The way of love and service.

A few months ago a friend of mine shared an article with me, asking my opinion. The article was on "The Cupcake Girls", a group of women who in my opinion show an awesome way to live as Christ, and right now, Pope Francis teach us to.

Many Christians today can probably remember being taught the song "Jesus loves me this I know, For the bible tells me so". A great message for a young child just learning about God and creation, but I think it has been taken way too far into the adult world. God loves each of us infinitely, and that does not change, however the way His love becomes manifest in the world is not by that lone factor. Christianity today has been severely watered down with the notion that we can help from a distance, because "Jesus loves them, God loves them, and He will care for them". Yes. But that is the wrong attitude for service. 

WE are the hands and feet of Christ, we are his voice through the Church and its teaching, we are Gods tools. WE were crafted to spread God's love, which we know as Grace.

Looking back through history, I can not recall even one saint who was ever quoted saying: "Jesus loves them" without having been right there to SHOW them that God loves them through their actions.

Saint Francis hugged and kissed leapers! So many saints spent their lives helping people out of gutters where they were dying, and feeding those who could not feed themselves, caring for wounds, healing hurts, and showing love in the 1st person.

Today "Jesus loves you" has been taken and turned into a way to hide ourselves in my opinion. By loving someone unconditionally and in the 1st person, we become vulnerable to being hurt in the process. And so we pass off.

What these girls in the article do is awesome to me! They go where no one else will, they care, they love, and they heal, simply because they are there, and they put themselves out there to show others who may have no concept of their own worth or dignity, that they are beautiful.

Blessed Pope John Paul the Great showed us the meaning of love, being loved, and how to love. Pope Benedict Ameritas showed us the solid teaching of the church in important matters, and now Pope Francis shows us how to live each aspect of our faith.

Like these Cupcake Girls, we should strive to be on the front line. Not all of us can contribute the same way or the same time, or even the same effort. But I think we can and should try to show people that "Jesus loves them" by going, and being the person who puts meaning to the worlds, and God's love, into action.

The Beauty of a Woman

Women, upon you rests the privilege, the power, and the ability to guide and shape the future of humanity.

A few years ago I wrote an article for a Catholic youth blog on The Dignity of Women.Today I heard something that expanded everything I wrote then into even greater depth.
As a male there is nothing more beautiful to me than a woman. Yes that includes the physical, but stretches far beyond as well. The spiritual quality many women posses, their ability to see things in the people around them. The ability to nurture and care. And the unique ability to so closely participate in something only God Himself holds... Creation.
I can not even begin to describe how awesome and utterly beautiful I think that is!
The ability to carry a created life within you... I wish I could find the words. But today like I said, I heard something that makes that even more amazing to me.

It seems even in tragedy women bring about grace. In pregnancy a woman apparently holds within her, some of the cells of her child, post birth. This includes in the case of a miscarriage. We trust that this child, having committed no sin, and being in heaven, is a saint by virtue of those circumstances.
In this case then, the woman becomes the vessel of holy relics in the cells she carries from that child!
And those can remain within her for decades.

Women really do have the ultimate power in life, and in tragedy.
They bring forth and shape the people who will guide our future, and they can sanctify those still here through their suffering, and their sacrifices.

The gift of Chains

Marriage.
It is so often distorted as a chain. A loss of freedom, or the proverbial "ball and chain".
For those who will ask the question, no I am not married. It is my dream, my goal, and my calling.
Nothing can captivate my mind more easily, hold my attention, or make me ache, as thinking of someday, in my home, and having the privilege of seeing my wife pregnant, and glowing with the life she carries. To think of the gift God will have given me to cherish in my wife.
Yes I know that marriage is not the honeymoon. But I don't fear the trials either.
Our callings are not easy, the road to holiness never is, and that is the greater part of each of our calling. I desire to die to myself in that relationship, in that way, to that person.
To give my self up to my calling.
I at times actually feel restricted in my life because I am unable to fulfill my calling in single life right now.

This would bring me to the point I think of what I am trying to say...
Why is what is good and beautiful a chain? Commitment of any kind in todays world seems to be foreign and wrong.
Our children are destroyed in the womb because we fear the "chains" of ridicule, or responsibility.
We are told we can have sex when and where we want to with who ever we want to.
What about your responsibility to that woman, or that man, that you are sharing your most intimate self with?
No, that must be pushed aside for the greater picture. What I WANT. What I NEED. ME.
And anyone who is capable of examining their own motives knows this, and feels empty.
I am a man. At the core of men is the opposite of that evil mentality.
We are warriors, but we do not dominate or force. We should fight a different battle, for the noble, we were born into nobility. We should fight for truth, with conviction and spirit, in a way that would dispel darkness! Not bring it into ever darker folds of decay.
We are KINGS. But we do not hold dominion over others, or seek to control. We instead feel the call to SERVE at our core. And that applies in any facet of life. If you wish to be single, you serve the world, those around you, and God with your actions, dying to yourself in your actions. Paving the way by example for those who will follow.
If you are called to be married, like I am. Then you seek to die to yourself, to serve your wife and your family and God in the same instance. Because self service, and relationships for the sake of only GETTING love are hollow and only leave to pain.
Or the calling to be a priest. To serve everyone in a very special way. To administer Christ, and to teach, heal, build, and be the captain of the church militant, and again, die to self, and defer to the greater wisdom of God.

Earlier this year I found someone I thought was heaven sent to earth. I asked her to marry me and was the happiest person alive for about 2 months. When she called it off, and completely deleted me from her life without giving a reason why, I learned some of my lessons this year.
That love is service. I wanted nothing but to make her happy and to serve her in any way I could. I learned the meaning behind my calling.
And I learned the cost of what persuing my calling could be. But I don't fear that calling anymore now than I did then.

I don't believe that a calling can be a chain. I think its the only road to freedom.

By way of Echo

In way of introduction, I'll start with the obvious. I am a writer. I am however far from proficient at it, and my inspiration and topics sometime find themselves far between. So I am going to apologize in advance to anyone who reads this, if for some reason I am unable, or simply do not post anything for periods of time.

My name is Justin, the oldest of 10 in a large Irish Catholic family. Both are my greatest treasures.
My faith is part of my definition, who I am, and everything I want to be.
My family is my fortress, my friends, allies, and I would definitely not be where I am without them.
I am young, only 22 years old at this time, but me and my family have seen much that I won't go into detail about. My parents are the most awesome people I know and have taught me about life and the world in ways that still astounds me. I feel very well rounded and balanced, and I have them to thank for it.
I have one adopted sister, who I am privileged to have in my family, and all the rest of my siblings who are all just awesome!

Over this last year (2013), I've learned a lot of hard lessons, and it has made me reflect on many issues.
That is in part what this blog is about. Many people navigate life without purpose or direction, or are just hungry to find something they can relate to, or know to be true.
I have called this blog "By way of Echo", because it reflects how and what I will write.
My life at least is lead within the guidance and principles of the Catholic faith, and I know that what good I do is only because I am allowed to be the brush in the painters hand, or, "the Echo" of someone so much greater than my self.

"By Way of Echo". To hopefully echo the truth that God wishes to be present in our fallen world.
He is the voice... I am the echo.