Hello my dear loved ones.
Today I write to you with a heavy heart. The events of this past Friday in a little school in Connecticut has deeply saddened me, as well as the rest of the country. In light of these events, I felt that God wanted me to say a little something. Every time one of these terrible things happen, a school shooting, a movie theatre massacre, or even a bombing like in Oklahoma City, our country stops and asks itself, why? What went wrong?
As per usual, on Friday the fingers started to point. It's our laws, it's not enough protection in the schools, it's the availability of guns in our society, etc. The list goes on and on as to who wants to point the finger where. The father of Rachel Joy Scott, a victim of the Columbine shooting of 1999 stood before a judicial congress about 2 years ago and finally pointed the finger at exactly the right place. The human heart.
Something inherently evil has entered our country. A relativistic, individualistic, and a "do whatever feels good" culture. We have kicked God and faith out of every area we could, and unfortunately we have begun to see the effects.
Now many people think God or one certain faith (mainly Christian/Catholic) shouldn't be forced on others who don't believe. But the problem with kicking God (or any sense of God) out of our country means that our respect for human life, the dignity of the human person, and a sense of absolute goodness goes right out the window with God. When we start to tell ourselves that we have all these rights to do whatever we want, whatever feels good, no one can tell us what to do, we invite into our lives and most importantly into our HEARTS a message that says "whatever I feel or decide to be good is right". But as we see by the horrible tragedies that have happened, that reasoning can go very, very wrong, and our own feelings and desires cannot always be held as the greatest moral compass to rule our country or our lives. Proverbs 21:2 speaks so clearly into this as it says "All your ways may be straight in your own eyes, but it is the Lord who weighs hearts."
So as we can see, it's all whittled down to the human heart. That is where evil resides. Evil doesn't reside in a gun. As Mr. Scott so eloquently said, "it wasn't the club that killed Abel, it was his brother Cain", out of the hatred and evil in his own heart.
Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians "not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ". Human goodness, love, respect, dignity, and purity is rooted in Christ, in the love of the Father, the Sacrifice of the Son, and the movement of love in the Holy Spirit. If this has been removed from our very hearts, if we have shunned any sort of responsibility or consequence so we can "do what feels good", we find evil seep into our hearts. This in turn seeps into our families, which leads to destruction of our schools, governments, and work places, which inevitably leads to the destruction of our society. We have thrown our very gift of self to the dogs and allowed ourselves to be swallowed by the evil that rages in our hearts without the faith given to us by God. If we have no concept of basic human goodness and dignity of life and person, any law made will make no difference because humans will not be so inclined to follow the law. Why? Well, it simply doesn't "feel good" to them.
Paul writes so beautifully to the Philippians again, inviting them to a fuller life full of love and self-gift. He says, "Do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory; rather humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others." Now, I ask you, what seems so restrictive and authoritative about that? Doesn't this sound like such a beautiful, free way to live and love?
God is not calling us to live a restrictive and horrible life. He invites us rather into a freedom of living, a freedom from sin and selfish desire which comes through a life of virtue and obedience to a loving Father. When we kick him out, when we take over our own hearts and teach our children that things like abortion are okay, because it benefits you, we destroy the dignity of human life and the human person in our society.
Why are you surprised, America? Why are you crying, Obama? We've done this to ourselves. Only prayerful faith and conversion of hearts will change this. No gun laws will change a human heart. If someone wants to kill, they will. Start with the heart, because that is where good and evil reside.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary....
God help and save us all
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Hello again friends!
So here is a brief update on campus life! Bible studies have been going strong! God is working so beautifully in the hearts of every one of our students. Two of the women in my bible study have been asked and accepted into discipleship just this past week! That means now they are on their way to becoming student missionaries who can turn around and bring in women and lead a bible study and create more disciples! Praise God for their eager and humble "yes" to God's call in their hearts!
We've been talking more in my bible study about prayer and about having a relationship with Christ. The ladies have been so open to learning more HOW to pray and really relate with God about their lives and what's going on in their hearts. Recently, I took this topic to prayer, and God shared a really beautiful meditation with me that I'd like to share with you all...
To preface, earlier this summer as I was praying with fellow missionaries and religious at summer training, a woman told me she had an image of my standing at the foot of the cross, but that I could only look at Christ's feet, and never at His face. She told me that she thinks Christ wants me to look at His face.
