Catholic Midshipmen Retreat

Batman even made time to come to the retreat!

There were so many great things that happened on the Catholic Midshipmen Club retreat this semester.  These midshipmen are challenged everyday and in so many ways.  They are required to workout, go to all of their classes and meetings, and do their homework.  They have to go to formation and are tested in so many ways, and if they have any free time they usually use it to relax or sleep.  This weekend, about forty midshipmen gave up an entire weekend to go on a retreat, learn more about their faith, and pray!  To most people that would seem like a waste of time, especially prayer, but they chose to put their faith first.

There was great adoration where midshipmen were able to sit with Christ.  We even had prayer teams where people could come and be prayed over.  During adoration there was also confession, and it was great to see so many midshipmen go to confession and ask God for the forgiveness of their sins. 

Father Bruno, a Dominican priest, gave most of the talks, and also spoke about living life for eternity.  He also spoke about judgment and Heaven and how we are never alone.  My favorite talk was when he talked about the mass, and how we are taken into heaven during every mass. 



P.S.  Happy All Saints Day!!!!




Live Life For Eternity

This past weekend was the Catholic Midshipmen Club's big Fall retreat.  We were about twenty minutes away from the Naval Academy, which to a midshipmen is glorious and probably seems about a hundred miles away, at a Y.M.C.A. campgrounds called Camp Letts.  We got there Friday evening and after we had wonderful camp food we began our talks.  One of the midshipmen, named Peter, gave a talk on living life for Heaven and not just the Naval Academy.  A lot of midshipmen will workout and study for hours, and that is a great thing and is needed, but they often forget about prayer and living life for eternity. 


Peter preparing for his talk

People all around the world are doing the same thing (with a lot less of working out of course).  I often lose sight of the big picture.  We only get a little time on Earth, but that time is what we use to decide where we want to be for eternity.  If I lived my life for myself, and I wanted to do it my way without finding out what God wants, then the Lord will give me what I want.  If I want to be away from Him or if I put Him second, then because He loves me He will give me what I want the most.  He will give me an eternity of what I want, yet nothing other than Him can fill the infinite hole in our hearts.  I would be miserable knowing that I had given up the greatest gift of all, which is to be with God forever, and I would be in Hell.  Now, if I live for the Lord, knowing without Him I have nothing that can fill my heart, but with Him I have everything; if I do my work, be kind to people, and most importantly get to know Him; If I simply follow truth and the natural law written into my heart; If I let Him in to my heart, then the God who is love and truth Himself will give me everything I have truly ever wanted.  He will give me His entire self forever.  I would choose it, and He would give me Heaven.  The Lord does not make us go anywhere.  We choose our final destination, and because He loves us He gives it to us. Let us remember to live life for eternity. 




More great news of the retreat will come soon. 

Big Retreat Countdown...1 Day To Go

It is Thursday afternoon, and the Naval Academy FOCUS team is having a retreat tomorrow for the midshipmen.  We are traveling about twenty minutes to Camp Letts.  This is the big retreat for the semester, and most of these midshipmen have been waiting all semester.  I can feel their excitement as I talk to them between classes.  I know Christ will touch their hearts if they allow him to, but many people think that means a great emotional high.  Many people think that they are holy if they get a great feeling when they pray.  That is not always the case.

I remember when I played French horn back in high school, and one year we got brand new French horns.  They were so new that I could still smell the oils that they put on it.  No joke, they smelled like chocolate.  I was so excited that I started to play it more, and all of a sudden I thought I sounded way better.  This magic French Horn had made me a better French horn player!  The truth is that I probably was better, because I was finally practicing.  I would really just play some notes and have fun, but I felt really good.  Then after a while I got bored again, and I stopped practicing.  My skill lessened, and I thought to myself "Man, I need a new French horn!" I thought it was the new French horn that made me good, but when I finally realized it was not the new French horn that made me good, then I started to practice.  I mean I really started to practice.  I played scales and arpeggios.  I started private lessons, and I got better then I had ever been.  I began to enjoy playing the French horn, and sometimes it would get hard, but I would push through, and I would get better.  Sometimes, prayer can be similar. 

I used to think that a retreat would fix my prayer problems.  I would go on the retreat and it was easy to pray.  I would eat the chocolates that they would pass out, and I would get a sugar rush.  I would start praying, and I would think "Man, I am holy!  God Loves me so much!" I felt good, and I would leave the retreat on a spiritual high. I would go home and pray for a while, but after a time I would not feel so great about prayer.  I would think to myself "Man, I need another retreat!" I thought the retreat would make me holy, and I thought holiness or having good prayer meant that it always felt good, but the reality is that prayer does not always feel good.  In fact, that time when prayer does not "feel" well is usually when we are growing the most.  When you push through and pray and strive for God, then that is the time when you grow closest to Him.  When I learned this I started to truly pray, and I sometimes I still feel that prayer is tough, and that I am not getting anything out of it, but I push through and stay obedient.  Those times of difficult prayer always pass, and I need that union with Christ.  He calls all of us to Him, because He loves us and we are made for Him, so if you are having trouble in prayer just keep striving for Him and you will find joy and union with God. 


P.S. Please pray for all of the midshipmen at the retreat. 

Government Shutdown!!! WHAT?!

Before the shutdown happened, I told the midshipmen that if the government shutdown then the missionaries would still be there.  “We don’t work for the government.  We work for the Lord!” I reminded them.  Now that the shutdown has taken effect we are still here on the yard trying to spread the gospel. 

With half of the staff at the Naval Academy being civilians, the first thing I noticed on October 1^st was more parking.  Other than that, from the outside, everything seemed to be the same.  There were still guards at the gates.  The midshipmen still walked to class (which always reminds me of ants marching around), and the midshipmen still did their noon formation.  However, if you asked a midshipmen about the changes they could tell you a lot.  For instance, since about half of their professors are civilians many of their classes are practically put on hold.  Midshipmen have to go to class and sit there even if they don’t have a professor.  They are expected to read their books or work on new homework that the professors may have left, but they cannot ask their professors questions.  By law, a professor cannot show up to work or even read emails.  If the midshipmen is lucky (Or unlucky however you look at) they may be assigned a temporary military professor and be placed with two or three other classes.   For a while, they did not even know if the big Navy Air Force game was going to happen, but that was worked out and Navy had a great victory!  Hopefully, everything will continue to slowly go back to normal, but until then let us continue to pray for our country and politicians. 



P.S.  As of October 7th, civilian professors are back to work!