Going With God

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” - Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena was the 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa and grew up as an intelligent, cheerful, and intensely religious person. St. Catherine was truly who God was calling her to be despite what her parents wanted her to be. Her parents wanted her to get married, but she protested by cutting her hair so guys would not find her as attractive.  Recently, I was talking to a good friend of mine. He told me that he was excited and happy with where he was right now because he realized something. He said, “I am finally really focusing on who God wants me to be, and not who I or who others want me to be.”  I had been thinking about this since last semester because something that I have always done was compare myself to others. I used to pray that God would give me a certain person’s faith or that he would help me become more like them. This is really a bad thing, especially...

Stop dwelling in the past! Recently I was talking to a friend and we were thinking about the past and decisions we made (or didn't make), about the way we treated some people, and the things we may have missed out on because of it. This conversation reminded me of a quote from that same friend. “Find a goal or something that inspires you! (Heaven is that goal) And strive towards it with your whole being. When you find that something you will want to run through a wall, and not only will you not break stride, but you will accelerate on and beg for the next barrier to stand in your way so you can strive past that one and accelerate further to the next, and continue on like this until you reach the peak! When you reach that peak you can look down at the rubble of all the obstacles you broke through to get where you are, and You will thank them for their attempt to stop you. You will then look to the horizon and realize that you're not finished yet! GOD will place another mou...

“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness. ” — Pope Benedict XVI Greatness. What is it? Before I can talk about this I think we need to look at the word. “ Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object. Greatness can also be referred to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than all others.” This is one of the definitions you can find online. There are so many things I think are truly great in this world. Music! Some music is clearly superior to other music. Places—I think Assisi Italy is the greatest place on earth! These are Great things.  How many truly great people do you know? People with  “ The natural ability to be better than others.”   I know a few. I think we all have greatness in us. We all have the ability to become great, but for some, it comes easier than others. Everyone is great at something whether that be playing video games, school, your j...

“This life is just this life, so live for the next one.” I’m sure everyone has heard the song by Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying.” I’ve known this song close to my whole life, I’ve maybe heard it a couple hundred times, and I also really like the song, so I added it to a playlist to play at work. Recently, as I’ve heard and really listened to the lyrics, this song has taken on a whole different and deeper meaning for me. I think a lot of people, including myself, tend to live for the future, which is fine and even necessary. We have to plan, save, and prepare. But for me at least, that has become a problem because I’m always thinking, “Well, there is always tomorrow, and I can just do it then.” And the truth is there isn’t always tomorrow. In the song, he is talking about a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer and only has a short time to live. He asks him what he did when he got that news.  “I went skydiving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went two p...

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” — Albert Camus Friendship Like Love is still something I'm trying to figure out. What is a Friend? How can I be a Friend? Growing up asking these questions, I can’t really say I had a ton of close friends, I knew a lot of people but never really consider very many of them, my close friends. Friendship has always meant a lot more to me than just someone you hang out with. I think it's deeper than just someone you see every day. Aristotle talked about 3 different types of friendship one can have, Let's take a look at those.  1 .The first is friendship based on utility, where both people derive some benefit from each other. Aristotle describes a friendship of utility as shallow, “easily dissolved” or for the old. He views them as such because this type of friendship is easily broken and based on something that is brought to the relationship b...

What is it "LOVE" ? I'm still trying to figure out exactly what and how to explain it. I'm not sure it is a "something." Is it more than a feeling, or emotion? Is it necessary? I'm sure you've heard this "God is Love." I believe that's true, but what does that mean? How can that be? Is that just something to make people feel good? We use the word love for just about everything nowadays, and surely we don't Love chick fill a the same way we love our friends, parents, siblings.  Let's start by looking at the word love, in the English language we only have one word for "Love" why is that? If Love is so important then why don't we have a better way of saying it? Let's look at the different kinds of love one could have. The Greeks had six different words for love: 1. Eros, or passion. This one is often related to a sexual kind of passion. I personally don't think it has to be related to sex because you...

So I Was Thinking... About 3 months ago I had been noticing in class that I couldn't see the whiteboard as clearly anymore. So I finally made eye doctor appointment and got my eyes checked. Turns out I needed glasses. So I thought, cool now I see things a little better! Once I got them, however, I could see things a lot better! It is so amazing to see just how much I couldn't see before! Everything is clear and sharp. So I started wearing them a lot, in class when I was driving, at mass. After 2 weeks of wearing them I notice I was doing something in math class with them, I kept having to put them on. I couldn't figure out why I didn't have them on already. It was because I didn't want to see clearly in math class, I hate math, so taking off the classics allowed me to take a break. I didn't want to see the board, I didn't want to see what was in front of mine. So maybe you are wondering what the heck this has to do with anything? "Duncan why...