Alrighty, so this leads me into the meditation. Get out your bibles and flip to John 5:1-18. This is the story of the Cure on the Sabbath (please read so you can follow along!). Something that really struck me was that Jesus came over to the man who is lying next to the pools and asks him "Do you want to be well?" and the answer the man gives struck me as odd. He tells him “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Instead of telling Jesus, the Son of God, this miracle worker, that YES he wants to be healed, he tells him the reasons he cannot be healed because he cannot do what he thinks he needs to do to be healed. (read the footnote on what the Jews believed about the pools being healing).
Alright, so what is happening here is that Jesus is staring this man in the face and the man doesn't even recognize Jesus as his healer.
So, application to our life. We do not know how, when, or where God is going to work. We cannot know who or why unless He reveals it to us (just as Jesus was doing for this man). Our job then is to be able to recognize the face and voice of Christ when he speaks into our life, our heart. Would you know Jesus if He came and stared you in the face? It's very easy to become preoccupied with following the footsteps of Christ. Learning about his movements, his ministry, etc. But if we don't know HIM, how can we know for sure that the footsteps are His? If our eyes are on the ground, on following the footsteps, we miss the face, we miss Him who we are following. We must know and recognize Jesus' face in order to be able to fully follow Him with an open and trusting heart. We cannot trust that whom we do not know.
Don't be like the paralytic who looks right past Jesus, answering his invitation by telling how YOU think things should be! Look at Christ's face, come to recognize his voice, and relate to Him what you need. He knows how to best help and heal you. Allow yourself to know Him and trust Him :D
Just a little something to meditate on. I thank God for the blessing of having all of you in my life. You're all in my prayers!
P.S. I forgot to include that we are all gearing up for the FOCUS National conference SEEK2013! We're currently in fundraising efforts to get all of our students there! Please let me know if you're interested in contributing!!!
God Bless,
Monica :)
So here is a brief update on campus life! Bible studies have been going strong! God is working so beautifully in the hearts of every one of our students. Two of the women in my bible study have been asked and accepted into discipleship just this past week! That means now they are on their way to becoming student missionaries who can turn around and bring in women and lead a bible study and create more disciples! Praise God for their eager and humble "yes" to God's call in their hearts!
We've been talking more in my bible study about prayer and about having a relationship with Christ. The ladies have been so open to learning more HOW to pray and really relate with God about their lives and what's going on in their hearts. Recently, I took this topic to prayer, and God shared a really beautiful meditation with me that I'd like to share with you all...
To preface, earlier this summer as I was praying with fellow missionaries and religious at summer training, a woman told me she had an image of my standing at the foot of the cross, but that I could only look at Christ's feet, and never at His face. She told me that she thinks Christ wants me to look at His face.
Alrighty, so this leads me into the meditation. Get out your bibles and flip to John 5:1-18. This is the story of the Cure on the Sabbath (please read so you can follow along!). Something that really struck me was that Jesus came over to the man who is lying next to the pools and asks him "Do you want to be well?" and the answer the man gives struck me as odd. He tells him “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Instead of telling Jesus, the Son of God, this miracle worker, that YES he wants to be healed, he tells him the reasons he cannot be healed because he cannot do what he thinks he needs to do to be healed. (read the footnote on what the Jews believed about the pools being healing).
Alright, so what is happening here is that Jesus is staring this man in the face and the man doesn't even recognize Jesus as his healer.
So, application to our life. We do not know how, when, or where God is going to work. We cannot know who or why unless He reveals it to us (just as Jesus was doing for this man). Our job then is to be able to recognize the face and voice of Christ when he speaks into our life, our heart. Would you know Jesus if He came and stared you in the face? It's very easy to become preoccupied with following the footsteps of Christ. Learning about his movements, his ministry, etc. But if we don't know HIM, how can we know for sure that the footsteps are His? If our eyes are on the ground, on following the footsteps, we miss the face, we miss Him who we are following. We must know and recognize Jesus' face in order to be able to fully follow Him with an open and trusting heart. We cannot trust that whom we do not know.
Don't be like the paralytic who looks right past Jesus, answering his invitation by telling how YOU think things should be! Look at Christ's face, come to recognize his voice, and relate to Him what you need. He knows how to best help and heal you. Allow yourself to know Him and trust Him :D
Just a little something to meditate on. I thank God for the blessing of having all of you in my life. You're all in my prayers!
P.S. I forgot to include that we are all gearing up for the FOCUS National conference SEEK2013! We're currently in fundraising efforts to get all of our students there! Please let me know if you're interested in contributing!!!
God Bless,
Monica :)
Monday, October 22, 2012
Dear Friends in Christ,
I am so dearly sorry that I have not posted in so long! Things have been pretty busy here at campus so this post is going to be a BIG update on what's been happening!
