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.

Spirit Day Every Day

How time flies. I've become so immersed in the world of youth ministry that a part of my brain actually keeps track of time by which events have come and gone. Youth Day? Check. Searching in the Spirit? Check. That must mean...Yep. Spirit Day time!

This past weekend, Nov. 6th and 7th, marked the 7th annual Spirit Day, an event organized for the Gr. 7s of the archdiocese of Vancouver to gain a better understanding of what their upcoming Confirmation should mean to them, and what it really means to be part of the bigger Church. Through the wonderful juggling and antics of Apex Ministries, the awesome music of Jacob and Matthew Band, the craziness of the Spirit Team, hospitality of the Logistics Team, and the skits and testimonies of the Stage team, 1800 Gr. 7s came to understand the theme of "chosen." Hearts were uplifted, joy was increased, and faith was strengthened. The event was a huge success. The Gr. 7s absolutely loved it. God was very present, and I am so thankful and so fortunate to have been able to once again help this event come to fruition.

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.

No Body Now But Yours

From August 23th - August 27th, I was part of an 12 person leadership team that led a Post-Confirmation summer camp for Gr. 7s: Searching in the Spirit. It is a camp, so we all took part in tons of awesome activities like swimming, kayaking, archery, hiking, low ropes, and volleyball. But being a Catholic camp, the leaders also gave workshops and led prayers for the participants, each day focusing on one theme. By the end of the week, the youth had been given lessons based on 5 themes: We Are Sacred, We are Witnesses, We Are Forgiven, We Are Servants, and We Are One Body. All in all, it was an amazing week filled with new friends, a loving community, and lots of laughter, joy, and faith.

My 3 Favourite Prayers

I've recently been tagged by Clay Imoo in an internet meme going around consisting of your 3 favourite prayers. Many prominent bloggers, including Clay and Gene Monterastelli of Apex Ministries, have given their thoughts.

Here are my 3 favourite prayers, besides the sacrificial prayer of the Mass:

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel: This prayer was originally taught to me by my Gr. 10 religion teacher, and again has been ingrained in me by Msgr. Smith who recites it with the congregation at the end of every mass at Christ the Redeemer. We should never forget the help that we can receive from God's messengers, especially from the leader of his army, in battling the demons that constantly try to turn us from God. It is a prayer that reminds me how important it is to fight for my soul, and to fight for the Church.

Something to Enter Into

The other night, I was hanging out with a couple of friends, and we started talking about our Catholic Faith. Somehow, we began to talk about the doctrine of The Resurrection of the Body - how at the Second Coming of Christ, the souls of all people will be reunited with their physical bodies. I've always felt that this one doctrine, which Christ Himself spoke of ("He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" [Jn 6:54]) is often one that is misunderstood. Why would we get our bodies back?