Concerning Discerning

A young person's perspective on the Eucharist (Originally published in the July 2022 issue of the Marist Messenger magazine) Recently my nine-year-old brother, who is struggling with being bored with Mass, told me that He keeps asking God to show Him He is real but isn’t getting any response. I asked him, “How do you know the wind is real?” and his reply was “because you can feel it and see it moving things.” Then I asked, “and how do you know love is real?” “Because you can feel it and see its effect on other people.” I finished our conversation by explaining that just because you can’t see or hear God, doesn’t mean He isn’t real. One way we can know His reality is through the way He moves and works through those around us. We are physical beings. We like to be able to see, touch, feel, and hear the evidence for the existence of our God. Yet as Christians, we are ultimately called to have faith, which Hebrews 11 describes as “...the assurance of things hoped for, the convictio...

Hearts Aflame last year (check out the last part of this blog post for a recap of that experience) lead to a year of saying 'no.' I realised it wasn't healthy to be spread so thinly across so many different ministries, and learnt the importance of (and how hard it is!) saying 'no.' Someone said it so well at Hearts this year: "The quality of your yes often depends on the quantity of your no's." And then COVID19 came along and joined the fun by enforcing a 'no' in every aspect of life! I guess it was actually a blessing in disguise as it helped me refocus and do something productive with all my newfound spare time. Well, at Hearts Aflame this year, God revealed to me why He nudged me to say 'no' last year. Hearts Aflame 2021 Participants As mentioned in my ' This is Me ' blog post, I really struggled with bullying and peer pressure when I was in High School, and learnt to base my identity off others (often imagined) opinions of ...

Jumping straight into Chapter 1 because it is so relevant right now! Pt. 2 to come, and summary once I’ve read all the Fourth Mansions.  Chapter 1 1. Temptation It is better to face temptations than to never be tempted. Then our soul is always growing as we face opportunities to show our merit, and we don’t become comfortable in consolation, or too self-absorbed.  "Into these Mansions poisonous creatures seldom enter, and if they do, prove quite harmless – in fact they do the soul good.” 2. Worldly vs. Spiritual Joys Later called Spiritual Sweetness and Spiritual Consolation. More detailed description in Pt. 2! “...worldly joys have their source in our own nature and end in God, whereas spiritual consolations have their source in God, but we experience them in a natural way...”  3. Love! “...the important thing is not to think much, but to love much; do, then, whatever arouses you to love. Perhaps we do not know what love is... for love consists, not in the extent of our ...

 Last night was our 16th and final show for Porirua Little Theatre's 'The Sound of Music.' The past month has been super full on, with roughly 48 hours of flute playing, not including rehearsals leading up to shows! But I've loved every second of it.  The Porirua Little Theatre (PLT) community has been such a blessing to be a part of and I've loved seeing how a love of music/theatre has united people from so many different backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures. I do not mean this in a degrading way at all, but it's not often you find LGBTQ+ people and Catholics working side by side with no conflict whatsoever (that I know of anyway!), simply acceptance and love. I believe that's how it should be everywhere - after all as Catholic's we are called to be like Jesus, who is Love! And I know it is possible because I've now experienced it. Everyone was so lovely and I am so thankful that God made a way for me to have this amazing opportunity! I say God made a...

So exhausted tonight, and lacking motivation. 😴 Had a great couple of weeks, but now getting weighed down by the busyness of life again. Trying not to! But life is full of ups and downs, and I can't expect it to be perfect all the time cause otherwise I'd be in Heaven! I've got a little longer to wait for that yet. 😅 I just finished reading 'The Alchemist' (the graphic novel version not the actual book). I'd never heard of it before now, but it has so many great life lessons and quotes. It's not a Christian book, but the author Paul Coelho was raised Catholic, and had a 'spiritual awakening' while walking the Camino de Santiago, which inspired him to finally become an author. You can learn a little more about him here . Here's some of the quotes that stood out to me and why - I might not completely understand what the author was meaning, but this is me putting a Catholic spin on things. Skip to the end for some real life application, if you get...

My week has been pretty amazing!  I had a lot on, and had a little panic last week when I looked ahead and became overwhelmed and brought into the lie that it was not possible to get through it all! Things like: Catch ups with Sr Marie, Sr Rachel and Sr Therese Running 30min Staff PLD  Prepping + running a second and third Sacramental Session My parents birthdays School Assumption Mass music Running a Life Teen night Relief teaching flute Stress + lack of sleep + cold = a weak mess. One morning I literally lay in a ball on the ground not wanting to face the day.  Then I said 'OK God - you have to motivate me today. I don't want to move. You need to be the strength for both of us today. Motivate me to move!'  And I got up, went to work, and had a surprisingly good day! All it took was surrendering and then actually acting - getting up off the ground and doing something. I guess I was kinda like a puppet in God's hands that day (not in a creepy or over-controlling kind...

Second Mansions:   Practice of Prayer   Three Main Takeaways:   A soul residing here is driven by a hope of moving further, as they become better at  recognising  the Lord’s voice, who ceaselessly calls them closer  [oops almost made a typo...He doesn’t call them ‘closet,’ He calls them ‘closer!’)    Here, the devil puts up a fight, trying to make the soul turn back. The soul can combat this by reflecting on and resting in God our Lover, who truly does give us everything we could ever need.    Pray, have faith and trust in Him, no matter how fruitless it may seem.  Persevere .      A soul residing here:  Has started practicing prayer and  realises  they  must  move on to further Mansions, but is not yet free of temptation, or determined enough to avoid occasions to sin.    To progress:  Pray and trust in the mercy of God. Practice noticing and combating the  devil's ...