First of all, Bible studies are all up and running and going beautifully! God has been working so hard in the lives of each of our students!
My bible study consists of 4 girls, 3 freshman and one sophomore, and this week we are adding a 5th girl to the study! The ladies have been going through a bible study called The Crux which is a very foundational study to get the girls more acquainted with Scripture and the Gospel message of Jesus. We have been learning how to pray more with Scripture, particularly through Ignatian prayer and vocal prayer. Jesus has been moving in their hearts and they learn to become more and more open and vulnerable with Jesus and with each other. They've become and wonderful support for each other, and I'm happy to say that they are all going to our National FOCUS conference SEEK2013! Also, two weeks ago I proposed to the girls to begin a 54 Day Rosary Novena for the intention of gaining a deeper relationship with Christ for all of the girls in the bible study. To my delight, they all enthusiastically agreed! We are currently on day 13! If you want to join us on this novena, please visit the website for how to begin!
http://www.prayerflowers.com/54DayNovena.htm
Our older women's bible study is actually doing a discussion over Christopher West's Theology of the Body for Beginners. The girls love it and have had some really amazing discussions and insights into these writings. There are about 11 girls in the study, some who are student missionaries on campus and some are young adult women who have graduated but are still looking for a community of women to be a part of. God is blessing the hearts of these women and giving all of them many answers and information that they've been seeking in their lives.
Praise God for all of the work He's been doing!
Also, one of the missionaries over at the College of St. Mary's here in Omaha, Marilyn Steinberger got married this past weekend! She is now happily Marilyn Klein, married to a wonderful man named Mitch Klein.
Two weeks ago, St. Margaret Mary's (our school parish) hosted a Eucharistic Procession for the students and community. So many showed up to walk with Jesus around the campus, singing hymns and praying a rosary for all of the students, faculty, and staff of UNO! I was happy that my parents were able to make it and experience some of what we are blessed to do with our students! Thank you Jesus
Over Fall Break, some of the team and a few students had the opportunity to go to a Matt Maher/Brandon Heath concert, and we were blessed to be able to go out to dinner and drinks afterwards with the two artists! These men were so wonderful, down to earth, faithful men and we all had an amazing time getting to speak with them about different issues in the Church and the music world!
Lastly, I'd like to take a minute to bring up our National Conference SEEK 2013. Take a minute to go to the website www.seek2013.com and find out more about what conference is and what it has done for students in the past. We're currently in fundraising efforts to get the missionaries and students of UNO to Orlando, Fl this January! FOCUS conference has touched the lives and hearts of so many young adults in the past, and we are already praying for each and every student who is journeying to conference this year. We ask for your prayers and if you're interested in contributing or sponsoring a student to go, please contact me! :) We all appreciate all your help!
I'd also like to say I've been keeping you all, my dear friends, family, mission partners, in my prayers every day! If you have any special prayer intentions please let me know and I will gladly add them to my holy hour!
God Bless, Peace, and Agape
Monica :)
I am so dearly sorry that I have not posted in so long! Things have been pretty busy here at campus so this post is going to be a BIG update on what's been happening!
First of all, Bible studies are all up and running and going beautifully! God has been working so hard in the lives of each of our students!
My bible study consists of 4 girls, 3 freshman and one sophomore, and this week we are adding a 5th girl to the study! The ladies have been going through a bible study called The Crux which is a very foundational study to get the girls more acquainted with Scripture and the Gospel message of Jesus. We have been learning how to pray more with Scripture, particularly through Ignatian prayer and vocal prayer. Jesus has been moving in their hearts and they learn to become more and more open and vulnerable with Jesus and with each other. They've become and wonderful support for each other, and I'm happy to say that they are all going to our National FOCUS conference SEEK2013! Also, two weeks ago I proposed to the girls to begin a 54 Day Rosary Novena for the intention of gaining a deeper relationship with Christ for all of the girls in the bible study. To my delight, they all enthusiastically agreed! We are currently on day 13! If you want to join us on this novena, please visit the website for how to begin!
http://www.prayerflowers.com/54DayNovena.htm
Our older women's bible study is actually doing a discussion over Christopher West's Theology of the Body for Beginners. The girls love it and have had some really amazing discussions and insights into these writings. There are about 11 girls in the study, some who are student missionaries on campus and some are young adult women who have graduated but are still looking for a community of women to be a part of. God is blessing the hearts of these women and giving all of them many answers and information that they've been seeking in their lives.
