How i met this awesome guy named Jesus

Hi, I am a new writer on this blog, So i thought I would give yall my testimony before I really begin.

My story actually starts 16 years before I was born. my dad dropped out of high school at 15 and vowed that whenever he had kids, that they would go to private school no matter what. Fast forward 20 years and its time for me to go to school. By the grace of God the cheapest private school in Waco was Catholic school, so thats where i went. One of my preschool teachers happened to be a Sister. One of the first things she did was introduce us to this guy. His name is Jesus. From that point on my life would never be the same.

Fast forward to 1st grade. I am still going to Catholic school and my teacher asks us to raise our hands if we are Catholic. Naturally, us being 6 or 7 years old, most of us didnt know. So she told us to go and ask our parents. Being a good little student, I did. My parents said no. My mom was a lapsed Catholic and my dad was agnostic. I didnt like this answer so when my teacher asked me what they had said, I told her that they said no but I wanted to be Catholic. She called my parents and the priest and we got a meeting with Fr. David. Who was the priest at the church the school is attached to. I go on a rant and rave trying to explain the best as 6 year old me can on why I want to be Catholic. Finally I climb up on the desk on point to a picture of him and a Sister and say, "Fr, I want to be Catholic so I can be a nun like her!"

So over the summer I became Catholic. I thought it would be the coolest thing to have my dad to become Catholic too. So I begged him to become Catholic. I never got an answer from him until my 8th birthday. On my 8th birthday, my last present was him telling me that He was becoming Catholic.  I got my first communion with my class later that year and it was the most wonderful thing ever! the very next week was Easter vigil. We have a rule that you have to be in 4th grade to altar serve. But I wanted to be right there when my dad got baptized, so I bugged Fr. David so much that he let me. I probably made every mistake in the book and then some, but I was right there when my dad became Catholic.

The on fire ness of my faith died down after a year or so, but I still wanted to be a Sister at the bottom of my heart. Fast forward to the last week of 8th grade. Fr. David got transferred. He was my hero, and he was leaving... I was so mad at God that my faith fell. To make things worse, I thought that Fr, John, our new priest, was here to ruin my life. I hated going to church and skipped a lot of times. Forget about wanting to become a nun.

Later that year, Fr. John drug me and some of the rest of the youth group to this thing called Steubenville. I thought I would hate it, but had an open mind. Little did I know what a 3 day Catholic youth conference would do to me. After only being there for an hour, my life was transformed and my faith renewed with an unquenchable fire. On saturday night, during Adoration, I had my first vision in the Eucharist. When it was time to go I didnt want to. Sometime during this trip, I stopped hating Fr. John too.

A few weeks later, the feeling came back. The feeling that I wanted to be a Sister. But i still didnt tell anyone. I discerned in secret until my confirmation on April 18th 2012. 3 days after the though was so big in my mind that if i didnt tell someone that my head would explode. So after youth group I threw a note that I needed to talk at Fr. John. He sensed the urgency and ran after me and listened while I talked and cried the whole situation to him. He told me what I should do and prayed with me and made everything better.

So here I am now. 17 years old and on fire for my faith, just trying to discern weather my vocation is to engineering or religious life.

Backstory I - No Evidence for God, therefore No God

To each of my posts, there is usually a backstory.  I decided to start a series on this blog to give you some background information on what inspired me to write a particular post on my www.sacerdotus.com blog.

My post there, "No Evidence for God, therefore No God" has been extremely popular since its debut on November 13, 2012 (Year of Faith).  The post basically deals with the idea that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" (Sagan) and expounds on how faith and reason are related, as C.K. Chesterton wrote:

"Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all."

The backstory of this post comes from a visit to a parish where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed in a Monstrance.  While I was there praying before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I noticed a young girl enter who was blind.  The girl entered the large church building walking steadily with only the sound of taps from her 'white cane' as she made her way down the aisle.  This course of events fascinated me because this young girl despite being blind, knew where the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament was.  She genuflected right in line with the monstrance as if she had the vision that would allow her brain to calculate the distance and angles necessary to be in perfect alignment before the monstrance.  No one guided her.  She had only her stick and made here way perfectly to pray.

Sometimes I have problems finding the Tabernacle at churches and I have good vision, so I can't imagine how it must be to only perceive total darkness.  What's remarkable is that despite this, she was able to find Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Immediately, Helen Keller came to mind along with the words for the blog which is now, " "No Evidence for God, therefore No God."

If this young blind girl was able to find Jesus without her eyes, an atheist can find God even without using his/her senses.  Thank you God and thank you young blind girl for the inspiration!   

