Cut It Off

We’d all look a little funny if we actually cut off the things that “cause” us to sin. The Gospel reading this Sunday is one we all know very well, but what’s always interesting to me is that a hand (or computer, bottle of alcohol, etc.) doesn’t actually cause us to sin. It’s the tool that we use to sin. The causes to sin are internal, and much more difficult to remove. Concupiscence is our inherent inclination to sin. Until we redirect our focus from the temporary to the eternal, this inclination is always going to get the better of us. Sure, we can cut off our hand or get rid of our phone (pick your poison), but we’d find another way. We can’t control our desire to sin until we realize that the “rules” are for love and from love, and cutting out the temptations are a way of saying, “I love you,” back to God.

I'm #1!

I think the whole concept of the first shall be last and the last shall be first is kind of interesting in society where we are constantly told that we need to be first. We need to be #1. Whether it’s in school or on the football field (have you ever been to a high school game in this state?), second place is just the first loser.

But really, we don’t even need to look any further than a typical Sunday Mass. Everyone wants to be the first for Communion so that they can head out. And this is also a great example of how the last shall be first, since they are the only ones who have actually fully attended Mass (in case you didn’t know, that final blessing is a big deal). It’s important that we take a step back and truly look beyond the temporary and seek what is eternal (God).

Pick Up That Cross

Being Catholic isn’t easy. If anyone says it is, they either lied to you… or they aren’t very good Catholics. It’s a daily struggle where we’re called to deny ourselves and our desires in favor of God and His desires for our lives. This can seem burdensome if we don’t truly understand our relationship with Him. If we don’t understand that living our lives a certain way is in service to Him, then all those things we “get to do” for Him seem more like things we “can’t do” or “have to do.” These can seem like crosses to bear, but in reality, the greater crosses come from truly following God… Yikes.

Following God might mean losing some friends or changing your weekend plans. It might mean changing some habits or dating someone else (or no one). And it definitely means refocusing Sundays towards Mass. But isn’t that worth pleasing God?

Can You Hear Me Now?

In elementary school, I loved whenever the hearing test people would show up. I always got super excited because I knew I had such good hearing that they would always tell me how impressed they were. Despite years of having the volume way up on my headphones and car radio, it’s still pretty decent. There is a difference between hearing and listening though.

Hearing is what we do when we have Netflix on in the background while doing other stuff. We hear the noise and the conversations, but we’re not actually listening. Listening means we actually have to receive the message into our brains and think. We can hear our parents tell us to do something, but listening would mean not spacing out. This Sunday’s Gospel touched on this perfectly and is applicable to the Mass itself. Are you simply hearing God’s Word, the homily, and the prayers? Or are you actually listening to them?

Subordinate Wives?

This week, the Gospel reading continued to focus on the Bread of Life Discourse. I want to take a closer look at our second reading, though, and what it means for the women (and men) of our Church. The reading talks about how wives should be submissive to their husbands. Sound the alarm! There goes the Church being all misogynistic! No. That's not it at all.

Christ is the Groom, and the Church is the Bride. Jesus died to save the Church. His body was broken so that the Body of Christ (the Church) might live. The Body of Christ has Jesus at the head. The Church is a part of Christ, and Christ is a part of the Church. Similarly, a husband is a part of his wife and a wife is a part of her husband. A husband sacrificially serves his wife. She follows the lead of her husband. Still think this is archaic? Hang on...

This isn't a one-directional teaching. When we look at how Christ sacrificed everything for the Church (the people), we also see how the Church is called to sacrifice everything for Him. It's a circle. In a perfect marriage, and in a perfect church, the groom and the bride live to serve each other. Furthermore, Jesus says, “no can come to me unless it is granted him by my father.” Both Christ (the groom) and the Church (the bride), need to be in communion with the Father and with each other.

First Blog!

Well, to start, my name is Jason Trujillo, and I’m new to St. Monica in Dallas. I came all the way from California to join your family as the director of youth and young adult ministry, and I am so happy to be here! Every Monday, I will be posting a blog that breaks down what happened at Mass the day before in a way that hopefully relates to you whether you’re the youngest 6^th grader or the oldest young adult (is that an oxymoron?). So here it goes…

Yesterday, the Gospel continued Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse, so obviously one of the main topics is the Eucharist. This week though, the focus is on faith. Not “faith” in the terms of our belief system or religion, but “faith” the theological virtue—which means “belief in God.” As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. At every Mass, bread and wine are consecrated into something so much more. The Eucharist is not a symbol. It is not part Jesus and part wine. It is fully Jesus! Our faith in the Eucharist, in believing this Sacred Mystery, is belief in God.

What does this mean for us? Jesus is present at every Mass! He is present in the Adoration Chapel and in the tabernacle. It means that when we receive the Eucharist, we are literally taking Jesus’ body into our own. So the question really is, “What does this mean to YOU?”