Praise God for all of the work He's been doing!
Also, one of the missionaries over at the College of St. Mary's here in Omaha, Marilyn Steinberger got married this past weekend! She is now happily Marilyn Klein, married to a wonderful man named Mitch Klein.
Two weeks ago, St. Margaret Mary's (our school parish) hosted a Eucharistic Procession for the students and community. So many showed up to walk with Jesus around the campus, singing hymns and praying a rosary for all of the students, faculty, and staff of UNO! I was happy that my parents were able to make it and experience some of what we are blessed to do with our students! Thank you Jesus
Over Fall Break, some of the team and a few students had the opportunity to go to a Matt Maher/Brandon Heath concert, and we were blessed to be able to go out to dinner and drinks afterwards with the two artists! These men were so wonderful, down to earth, faithful men and we all had an amazing time getting to speak with them about different issues in the Church and the music world!
Lastly, I'd like to take a minute to bring up our National Conference SEEK 2013. Take a minute to go to the website www.seek2013.com and find out more about what conference is and what it has done for students in the past. We're currently in fundraising efforts to get the missionaries and students of UNO to Orlando, Fl this January! FOCUS conference has touched the lives and hearts of so many young adults in the past, and we are already praying for each and every student who is journeying to conference this year. We ask for your prayers and if you're interested in contributing or sponsoring a student to go, please contact me! :) We all appreciate all your help!
I'd also like to say I've been keeping you all, my dear friends, family, mission partners, in my prayers every day! If you have any special prayer intentions please let me know and I will gladly add them to my holy hour!
God Bless, Peace, and Agape
Monica :)
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Hey there! Peace be with you!
I have some very exciting updates this week! Last Friday, the College of St. Mary's missionaries hosted a Barn Dance out in Wahoo, Nebraska. We combined schools, and even got students and missionaries from Benedictine College and UNL. There were about 100 people there and it was a wonderful night of swing dancing, line dancing, and just good old fashion fun.
My heart was personally touched that night by one particular student who came with us. She met us during freshman move-in and still had no idea we were all Catholic missionaries! She finally had the chance to come and spend some time with us, so she carpooled out with myself, another missionary and another student. As we're driving and talking, she comes to find out that we are Catholic missionaries and that this is a FOCUS event (probably because all of my stories start with "so the other day at daily mass"). We had no idea what her faith background was, but she was so open to chatting with us about what we do, and about different things in life. It was so beautiful to see a young person be so open to such a radically different way of life and belief from the rest of society!
We as the missionaries came to find out that she doesn't even listen to country music OR know how to dance, but she said yes anyway! How beautiful that God put a small whisper in her heart to just say yes to put herself in a situation she would NEVER have imagined she would be in! This young woman had an AMAZING time with us that night, and she even opened up and shared more about herself throughout the night. I praise God for this blessed opportunity to get to know a student that He just placed in our laps to minister to in a rare and beautiful way! She is so excited about knowing us and has expressed interest in spending more time together. Praise the LORD!
Also, this week bible studies are all kicking off! I personally had my first one on Tuesday and it was a great success. God really blessed our time together and the Holy Spirit was moving! The girls took a night to really get to know each other and began to open up in friendship. I can't wait to see the fruits God brings in these girls lives!
Finally, I would like to share a beautiful meditation I heard the other day from Fr. Mike Schmitz on his online podcasts. He was talking about the saints, and how the biggest virtue the saints had across the board was unfailing trust in God. So much of the time, we want to know the entire plan for our lives RIGHT NOW!! I mean, how much easier would it be to plan, make decisions, act in one way or another, if only we KNEW what was going to happen!!! Right?? Why won't God just TELL us!
Well! Who are YOU that you're so special that God should tell you His whole plan?? :) Okay just kidding, that was harsh. But seriously. Let's go to His Word to look at how God reveals his plan to some of the Big Bosses in the bible!
First, Mary. What a beautiful story when the angel comes to Mary, he presents the amazing mission God has for her, and once Gabriel has received Mary's YES and has presented to her the next step in her mission, guess what. HE LEAVES! WHAT?! He just disappears!!! That's it. Mary is left to just trust in the Lord and the rest of His plan! She doesn't get a whole plan from Gabriel that says "OK, Joseph is going to freak out, but don't worry God's got it, OH! and Herod is going to try to kill your baby, but don't worry, God's got your back, oh, and you'll lose Jesus when he's a little older, but you can find him in the temple teaching the older dudes." NO! Mary received her mission, she received her next step (carrying Christ in her womb), and then BOOM, the guy's gone. This is the MOTHER OF GOD we're talking about here, and she got next to NOTHING in what the entire, detailed plan was! She, in her great humility and love for God, trusted the plan and mission she had been given and didn't push God to give her anymore. She lived day to day, encounter to encounter, but it says she "pondered these things in her heart" which means she held this promise from God in her heart. Even when I'm sure Mary experienced stress or desolation, she REMEMBERED what the angel had told her, and then she just held on to that gift she'd been given!
