Do an OGRE daily

I'm volunteering as a member of Core on my parish's Lifeteen youth group this year. As part of it, we had to attend a mandatory leader's retreat this weekend. Mike, our youth minister, gave us a handy little acronym that will help us grow in holiness, and I wanted to share it with you, along with some of my own commentary.

O - morning OFFERING - start out your morning by saying a simple prayer dedicating your day and everything you do in it to God. This is something that I often forget to do, simply because I do most of my specific prayers at night before bed. But I'm trying! I think I'm going to take his advice about taping a reminder on my mirror.

G - say GRACE - say grace before every meal. This helps us become more grateful, and gets us praying at least three times during the day. This one is hard for me, especially for breakfast and lunch, simply because I'm not in the habit of it. Also, doing a sign of the cross is still a bit intimidating for me in public, but it's another thing I'm working on. J and I have gotten decent at praying before dinner when we eat together, so the rest of it is something that I'm trying to work on.

R - READ your Bible - this is something that my stint at the Protestant Church really helped with. They really advocate reading the Bible, since it is basically their only source of authority. But Catholic's should read it too! It such an important way that God communicates with us. Right now I am in the midst of trying to read the whole Bible in a year. It's a good discipline exercise, and also helps me to learn more about the people in the Bible.

E - EXAMINATION of conscience - essentially, before you go to bed you should examine yourself for any sins that you may have committed throughout the day, ask forgiveness for them, and assess whether you should go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation or not.

Hopefully this will help you on your journey to God, I think it's starting to help me, and I'm going to keep on working on it!

Off to School

Today was my first day of the school year. I had sort of forgotten how many students there are when campus is full (about 35 000). Among those 35 000 about 30 joined me for the daily Mass. I feel so blessed to have a campus with a Catholic college that operates through the University. They offer Mass everyday except for Monday as well as Adoration and Confession. The Priests that I have met are all fairly orthodox but they get students; they get our needs and our lifestyle temptations. 

I had actually forgotten about the Mass today, but as I got out of class about 20 minutes before it started and was trying to figure out what to do for the next two hours I had before my next class, I literally heard a voice inside my head telling me to go to Mass. It was the best part of my whole day. The moment I walked through the chapel doors I felt just peace wash over me and I had to fight to keep an ear to ear grin off my face. 

The best part was how perfectly the Mass readings fit with the fact that it was the first day. If you missed it, the first reading was Col 3:1-11:

 ¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Basically it was the perfect reminder that I need to be living for Christ all the time; I can't separate Him from my school life. It also helped me to know that I did the right thing by not going to the party last night. Plus, after I spent time talking with some of the other students that were at Mass, which is helping me with my prayer/goal of making more Catholic friends.

So overall, good first day, and it's all thanks to Jesus.

Worship and the Sacraments

So, I was just about to go to bed when I was browsing on Facebook one last time. I stumbled across this video made by some of the people at the Evangelical church I attended for a little over a year. As I mentioned in my first post, I am a Catholic revert. There was a time from age 16-19 that I never stopped believing in the entity of God, but I pretty much lost faith in everything else. I wasn't going to church (neither was my family) and I was getting into some bad situations. When I hit rock bottom I heard a radio commercial (on a secular station) asking me if I felt like my life was empty, and telling me to come to this church. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I will always remember and be grateful to this church for teaching me what it means to have an actual relationship with God, which is something I had always missed growing up in the Catholic Church.

Worship to Me from Isaac Varty on Vimeo.

One of the reasons I am so happy to be back in the Catholic Church is that I now realize what the Sacraments actually are. They are the ways that we can absolutely know that God's Presence is with us that that His Grace is being given to us. Back when I was 19 and was discovering who God is, Worshipping God through music was an amazing way for me to connect with Him, especially as I am musical and enjoy using those gifts for Him. But now, receiving the Eucharist is even more powerful than Worship music. Because not only is His Presence around me as I sing to Him, but it is actually going inside me and becoming physically a part of me. Amazing.

False Teachings

Few things get me more riled up than when people spout false teachings and call them the "Christian" belief. Like this guy. First he talks about the Bible being a source of good, but then he says he doubts that it is  the absolute Word of God because of the so-called irreconcilable contradictions. He says: "How does one rectify the two images of God, the Old Testament vs. the New Testament. Both versions cannot coexist."  Actually, they can and do co-exist. I think of it as our image of our parents. Many of us see our parents as bigger than life and close to superheroes when we are young. Then as we get older we understand that our parents, while still good people, are not the superheroes we thought them to once be. Does this mean that we were wrong when we were young, or that our parents are now somehow different people? Of course not, just our understanding of them grows as we ourselves grow. Likewise, our understanding of God has developed as we as a society have developed. 


Not everything in his article is completely wrong. I agree with this sentiment, at least most of it: "Simply put, Christian means someone who believes in the teachings of Christ. However, I go beyond the traditional lines and I advocate a return to the simplicity of Christ's teachings, which are to basically love God and love each other. I believe that knowledge will help bring you closer to God, where faith alone may not be sufficient." 


However, then he goes into a part about how Christ was no more divine than the rest of us. "[Yes, Christ is divine], and so are all of God's people. Again, each person carries a spark of God within, this is our birthright to divinity. Not everyone will fully mature their spark of God. Whereas some, like Christ, will evolve themselves to full measure and become active agents of God. This state of grace is closer to the typical idea of divinity, yet we can all achieve it."  Basically saying he was just a good man whose life we should emulate. Except, there is a flaw in that logic. People don't die following the teachings of a good man. Yet thousands of people have willingly given their lives to profess that Jesus is God.


As I was reading the article, I was reminded of yesterday's Gospel reading. "Who do people say I am?" Peter said that Christ was the Son of the Living God and was rewarded with the leadership of Christ's Church, the Church that Hades cannot prevail against. It makes me sad when people try to find any other explanation for who Christ is than this.