Son, and you will be free from all pain and unease. This is what took away the pain of the holy disciples when they had to leave Mary and one another, although they willingly bore the separation in order to spread the word of God.

Run, run, run!"

~St. Catherine of Siena

Pray for Virginia Tech

Please pray for the victims, families, and the community of Virginia Tech. I pray that our Blessed Mother will take their campus into her protection and calm their sorrowful hearts.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.


"We are powerless before this vast multitude that comes against us. We are at a loss what to do, hence our eyes are turned toward you."
~2 Chronicles 20:12

In Good Company

President Bush joined several leaders of the Church for the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast this past Friday in Washington, D.C. Here, he is pictured with Mother Assumpta of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. I just had to post this picture, and ask for you to continue to pray for this great country of ours as well as our President.


"I noticed that this year's breakfast was the Friday after Lent -- you can eat your bacon in good conscience!"
~President Bush at the Breakfast

Love Has Come to Show the Way

With one voice the angels sing
Songs that make Creation ring
Prophets hear and call us to
Live in spirit and in truth

Father, Yaweh, Elohim
Voice of thunder, spirit, wind
Breathe on me Your very life
Grace will make the darkness bright

Word of God enthroned
Dwell in us forevermore
Love has come to show the way
Hallelujah, peace be with us
Love has come to show the way

God of covenant Divine
Lead us to the end of time
Beyond sorrow, beyond fear
Beyond pride and earthly tears

Keeper of the sacrifice
And invest in Jesus Christ
Born to die and wake the dead
As we hunger, keep us fed

NOW SALVATION HAS COME!
In the new Jerusalem!
Dancers dance and singers roar,
Proclaiming JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!

Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, ALLELUIA!
Happy Easter!


"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song!"
~Pope John Paul the Great

Seized by His Love

It is absolutely incredible how much God is moving in my life and in many of my friends' too. We all seem to be captivated by Him, seized by His look of love upon us.


And on this Good Friday, I meditate on a beautiful image of this incredible group of people whom I love so much, huddled at the foot of the Cross, gazing up to our Loving and Merciful Lord, totally consumed at the thought of His immense love for us in the sacrifice we celebrate today. To recognize this love is sometimes a difficult task, in that it truly takes a temporary abandonment of this life and a total engulfment in the heavenly. And if you have taken a look around our world lately, there is not much sacredness around.

Somehow, God has surrounded me with people who have made that journey into the sacred, and we are moving on the path of holiness together. It is overwhelming sometimes to feel the Holy Spirit move among us, and the thought alone of what our futures entail is both incredibly aullring and extremely frightening. Surrounding yourself with people who would gladly give up everything they have to follow our Lord is very dangerous (in a good way, of course), and yet very fruitful.

Those who are seized by His love encompass themselves in His mercy; they gaze upon Christ crucified and praise His ultimate act of love. In the same way, we gaze upon our Savior in the Holy Eucharist and constantly thank Him for this ultimate Sacrament of Love. We long to unite ourselves with Him in the most perfect way possible. We must keep in mind, however, that the only perfect way is His way; the only wholeness of our vocation is what God calls us to. All we can do is prepare ourselves for that moment He calls, so that like the fishermen who cast their nets into the deep and the gave up everything to follow Him, we might move switfly after our Lord. Let us cast our nets into the depths of His heart and fill them with everything He is, for then we will discern where we belong in the world.


"Those who let themselves be seized by this love cannot help but abandon everything to follow Him."
~Vita Consecrata

Focus on LOVE

Two great men that have defined what our generation thirsts for.


I proud to say I am a member of the JPII Generation, the generation of young Catholics thirsting for orthodoxy and truth in our Church and in our world. Our generation was raised on Pope John Paul II's deep commitment to unity, love, and preaching the Holy Apostolic truth. And as we all know, he had a special affection for the youth, and he understood that the future of the Church lies in our hands. Thanks to his efforts, which are now being crystallized and evermore enhanced by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, this "JPII Generation" is being absolutely set ablaze to evangelize, seek holiness, and make a difference in this world.

When I look back on the way our parents were raised in the Church, it seems like there was such an influence then on rules in their youth. With our parents growing up in the 60s and 70s, a time of radical cultural changes in America, it seems like their Catechesis was centered in "here's a list of all the bad things you should not do."

What makes our generation so different? Look at some of the documents written by Pope John Paul II: Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), all of which lead into Pope Benedict's Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) and his most recent writing, Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Love). Especially seen in these last two, there an incredible focus on love. There is such a push to let the world know what a loving God our Father is, and that if we can understand that basis of our faith, everything else will fall into place.

When I think about our culture and all the things wrong in the world, it's not that we sin too much -- it's that we don't love enough. This new generation of young Catholics are being taught a faith based on LOVE, on the two greatest commandments: to love God and love one another for love of Him. So watch out -- we are here to change the world.


"Even though you are young, the time for action is now! It is time to let your light shine! Remember, Christ is calling you; the Church needs you; the Pope believes in you, and he expects great things of you!"
~Pope John Paul the Great

Be it Done Unto Me

Today we celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation, the Anniversary of the day of Incarnation, the day that Christ became man and dwelt among us, when the angel announced to our Blessed Mother that she is with child. Her response, her "yes," is known as the fiat. I'm an especially big fan of the fiat, as it is something I try to live by.

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Your word."
~Luke 1:38

Reflect on your life and think about times when God has called you to do something. What was your response? Did you willingly and obediently respond as Mary did? Or did you ignore or disregard it? Don't worry--it is not too late. Spend some time today praying that when God calls you to whatever vocation He has planned for you that you will respond like Mary.

And remeber--God is with us always, as we celebrated today. He lies in Tabernacles across the world, just waiting to be adored and venerated by His beloved--us.


"Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them."
~Revelation 21:3

Courage of the Eucharist

Sorry it has been a while. My blog would not let me sign in, yay technology.

I don't have too many words tonight, other than a simple quote from St. Faustina. It serves as a wonderful reminder of how precious the Holy Eucharist is as a gift of God to His people, and reiterates the Eucharist as our true daily bread, without which we could not live. It sustains us in all ways to continue the work God set out for us.


"Holy Communion assures me that I will win the victory. This Bread of the Strong gives me all the strength I need to carry on my mission and the courage to do whatever the Lord asks of me. The courage and strength that are in me are not of me, but of Him who lives in me -- it is the Eucharist."
~St. Faustina, Paragraph 91, Divine Mercy in My Soul

Gone for the Week...

I probably won't be able to access a computer for the next couple of days, so there might not be any new posts until the end of next week. It is with a contrite heart that I thank you for reading this little spiritual outlet of mine and pray that God shower you with grace!


"Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions."
~St. Faustina

Nashville Dominicans!

Here's a video of our beloved Dominicans of St. Cecilia here in Nashville. They are a booming order with over 200 sisters. I have the honor of knowing many of them and getting to pray with them, and they are doing wonderful things for the Body of Christ!


"If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire."
~St. Catherine of Siena, OP