Let's move briefly on to Paul! He went through the exact same thing. He was knocked off his horse, given a reprimanding, a MISSION, and then the next step! Paul was told to go to Damascus and find someone, and that's IT! He was even blinded and God never said "Don't worry, I will heal that." Nope, Paul just had to trust, and follow the mission and the next step. He accepted it in his heart, and then went out to fulfill it.
So many times, when things are tough and we feel like we're swimming in the darkness, we tend to forget that which we were convinced of in the light. We forget God's love, his promise, and our own conviction that we believed these things to be true! We start to doubt, and it becomes harder to stick to what we had once resolved to do or change because we don't hold in our hearts those times that God has pulled us close to his heart and allowed us to radically feel his love and mercy. What would happen if we constantly, on a daily basis, kept that in our hearts! Oh how our lives would be transformed and our world would be transformed if only we could trust God, and ALWAYS believe in the darkness that which we were convinced of in the light!
God Bless and Agape friends,
Monica! :)
I have some very exciting updates this week! Last Friday, the College of St. Mary's missionaries hosted a Barn Dance out in Wahoo, Nebraska. We combined schools, and even got students and missionaries from Benedictine College and UNL. There were about 100 people there and it was a wonderful night of swing dancing, line dancing, and just good old fashion fun.
My heart was personally touched that night by one particular student who came with us. She met us during freshman move-in and still had no idea we were all Catholic missionaries! She finally had the chance to come and spend some time with us, so she carpooled out with myself, another missionary and another student. As we're driving and talking, she comes to find out that we are Catholic missionaries and that this is a FOCUS event (probably because all of my stories start with "so the other day at daily mass"). We had no idea what her faith background was, but she was so open to chatting with us about what we do, and about different things in life. It was so beautiful to see a young person be so open to such a radically different way of life and belief from the rest of society!
We as the missionaries came to find out that she doesn't even listen to country music OR know how to dance, but she said yes anyway! How beautiful that God put a small whisper in her heart to just say yes to put herself in a situation she would NEVER have imagined she would be in! This young woman had an AMAZING time with us that night, and she even opened up and shared more about herself throughout the night. I praise God for this blessed opportunity to get to know a student that He just placed in our laps to minister to in a rare and beautiful way! She is so excited about knowing us and has expressed interest in spending more time together. Praise the LORD!
Also, this week bible studies are all kicking off! I personally had my first one on Tuesday and it was a great success. God really blessed our time together and the Holy Spirit was moving! The girls took a night to really get to know each other and began to open up in friendship. I can't wait to see the fruits God brings in these girls lives!
Finally, I would like to share a beautiful meditation I heard the other day from Fr. Mike Schmitz on his online podcasts. He was talking about the saints, and how the biggest virtue the saints had across the board was unfailing trust in God. So much of the time, we want to know the entire plan for our lives RIGHT NOW!! I mean, how much easier would it be to plan, make decisions, act in one way or another, if only we KNEW what was going to happen!!! Right?? Why won't God just TELL us!
Well! Who are YOU that you're so special that God should tell you His whole plan?? :) Okay just kidding, that was harsh. But seriously. Let's go to His Word to look at how God reveals his plan to some of the Big Bosses in the bible!
First, Mary. What a beautiful story when the angel comes to Mary, he presents the amazing mission God has for her, and once Gabriel has received Mary's YES and has presented to her the next step in her mission, guess what. HE LEAVES! WHAT?! He just disappears!!! That's it. Mary is left to just trust in the Lord and the rest of His plan! She doesn't get a whole plan from Gabriel that says "OK, Joseph is going to freak out, but don't worry God's got it, OH! and Herod is going to try to kill your baby, but don't worry, God's got your back, oh, and you'll lose Jesus when he's a little older, but you can find him in the temple teaching the older dudes." NO! Mary received her mission, she received her next step (carrying Christ in her womb), and then BOOM, the guy's gone. This is the MOTHER OF GOD we're talking about here, and she got next to NOTHING in what the entire, detailed plan was! She, in her great humility and love for God, trusted the plan and mission she had been given and didn't push God to give her anymore. She lived day to day, encounter to encounter, but it says she "pondered these things in her heart" which means she held this promise from God in her heart. Even when I'm sure Mary experienced stress or desolation, she REMEMBERED what the angel had told her, and then she just held on to that gift she'd been given!
