Army Strong.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. This morning my family and I went to morning Mass and then walked over to a nearby abortion clinic, starting off this year's 40 Days for Life campaign with prayer. As we approached the clinic, we saw faces peek around the corner, followed by a number of clinic escorts. They "put their game faces on" and positioned themselves near us, their blue vests armor against the barbs they hoped we'd fling. Anger shone forth from each eye, and whispered conferences showed us that they were preparing themselves for battle.

Little did they know that the battle had already begun. It began on our walk, as we prayed the Stations of the Cross. It began on the steps of the church, as the deacon led us in prayer. It began during the Mass, in which the church was filled with children who miraculously made it out of the womb despite the dangers posed by those blue-clad envoys of death and the hostile society that surrounds them. This battle began long long ago, with the Fall of Man and even in the Rebellion of the Angels. We continued it today with simple prayer.

Today we heard the call of our Captain in the words of the priest, who bade us clothe ourselves in the armor of self-denial. This is what Lent is all about: ridding ourselves of weaknesses, strengthening our souls in virtue, taking up arms as soldiers for Christ. Pope Benedict XVI's Lenten address calls us to "be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works" (Heb 10:24) and strive always to walk together with our brothers and sisters towards holiness, with a mind towards reciprocity and the effects each action, good or bad, has on each of us an individual and on the Body of Christ to which we belong. In short, to practice charity.

This is why the abortion clinic escorts this morning were disappointed, and will continue to be, for the only battle they are prepared to fight is with swords, but the real battle is raging in their hearts. We must put on our armor of self-denial and join in the battle to end all battles, the battle of our lives, the battle of Love. In Christ's name, under His command, we will conquer through love, for that is the only weapon that can win over not only the most able bodies and the sharpest wits, but the coldest, thorniest, most fearful of hearts.

Hope.

At school there was always a lot of talk about how "broken" we all are, and while there is some truth to this, insofar as we are all touched by original sin and have particular struggles in our lives, I have always been frustrated by this mentality. People who talk about being "broken" often fall into one of two categories: those who think that people who are broken need to be fixed and go back to the way they were, and those who believe that we need to leave our brokenness behind and just move on. 

There is something wrong with both viewpoints. Maybe we are "broken", maybe that's what we can call that terrible unwavering temptation we battle everyday with varying success, but if we are broken we can't simply be fixed. We can't just glue together the pieces and be good as new. Because we aren't... we're better. We're new, we're different. We "break" like muscles, not china vases. With each little break and a lot of God's grace, we are built back up into something stronger than what we were before. Each sorrow, each sin, each trial, when properly treated as the opportunity for growth that it is, only serves to transform us into stronger, deeper, wiser people than we were before. 

And so we cannot, nor should we attempt to, return to our previous state or pretend that nothing ever happened. Something did happen, and maybe it was terrible, awful, no-good, and even very very bad, but somehow it changed us, and we must embrace that (there's really nothing else you can do anyway, so you might as well make the best of it) and allow ourselves to be transformed. And we will be. It might be difficult to see, especially for yourself (it's ever so much easier to see good things working in other people's lives), but the change is there. If you know anything about the Romantic movement in literature, you know what I mean when I say that the person who allows himself to be transformed by such experiences becomes sublimely beautiful. 

So don't despair... we're all mad here, and it's a beautiful, growing, fabulous madness.

PS- for anyone who knows what I mean, think back to the muscle reference and laugh... *poof*

The glory of God is man fully alive!

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Here are some things I would do to start off with:

Write a book or two.
Become fluent in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Latin, and every form of English that has ever existed.
Go sailing.
Learn to play saxophone and Spanish guitar.
Dance salsa, cha-cha, rumba, waltz (Viennese and regular), lindy-hop and various types of swing.
Archery.
Sword-fighting (like knights or soldiers,  not fencing).

Given enough time (and money), I'm sure I could do all of these things. I bet there are lots of things you would like to do as well. So what's stopping us?!?

Fear. Fear of failure, fear of imperfection.

Do you know what? Fear is the only thing that can stop you from living. Death can't even do it on his own, he has to employ fear of the unknown to really kill us. Death is really just the beginning of the next great adventure, but fear... fear stops us in our tracks. Fear can paralyze us to the point of indecision and stagnation, inducing a state of inertia which is nigh impossible to resist. But resist it we must, for a life lived in fear is no life at all, it is mere existence.

I have resolved to stop just existing and really live! It is very difficult to take risks and do anything without knowing and accepting the exact consequences, but I am determined to do so (within reasonable bounds of course; I don't have a death wish). Courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, but taking action in spite of it. I must take courage. We must all take courage. Each and every single day should be an exercise in courage, in knowing all the excuses we could make, all the things that could stop us from succeeding, and making the attempt anyway. Sure, there will be times when we fail. We can't do everything after all. But I am 100% sure that there will be so many more times we will succeed! Almost all the things I haven't done are not undone because of failure, but because I never even tried to do them in the first place!

So this is my resolution: to live. You should join  me.

“I plead with you--never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.” 

“Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence.” 

~Blessed Pope John Paul II