Fear Is Better Than Nothing

The sad truth is that lots of people stop practicing their faith. Fervor, gusto, and warm emotions indicating God’s presence disappear, and so people call it quits (ironically, these are the same people who keep saying that they desperately want to find the perfect person to marry, forgetting that at some point in the marriage, they will inevitably wake up one morning and instead of feeling butterflies in their stomach, will feel a tinge of weariness because their spouse has been being annoying – do they call it quits then? But I digress). When these sentimental feelings disappear, the worst thing that a person could do would be to do away with religious feelings and actions altogether, and become apathetic. This is the real danger zone. Christ said that if we are “…lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, [He will] spit [us] out of [his] mouth” (Revelation 3:16). The “who cares?” attitude does absolutely nothing to help us in our lives here on earth. It is better to have a strong opinion about the faith, either way – it shows passion and a hunger for truth. People who lack a conviction show that they aren’t applying themselves. So don’t think that I rejoice when I find out that someone has left the Church because of anger, or confusion, or resentment. It is truly sad. But I do thank God that this person is still trying to interact with the world. And one of the ways I’ve seen people interact with the world after turning their back on Christ is through fear.

Protecting the Sacred (A tribute to Chris and Nat)

I guess it's just a summer for weddings. Just a month ago, I had the honour of being one of the groomsmen at the wedding of my friends Chris and Meghan. About 2 weeks ago, I again had the honour of being a groomsman at the wedding of my friends Chris (don't worry, different one) and Natalie. It was such a blessing to be a part their special day, especially since Natalie has been one of my closest friends for the last few years. If there is one word to describe everything that happened yesterday, "beautiful" would be it. The ceremony itself was beautiful. The place that the reception dinner was held - beautiful. The speeches given, with sincere thanks given and tears shed, were beautiful. And of course, dear Natalie, dressed in white, radiating happiness, was beautiful.

The Inadequacy of Love Songs (And how newlyweds Chris and Meghan Chapman are awesome)

Here's a truth that people who really like listening to today's radio-friendly pop music will probably find offensive: Most of today's love songs suck. Most love songs aren't actually love songs, but some deformed, wart-ridden offshoot of love. I was at my friend's house a few weeks ago having a bollywood-themed party (yes, you read that correctly. We're THAT cool), and a song popped into my head: Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows. Naturally, I started singing it:

C'mon, c'mon, move a little faster
C'mon, c'mon, the world will follow after
C'mon, c'mon, everybody's after love
Accidentally in love

Brothers in Battle

My parish, Christ the Redeemer, has a young men's group called MEAT: Men Eating And Talking. The group meets once a month at the parish rectory, and we share our faith with each other over beers and great food. This past Thursday, Matt Fradd was the guest speaker. He runs a website called The Porn Effect, and is dedicated to exposing Pornography for what it is - a sick, disgusting way to objectify women, emasculate men, and damage marriages. It is a method to twist our sexual desire. Sexual desire, a gift from God that should impel us to love, twisted to impel us to lust.

Empty Space

Now, I'm a mess. Let's be honest, everyone is a mess. No one is perfect, and try as we might, we have all failed at something. In my school work, in my job as a youth ministry coordinator, as a friend, as a brother, and as a son, there are times when I just mess things up. Going a bit more general: people expect certain things of us, and we expect certain things of others. And every once in a while, people disappoint us. For the last little while, I've been thinking about all of this, and God has been calling me to really understand and come to terms with it. It is too fitting for Lent for it to be coincidence (if there even is such a thing) that I have this truth mulling about inside:

Everyone you ever love will hurt you.

Spiritual Makeover

Today is Ash Wednesday, which means that the 40 days of Lent have begun. A time to rethink our ways, a time to rid ourselves of all of the excess, a time to truly repent, and a time to reflect on what it means to be saved through Christ, as day after day, we get closer to the focal point of our faith - the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The Evolution of Our Affection

In his book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes about love, and with the help of the ancient Greeks, beautifully divides it into four main categories. Lewis' definitions of each type of love - in a nutshell - are as follows:

Storge: Affection; a fondness through familiarity.

Philia: The strong bonds of friendship shared between people; “the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others.”

Eros: The state of being “in love.”

Agape: Christian charity. This love is the highest, and it is unconditional.

While the first three loves come naturally, Lewis writes that without the fourth kind of love, the other types can become corrupt. He speaks of Agape as the love of God, which, quite literally, gives the other types of love the grace they need to become something more than they can be on their own. Storge, Philia, and Eros all point towards Agape, which is the natural evolution of love – if it is allowed to develop.

Love Part II

Over the weekend, I attended a day-long conference called 'Freedom to Love," featuring renowned Speaker Christopher West. The conference was about John Paul II's teachings on the Theology of the Body, which, in an EXTREMELY small nutshell, details how God created the bodies of Man and Woman to make "visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. [They] have been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it" (TOB 19:4). The mystery spoken of is God's Love, and how that love applies to our human love and to our ultimate destiny of happiness with God in heaven.

Love

A lot of my friends and I admire Matt Maher. A lot. Over the years, the Vancouver Archdiocese has been so blessed to have had Matt be the musical guest at events such as Youth Day and Spirit Day. His music is awesome - no one rocks out the God music like he does.

Along with our admiration comes a lot of us keeping friendly tabs on him. As it turns out, Matt has been engaged for a while, and actually got married earlier today (Congrats to him and his wife!). I was mentioning this to a couple of friends, and we all brought up the fact that one of the (obvious) joys of marriage is that you are able to be intimate with your spouse.