Let's move briefly on to Paul! He went through the exact same thing. He was knocked off his horse, given a reprimanding, a MISSION, and then the next step! Paul was told to go to Damascus and find someone, and that's IT! He was even blinded and God never said "Don't worry, I will heal that." Nope, Paul just had to trust, and follow the mission and the next step. He accepted it in his heart, and then went out to fulfill it.
So many times, when things are tough and we feel like we're swimming in the darkness, we tend to forget that which we were convinced of in the light. We forget God's love, his promise, and our own conviction that we believed these things to be true! We start to doubt, and it becomes harder to stick to what we had once resolved to do or change because we don't hold in our hearts those times that God has pulled us close to his heart and allowed us to radically feel his love and mercy. What would happen if we constantly, on a daily basis, kept that in our hearts! Oh how our lives would be transformed and our world would be transformed if only we could trust God, and ALWAYS believe in the darkness that which we were convinced of in the light!
God Bless and Agape friends,
Monica! :)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Hello!
I am so sorry that I have not updated in a couple of weeks! We've had so much going on but finally we are starting to wind down into a less crazy schedule!
I wanted to share just a bit of what we're doing. The team has met a lot of people. At the clubs and organizations fair during welcome week, we had a booth. We came with 500 free cups, stuffed them full of MAVCatholic info (campus ministry) and we also had about 1000 freezie pops. Within an hour, they were all GONE! How amazing is that?! We got all this information into so many hands and we got so many numbers and emails of young adults who are interested in getting involved! Even Fr. Taphorn made his way out onto campus and was handing out freezie pops and cups with "living water" in them!!! ;)
I'd like to tell a specific story that has personally touched my heart. We got an email of a student from our community college who wanted to get involved. I contacted her and we met up for coffee. This student was so sweet and amazingly open and excited to get involved and to learn! She shared with me a lot about where she was in life and I felt so blessed to be able to listen to her and offer her a place to go! We even got into a beautiful discussion about emotional chastity, and how women tend to waste a lot of time daydreaming about men who they aren't even having a relationship with. She looked at me stunned and said "Monica, my mind is blown!" She was just soaking up the info like a sponge! I was so excited to see how much she is seeking truth in her life and how she knows she can find it through Jesus.
She is going to be starting in my new bible study of freshman girls and I am so excited to see her progress throughout this year! This particular girl was such a blessing that week and I praise God that she found our group and is getting involved! :)
The team is doing great, we're getting a little worn out so please keep us in your prayers! We're trying to re-gear up for this next stage of the semester!
I would like to leave you with a small thing to meditate on in your own spiritual lives and prayer times. I've been reading St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. In his argument about the existence of God, he defends why there is evil in the world, if in fact God is all Good and infinite.
He says this:
"As Augustine says: 'Since God is the highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil.' This is part of the infinate goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good."
Chew on THAT one for a while! I love it!
Agape and you're all in my prayers!
Monica
I am so sorry that I have not updated in a couple of weeks! We've had so much going on but finally we are starting to wind down into a less crazy schedule!
I wanted to share just a bit of what we're doing. The team has met a lot of people. At the clubs and organizations fair during welcome week, we had a booth. We came with 500 free cups, stuffed them full of MAVCatholic info (campus ministry) and we also had about 1000 freezie pops. Within an hour, they were all GONE! How amazing is that?! We got all this information into so many hands and we got so many numbers and emails of young adults who are interested in getting involved! Even Fr. Taphorn made his way out onto campus and was handing out freezie pops and cups with "living water" in them!!! ;)
I'd like to tell a specific story that has personally touched my heart. We got an email of a student from our community college who wanted to get involved. I contacted her and we met up for coffee. This student was so sweet and amazingly open and excited to get involved and to learn! She shared with me a lot about where she was in life and I felt so blessed to be able to listen to her and offer her a place to go! We even got into a beautiful discussion about emotional chastity, and how women tend to waste a lot of time daydreaming about men who they aren't even having a relationship with. She looked at me stunned and said "Monica, my mind is blown!" She was just soaking up the info like a sponge! I was so excited to see how much she is seeking truth in her life and how she knows she can find it through Jesus.