 

Prayer to Saints Joachim and Ann

PRAYER TO SAINT ANN & SAINT JOACHIM

Grandparents' Prayer

Good Saint Ann and Saint Joachim, parents of Mary and grandparents to Jesus, be with me and all grandparents that we may be wise and loving, may share our time and stories and sense of humor, and may enjoy and not spoil too much the grandchildren who are close to our hearts, for they are the sign of God's life to us. 

 Jesus, Mary and Joseph, be with our grandchildren and all other grandchildren that they may love and respect their grandparents and all older people, may remember to call, visit or write, and grow in wisdom, age and grace before God. 

 Amen.

World Youth Day 2013

World Youth Day was begun by Blessed John Paul II and has been a great success.  This week hundreds of thousands of youth will converge in Brazil for World Youth Day 2013.  Pope Francis will be presiding over it - his first one. 

This event is awesome and I highly recommend it.  However, like with any large event, things can go wrong.  There are sometimes people who attend for the wrong reasons.  Instead of going to grow in faith, some use the opportunity to do things they normally would not do at home.  This was documented in Madrid where atheists and secularists began to photograph World Youth Day pilgrims doing things that are not becoming of Catholics. 

It is important that priests and youth group leaders explain to pilgrims that their actions will be heavily monitored by locals and the media.  We are all sinners and I don't expect all pilgrims to be St. Dominic Savio or St. Maria Goretti, however, they are called to holiness and the avoidance of scandal.  I remember the last World Youth Day I attended, we were warned of the media and others who would be following us as if we were celebrities.  The youth must be careful not to cause scandal amongst one another and others.

World Youth Day must not become a "Woodstock" for young Catholics to get away from their homes and act wild.  Let us pray for those participating in World Youth Day.     

 

10 Reasons why Gay Marriage is Dangerous

10 Reasons why Gay Marriage is Dangerous:

1) Marriage will not be considered a unique natural family building institution.

2) Churches will be harassed and labeled as bigots for remaining faithful to their beliefs and reason.

3) Businesses that deal with weddings will be sued if they do not conform with this redefinition.

4) Children will grow up confused.

5) Science will be teaching falsehoods in regards to biology.

6) Psychology will have to be altered in order to avoid contradictions in studies.

7) Evolution will be questioned because same sex relations serves no biological purpose in the advancement of a species. 

8.)The family will go and then society will follow.

9) Societies that have done this are now extinct.

10) All other subcultures will demand marriage under the same pretense.

Sacerdotus Radio

People always have told me that my big mouth would get me somewhere... well it has.  I am not only Social networks, but also on the radio.

I will be hosting a 30 min. long program where I will discuss all kinds of topics just like I do here on my blog.

There will be a number for callers to call in and join the discussion and ask questions; also a chat room.  I will also invite guests and co-hosts to join me.

I'm hoping that this will be a great success and that listeners will enjoy it and have fun at the same time.

Please donate to my blog if you can so that in the future, I can expand the time to 2 hours or more.


The radio program can be listened to on my blog, facebook or here:

Atheist Confession III

• How do you know?
• Why is that?
• Can you provide evidence for that?

These are common questions atheists, agnostics and skeptics in general ask when one discusses topics that are "extraordinary" such as religion, God, philosophy, UFO's/aliens, other dimensions/multiverses etc.  These questions are not bad if asked sincerely.  It is important for us to ask questions.  God would not have given us the ability to inquire if He did not want us to ask.  Jesus Himself said to ask and seek. (Matthew 7:7)

As an atheist first learning about the saints, I questioned a lot.  I remember aggravating a Franciscan brother with questions surrounding St. Francis' stigmata and vision of a naked lady on the field.  My curiosity was there, but doubts joined it as well.  The look on the brother's face was a "kodak moment" when I suggested that maybe St. Francis acquired leprosy from lepers and the medieval Church mistook it for the stigmata.  Moreover, I even proposed that perhaps St. Francis was having visions on the field due to his lack of proper nutrition.  Starvation can cause hallucination and delirium.

In any event, my questions helped me learn more.  It allowed my mind to objectively absorb whatever I read and was told on the matter I asked about.  Catholics should not be afraid of questions, nor should they be afraid to ask questions.  They should verify what they believe and learn the reasoning behind it.  This can help enrich their faith and help them defend it when it is challenged.  In today's world where truth is being watered down to a mere cultural opinion; it is important for Catholics to be well educated and own Catholicism, not only spiritually, but intellectually.  Atheism and skepticism aided me in learning more about God and Catholicism.