She is going to be starting in my new bible study of freshman girls and I am so excited to see her progress throughout this year! This particular girl was such a blessing that week and I praise God that she found our group and is getting involved! :)
The team is doing great, we're getting a little worn out so please keep us in your prayers! We're trying to re-gear up for this next stage of the semester!
I would like to leave you with a small thing to meditate on in your own spiritual lives and prayer times. I've been reading St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. In his argument about the existence of God, he defends why there is evil in the world, if in fact God is all Good and infinite.
He says this:
"As Augustine says: 'Since God is the highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil.' This is part of the infinate goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good."
Chew on THAT one for a while! I love it!
Agape and you're all in my prayers!
Monica
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Hello FOCUS family followers!
I know it's been a while since I last updated but we have had such a CRAZY couple of weeks! The entire team is now moved in to Omaha and we are more than excited to be kicking the year off.
Last week we had a three day Student Leaders Retreat. It was such an incredible experience and the students really loved it! They were so open and ready to soak up all that God had to offer them on this retreat and it was so beautiful to see Him touch their lives and renew them for the year to come! The Holy Spirit was so present, and so many were filled with His love and power. Praise God for the healing and peace and gifts that were given by the Trinity at this retreat.
Mary Kate, the other female missionary on team, had a birthday! She is now 23 years old! So Happy Birthday to MK! :)
Last week we also participated in helping with freshman move in! We met a lot of new students and already some of them are starting to come around! They are all so wonderful and we really love spending time with the new and old faces.
This week is welcome week!!!! We've got multiple events every day and the team is having a great time just spending time on campus and being present for our students. Our student leaders are doing some amazing outreach and I am so proud of them! They have such great excitement and passion for the mission and for Christ that they're putting themselves out there and it's so great to be a part of.
On another note, I figured I would offer some more reflection today.
As we begin the new school year, sometimes we have a need for some inner healing in order to be able to come alive and have fresh energy to be able to tackle all that will be put in our path. On our retreat, I heard something very beautiful. For starters, God is the lover and we are the beloved. Here is what I was told, the lover wants to be where the beloved is hurting.
God knows our wounds and he knows the things we need healing from, but so many times we don't want to look at those wounds. We are content just keeping them squished back behind all the other junk in our hearts. God wants to bring those wounds out into the light, he wants to be there in those wounds, and he wants to heal them!
Today I invite you to take some quiet time to really spend with Jesus. Take him into those places in your heart that maybe you've been ignoring. Take him to the wound where someone insulted you, take him to where you feel inadequate, ignored, abandoned, jealous, insecure. He wants to be in all those places, and God wants to heal those things for you! We've got to be willing to feel the wound in order for God to heal it for us. Invite Him in today, and take him to all the places. Because you make be hiding those rooms from God on the tour of the house, but you forget there's no roof on the house and God's got a birds eye view ;)
That's it for now! I hope to write again sooner rather than later! :) Have a blessed week and feel free to send me any prayer intentions you might have!!!
God bless,
Agape,
Monica
I know it's been a while since I last updated but we have had such a CRAZY couple of weeks! The entire team is now moved in to Omaha and we are more than excited to be kicking the year off.
Last week we had a three day Student Leaders Retreat. It was such an incredible experience and the students really loved it! They were so open and ready to soak up all that God had to offer them on this retreat and it was so beautiful to see Him touch their lives and renew them for the year to come! The Holy Spirit was so present, and so many were filled with His love and power. Praise God for the healing and peace and gifts that were given by the Trinity at this retreat.
Mary Kate, the other female missionary on team, had a birthday! She is now 23 years old! So Happy Birthday to MK! :)
Last week we also participated in helping with freshman move in! We met a lot of new students and already some of them are starting to come around! They are all so wonderful and we really love spending time with the new and old faces.
This week is welcome week!!!! We've got multiple events every day and the team is having a great time just spending time on campus and being present for our students. Our student leaders are doing some amazing outreach and I am so proud of them! They have such great excitement and passion for the mission and for Christ that they're putting themselves out there and it's so great to be a part of.
On another note, I figured I would offer some more reflection today.
As we begin the new school year, sometimes we have a need for some inner healing in order to be able to come alive and have fresh energy to be able to tackle all that will be put in our path. On our retreat, I heard something very beautiful. For starters, God is the lover and we are the beloved. Here is what I was told, the lover wants to be where the beloved is hurting.
God knows our wounds and he knows the things we need healing from, but so many times we don't want to look at those wounds. We are content just keeping them squished back behind all the other junk in our hearts. God wants to bring those wounds out into the light, he wants to be there in those wounds, and he wants to heal them!
Today I invite you to take some quiet time to really spend with Jesus. Take him into those places in your heart that maybe you've been ignoring. Take him to the wound where someone insulted you, take him to where you feel inadequate, ignored, abandoned, jealous, insecure. He wants to be in all those places, and God wants to heal those things for you! We've got to be willing to feel the wound in order for God to heal it for us. Invite Him in today, and take him to all the places. Because you make be hiding those rooms from God on the tour of the house, but you forget there's no roof on the house and God's got a birds eye view ;)
That's it for now! I hope to write again sooner rather than later! :) Have a blessed week and feel free to send me any prayer intentions you might have!!!
God bless,
Agape,
Monica
Friday, July 27, 2012
"Do not fear them, for it is the Lord, your God, who will fight for you" Deuteronomy 3:22
I was in my holy hour today, sitting in an empty chapel, praying about everything that's been going on lately.
As I was reading, I came across this verse above. Joshua is being addressed because he is being charged to head into battle with the Lord leading his army. This can be a daunting task to trust God so literally with your LIFE and the lives of your men! But Joshua is reminded of what God has done to all the kingdoms that the Israelites have come across during their desert wanderings. God has crushed kingdoms before them. To every promise God made with the Israelites, He was completely faithful. His never-ending question to the Israelites, however, has been, "Do you trust me?" Unfortunately, there are many times the entire nation of Israel, save some, have turned from God and doubted him when he asks such "crazy" things from them!
Does this sound familiar?
As a missionary, I am saddled with the task of fundraising entirely my salary. Any money I make to pay bills and live off of comes completely from my support team. As you can imagine, this can be a joyous way to share the mission of FOCUS, but it can also be a cause for a great amount of stress and frustration at times. God calls all missionaries to put our complete trust in Him to provide for our livelihood. But a question God has posed in my mind lately has been "You trust me to wake you up every morning and provide you with another day, you trust me to give you each next breath that you take, why do you not trust me with something as simple as money?"
I think this is something that God is asking all of us. Why do we not trust him with something as simple as "___insert stress here___"? God is Good, He is Almighty, and he loves us unconditionally. Why would He not provide? We toil away, day after day, thinking that somehow our efforts will get us what we want, and then becoming frustrated when we fail (Ex. me....with my fundraising efforts!). But God is trying to tell us something with this message to Joshua.
DO NOT FEAR! The Lord wants to fight for you, He will take care of everything, but you have to give it to Him and LET him help you! Give God the fight, and He will guide you to how to fulfill your part :)
When God asks you today "Do you trust me?" What will your answer be?
God Bless and Agape,
Monica
I was in my holy hour today, sitting in an empty chapel, praying about everything that's been going on lately.
As I was reading, I came across this verse above. Joshua is being addressed because he is being charged to head into battle with the Lord leading his army. This can be a daunting task to trust God so literally with your LIFE and the lives of your men! But Joshua is reminded of what God has done to all the kingdoms that the Israelites have come across during their desert wanderings. God has crushed kingdoms before them. To every promise God made with the Israelites, He was completely faithful. His never-ending question to the Israelites, however, has been, "Do you trust me?" Unfortunately, there are many times the entire nation of Israel, save some, have turned from God and doubted him when he asks such "crazy" things from them!
Does this sound familiar?
As a missionary, I am saddled with the task of fundraising entirely my salary. Any money I make to pay bills and live off of comes completely from my support team. As you can imagine, this can be a joyous way to share the mission of FOCUS, but it can also be a cause for a great amount of stress and frustration at times. God calls all missionaries to put our complete trust in Him to provide for our livelihood. But a question God has posed in my mind lately has been "You trust me to wake you up every morning and provide you with another day, you trust me to give you each next breath that you take, why do you not trust me with something as simple as money?"
I think this is something that God is asking all of us. Why do we not trust him with something as simple as "___insert stress here___"? God is Good, He is Almighty, and he loves us unconditionally. Why would He not provide? We toil away, day after day, thinking that somehow our efforts will get us what we want, and then becoming frustrated when we fail (Ex. me....with my fundraising efforts!). But God is trying to tell us something with this message to Joshua.
DO NOT FEAR! The Lord wants to fight for you, He will take care of everything, but you have to give it to Him and LET him help you! Give God the fight, and He will guide you to how to fulfill your part :)
When God asks you today "Do you trust me?" What will your answer be?
God Bless and Agape,
Monica
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